reach the ear of God for he knoweth the mind of the Spirit Phil. 3.3 Jude 20. This is that which is called a worshipping God in the spirit a praying in the holy Ghost i. e. either as to the matter of the Prayer dictated by the Spirit or as to the manner of praying the soul being actuated by the holy Ghost See Mark 11.36 13.11 For I conceive it may import the former as well as the latter as other Scriptures compared hold forth Alas flesh and blood will put up such petitions as God will not accept or in such a manner as is no way suitable to his spiritual Nature The truth is Christians you will but bungle at the work without this help of Gods Spirit and God will take notice of you except he hear his own language do not think you can wrestle out the business your selves you must be beholding to God for help in Prayer as well as for hearing your Prayer your own spirits will not carry you to Heaven that which is from the earth is earthly and riseth no higher than earth but the holy Ghost will elevate your souls to God Therefore I beseech you Sirs beg the Spirit yield to its motions improve its operations say when you are going to duty Lord now stir up thy self and stir up thy grace in my heart Awake oh North-wind and come thou South blow upon thy Garden Cant. 4.16 My Soul that the spices thereof may flow out that graces may be exercised and exerted Lord I am low flat hard send the powerful arm of thy blessed Spirit to work all gracious dispositions in me and raise up my affections to thee I see I am below the duty and infinitely below thee in the duty but thou and thou alone canst raise me up quicken soften my dead and rocky heart come Lord and shew thy powerful Arm let it appear what God can do for a sorry worm Oh lift me up to thee that my soul may enjoy some sweet communion with thee Send thy spirit to fetch in my wanton wandring heart Oh for some fire from Heaven to burn up my sacrifice or else it will lye like a lump of flesh and be no true Holocaust of pure Incense before thee Let thy Spirit scatter these mists of ignorance and drive away these flies of distracting thoughts that my heart may be with thee and my performance may be as sweet savour in the nostrils of God SECT IV. More Essentials in secret Prayer A Third ingredient in Prayer is that it be according to God's will it must have a warrant from the Word a word of Precept or Promise or Example must be the ground of our petitions a command is our warrant a promise our incouragement an example is our tract and the footsteps of the flock wherein we must walk He that asks amiss shall not speed but if we ask any thing according to his will he heareth us and then we know we have the petitions that we desired of him 1 Joh. 5.14 15. Now we ask according to his will when both the matter of our petition is aright and our end in asking is Gods glory and our own or others spiritual good otherwise if we ask of God what we conceit to be a mercy and have not asked counsel at God's mouth or ask so as to consume it upon our lusts we may well meet with a denial My friends you may not say what you please in the presence of God Consider God is in Heaven you are on Earth therefore be not rash with your mouth and let not your heart be hasty to utter any thing before God let your words be few and well weighed Eccles 5.2 The work you are about is a solemn business do not ramble in extravagant desires of unlawful things think not that God will patronize your lusts and when you have asked that which you conceive is according to his will refer it wholly to his Will say The Will of the Lord be done submit your selves to his dispose for time manner means and all circumstances for giving of it ask temporal mercies conditionally and spiritual Comforts with submission to Gods will learn that petition Thy will be done to pray it as well as say it Indeed Luther could say Let thy will be done but he come off with this My will Lord because my will is melted into thine there 's but one will betwixt us Let God's will be your will 't is fit it should be so our heavenly Father is wiser than we Consider Haec repraesentatio debet esse submissa humilis alias enim non esset precatio religiosa à creatura subdita ad supremum Numen Creatorem directa sed vel imperium superioris ergo inferiorem vel quasi familiaris collocutio quatis est inter aequales Ames medull theol lib. 2.6 p. 255. a man cannot pray in faith for that which he hath no warrant to ask Besides Amesius saith If a man come not with an humble submission to Gods will it were not a religious prayer directed to the supream Creator but a kind of command by a superiour to an inferiour or a familiar discourse as amongst equals Therefore let us humbly plead Gods Will as Abraham did Gen. 18.27 Further consider the design of Prayer is not to incline God before unwilling to our mind and desire for with him there is no variableness nor shadow of change but that we may obtain of him by Prayer what we know afore-hand he is willing to give Lastly consider we Christs example Mat. 26.39 If it be possible let this cup pass from me nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt This is right praying to ground our petition upon a promise yet freely to leave all at Gods feet to dispose of us as he sees good Our prayers and Gods promises should point towards each other as those two figures 9 and 6. Promises do bend downwards and after the same motion must our prayers ascend upwards so will there be a blessed harmony and seasonable return This is the third Direction Let your Prayers be warranted by the Word 4. Improve your Advocate Joh. 14.13 Whatsoever you ask in my name that will I do To ask any thing in his name is not rudely customarily or complementally to conclude with these words Through Jesus Christ our Lord c. but in confidence of his merit and intercession to call upon our heavenly Father as Daniel pleads for the Lords sake Dan. 9.17 For since the Fall none can come immediately to God but through a Mediator nor are we to fetch a compass by the groundless invocation of Saints and Angels I hope you have otherwise learned Christ I am most afraid in the practick part that in particular acts at least precious Souls are in danger to miscarry especially in Closet-Prayer when a Christian is got alone and there finds a sweet gale of the blessed Spirit helping his heart to mourn for sin bewail
the duty of secret Prayer Although mental ejaculations are fit enough in both yet it 's not convenient to kneel down or use outward gestures of secret Prayer there 7. Closet-Prayer must be with all secrecy and solitariness In a Closet door shut As we must not blow a Trumpet when we give Alms so we must not hold out a flag when we go to wait on God in the Duty of Prayer It was carnal counsel the brethren of Christ gave him Joh. 7.4 Shew thy self to the World The reason is given v. 5. For neither did his brethren believe in him A sad sign of carnality 8. God alone is the proper object of our Prayers pray to thy Father As he is the object of our Faith so of Prayer For he alone can help therefore he is to be sought none else sees our state or can satisfie souls Isa 63.16 Doubtless thou art our Father though Abraham be ignorant of us 9. In all our addresses to God we must own God as our Father as having adopted us in Christ because his therefore ours I ascend saith Christ to my Father and your Father Joh. 20.17 Indeed by nature we were children of wrath but by grace children of his Love so that they may say as Isa 64.8 But now O Lord thou art our Father Oh plead and improve this relation 10. God is omnipresent Hinc omnipraesens est quia nullum est Ubi unde est exclusus neque alicubi est inclusus Ames Med. Theol. lib. 1. Cap. 4. 47. Thy Father which is in secret the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him 1 King 8.27 He filleth all places with his immense and infinite essence Heaven is his throne the Earth is his footstool he is excluded from no place included in none for he is without all limitation dimension or termination 11. God is omniscient Thy Father which seeth in secret The darkest night or secretest closet or most hidden thought of a reserved heart can neither hide or be hid from God's all-seeing eye Heb. 4.13 God beholds all things in Heaven and on Earth with one simple single act of his Understanding without composition discourse or representation of Species 12. Every believing Prayer hath a sure reward He will reward thee openly Not a good word to God or work for God shall be lost To him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward Prov. 11.18 And we know every right Prayer is a real seed Psal 126.6 And it will rise in a full and plentiful crop another day 13. The reward of secret Prayer shall be open and manifest They have already a reward and gift in secret Communion with God is an abundant recompence In keeping thy Commandements there is great reward Psal 19.11 But this is a praemium ante praemium reward before the reward the other shall be in Heaven before Angels and Men. 14. A Christians reward is from God Thy Father will reward thee Not men Scribes and Pharisees have their reward from men from men they expect it Saints expect their reward from God and God gives it them Men reward them evil for their good will and they expect no better If better come from men they own it as a gratuity sent from their Father It 's a principle of Religion to know and believe that God is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him Heb. 11.6 And as God gives a reward so he is the reward of his Saints Gen. 15.1 Yea an exceeding great reward It can admit of no Hyperbole it cannot have a sufficient Emphasis to enjoy God is a reward sufficient in and for the service of God These Doctrines would afford large discourses but none of these are the subject I shall insist upon I shall raise one from the main scope of the Text which is this Doct. That Closet-Prayer is a Christian Duty Secret Prayer is an Evangelical exercise Every child of God may and must perform the duty of Secret Prayer As a Christian must pray all manner of Prayer so in all places 1 Tim. 2.8 I will that men pray every where And if every where then in their Closets This divine Incense should perfume every room and should ascend to Heaven from Chambers as well as Churches Any place now is fit for a divine Oratory Psal 109.4 Psal 30. title God and a believing soul may meet in a corner a Saint should give himself to Prayer and dedicate his house to God he should as it were consecrate every room in his house to be a place of private devotion Abraham reared an altar to God wherever he came so must a Christian make every place where he can get closs to the duty a place of Prayer Mr. Mede hath undertaken to prove from Josh 24.26 That the Jews of old and Christians in Gospel-times had their Proseuchae or praying places which he thus describes as to the Jews of old Proseucha saith he Medes Diatribae pag. 279. was a plot of ground encompassed with a wall or some other like mound or inclosure and open above much like to our Courts the use properly for Prayer as the name Proseucha imports And these were without the Cities as Synagogues were within Of this as he thinks were those in Act. 21.31 and Luk. 6.12 Where Jesus Christ is said to continue all night 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Proseucha Dei in the place of Prayer or Proseucha of God Now although I shall say little of the Notion yet I cannot see how it will prove any relative holiness of places nor yet do I believe or find but that the Saints had other praying places as in houses and elsewhere as occasion was offered even in dwelling houses Act. 12.12 But as to this Duty of secret Prayer it must not be so narrowly confined but we may go to any Closet or private Room where our souls may meet with God And as one saith we shall not fail to find that the Grots and caves lye as open to the coelestial influences The life of Dr. Hammond in a letter p. 201. as the fairest and most beautiful Temples SECT IV. Instances of several in Scripture that used Closet-Prayer THe Doctrine needs no Explication but Confirmation which I shall do from Scripture-Instances and Reasons We have several Examples of Patriarchs Prophets Apostles that used this duty of solitary or secret prayer 1. Abraham The friend of God and Father of the faithful conversed much with his God alone particularly in this duty of Prayer Gen. 18.22 When the men i. e. the created Angels that seemed men were gone towards Sodom Abraham stood yet before the Lord or Jehovah i. e. Jesus Christ the Angel of the Covenant Standing is a praying posture therefore put for prayer hence Abraham drew near and pleaded with God for Sodom That was his errand to God at that time No doubt he had used this course frequently in other cases Hence arose that intimacy betwixt God and Abraham So that God
joy i. e. No creature on earth is privy to the secret groans or sweetest solace of a retired Saint That 's the second Reason SECT III. The third Reason is drawn from God seeing in secret ANother Reason is drawn from Gods Omniscience and Omnipresence the Text saith Thy Father sees in secret And the strength or force of this argument lyes in these four particulars 1. God sees in secret Therefore he takes notice whether thou pray in secret yea or no He looks after thee as it were when thou goest into such a chamber and solitary place and saith That soul hath now an opportunity a convenient place and fit occasion to wait upon me and will he not Will he be always so busie in other company that I must have none of his fellowship Must his converse be so much with men that he can spare no time for communion with God Nay will he go so often into such a room to do such and such a business and can he never find a time to go down upon his knees and visit me Hath he so much to do in the world that he hath no leisure to look up to Heaven Do his worldly occasions still thrust out spiritual meditations Will he never set himself solemnly to transact betwixt my self and him in Prayer and Meditation the most important business of his soul Ah sirs the Omnipresent God takes notice of all your motions into and out of your chambers and expects that sometimes at least your souls should wait upon him And why should Christians frustrate his expectation 2. God sees in secret Therefore he hath seen thy secret sins and sins in secret Thy closs and Closet-wickedness is naked and open before the piercing eyes of an all-seeing God therefore should thy Closet-tears and Prayers testifie thy sound and saving repentance For this is a rule in practical divinity that sorrow for sin must bear some proportion to the nature and circumstances of the sin both as to degree and circumstances of time and place Manassch humbled himself greatly for his great abominations So for place and manner them that sin openly must be rebuked before all and testifie their repentance before the Church 1 Tim. 5.20 So if the sin be private or less known the rule in Mat. 18.15.16 is to be observed for private admonition and confession And consequently secret sins must be secretly mourned for When thy sins are known to none but to God and thine own conscience thou art not bound to discover them to any other but to God in an hearty secret repentance except in some few cases Here then comes in secret prayer and godly sorrow Well then there 's none of us without our secret sins and God sees them all though never so privily committed we may hide sin from men we cannot hide it from the Lord he sets our secret sins in the sight of his countenance Psal 90.8 His eyes are open upon all the wayes of man and who knows all the errors of his life Job 34.21 21. Jer. 32.19 Pro. 5.10 Therefore must we get alone and enumerate all the sins we know of and desire God to shew us what we do not know and with holy David breath out that devout Petition Psal 19.12 Cleanse thou me from secret faults 3. God sees in secret Therefore thou dost not lose thy labour though men know not where thou art or what thou art a doing yet thy God takes notice of thee thou dost not thy good works incognito though thy groans are not seen or heard by men yet they are well known to thy God Psal 38.9 Lord all my desire is before thee and my groaning is not hid from thee As if David should say Lord I many times withdraw my self into a Closet or retired place and there I open before the Lord the sorrows of my soul I pour out my heart like water before the face of the Lord Lam. 2.19 Sometimes in the night-watches or in solitary places none knows what I am doing no eye sees no ear hears my briny trears or bitter out-cryes but the all-seeing God hides not his eyes from my tears stops not his ears to my cryes but knows my groans yea my very desires Observe it There is not a believing Prayer but it is upon the file and on record in Heaven though offered up by an obscure person in an obscure place yea God knoweth the meaning of his spirit in the hearts of his people Rom. 8.17 though the troubled Saint cannot tell whether it be indeed the spirit of God or no But this know that secret prayers in a chamber are as well known to God as open prayers in a publick Church heart-ejaculations are owned by God as well as loudest acclamations God took notice of Hezekiah when he turned his face toward the wall and wept and prayed and saith God I have heard thy Prayer I have seen thy Tears Isa 38.5 Though men did not much take notice God did yea more he expresseth his approbation and acceptation of these sacrifices in secret But of that anon 4. God sees in secret Therefore Closet-Prayer is a solemn acknowledgment of Gods omniscience and omnipresence When you pray in a corner you testifie your faith in Gods ubiquity and look upon him as filling Heaven and Earth and this God commands us to believe yea would have us to lye under the sense hereof Hence that vehement expostulation Jer. 23.24 Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him saith the Lord Do not I fill Heaven and Earth saith the Lord Yes saith the believing soul I know thou art every where no thought can be with-holden from thee therefore I wait on thee here all 's one where I am for wherever I am I cannot run away from thee and wherever I am I may approach unto thee And the Lord is nigh to broken hearts and praying souls Psal 34.15 17 18. He is not far from every one of us but his special presence is with his Saints in duty David composeth a Psalm of God's Immensity Psal 139. Wherein he shews 1. Gods omniscience in the six first verses Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine up rising c. 2 Gods omnipresence ver 7. to ver 14. Whither shall I go from thy spirit If to Heaven thou art there c. Darkness and light are both alike to thee And what use doth holy David make of this Heavenly doctrine surely if God will be with him wherever he is he is resolved to be with God v. 18. When I awake I am still with thee i. e. by secret prayer and meditation when I lye down I commend my soul and body to thee and when I rise up I meditate of thee when I go to sleep I pray when I awake I am with God by holy and precious thoughts So that I am still with God all my dayes in all places conditions relations companies I am still with my God and as a good man
true Gospelized Christian hath otherwise learned Christ 'T is true in the Old Testament dispensation after the erecting of the Temple Prayer was to be made at it or towards it as it typified Christ by whom our prayers are accepted But that holiness being ceremonial 't is now abolished by the Gospel Now that takes place in John 4.21 Woman believe me the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this Mountain nor at Jerusalem worship the Father i. e. God now doth not so much stand upon the place as the manner of worship that they worship in spirit and truth ver 23.24 Now is the prophecy accomplished Mal. 1.11 In every place Incense shall be offered to my Name Which the Apostle also asserts expresly 1 Tim. 2.8 Much hath been said in controversie concerning the holiness of places but this seems to be an undeniable argument against that Conceit that if some places be holy by the Churches consecration of them to holy uses then it followeth that other places not so consecrated howbeit applyed to the same holy use are more prophane and less apt to divine worship than places consecrated which would directly contradict the Scriptures last mentioned Eccles polit lib. 5. c. 16. Indeed Hooker teacheth that the service of God in places not sanctified as Churches are hath not in it self such perfection of grace and comeliness as when the dignity of the place which it wisheth for doth concur and that the very Majesty and holiness of the place where God is worshipped bettereth even our holiest and best actions Thus he Confer with Hart. c. 8. Divis 4. pag. 491. To whom we dare not subscribe but rather say with Dr. John Reinolds that to us Christians no Land is strange no ground unholy Every coast is Jewry every town Jerusalem and every house Zion and every faithful company yea every faithful body a Temple to serve God in But I shall not undertake a dispute upon this subject The duty of the Text clears it If God command and accept Closet-Prayer then he doth not make so great a matter of the place for this duty as some imagine since it cannot be imagined that Closet-Prayer can be performed ordinarily in a consecrated place as they call it and there being no such place where a duty can be performed to which God hath more expresly promised a reward than what is performed in a Corner or Closet and therefore we have no warrant to expect acceptance meerly upon the account of one place more than another Indeed there is a common practice of some persons which is to perform their private devotions in publick places For you shall see some at their entrance into a Church or Chappel whatever publick worship is in hand fall down upon their knees or put their hats or hands before their faces and so fall to Prayer I will not call this the sacrifice of fools but I judge it very unseasonable for we should joyn with Gods people in the publick Ordinances and prefer them before any thing that we can then undertake The original of this practice was Eo proposito Dominus â—…etat in conventu or are ut à conventu videatur Chrysost Ho. 13. op im perf sup Math. a conceit that the place was more holy than their own houses and that their Prayer shall be heard there rather than at home 'T is too sad a sign they had not prayed before they came thither I am sure it favours rankly of a Pharisaical spirit for this is the fault our Saviour here rectifies which was their private praying in publick places and in opposition thereunto directs his Disciples to the duty of the Text which is to pray in their Closets SECT II. The Nature of Prayer 2. WE may hence be informed concerning the nature usefulness excellency and efficacy of the duty of Prayer I speak not now of Prayer in general but in reference to Closet-Prayer And on that account there are two Consectaries hence concerning Prayer 1. It follows that Prayer is an immediate worship of God For what hath been said shews that we have to do immediately with God yea that a man alone singly hath to do with God therein it 's different from other parts of Gods instituted worship which doth necessarily require company as in preaching of the Word there must be hearers in the seals of the Covenant as in Baptism and the Lords-Supper there must be a society such a number as may be called a Church Hence the latter is called a Communion because saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 10.16 17. We being many are one bread and one body But it is not absolutely or essentially requisite to Prayer that there be a society one man or woman by him or her self alone may perform this duty of Prayer as acceptably to God as if in the company of a thousand Saints We deny not the publick or private Meetings of Gods people for Prayer but withal affirm that the nature of the duty is such that it may be performed solitary and alone Hence Schoolmen distinguish of Prayer Aq. 2 2ae q. 83 Art 12. that it is either Communis or Singularis Common or Singular Both have their place and use Though they lay great stress upon Christs promise in Mat. 18.20 promising to be where two or three are met in his Name which as we deny not so we assert the force of this Prayer of a single person according to the Text We give both their due without comparisons 2. Prayer cannot be stopt in its ascent to God All the persecutors on earth cannot hinder a soul's praying This is demonstrated two wayes 1. A Child of God banisht out of all human society may pray still Suppose a man were rejected by men and ejected out of all companies of men and were shut up in the Closest Prison or shut out in the remotest Wilderness suppose a man were in the Caves and Dens of the Earth yet still he might pray and be heard according to Solomon's Prayer that If Gods People were carried captive into the Land of their Enemies far or near yet if they repented and prayed unto God towards their Land and that House of God then he begs that God would hear them and God testifies that he did hear this Prayer of Solomon 1 King 8.46 48. with chap. 9.3 The passage to Heaven is as near and open from one part of the earth as another therefore David saith he will cry to God from the end of the Earth Psal 61.2 A notable instance for this we have in Jonah he was got into the bottom of the Sea as far from Heaven locally as one could imagine into a great Fishes belly which he calls the very belly of Hell and as he was then far from men so he looks upon himself as cast out of the sight of God and he pathetically expresseth his misery and hopeless state What doth he in this doleful plight Why he will look towards Gods holy
Temple Alas poor Jonah knew not now which way the Temple stood he had but a short prospect in that dark and narrow Prison yes faith can set Jonah upon one of the Mountains of Israel that thence he may see as far as Mount Zion and reach as high as Heaven he prayes yea cryes God hears and delivers as low as he was he knocks at Heaven gates and his Prayer doth pierce the Clouds it makes bold and steps in My prayer saith he came in unto thee into thine holy Temple Jonah 2.2 7. Oh the strange and swift motion of a believing Prayer Let the praying soul be where it will the Prayer will come to God's ear and get an answer 2. A Child of God that cannot speak a word may put up an acceptable Prayer suppose the tongue which is the organ of speech were cut out yet a Saint cannot thereby be obstructed in his access to God by Prayer For as Amesius saith Oratio formaliter est actus voluntatis Prayer is formally the act of the Will desire is the soul of Prayer which God may hear though it be not expressed for he knows the heart Psal 10.17 Lord thou hast heard the desire of the humble A Saints desire is a real Prayer if the desire be right words are but the outward garb habit or cloaths as I may so say of Prayer the carcass or shell of the duty ardent desires are the life kernel Exod. 14.15 1 Sam. 1.13 Neh. 2.4 marrow of the performance Hence we find that Moses Hannah and Nehemiah are said to pray when Scripture doth not express a word they speak nor is it probable they did make an articulate sound I speak not this to indulge carnal men in their lazy conceited ejaculations Deus exaudit non solum preces indicativas sed optativas Luth. as though they could pray well enough and never speak or while they are working walking talking Let me hint a word by the way to these Consider silly soul God hath given thee a body and thou must offer it to God as a reasonable sacrifice thou art bound in conscience to pray and praise God with thy tongue which is thy glory yea let me tell thee if thou hast those members of body and an opportunity to pray thus solemnly with thy tongue upon thy knees and dost never do it I question whether thou prayest at all or no since thou livest in the apparent neglect of a known duty What I speak of the Saints real though sometimes without vocal Prayers is to commend the duty and comfort those Saints that may be put to these exigencies that though they cannot speak yet they may pray and be heard and answered SECT III. Shewing the Power of Prayer I Might from hence take occasion to discover the strength and efficacy of this duty of Prayer from the consideration of Closet-Prayer though but a poor single person get upon his knees in a Corner and have no creature to help him yet he can even undertake to grapple with the omnipotent and eternal God yea by his strength may have power with God as we heard of Jacob who by single wrestling with him hand to fist as it were wrestled a blessing from him One poor single Elijah could stand against at least four hundred Prophets of Baal 1 King 18.36 and prevail having recourse to the living God by Prayer yea the Apostle tells us that this Elijah though but a mortal man yet he shut up and opened Heaven that it rained and rained not according to his Prayer hence he infers an universal Maxim that the effectual servent Prayer of a righteous man avails much and illustrates it by that notable instance James 5.16 17 18. But some may object Elijah was a great Prophet an extraordinary person he might prevail when we cannot he answers He was no more than a man a Man subject to like passions as we are a sinful creature he prevailed not for any merits of his own but through faith in the Mediator of the Covenant and so may we There 's not the meanest Child of God but hath the same plea Mr. Gurnal on Eph. 6.10 p. 42. God hath strength enough to give saith one but he hath no strength to deny Here the Almighty himself with reverence be it spoken is weak even a child the weakest in grace of his family that can but say Father is able to overcome him for Prayer is in a sort omnipotent it can conquer the invincible Jehovah Vincit invincibilem ligat omnipotentem and bind the hands as it were of an omnipotent God so that God is fain to cry out to wrestling Moses Let me alone 'T is said of Luther That man could do with God even what he would Prayer hath a kind of commanding compulsive power That 's a strange Text Isa 45.11 Ask me of things to come concerning my Sons and concerning the work of my hands command ye me So some take it ye shall find me as ready to do you service as if ye had me at command yet this must be warily received not as though God were forced to any thing against his will but when Gods people pray aright in the name of Christ according to his will 1 Joh. 5.14 he heareth them and this he attributes to Prayer for the credit of that duty and incouragement of praying souls That 's a notable Text to shew the readiness of God to answer Prayer Joh. 16.26 27. I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for you for the father himself loveth you Christ in this place doth not simply deny that he will intercede for them but shews how ready God is of his own accord to grant the Saints petitions They shall not be put to any great trouble about it but shall be quickly dispatcht in their errand to the Throne of Grace For as * Exiguus gemitus in auribus Dei fortissimas est clamor ita coelum terram replet ut praeter eum Deus nihil audiat atcompescit omnes omnium aliarum rerum clamores Luth. tom 4. Luther speaks a poor groan in the ears of God is a mighty noise and doth so fill Heaven and earth that God can hear nothing besides it and silenceth all other tumults to hearken to it Of what an easie quick access My blessed Lord art thou how suddenly May our requests thy ear invade To shew that State dislikes not easiness If I but lift mine eyes my suit is made Thou canst no more not hear than thou canst dye See more in Herberts Poems pag. 95. SECT IV. Shewing the property of a true Christian ONce more I might shew the duty and property of a sincere Christian that can make this excellent use of solitariness Carnal persons love not to be alone except they be such whose constitution inclines them to Melancholy and then they sit poring on things without profit 't is only the gracious soul that can tell how
his misery plead for mercy and giving God the glory due unto his name oh then he goes away much satisfied and God must needs accept his person and hear his Prayer Why so Why he hath sound abundant assistance meltings quicknings and inlargements Alas Sirs where is Christ all this while I am afraid your advocate is quite forgotten your surety set aside as a poor insignificant Cypher And tell me soul thou that boastest thus of thy inlargements darest thou appear before an holy God in those rotten rags Suppose thy rags be Velvet they are but rags still and are too scant a garment for thy naked soul thou comest to unlock the ear of God and open his heart with a wrong key we are accepted only in the Beloved and not because we are inlarged 'T is true evangelical assistance may be a sign of acceptance but 't is no cause thereof No no our persons and prayers are owned only upon the account of our surety and intercessour Our dear Lord Jesus who dyed for us he lyes leager at the Court of Heaven as our Ambassador to plead for us and to see matters carried fairly betwixt God and ransomed souls and shall we not imploy our advocate and find him work Or shall we think to go our own errand Lord forgive this gross ingratitude Oh Christians whatever your straitness or inlargements be make use of him who is at Gods right hand lay your sacrifices on this golden Altar lay the whole stress of your acceptance upon Christs meritorious intercession act faith on him who mingles his sweet incense with your sorry performances Oh look after our Aaron who is gone into the Holy of Holies for us Consider friends it would be sad with you if you were to be judged according to the best secret duties that ever you performed It 's good to have an inlarged heart in secret yet there 's danger in it and it may undo us because our naughty hearts are apt to boast of and trust to our inlargements therefore 't is better for us sometimes to be straitned than constantly inlarged in our Closet-Prayers This is that which hath made some say that their duties have done them more hurt than their infirmities and the reason is plain because our corrupt hearts are so apt to depend upon the former when as we are daunted and emptied of our selves by considering the latter The Lord help us all in this main businâ—ss of Prayer yea this principal part of our religion to depend wholly upon the righteousness and intercession of Jesus Christ for access to and acceptance with God Study these Scriptures Joh. 16.23 24. Eph. 3.13 Heb. 4.15 16.10.19 20 21 22. Phil. 3.3 18. The Gospel is full of this yea this is the main hinge of our Religion you are not Christians unless you make Jehovah your righteousness in all you do as well as God your ultimate end You 'l go away as the proud Pharisee without acceptance if you plead your inlargements with God but if you come as the Publican pleading only Gods mercy and Christs merits you shall be owned and crowned with abundant incomes There are also several other necessary Ingredients in all prayer which I might urge with reference to this duty of secret Prayer as 1. A right understanding 1 Cor. 14.15 I will pray with understanding For blind devotion is not pleasing to God 2. A sensible feeling of our wants we must come weary and heavy laden Mat. 11.28 Pressed with the guilt of sin pinched with want of grace 3. Fervency of spirit James 5.17 arising from a consideration of the necessity and excellency of what we desire burning Zeal 4. A reverent disposition Eccl. 5.2 an unfeigned abasing of our selves before him from the sense of his infinite Majesty and our own indignity 5. Secret perswasions of prevailing 1 Tim. 2.8 grounded on Gods All sufficiency and Fidelity though the soul be unworthy 6. A charitable disposition forgiving others Mat. 6.14 bearing an endeared affection to all Saints 7. Perseverance in Prayer holding on without cessation Eph. 6.18 Following God in the duty all our dayes Such as these constitutive ingredients essentially requisite in the duty of Prayer I might urge but must contract This is the second sort of Directions CHAP. VI. The circumstances of Secret Prayer opened SECT I. THe third head of Instructions concerning Closet-Prayer is the Circumstances that attend it which may be a great furtherance or hinderance in this performance These are four Referring either to the 1. Place 2. Posture 3. Season 4. Voice I shall but briefly touch at these 1. For the Place I advise you to chuse the most retired room where you may be freest from disturbance that you may not hear the noise of the family or distracting commotions of a tumultuous world be not curious in the choice of a place so it accomplish your end for secrecy or retirement no matter how homely it be the sweetness of the company will compensate the meanness of the place Lovers care not where they meet so they may conveniently be together If you have not a convenient room within doors yet a good heart will not disdain to go meet its Beloved in any coat or barn or wood Isaac walkt out into the Fields to pray and meditate See you chuse a private place wherever it be according to the nature of the duty before opened to you observe God's providence in disposing of you and accept such place as he shall offer to you 2. For Posture In general see that you use an humble gesture there are examples of several laudable gestures in prayer sometimes we find Saints standing ordinarily kneeling spreading forth their hands lifting up their eyes towards Heaven sometimes prostrating the body all along upon the Earth before the Lord you may do in this as you find most advantageous in your experience no universal rules can be given as to these particular circumstances only see that your Closet-Prayers be with as much reverence as if you were before others consider your bodies are Gods and must be presented as a sacrifice to God He will be worshipped with the outward as well as inward man you cannot without dangerous sacriledge rob him of either Besides observe it there is both evidence and assistance in the bodies humble gesture it is an help to make you humble and 't is a sign that you are humble But on the contrary an unsuitable sight and position of the body in Gods service is a sad sign of an unhumbled soul Cogitemus nos sub conspectu Dei stare placendam est Divinis â—…ulis habitu corporis mâ—de vocis Cyp. Serm. in Orat. Dom. p. 409. and hinders humiliation Therefore though you be never so solitary yet remember your Father in Heaven sees you Therefor as Cyprian exhorts let us consider we stand under the presence of God and seek to please the Divin 〈…〉 h in the habit of our body and manner o 〈…〉 Think of this
husbands wives apart Zech. 12.11 12. And of gracious souls to be like Doves of the valleys every one mourning for his iniquity Eze. 7.16 There must be joynt-Prayers and separated Prayers together and apart Let not Christians be content to find Christ in a Corner for themselves but let them do what they can that others also may enjoy him this was the frame of the Church or believing Soul Cant. 3.4 When she had found him I held him saith she and would not let him go until I had brought him into my Mothers house i. e. into more publick assemblies And truly Christians that man hath not found Christ at all that would not have all others to find him Oh thinks the Christian in his retirement that others did but feel and injoy what my soul hath sweet experience of would to God my Husband Wife Brother Father Child Neighbour would but try this course a while Oh what advantage would they get by it Though I eat these sweet morsels alone yet fain would I have others to partake with me In things of this world persons are apt to grudge others any benefit by what they have stoln from others a view but in spiritual advantages there 's no envy and if there be it proceeds not from Grace but from corrupt Nature the more grace the less envy and when envy is gone persons will be communicative Take away envy Tolle invidiam mea tua sunt tua mea and mine is thine and thine is mine true Grace or Charity is kind envieth not 1 Cor. 13.4 Now this I am perswading to that they that have found Christ would be so charitable to souls as to communicate the knowledge of him and the way to enjoy him unto others Thus doth Andrew come to Simon and Philip to Nathaniel and both of them were as a man finding a jewel and cannot contain overjoyed and cry out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have found him We have found the Messias Joh. 1.41 45. And when the poor woman of Samaria had been privately conversing with Jesus down she threw at least left behind her her water-pot and all in haste went to the City and said to the men Come see a man which told me all things that ever I did Is not this the Christ John 4.28 29. Thus do you sirs promote and propagate this choice duty commend it unto others practice and so you may be instruments of good CHAP. VII Concerning the matter or words of Prayer SECT I. THere is one thing yet remains which it may be expected something should be spoken to and that is The matter in praying or words of Prayer Whether it be lawful or requisite to use a form or no Most judge Videas Ames Cas Cons lib. 4. c. 17. p. 190. that as forms are lawful so prescript words may be requisite to some young beginners in Religion and other Christians of weak parts that cannot express their desires to God in fit words to help their rudeness yet Christians ought to press after more growth and proficiency that they may lay aside those Crutches and arrive at that gift of Prayer that may be of singular use As for Closet-Prayer Practical Catech. pag. 277. Dr. Hammond doth assert it that every one may ask his own wants in what form of words he shall think fit And indeed all particular cases incident and variable can scarce be comprehended in one constant form besides in secret Prayer God doth not so much stand upon phrases or pat sentences as the workings of the heart in sighs and groans which are the best Rhetorick in his ears It 's inquired Whether we may use the Lords Prayer I answer we may use it as other prayers in Scripture but I conceive the principal end of it is not to be rehearsed every time we pray but an example platform or directory according to the contents whereof we must direct our prayers Therefore for the further help of young professors I shall briefly touch at the several branches of that admirable compendious rule of Prayer you have in Mat. 6. ver 9. to v. 14. And the rather because it may seem to refer chiefly though not only to Closet-devotion what I shall say to it may be a practical analysing of it in its several parts and branches 1. For the preface Our Father which art in Heaven You may thus make use of it Infinite and Eternal Majesty the Maker of Heaven and Earth who dwellest in the highest Heavens and in the lowest hearts who seest all things here below and art a God that hearest prayers I am a poor worm at thy foot-stool looking up to the Throne of thy Grace cast a Fatherly eye up on me and though I be by Nature a Child of wrath yet through Jesus Christ make me thy child by Grace and Adoption teach me to cry Abba Father with holy reverence and filial confidence raise my heart to Heaven beget in me Faith in thy promises love to my brethren and due apprehensions of thy Soveraign power and gracious condescention that praying by the help of thy Spirit in the name of thy Son I may obtain good at thy Fatherly hands Secondly for the Petitions 1. Petition Hallowed be thy Name Thus O my God I have dishonoured thee all my days by my ignorance pride hardness and unthankfulness and I am unapt and unable to glorifie thee but do thou glorifie thy self in my conversion and salvation help me to know and adore thee to make an high account of thy titles attributes ordinances to believe thy word admire thy works in mercy or judgment help me with spiritual thoughts becoming my holy profession with divine lips speaking good of thy Name and a suitable conversation to walk before the Lord Holy God destroy Atheism Ignorance Idolatry and Profaneness magnifie thy Name through the World and direct and dispose all things to the advancement of thy glory by thy over-ruling providence and thy infinite wisdom 2. Petition Thy Kingdom come Thus improve it Lord I must confess that by nature I am dead in sin and a bond-slave to the Prince of darkness who rules in my heart and leads me captive by ignorance errour disobedience but do thou by the power of thy grace cast out the strong man take possession of my heart sway thy blessed Scepter in me bring my whole man to obedience destroy Satans kingdom propagate the Gospel among all Nations purge thy house furnish thy Church with officers orders and pure ordinances make Kings nursing Fathers to it convert sinners confirm Saints comfort the sad hasten thy second coming to judgement and the blessed Kingdom of Glory 3. Petition Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven Thus Holy Majestie I acknowledge my natural ignorance of thy will impotencie to obey it yea enmity and antipathy against it my best services are imperfect my spirit repining under thy hand and my will wilfully resisting grace and rushing into sin but Dear Lord