he was careful of and busie at his home-trade Psal. 55. 17. Evening morning and at noon will I pray and cry aloud And yet that was not enough for him at that rate of working he could neither live nor lay up as he would therefore you read in Psal. 119. 164. It was his constant practice to be at his praises of God seven times a day Thirdly I would ask thee this Question What dost thou think of God what figure doth he make I know notwithstanding his unmatchable Excellencies and infinite Perfections he is very low in the thoughts of many yea most but I am now speaking to thee who art a Professor and pretendest to a knowledge of him and a love to him But prithee What room dost thou give him where dost thou place him dost thou deal becomingly with him dost thou value and esteem him as a God ought to be valued dost thou believe that he alone is more than all the Angels in Heaven and all the Men on Earth put together dost thou think that to have his Eye upon thee is a far greater matter than to have the Eyes of the best and greatest Persons upon Earth upon thee It really is so for what is all the World to God what is Heaven and Earth to God what is their loving thee if he hate thee what is their liking thee if he loath thee what is their approving and justifying thee if he reject and condemn thee but I ask now what thy thoughts are and again I ask dost thou think that to have his presence with thee is more than to be in the most frequent and numerous Assembly the most thronged Congregation and certainly it is so the presence of God alone should be more awing and it is more delighting than that of any other Now if thou hast this high esteem for God if thou makest this account of his presence then remember that He seeth in secret So our Saviour tells us in the Text. His Eyes run to and fro in the Earth not only in the High-ways and broad Streets but they look into Nooks and Corners also He doth not only walk in the golden Candlesticks but steps into Chambers and Closets too as in Ezek. 9. 8. he order'd the Prophet to dig in the wall and commanded him to go in and see the Abominations that were done there And Verse 12. He speaks of what the Ancients of the house of Israel did in the dark every one in the chambers of his imagery Idolaters act their idolatry and ungodly Men their wickedness as close as they can they have darkness and walls to conceal it but to God the darkness is as the light and the night shineth as the day and in the wall there is an hole through which God's Eye looks and discovers all and he that can find an hole in the wall hath also a window in the Chamber Now if the Eyes of Men will make thee pray in thy Family if they have such a powerful influence on thee as to fetch thee out of thy House and draw thee to join with the Congregation iâ— the Acts of Publick Worship give me a reason if thou hast one worth the giving why the All-seeing Eye of the glorious and holy God should not make thee pray in thy Chamber by thy self since he doth most curiously observe thee there though no body else doth I think my self bound to tell thee whether thou wilt believe and consider it or not I must leave to thy self That if thou dost neglect Secret Prayer it is an evident sign that thou undervaluest God It is no less than a base slight put upon God and those that despise him shall be lightly esteemed Fourthly Let me once more inquire of thee what agreement is there between thee and thy Conscience When you do not seek God do you find and enjoy peace within is Concience quiet doth it not quarrel with you and make you feel its anger I remember what the Apostle saith in Rom. 14. 22. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that which he alloweth that is satisfied about the thing which he doth whatever others say against him he is not self-condemned So I may say Happy is the man who condemneth not himself in the thing that he omitteth Thou never prayest in secret but art thou not in that wanting to thy duty art not thou injurious both to God and thine own Soul dost thou not withhold from him that which is his due doth not thy Conscience tell thee thou art wanting to thy duty doth it not vote for it doth it not upbraid thee with the neglect doth it not sometimes flee in thy face and charge it upon thee and put thee into a Little-ease I think I have said enough in the Doctrinal part for the proving it to be thy Duty And hath not thy Conscience gone along with those things and subscribed to them as the Truths of God And if so what account wilt thou be able to give unto thy supream Lord for thy not giving ear to his Vicegerent that he himself had appointed and set up in thy bosome How wilt thou answer him when he shall say Why didst thou not attend to the dictates of thy Conscience why didst thou not do that which thy Conscience told thee thou wast bound to do How dost thou think to come off what plea wilt thou use at the last and great day when thy heavenly Master shall say I have not found thy works perfect before me they have not been filled up here hath been an huge Chasâ—e a great vacancy I have been forgotten and neglected by thee when thou wast alone thou wouldest not do me service when thou hadst nothing else to do thou wouldest rather sit still nodding in thy Chair than take the pains to give me a visit We are commanded always to ahound in the work of the Lord 1 Cor. 15. verse last How darest thou then to omit so considerable so sweet and so necessary a part thereof especially when thy Conscience persuaded and called thee to it Conscience will be heard sooner or later in one way or other if you will not hear its softer Counsels you shall its louder Thunders if you will not follow its Directions it will pursue you with its Terrors In a word if you will not attend to the Dictates of Conscience you shall feel the Fury of it and when you feel it you will find it intollâ—rable Having thus ordered out those Reproofs which I judged necessary upon occasion of this Text and begging they may take place and be accompanied with a blessing upon those who are guilty before God in one of these respects or other I come to speak unto you in a way of hearty and serious exhortation I do in the Bowels of Love and with great earnestness intreat and beseech you who are yet altogether or too great strangers to it to set forthwith upon this excellent Duâ—y of Secret Prayer and oh that by the
a capacity of receiving counsel and advice and when we come it shall be with bowels of pity and compassion and we will pray for you heartily and with all our might but do not you trust to that and pass the time of your health and strength in a supine carelesness and neglect but now make Prayer your business go to the Throne of Grace upon your own errand and seek God your selves Secondly Consider what will be the fruâ—t of this total neglect of Prayer after Death hath put a period to your sinful careless Life Enoch while in the way walked with God and then in the end God took him The Communion was begun here that shewed the Holiness of Enoch in Heaven it was perfected and that made his happiness compleat A Praying Saint doth at death go up to the Quire of Angels and glorified spirits of just Men to joyn with them in their loud and never-ending Allelujahs they lived a Life of Prayer upon Earth and they shall live a life of Praise in Heaven But what will become of you that are altogether strangers to the work what kind of Eternity is that which you shall launch into How unspeakably doleful will your condition be in the other World You are not fit for the work of Praises for your instruments are not in tune for it there never was any thing done here for the putting your hearts in frame from you there would proceed nothing but jarring in the midst of that most pleasant and melodious Consort You cannot pray to God which is the work of poor indigent Beggars How then can you exalt and praise him which to do is the work of holy and ever-blessed Angels And then if you are not fit for Heaven you will be fit for Hell if no company for Angels then for Devils if you will not pray here you shall in the torment and bitterness of Soul roar and howl there you will not honour God he will punish you you cared not for the knowledg of his ways and you shall not know his rest you will not seek his face and you shall not see his face No no down you shall be thrust into that lake where there shall be fire to torment but no light to refresh where there shall not be the voice of joy and triumphs but weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth In this Life you send up no Prayers to God but live as if you did not know him as if you did not need him as if you had no love for him and the truth is you have not Well remember this He lets you alone at present and carrieth as if he took no notice but he will deal with you accordingly when he hath you in the next World the place of giving out rewards and punishments rendering unto every one according as his work hath been there you shall have tribulation and anguish but God will not be affected with your miseries nor will he pity your groans nor have any respect to your tears Lay these things to your hearts and be convinced of this that Prayer is your interest set upon the work if you did but get acquaintance with it you would love it if you were but once used to it you would never leave it Psal. 116. 1 2. I love the Lord because he hath heard my voice and my supplications Because he hath inclined his ear unto me therefore I will call upon him as long as I live And that was long enough longer he should not pray so long he would there is no Praying-work in Heaven Well said David I will ply it here and follow it hard now He had found the good and tasted the sweetness of it VSE In the second part of this Use of Reprâ—hension I shall direct my Discourse to those who are altogether for Publick Praying getting into Churches and such as they call Consecrated places there to shew I think that is a word very proper to the design their Devotion though I do not see but that when their hours of Prayer are come and their Service is doing their Churches are exceeding empty which is indeed a shame to them for if they are persuaded in their Consciences That is the way of God why do they not frequent it If they are convinced That is the work of the Lord why do they not abound in it There is a great cry among them for that form and Mode of Worship and I heartily wish it may do them much good that love it but since their cry for it is so loud why is their devotion so little Why do small matters keep them at home upon week-days why do they chuse Taverns and Ale-houses rather than their places of Prayer Let them look to it that their seeming zeal do not come from a bad Principle and be not directed to a bad end I shall not speak a word against the Liturgy That is not my business who desire to follow those things that make for Peace Let those that like it and chuse it use it if they please let them that find it heart-raising heart-warming heart-inlarging go on in their attendance upon it I envy none that which they like and may do them good especially when I have that which pleaseth me better Blessed be our Gracious God and thanks to those in Authority over us we have liberty to serve God according to our Judgments and Consciences yea and that Liberty established by a Law We know there are many Adversaries that are enraged at it but through Divine Goodness there is a wide and effectual door opened the Lord grant none may be able to shut it That which I blame many for is their Idolizing of Publick Places as if they did put an Holiness and Virtue into work done in them and as if Publick Prayer were enough and would serve for all How have we some superstitious persons as they pass through an Abbey Cathedral c. not only bare their heads but drop upon their knees in a Pew or at a Pillar And others that I have known when the Bells chime in up they get and to the Church they go and there they sit till the Service be finished and that they think sufficient and with that they do at present put off their Consciences that is all the Prayer they make then to Eating and Drinking and Visiting and Gaming there is no Praying in their Families none in their Chambers and Closets I appeal to your Consciences in the Case and accuse no body living unless their Consciences accuse them Now my Friends what do you think of this Is it well will this do is this the way to please God Is this to fill up your days and places with Duty Is this to deal bountifully with that God who doth deal so bountifully with you Is this to fit your selves for the giving up your account unto God The proud Pharisee went to the Temple to pray but when he had done he came away with a world of
things 1. Safety 2. Comfort 1. First Secret Prayer is a choice and excellent means of Security would a Man be safe when he is alone then let him pray when he is alone On this side of Heaven there is not any one place to be sound in which a person may rationally look upon himself as quite out of the reach of danger I heard one once wittily say He did not upon the Road fear Highway-men so long as be was alone But there are other enemies from whom we may apprehend mischief when we are most alone The subtil Serpent wrigled himself into Paradise it self and there he did mortally sting our first Parents and undid them and all their posterity in them Holy Paul was perfectly safe while he continued in the third Heaven the malicious Tempter could not come at him there since he was cast down from that blessed place He never yet could and for the future he never shall make a re-entry nor is his Arm strong enough to shoot an Arrow or throw a fiery Dart so high But no sooner was that eminent Apostle come down again but he was desperately set upon worse than the Philistins were upon him there was a Thorn stuck in his flesh which could not but put him to pain and a Messenger of Satan was sent to buffet him who without peradventure gave him no small blows One would conclude a person safe enough when no-body is with him as there is none to help so there is none to hurt yet even then he may be in danger for though there be no Man with him yet there is a Devil with him yea more than one possibly more than a Legion It might have been rationally concluded That David walking upon the top of his House did not stand in need of his Life-guard about him Who was that should or could do the King a mischief there Yet even there a Naked Woman conquered that Man of War and a malicious Devil let fly one of his envenom'd Arrows and wounded him to the very heart by the eye It had been well for that good Man if instead of gazing about and viewing every object that presented he had been looking up to his God and praying in secret Know and consider O thou poor Soul the Devil hath a mind to thee not out of any Love he bears thee for there is no such thing in Devils they must cease to be Devils before they can have any kindness for Men But he hath a mind to you as a roaring Lion hath to his prey and in pursuance of his bloody design he is restless though he can do himself no good he reckons it worth his while to do thee a mischief and therefore he doth not only walk with thee up and down in the Street and from this private or publick House to that nor only follow thee to the publick Congregation there to divert thy thoughts or deaden thy affections or direct thine eye to some vain and wanton object or pick up the seed which is sown that though it be cast in at the ear yet it may never reach so far as the heart to root there and bring forth precious fruit in the Life and Conversation but he will also dog you into your Chambers and intrude into your Closets when the Door is shut he will get in you cannot while here get clear of the old Man and the old Serpent and where-ever he is you may be sure He comes for no good He is wholly set upon mischief that is his constant imploy his beloved work his heart is set upon it he follows it close and with all his might Therefore my advice is That thou wouldest make Prayer thy Closet-business that when this implacable Enemy of thine finds thee alone he may not have an advantage against thee When in Ephes. 6. the Apostle Paul had told you of the Enemies you must contend with that they are not only flesh and blood but also principalities and powers and spiritual wickednesses in high places he advised you to put on the whole Armour of God and over and above he directed you to this excellent and necessary work of Prayer as knowing that both your security and victory depend as much upon that as any thing Your Armour will not do without your God and him you cannot expect without Prayer If then you would not fall both into temptation and by it your care and work must be to watch and pray and I do not in the least doubt but Prayer hath laid many a restraint upon the Devil and kept him off from medling with a Child of God when his fingers have itch'd at him and blunted his tools often and often so that he could not do the work he intended with them and broken the neck of many a cursed design which he was most industriously carrying on 2. Secondly Secret Prayer is a special way for the making of your retirement comfortable and pleasant to you Solitariness is looked upon as having Melancholly for its usual Companion and a Life of loneliness and retirement is reckon'd a very disconsolate Life The Prophet made this a part of his bitter complaint Psal. 102. 7. That he was as a sparrow alone upon the house top And Solomon saith Eccles. 4. 10. Wo be to him that is alone Hence one said He that loves to be alone is either a Beast or a God But Secret-Prayer is an excellent way to sweeten solitariness and take off the uncomfortableness of it If thou dost but in thine uprightness apply thy self heartily to this work when thou art without any Company thou shalt not be without matter of rejoycing but with Hagar in the Wilderness find a Spring opened to thee That was a great saying of one Nunquam minus solus quam cum maxime solus I am never less alone than when I am most alone He did never find less want of Company than when he had none then a Man enjoys his God and himself and he that hath indeed that enjoyment needs no body Iohn 16. 32. Our Saviour spake thus to his Disciples The hour cometh yea is now come that ye shall be scattered every man to his own and shall leave me alone and yet I am not alone because the father is with me Not alone when alone I shall be altogether without you but not without my Father who doth more infinitely more than fill up those vacancies as at noon-day we do not want the Stars though they be all obscur'd and disappear because we have the glorious Light and Beams of the Sun who doth abundantly supply their absence David tells us in Psalm 145. 18. which is a Psalm of Praise That the Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him to all that call upon him in truth Sincere Prayer will fetch God down from Heaven to stand at thy right hand Our Heavenly Father is more ready than the most affectioâ—ate tender-hearted Mother upon Earth to arise and come in at the cry
was not only thus with a profane Esau who might well be thought to have forfeited the blessing by his selling his Birthright but even good Iacob himself when he would have a blessing from Heaven he was constrained to wrestle with the Angel for it and to put forth all his strength in the conflict and to keep his hold though the Angel seâ—med willing to shake him off yea and to tell him at last that he would not let him go until he had got it Thus it hath been formerly Blessings come down from Heaven upon the wings of Prayer And what O man dost thou think that the Blessings of God are fallen so much in their price and grown so cheap at this day as that they go a begging Or that men may have them without asking for God hath been wont to stand more upon his Honour than so and therefore hath declared his will that Prayer shall come in between the Promise and the Performance he would have his People sue out the Promise before they shall have the good which is contained in it as is evident from that well-known Scripture Ezek. 36. we find the heart of God greatly inlarged to his People and Promises flowed in abundance from him and He gives them the assurance of his fixed resolution in the thing I the Lord have spoken it and I will do it Do not you doubt call not my truth in question I will be as good as my word Yet observe what follows in the 37th verse Thus saith the Lord God I will yet be enquired of by the House of Israel to do it for them All those great and good things had been in the heart and purpose of God from eternity and now he was graciously pleased for their comfort to put them into his Promise but if they had a desire to have them they must send Prayer to Heaven for them Holy David tells us Psal. 3. 8. God's blessing is upon his People and certainly every one will grant that there is a great deal of reason why it should be upon them exclusive to all the World beside upon them and upon none but upon them they only have been by the Lord Iesus redeemed from the curse of the Law and therefore they only can lay a rightful claim to the Blessings of the Gospel God may yea and he every day doth give bread to his Enemies but surely as long as they continue his Enemies he will not give them his blessing and indeed why should they expect it But now O prayerless Soul how wilt thou prove thy self one of his People Thou hast upon thee those Spots which are not the Spots of his People when at the same time thou dost want those Marks which are the Marks of his People thou who spendest thy days without prayer dost pay no homage unto God thou ownest no dependence upon him thou givest him no reverence thou dost him no service thou bringest him no honour and I pray tell me why should his blessing be upon thee God may deal bountifully with thee possibly he doth do so already and gives thee waters of a full cup it is his manner many srcaps and good bits fall under his Table He lets them fall on purpose for his Dogs to gather up his Sun shines and his Rain falls upon barren Wildernesses and noysome Dunghills as well as upon fruitful Fields and pleasant Gardens Outward mercies are therefore called Common Mercies because all have their share in them the just and the unjust too the evil as well as the good so that the Wise Man tells us No man can know either love or hatred by all that is before him Therefore let no man be proud of his temporal Enjoyments nor of an elated Spirit because he is of a raised condition and stands upon the World 's upper ground If thou hast no other arguments to use but those thou fetchest from the World's Topicks thou wilt never prove thy self Heaven-born nor make out thy Title to the happiness and glory which is above God indeed may fill thy Pocket and spread thy Table furnishing it with variety of Dainties He may cram thy Bags and make thy Cup run over He may throw into thy Possession Houses and Lands as he gave Quales to the Israelites in his wrath and if thou wilt take the pains to turn over all thou hast and make as diligent search as thou canst thou wilt not find one blessing in it many a Creature and in every one a curse thy Cloaths have a plague in them witness thy Pride thy Table is thy snare witness thy excess and Riches are laid up by thee to thy hurt whilst thou makest them thy God which should be no more than thy Servants Thus it is with thee at present and thy present condition is thy best condition unless thou growest better that will not all that thou canst do is to rejoyce in sense thou must leave it to others to rejoice in hope But however if it will do thee any good and the Lord grant that it may we will enquire what is like to be hereafter Therefore Lastly Let us look on to the consequence and consider what will follow this sinful bruitish negect of your unquestionable duty You know your own Consciences tell you that you do not pray you are not convinced of any need that you have of it other things there are which you think you cannot be without such are your Jovial Companions and your vain antick Dresses but you can be and do very well without Prayer you taste no sweetness in it ranting and roaring is musick Healths and Huzza's Balls and Masques are ravishingly delicious but to you Prayer is a very dull and insipid business But I pray what will be at the last I would stain have my best at last and so would you too if you be wise if you have not your best at your latter end you will be found fools at your latter end I find an excellent wish concerning Israel of old whether it was God's wish or Moses's or both I am sure it was very good and carried in it a great deal of love Deut. 32. 24. O that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end By latter end there according to the judgment of Expolitors we are not so much to understand their death as the end and issue of that course which they were then steering O that they would seriously think with themselves and wisely foresee whither that way would bring them in which they were then walking It was a very smooth and pleasant way it was paved with delights but the great business was whither did it lead them It is my hearty wish for you whoever you are that you would once in a day retire your selves and get alone and seriously think what your total neglect of Prayer will produce when you are on a Death-bed and after Death in Eternity First What fruit you will have from
of thy heavenly Father I am confident if thou wilt begin it in good earnest thou wilt not easily give it over I do not indeed know what interruption the Devil may give thee who hates all the Work of God and good of Man but if by temptation thou shouldest for a time be taken off from it thou wilt not be well nor able to enjoy thy self till thou dost return to it again I dare say in an humble holy and beliâ—ving performance thou wilt experience such incompâ—rable sweetness and so much benefit and advantage accruing to thee that thou wilt go on and call upon God as long as thou livest and then expire thy Soul in the same manner as Stephen did whose last words were Prayer Acts 7. 59. Lord Iesus receive my spirit and Lord lay not this sin to their charge and when he had said this he fell asleep That which I have further to do will be in these two things 1. Lay down Motives to the work 2. Give Directions for managing it I shall begin with the Motives for the alluring and drawing you to this excellent work who have hitherto been altogether strangers to it or very backward and by consequence inconstant off and on and I shall most heartily rejoice if the Lord would graciously please to succeed these endeavours so that what I shall suggest to you may bring you upon your knees that there may be more of this Chamber-practice more of a Chamber-fellowship and Closet-communion with your God The Motives are these First Do you pray in secret because that God who is the proper Object of Prayer seeth in secret as trusting in him you do at no time and in no condition trust in a God that cannot save so directing your Prayers to him you do in no place pray unto a God that cannot hear When Hagar had in a fear fled from the face of her incensed Mistress God found her out in the Wilderness where she was absconded and appeared and spake unto her there whereupon it is said in Gen. 16. 13. That she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her Thou God seest me for she said Have I also here looked after him that seeth me We may as some do reckon these words to be words of reprehension as relating to herself and words of admiration as referring to God Have I also looked after him Here I am but how stupid and foolish have I been I have been looking back to the Comforts which I had when in the Family and under the wing of my Master Abraham and I have been looking to the displeasure and severity of my Mistress Sarahâ—â— and I have been looking to the desolate place and distressed condition into which I am now brought but have I here minded God and looked after God I have been so afflicted with my loss and have pored so much upon my troubles that I have been unmindful of God did find neither heart nor leisure to think of Him or look after Him a Case it is too common among the children of men yet here he â—eeth me and minds me here he looks upon my person and upon my affliction and sorrow And maist not Thou my Friend say the very same when thou art alone and in thy Closet-recesses Thou God seest me When no soul living is by when no mortal eye seâ—th me then Thou God seest me Now let me desire thee after that serious consideration to propound this as a serious Question to thy self Have I also here looked after him that seeth me God's eyes have been here upon me but have mine eyes been again upon God and unto God It may be thou art able to say In the publick Congregation I have looked after that God who seeth me there I have had many frequent repeated and raised thoughts at him there I have waited for him more than they that watch for the morning yea more than they that watch for the morning But when thou art in thy Chamber canst thou make thy Appeal to God and say O Lord thou knowest and art my witness that even here I have looked after thee that seest me here mine eyes of Faith and Prayer have been toward the Lord that seeth me This is an Argument which our deâ—râ—st Lord Jesus maketh use of in the Text That your Father seeth in secret The Royal Prophet saith Psalm 139. 7. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit or whither shall I flee from thy presence The Question speaks it a thing impossible to be done His eye is fastned upon thee and follows thee whithersoever thou goest look to thy self and ponder all thy actions thou art under the pure and piercing and all-discerning eye of the infinitely Great and Glorious Majesty when thou art in the Congregation and in the Street and in the Shop and in the Kitchen yea and when thou art in the Closet too And since he doth see thee there what wouldst thou have him see thee doing wouldst thou have him see nothing but vanity in thy mind and corruption in thy heart wouldst thou have him see nothing done by thee but looking into thy Glass and into thy Chests and Bags or turning over thy Fineries and Fooleries and so feeding thy Wantonness and Pride or making provision for a perishing Carkass to deck and adorn it or gratifie a bruitish and sensual Appetite but never see thee upon thy knees seeking his face and favour or the good of thine own precious and never-dying Soul Oh that His Eye might affect your Hearts That Divine Eye which is upon all your ways and looks you thorow and thorow That Eye which is ten thousand times yea inconceivably more than the eyes of all the Angels in Heaven and of all the Men upon Earth The Eye of God should among others have these two effects upon us and upon all men that know and own him First It should awe us Seâ—ondly It should quicken and animate us It should awe us when we are in secret and be an effectual curb to those Lusts and Corruptions which would otherwise break loose and grow rampant When no body is by do not dare to sin because God is by This preserved young Ioseph from falling before a great temptation When he might have procured the savour of his Mistress and as some would have thought have done himself a kindness this thought brake the neck of the temptation How shall I do this great wickedness and sin against God Again the Eye of God should animate and put life into you it should as a golden Spur quicken you to the careful and lively performance of Duty when you are in secret and no body at hand to take notice of it and make report Let it be enough for you enough alone that God seeth your love to him and the desires of your Souls to his Name and a remembrance of him and communion with him and He needs none to inform him of your unmindfulness and neglect of him no no He
thing of the Pharisee Thirdly When thou art alone in prayer make it thy great desire and care to be with God In all thy approaches to him and in all thine appearances before him make sure that thou be with him The Psalmist could say Psal. 139. 18. When I awake I am still with thee this some understand of the constancy of God's kindness Though the most vigilant of the Saints sometimes fall into sleepiness and drowsiness of spirit that they perceive not God's presence with them nor care over them nor love to them yet when the Lord awakeneth up their Souls and reneweth their spiritual senses they are made to see and acknowledge that the Lord doth never leave them no not when they least perceive his presence But others do by this understand the gracious frame and workings of David's Spirit He was every morning with God as soon as ever he opened his eyes he directed them to God God was the excellent and endeared Object that he would first converse with and bestow his morning visit upon I am still with thee by meditation Oh that thou couldest say the same in truth as to this duty of Prayer Lord when I am at prayer I am still with thee I am often upon my knees and I am as often with my God I Iohn 1. 3. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that ye also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Iesus Christ. Do you press after that a fellowship with God do you enquire for that as Elisha when he had got the Mantle which his Master had dropt he cried out Where is the Lord God of Elijah so do you here is the Prayer but where is the fellowship Truly that Person is both wickedly and miserably alone in his duty who is not with God in duty He sins greatly in it and he shall get nothing by it That is an accursed privacy out of which the great and ever-blessed God is excluded He is indeed with thee in all places in thy greatest retirements Psal. 139. 8. If I ascend up into Heaven thou art there if I make my bed in Hell thou art there So if thou art in the Congregation God is there if in the Chamber God is there if in the Field God is there He fills all places and he takes notice of all persons and of all their Actions but that is not enough no gracious Soul that doth indeed love him will sit down satisfied with that While God is with thee by his Omnipresence observing thee and all thy ways what duties thou dost and how thou dost them it must be thy great care to be with God in a way of holy meditation and affection to have the thoughts dwelling with God the desires running out to God and the delights feasting upon God Have a care that when you pretend to be alone in your duty you do not lay the reins upon your necks and allow your minds in their loose and vain exâ—ursions Christian go to thy duty and go to thy God too So that good man wisely resolved Psal. 43. 3 4. O send out thy light and truth let them lead me let them bring me unto thy hill and to thy tabernacles then will I go unto the altar of God unto God my exceeding joy He would not stop at the Altar but get up to the God who was worshipped there and when thou art with him keep with him as close as thou canst let no temptation draw thee away Fourthly Whensoever thou art in secret before God reveal all thy secrets to him deal plainly and openly with him anatomize thy Soul in his presence tell him all that is in thine heart and all that thou remembrest hath been in thy life and do not hide any thing from him whatsoever thine own Conscience preacheth to thee do thou go and repeat it all to God confess to him those evil Actions thou didst in a corner and under the covert of darkness though no mortal eye saw them nor can any body charge thee with them The keeping back of part of thy sins may be thy ruine as well as keeping back part of the price of the Land and covering the fraud with a lie was the death of Ananias and Sapphira Acknowledge to him those heart-corruptions which did never come into act the law in the members that warreth against the law in your mind the sin that dwelleth in you that cursed root of bitterness which lieth under ground the vicious fountain that is continually boiling and bubling up in filthy thoughts and vile affections though it never sent forth such muddy and abominable streams as run in an impetuous and rapid manner in the lives of others overflowing all the banks that Religion and Reason do set them In a word Do thou thy self acquaint God with the plague of thine heart which threatens the life of thy Soul though there be no spots to be seen by others upon thee though it doth not shew it self in botches and boils I have already told you that though you need not let men know not your dearest intimate and most faithful Friends know all that you are chargeable with yet you are bound to do so to God and it is indeed no other than a giving of him the glory of his Omniscience and if you do it as you ought in a believing way the glory of his Mercy and Goodness too as being a God ready to forgive and multiply pardons Besides as I have said it is in vain to hide any thing from him because he seeth all searcheth the hearts possesseth the reins and hath our most secret sins in the light of his countenance He that covers his sins shall not prosper not in that action when men go to eover God will come to discover Adam having sinned went like a guilty Malefactor to hide himself but God knew where he was and fetcht him out with a word Achan having stoln the wedge of Gold and two hundred pieces of Silver and a goodly Babylonish Garment went and hid them in the earth in the midst of his Tent but God made him fetch them out again When all is done plain-dealing is best specially when you have to deal with God And let me here add That freedom and openness of heart in a way of humble confession unto God is a very good argument of a gracious frame of heart and speaks a person acted by an ingenuous filial spirit that he is no friend to sin no admirer of himself but willing to load himself that so he might the more loath himself and work his heart into the greater admirings of that patience which notwithstanding so many affronts hath so long born with him and that grace which notwithstanding so great provocations doth yet open to him a door of hope And take one thing with you further this freedom and openness of heart in confessing your sins to God is a singular