but his secret sins every day written in his fore-head it would not only put him to a crimson blush but it would make him pull his hat over his eyes or cover his face with a double scarfe So 1 Kings 8. 38. What prayer and supplication soever be made by any man or by all thy people Israel which shall know every man the plague of his own heart c. Sin is the greatest plague in the world but never more dangerous than when it reaches the heart Now secret sins commonly ly nearest the Heart the Fountain from whence they take a quick immediate and continual supply Secret sins are as near to original Sin as the first droppings are to the spring head And as every secret sin lyes nearest the heart so every secret sin is the plague of the heart Now as secret diseases are not to be laid open to every one but only to the prudent Physitian So our secret sins which are the secret plagues the secret diseases of our souls are not to belaid open to every one but only to the Physitian of souls that is only able both to cure them and pardon them And as all Christians have their secret sins so all Christians have their secret temptations 2 Corin. 12. 8 9. And as they have their secret temptations so they have their secret wants Yea many times they have such particular and personal wants that there is not one in the congregation nor one in the family that hath the like And as they have their secret wants so they have their secret fears and secret snares and secret streights and secret troubles and secret doubts and secret jealousies c. And how do all these things call aloud upon every Christian to be frequent and constant in secret prayer Eleventhly Consider Christ is very much affected and delighted in the secret prayers of his people Cant. 2. 14. O my dove that art in the clefts of the Rock in the secret places of the staires let me see thy countenance let me hear thy voice for sweet is thy voice and thy countenance is comely Christ observes his Spouse when she is in the clefts of the rock when she is gotten into a Corner a praying he looks upon her with singular delight and with special intimations of his love Nothing is more sweet delightful and welcome to Christ than the secret services of his people Their secret breathings are like lovely songs to him their Mal. 3. 4. secret prayers in the clefts of the rock or under the staires are as sweet incense to Jesus The Spouse retires to the secret places of the stairs not only for security but also for secrecy that so she might the more freely without suspition of hypocrisie pour out her soul into the bosome of her beloved The great delight that Parents take in the secret lispings and whisperings of their children is no delight to that which Christ takes in the secret prayers of his people And therefore as you would be friends and and furtherers of Christs delight be much in secret prayer Twelfthly Consider you are the only persons in all the world that God hath made choice of to reveale his secrets to John 15. 15. Henceforth I call you not servants for the Servant knoweth not what his Lord doth but I have called you friends for all things that I have heard of my father I have made known unto you Every thing that God the father had communicated to Christ as Mediator to be revealed to his servants he did make known to his disciples as to his bosome friends Christ loves his people as friends and he uses them as friends and he opens his heart to them as friends There is nothing in the heart of Christ that concerns the internal and eternal 1 Cor. 2. 10 11. John 1. 9. Rom. 16. 25. 1 Cor. 2. 7. Ephes 3. 3 4 9. welfare of his friends but he reveales it to them he reveales himself his love his eternal good-will the misteries of Faith and the secrets of his Covenant to his friends Christ loves not to entertaine his friends with things that are commonly and vulgarly knowne Christ will reveal the secrets of his mind the secrets of his love the secrets of his thoughts the secrets of his heart and the secrets of his purposes to all his bosome friends Sampson could not hide his mind his secrets from Dalilah Judg. 16. 15 16 17. though it cost him his life and do you think that Christ can hide his mind his secrets from them for whom he hath laid down his life surely no. O sirs Christ is 1. A universal friend 2. An omnipotent friend an Almighty friend He is no less than thirty times called Almighty in that book of Job he can do above all expressions and beyond all apprehensions 3. He is an omniscient friend 4. He is an omnipresent friend 5. He is an indeficient friend 6. He is an independant friend 7. He is an unchangable friend 8. He is a watchful friend 9. He is a tender and compassionate friend 10. He is a close and faithful friend And therefore he can't but open and unbosom himself to all his bosom friends To be reserved and close is against the very law of friendship Faithful friends are very free in imparting their thoughts their minds their secrets one to another A real friend accounts nothing worth knowing unless he makes it known to his friends He rips up his greatest and most inward secrets to his friends Job calls Job 19. 19. his friends inward friends or the men of his secrets All Christs friends are inward friends they are the men of his secrets Prov. 3. 32. His secrets are with the righteous that is his covenant and fatherly affection which is hid and secret from the world He that is righteous in secret where no man sees him he is the righteous man to whom God will communicate his closest secrets as to his dearest bosom friend It is only a bosom friend to whom we will unbosom our selves So Psal 25. 14. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will shew them his Covenant Now there are three sorts of divine secrets First There are secrets of Providence Psal 107. ult Hos 14. 9. and these he reveals to the righteous and to them that fear him The Prophet Amos speaks of these secrets of Providence Amos 3. 7. Surely the Lord God will do nothing but he revealeth his secrets unto his servants the Prophets Micaiah knew the secret of the Lord touching Ahab which neither Zedekiah 1 King 2 4. nor any other of the false Prophets knew So Gen. 18. 17. And the Lord said shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do The destruction of Sodom was a secret that lay in the bosom of God but Abraham being a bosom friend God communicates this secret to him Vers 19 20 21. Abraham was a Jam. 2. 23. friend a faithful friend a friend
resting place 't is his free grace 't is his singular mercy 't is his infinite love that is your resting place 't is the bosome of Christ the favour of Christ the satisfaction of Christ and the pure perfect spotlesse marchless and glorious righteousnesse of Christ that is your resting place and therefore say to all your Closet-duties and performances farewell prayer farewell reading farewell fasting farewell tears farewell sighs and groanes farewell meltings and humblings I will never trust more to you I will never rest more on you but I will now return to my resting place I will now rest only in God and Christ I will now rest wholly in God and Christ I will now rest for ever in God and Christ It was the saying of a precious Saint that he was more afraid of his duties than of his sins for the one made him often proud the other made him always humble But My fifth advice and counsel is this Labour to bring your hearts into all your Closet-prayers and performances Look that your tongues and your hearts keep time tune Psal 17. 1. Give ear unto my prayer that goeth not out of feigned lips or as it is in the Hebrew without lips of deceit Heart and tongue must goe together word and work lip and life prayer and practise must eccho one to another or else thy prayers and thy soul will be lost together the labour of the lips and the travail of the heart must go together The Egyptians of all fruits made choice of the Peach to consecrate Plutark to their Goddess and for no other cause but that the fruit thereof is like to ones heart and the leaf like to ones tongue These very Heathens in the worship of their gods thought it necessary that mens hearts and tongues should go together Ah Christians when in your Closet-duties your hearts and your tongues go together then you make that sweet and delightful melody that is most taking and pleasing to the King of Kings The very soul of prayer lyes in the 1 Sam. 1. 15. pouring out of the Soul before God Psal 42. 4. When I remember these things I pour out my soul in me So the Israelites poured out their souls like water before the Lord So the Church The desire of our soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee VVith my soul have I desired thee in the night yea with my spirit within me will I seek thee early Isa 26. 8 9. So Lament 3. 41. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens So Heb. 10. 22. Let us draw neer with a true heart c. So Rom. 1. 9. For God is my witnesse whom I serve in the Spirit 1 Cor. 14 15. I will pray with the spirit and sing with the spirit Phil. 3. 3. VVe are the Circumcision which worship God in the spirit Under the Law the inward parts were only to be offered to God in sacrifice the skin belonged to the Priests whence we may easily gather that truth in the inward parts is that which is most pleasing in a sacrifice When the Athenians would know of the Oracle the cause of their often unprosperous successes in battel against the Lacedemonians seeing they offered the choycest things they could get in sacrifice to the gods which their enemies did not the Oracle gave them this answer that the gods were better pleased with their inward supplication without ambition than with all their outward pomp in costly Sacrifices Ah Sirs the reason why so many are so unsuccessful in their Closet-duties and services is because there is no more of their hearts in them No man can make sure work or happy work in prayer but he that makes heart work on it When a mans heart is in his prayers then great and sweet will be his returns from heaven that is no prayer in which the heart of the person bears no part When the Soul is separated from the body the man is dead and so when the heart is separated from the lip in prayer the prayer is dead The Jews at this day write upon the walls of their Synagogues these words Tephillah belo cavannah ceguph belo neshamah that is a prayer without the heart or without the intention of the affection is like a body without a soul In the Law of Moses the Priest was commanded to wash the inwards and the feet of the Sacrifices in water and this was done saith Philo not without a mystery to teach us to keep our hearts and affections clean when we draw nigh to God In all your Closet-duties God looks first and most to your hearts My Son Pro. 23. 26. give me thy heart It is not a piece it is not a corner of the heart that will satisfie the maker of the heart the heart is a treasure a bed of spices a royal throne wherein he delights God looks not at the clegancy of your prayers to see how neat they are nor yet at the Geometry of your prayers to see how long they are nor yet at the Arithmetick of your prayers to see how many they are nor yet at the Musick of your prayers nor yet at the sweetness of your voice nor yet at the Logick of your prayers but at the sincerity of your prayers how hearty they are There is no prayer acknowledged approved accepted recorded or rewarded by God but that wherein the heart is sincerely and wholly The true mother would not have the Psal 51. 17. James 1. 8. child divided As God loves a broken and a contrite heart so he loaths a divided heart God neither loves halting nor halving he will be served truly and totally The Royal Law is Thou shalt love and serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul Among the Heathens when the beasts were cut up for sacrifice the first thing the Priest looked upon Pro. 21. 27. Isa 1. 11 12. Chap. 29. 13. Mat. 15. 7 8 9. Ezek. 33. 30 31 32. Zech. 7. 4 5 6. 2 Chron. 25 1 2. Psal 78. 36 37. was the heart and if the heart was naught the sacrifice was rejected Verily God rejects all those services and sacrifices wherein the heart is not as you may see by comparing the Scriptures in the margent together Prayer without the heart is but as sounding brass or a tinckling Cymbal Prayer is only lovely and weighty as the heart is in it and no otherwise It is not the lifting up of the voyce nor the wringing of the hands nor the beating of the breasts nor an affected tone nor studied notions nor seraphical expressions but the stirrings of the heart that God looks at in prayer God hears no more than the heart speaks if the heart be dumb God will certainly be deaf no prayer takes with God but that which is the travel of the heart The same day Julius Caesar came to the imperial dignity sitting in his Golden Chair he offered a
tribulation Rom. 5. 3 4. And not only so but we glory in tribulations also knowing that tribulation worketh patience and patience experience and experience hope Grace alwayes thrives most when Saints are under the Rod. When Christians are under the Rod then their graces do not only bud but blossome and bring forth fruit as Aarons Rod did The Mum. 17. 8 snuffing of the Candle makes it burn the brighter God beats and bruises his links to make them burn the brighter he bruises his spices to make them send forth the greater Aromatical savour Bernard compares Afflictictions to the Tezel which though it be starp and scratching it is to make the Cloath more pure and fine The Jews were alwayes best when they were in an afflicted condition Well-waters arising from deep springs are hotter in the winter than they are in the summer Stars shine brightest in the darkest nights Vines grow the better for bleeding and Gold looks the brighter for scowring Juniper smels sweetest when in the fire Cammomile the more you tread it the more you spread it O Sirs this is a real and a rare truth but seldome thought on viz. that God will sometimes more carry on the growth and improvement of grace by a cross by an affliction than by an ordinance James 1. 3 4. James 4. 8 9. Afflictions ripen the Saints graces 2 Cor. 1. 5. First or last God will make every Rod yea every twig in every Rod to be an Ordinance to every afflicted Saint By Afflictions God many times revives quickens and recovers the decayed graces of his People By Afflictions God many times enflames that love that is cold and he strengthens that faith that is failing and he puts life into those hopes that are languishing and new spirits into those joyes and comforts that are withering and dying Musk say some when it hath lost its sweetness if it be put into the sink amongst filth it recovers its sweetnâ—â—â— again So doth smart afflictions recover and revive our decayed graces I have read a story of a Sexton that went into the Church at night to rob a woman who had been buried the day before with a Gold ring upon her finger according to her desire now when he had opened the Grave and Coffin and loosed the sheet he fell a rubbing and chafing her finger to get off the Gold Ring and with rubbing and chafing of it her spirits returned she having been but in a swoon before and she revived and lived many years after Smart Afflictions are but the rubbing and chafing of our graces The smarting Rod abaseth the loveliness of the world that might entice us it abates the Iustiness of the flesh within that might incite us to vanity and folly and it abets the spirit in his quarrel to the two former All which tend much to the recovering and reviving of decayed graces But The Sixth end to which the Rod serves that is to try the child to make a discovery of the spirit of the child Some Parents never see so much of the badness of the spirits of their Children as they do when they bring them under the Rod and other Parents never see so much of the goodnesse of the spirits of their Children as they do when they chastise them with the Rod 'T is so here when God afflicts some O the pride the stoutness the crosness the hardness the peevishness and stubborness of spirit that they Exod. 5. 2. Jer. 44. 15 16 17 18 19. discover Isa 1. 5. Jer. 5. 3. When he afflicts others O the murmuring the roaring the complaining the howling the fretting the vexing and the Amos 4. 6 13. quarrelling spirit that they discover Num. 14. 27 29 36. Deut. 1. 27. Isa 58. 3 4. Isa 59. 11. Hos 7. 14 15. Jon. 4. 1 2 3 4 5 8 9. Sometimes when God afflicts his dearest People O what a spirit of Faith what a spirit of Prayer what a spirit of Love what a spirit of Patience what a spirit of meekness what a spirit of humbleness what a spirit of submissiveness do they discover Job 13. 15. 2 Chron. 1. 2 3 4 5 6 12. Isa 26. 16 17. Hos 5. 14 15. Job 1. 20 21 22. Lev. 10. 1 2 3. 1 Sam. 3. 18. 2 Kings 20. 16 17 18 19. And at other times when God afflicts his poor People O what a spirit of unbelief what a spirit of slavish fear what a spirit of impaciency what a spirit of displeasedness c. do they discover Gen. 15. 2 3. Gen. 12. 13 19. Gen. 20. 2 5. Gen. 26. 7 8 9 10 11. Psal 31. 22. Psal 116 11. 1 Sam. 21. 10 11 12 13 14 15. Job 3. 3 13. Jer. 20. 14 15 16 17 18. By smart Afflictions God tryes the graces of his People and discovers what is in the spirits of his People Deut. 8. 2. Psal 66. 10 11. Rev. 3. 18. 1 Pet 1. 6 7. The fire tryes the Gold as well as the Touch-stone Diseases try the Art of the Physitian and Tempests try the skill of the Pilot. Every smarting Rod is a Touch-stone both to try our graces and to discover our spirits Prudent Fathers will sometimes cross their Children to try to discover the dispositions of their Children Heb. 12. 5 21. And so doth the Father of Spirits deal sometimes with his Children The manner of the Psylli which are a kind of People Plin. lib. 28 of that temper and constitution that no Venom will hurt them is this if they suspect any Child to be none of their own they set an Adder upon it to sting it and if it cry and the flesh swell they cast it away as a spurious issue but if it do not quatch nor cry nor is never the worse for it then they account it for thei own and make very much of it The Application is easie But The seventh and last end of the Rod Is to prepare fit the Isa 48. 10. chastised for greater services favours and mercies Many a Child and many a servant had never been so fit for eminent services as they are had they not been under a smarting Rod. 'T is very usual with God to cast men into very great Afflictions and to lay them under grievous smarting Rods that so he may prepare and fit them for some high and eminent services in this world Joseph had never been so fit to be Governour Gen. 41. 40 41 42 43 44. of Egypt and to preserve the visible Church of God alive in the World if he had not been sold into Egypt if his feet had not been hurt in the Gen. 45. 7 8. stocks and if the Irons had not entred into his soul Nor Moses had never been so fit to be a Leader and a Deliverer of Israel as he was if he had Gen. 50. 20. not been banished Fourty Yeares in the Wilderness before Nor Davids Crown had never sat so well nor so close nor so long on his head as
Thus Job did Job 1. 20 21 22. Yea and thus Jesus did John 18. 11. Shall I not drink the Cup that my Father hath given me to drink Though the Cup was a bitter Cup a bloody Cup yet seeing it was put into his hand by his Father he drinks it off with a Father I thank thee The Rod in its self sounds nothing but smart and blood to the Child but the Rod in the hand of a Father sounds nothing but love kindness and sweetness Rev. 3. 19. Whom he loves he chastens You should never look upon the Rod but as it is in the hand of your heavenly Father and then you will rather kiss it than murmur under it But The Fifth Lesson that you are to learn by the Rod or by the raging Pestilence is to cleave and cling close to God under the Rod. O how doth the Child cling and hang upon his Father when he takes up the Rod let such a Child-like Spirit be found in you when the Father of Spirits takes up up the Rod. When the Rod was upon Davids back O how doth he cleave to God even as the Wife cleaves to her Husband for so much the Hebrew word Dabak in that Psal 63. 8. imports So when Job was under the Rod O how doth he cling about God! Job 13. 21. Though he slay me yet will I trust in him Job will hang upon a killing God So the Church in that Psal 48. 15 16 17 18 c. So those hundred fourty and four thousand that had their Fathers names written in their foreheads Rev. 14. 1 6. O Friends you never shew so much Child-like love nor so much Child-like ingenuity nor so much Child-like integrity as you do shew when under the smarting Rod you are found clinging about the Lord and hanging upon the Lord by an exercise of grace When Antistenes held up his Staffe as if he intended to beat on of his Scholers out of his School the Scholar told him that he might strike him if he pleased but he should never find a staffe of so hard wood as should ever be able to beat him him from him When no Staff no Rod no Affliction can drive us from Christ it is a sure argument that we have profited much in the School of Christ But The Sixth Lesson that you are to learn by the Rod or by the raging Pestilence is to prepare to meet the Lord whilest the Rod is in his hand Am. 4. 12. Therefore thus will I do unto thee O Israel and because I will do this unto thee prepare to meet thy God O Israel Now there is a two-fold preparation The First is a Negative preparation and this lyes in taking heed of sinning against Light and Conscience for those sins that are against a clear Light and an awakened Conscience are most wounding wasting terrifying and damning Secondly There is a Positive preparation and that consists in repentance returning to the Lord and in abasing and humbling your selves before 2 Chron. 7. 14. the Allmighty As there is no running from God so there is no contending with God for what is the chaff to the Whirlwind or the stubble to a consuming fire And therefore the voyce of the Rod is Prepare to meet the Lord in a way of faith and repentance prepare to meet the Lord in an exercise of grace prepare to meet the Lord with prayers and tears and strong cryes But The Seventh Lesson that you are to learn by the Rod or by the raging Pestilence is to acknowledge Gods soveraign power and authority over the Rod to bow it or break it or burn it or take it off or lay it more or less on as he pleaseth Mic. 6. 13. Deut. 28. 58 59 60 61. All diseases and sicknesses are under the command of God they are all his Sergeants his servants to execute his pleasure That Mat. 8. 5. is an observable Text Christ tells the Centurion that he would come and heal his servant the Centurion tells him that he was not worthy that he should come under his roof only if he would but speak the word his servant should be healed For saith he vers 9. I am a man under Authority having Souldiers under me I say to this man go and he goeth and to another come and he cometh and to my servant do this and he doth it Now when Jesus heard this he marvelled and said to them that followed Verily I say unto you I have not found so great faith no not in Israel vers 10. But wherein did the greatness of the Centurions faith appear why in this very acknowledgment that all diseases were to Christ as servants and that they were as much under the command of Jesus Christ as any servant under heaven is under the command of his Master When Christ bids them go and afflict such a man they go and torment such a man they go and kill such a man they go and so when he calls them off they come off at his call Dear Friends it is a very great point of faith to believe these five things First that God is the author of all the diseases malladies and sicknesses that be in the World and that he sets them on and call them off at his own good will and pleasure Amos Lev. 26. Deut. 28. 3. 6. Is there any evil in the City and hath not the Lord done it He speaks of the evil of punishment and not of the evil of sin It was a mad Principle among the Manichees who refer'd all calamities to the Devil for their author as if there could be evil in the City and the Lord have no hand in it Secondly It is a great point of Faith to believe that all diseases and sicknesses are limited by God in respect of places God sent diseases of all sorts into Egypt but he forbad them Goshen Exod. 8. 20 21 22 23. Chap. 9 23 24 25 26. Ponder seriously upon these Scriptures Gods shooting his arrows into one Town and not into another into one City and not into another into one Kingdome and not into another into one family not into another doth sufficiently evidence that all diseases and sicknesses are limited by the Holy One of Israel in respect of places Thirdly It is a very great point of Faith to believe that all sicknesses and diseases are limited by God in respect of persons that they are so is evident in that Psal 91. 3 8. Isa 65. 12. But who lives in the faith of this truth Sometimes in the same house one is infected and the other is not sometimes in the same bed the one is smitten and the other is not sometimes at the same table the one is taken away and the other is left c. and this doth roundly evidence and witness that all sicknesses and diseases are limited by God in respect of persons as well as in respect of places But Fourthly It is a great point of Faith to believe
ensample Phil. 4. 9. Those things which ye have both learned and received and heard and seen in me do and the God of peace shall be with you 1 Thess 1. 6. And ye became followers of us and of the Lord having received the word in much affliction Heb. 6. 12. That ye be not sloathful but followers of them who through faith and patience inher it the Promises So 2 Tim. 3. 10 11 12 14. Titus 2. 7. 'T was an excellent Law that the Ephesians made viz. That men should propound to themselves the best patterns and ever bear in mind some eminent man Bad men are wonderful in love with bad examples Jer. 44. 16 17. The Indian hearing Praecepto docent Exempla movent that his Ancestors were gone to Hell said That then he would go thither too Some men have a mind to go to hell for company-sake Oh that we were as much in love with the Examples of good men as others are in love with the examples of bad men and then we should be oftner in our closets than now we are Oh that our eyes were more fixed on the pious examples of all that have in them aliquid Christi any thing of Christ as Bucer spake Shall we love to look upon the Pictures of our Friends and shall we not love to look upon the pious examples of those that are the lively and lovely Picture of Christ The pious examples of others should be the looking-glasses by which we should dress our selves He is the best and wisest Christian that writes after the fairest Scripture Copy that imitates those Christians that are most eminent in grace and that have been most exercised in Closet-prayer and in the most secret duties of Religion Hierome having read the Life and Death of Hilarion one that lived most Christianly and died most comfortably folded up the Book saying Well Hilarion shall be the Champion that I will follow his good life shall be my example and his godly death my president 'T is brave to live and die by the examples of the most eminent Saints But Secondly consider when Christ was on earth he did much exercise himself in secret prayer he was often with God alone as you may see in these famous Scriptures Matth. 14. 23. And when he had sent the multitudes away he went up into a mountain apart to pray and when the evening was come he was there alone Christs choosing solitudes for private prayer doth not only hint to us the danger of distraction and deviation of thoughts in prayer but how necessary it is for us to choose the most convenient places we can for private prayers Our own fickleness and Satans restlesness calls upon us to get into such corners where we may most freely pour out our souls into the bosom of God Mark 1. 35. And in the morning rising up a great while before day he went out and departed into a solitary place and there prayed As the morning time is the fittest time for prayer so solitary places are the fittest places for prayer Mark 6. 46. And when he had sent them away he departed into a mountain to pray He that would pray to purpose had need be quiet when he is alone Luke 5. 16. And he withdrew himself into the wilderness and prayed Gr. He was departing and praying to give us to understand that he did thus often When Christ was neither exercised in teaching nor in working of miracles he was then very intent on private prayer Luke 6. 12. And it came to pass in those dayes that he went out into a mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God Did Christ spend whole nights in private prayer to save our souls and shall we think it much to spend an hour or two in the day for the furtherance of the internal and eternal welfare of our souls Luke 21. 37. And in the day time he was teaching in the Temple and at night he went out and abode in the mount that is called the Mount of Olives Christ frequently joynes praying and preaching together and those whom Christ hath joyn'd together let no man presume to put asunder Luke 22. 39 41 44 45. And he came out and went as he was wont to the Mount of Olives and his Disciples also followed him And he was with-drawn from them about a stones cast and kneeled down and prayed And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood clotted or congealed blood falling down to the ground never was Garden watred before or since with blood as this was And when he rose up from prayer and was come to his disciples he found them sleeping for sorrow Ah what sad pieces of vanity are the best of men in an hour of trial and temptation These very men that a little before did stoutly professe and promise that they would never leave him nor forsake him and that they would to prison for Christ and die for Christ yet when the day of trial came they could nor so much as watch with him one hour they had neither eyes to see nor hands to wipe off Christs bloody sweat So John 6. 15 16 17. Thus you see by all these famous Instances that Christ was frequent in private prayer Oh that we would daily propound to our selves this noble pattern for our imitation and make it our business our work our heaven to write after this blessed Copy that Christ hath set us viz. To be much with God alone Certainly Christianity is nothing else but an imitation of the divine nature a reducing of a mans self to the Image of God in which he was created in righteousness and true holiness A Christians whole life should be nothing but a visible representation of Christ The Heathens had this notion amongst them as Lactantius reports That the wayes to honour their gods was to be like them Sure I am that the highest wayes of honouring Christ is to be like to Christ 1 John 2. 6. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also to walk even as he walked Oh that this blessed Scripture might alwayes lye warm upon our hearts Christ is the Sun and all the watches of our lives should be set by the Dial of his motion Christ is a pattern of patterns his example should be to us in stead of a thousand examples 'T is not only our liberty but our duty and glory to follow Christ in all his moral vertues absolutely other patterns be imperfect and defective but Christ is a perfect pattern and of all his Children they are the happiest that come nearest to this perfect pattern Heliogabalus loved his Children the better for resembling him in sin But Christ loves his children the more for resembling him in sanctity I have read of some Springs that change the colour of the Cattel that drink of them into the colour of their own waters as Du Bartus sings Cerona Xanth and Cephisus
private prayer will most clearly and abundantly evidence the singular love the great delight and the high esteem that he hath of private prayer We say those children love their books well and delight much in learning who will be at their books when others are gone to their beds and who will be at their books before others can get out of their beds Certainly they love private prayer well and they delight much in closet communion with God who will be a praying when others are a sleeping and who will be addressing their souls before God in a corner before their mistress is a dressing of her self at the Glass or their fellow-servants a dressing themselves in the shop But Fourthly Because the servants redeeming of time for private prayer from his sleep set meales recreations c. may be of most use to other fellow servants both to awaken them and to convince them that the things of Religion are of the greatest and highest importance and that there is no trade for pleasure or profit to that private Trade that is driven between God and a mans own soul and also to keep them from trifling or fooling away of that time which is truly and properly their Masters time and by the Royal law of heaven ought to be spent solely and wholly in their service business For what ingenious servant is there in the world but will argue thus I see that such and such of my fellow servants will redeem time for private prayer and for other closet services from their very sleep meales recreations c. rather than they will borrow or make bold with that time which my Master saith is his c. and why then should I be so foolish so bruitish so mad to trifle or idle or play or toy away that time wnich should be spent in my masters service and for my masters advantage But Fifthly and lastly Because the servants redeeming of time for private prayer from his Sleep his Meales his Recreations c. cannot but be infinitely pleasing to God and that which will afford him most comfort when he comes to die The more any poor heart acts contrary to flesh and blood the more he pleases God the more any poor heart denyes himself the more he pleases God the more any poor heart acts against the streame of sinful examples the more he pleases God the more difficulties and discouragements a poor heart meets with in the discharg of his duty the more love he shewes to God and the more love a poor heart shewes to God the more he pleases God Jer. 2. 2 3. Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem saying thus saith the Lord I remember thee the kindness of thy youth the love of thine espousals when thou wentest after me in the wilderness in a Land that was not sown Israel was holiness unto the Lord and the first fruits of his increase all that devour him shall offend evil shall come upon them saith the Lord. God was very highly pleased and greatly delighted with the singular love and choice affections of his people towards him when they followed after him and kept close to him in that tedious and uncouth passage through the waste howling wilderness How all these things do comport with that poor pious servant that redeemes time for private prayer upon the hardest termes imaginable I shall leave the ingenious Reader to judge And certainly upon a dying bed no tongue can express nor heart conceive but he that feeles it the unspeakable comfort that closet duties will afford to him that hath been exercised in them upon those hard termes that are under present consideration But Ninthly I answer If thou art a gracious servant then the near and dear relations that is between God and thee and the choice priviledges John 8. 32 33 36. that thou art interested in calls aloud for private prayer As thou art thy Masters servant so thou art the Lords free-man 1 Cor. 7. 22 23. For he that is called in the Lord being a servant is the Lords free-man Likewise also he that is called being free is Christs servant Ye are bought with a price be not ye the servants of men Either when they command you things forbidden by Christ or forbid you things commanded by Christ or when they would exercise a dominion over your faith or a lord-ship over your consciences Suffer not your selves in spiritual things to be brought into such bondage by any men or Masters in the world as not to use that freedom Gal. 5. 1. Col. 2. 20. Gal. 2. 4. and liberty that Christ hath purchased for you with his dearest blood No servants are to serve their masters in opposition to Christ nor no servants are to serve their masters as spiritual masters Nor no servants are to serve their masters as supream masters but as subordinate masters Ephes 6. 5 6 7. And as every gracious servant is the Lords free-man so every gracious servant is the Lords friend Isa 41. 8. James 2. 23. John 15. 13 14 15. And as every gracious servant is the Lords friend so every gracious servant is the Lords son Gal. 4. 5 6. Rom. 8. 16. And as every gracious servant is the Lords son so every gracious servant is the Lords spouse Hos 2. 19 20. 2 Cor. 11. 2. And now I appeal to the consciences of all that have tasted that the Lord is gracious whether the near and dear relations that is between the Lord and pious servants doth not call aloud upon them to take all opportunities and advantages that possibly they can to pour out their souls before the Lord in secret and to acquaint him in a corner with all their secret wants weaknesses wishes c. And as gracious servants are thus nearly and dearly related to God so gracious servants are very highly priviledged by God Gracious servants are as much freed from the reign of sin the dominion of sin and the damnatory Rom. 6. 14. power of sin as gracious masters are Gracious servants are as Rom. 8. 1. much freed from hell from the curse of the Law and from the wrath of God as their gracious masters are Gracious servants are Gal. 3. 13. as much adopted as much reconciled as much pardoned as much justified and as much redeemed as their gracious masters are Gracious servants are as much heirs 1 Thes 1. 10. Col. 3. 11. Gal. 5. 6. Rom. 8. 17. Gal. 6. 14. 1 Pet. 2. 9. heirs of God and joynt heirs with Christ as their gracious masters are Gracious servants are as much a chosen generation a royal priesthood an holy nation a peculiar people called out of darkness into his marvelous light as their gracicious masters are And therefore they being all alike interested in all these great and glorious priviledges which belong to Saints as Saints they are without all peradventure alike obliged and engaged to all those duties which lies upon Saints as Saints among which private prayer
Father While the child is in the womb it cannot cry but as soon as it is born it cries Whilst Paul did lie in the womb of his natural estate he could not pray but no sooner was he born of the spirit but the next news is Behold he prayeth Acts. 9. 11. Prayer is nothing but the turning of a mans inside outward before the Lord. The very soul of prayer lyes in the pouring out of a mans soul into the bosome of God Prayer is nothing but the breathing that out before the Lord that was first breath'd into us by the spirit of the Lord Prayer is nothing but a choice a free a sweet and familiar intercourse of the soul with God Certainly it is a great work of the Spirit to help the Saints to pray Gal. 4. 6. Because you are sons God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba father God hath no still-born children The Gemination Abba Father notes fiduciall filial and vehement affection The first is an Pareus Hebrew or Syriack word the Second a Greek whereby is signified the union of the Hebrews and Grecians or the Jews and Gentiles in one Church Abba Father What is Abba say others in Hebrew Father and it is added because in Christ the corner stone both peoples are joyned alike becoming sons whence soever they come circumcision from one place whereupon Abba uncircumcision from another whereupon father is named The concord of the walls being the glory of the corner stone The word Abba say others signifies Father in the Syriack Tongue which the Apostle here retaineth because it is a word full of affection which young children retain almost in all Languages when they begin to speak And he adds the word Father not only to expound the same but also the better to express the eager movings and the earnest and vehement desires and singular affection of beleevers in their crying unto God even as Christ himself redoubled the Mark 14. 36. word Father to the same purpose when he was in his greatest distress This little word Father saith Luther lisped forth in prayer by a Child of God exceeds the eloquence of Demosthenes Cicero and all other so famed Orators in the World 'T is certain that the Spirit of God helps the Saints in all their communions with God viz. in their meditations of God in their reading and hearing of the Word of God in their communions one with another and in all their solemn addresses to God And as to this the Apostle gives us a most special instance in that Rom. 8. 26. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered When we are to pray there is in us sometimes an infirmity of ignorance so that we know not what to pray for either in regard of the matter or the manner And there is in us at other times an infirmity of pride and conceitedness so that we cannot pray with that humility and lowliness of spirit as we should spiritual pride having fly-blown our prayers Sometimes there is in us an infirmity of deadness dullness drowsiness c. so that we cannot pray with that warmth heat life spirit and fervency as we should or as we would and at other times there is in us an infirmity of unbelief and slavish fears so that we cannot pray with that faith and holy boldness as becomes Children that draw near to a Throne of Grace to a Throne of Mercy c. But now the Spirit helps these infirmities by way of instruction prompting and teaching us what to pray for and how we should spell our lesson and by telling us as it were within what we should say and how we should sigh and groan and by rousing and quickening and stirring of us up to prayer and by his singular influence and choice assistance opening and enlarging our hearts in prayer and by his tuning the Strings of our affections he prepares us and fits us for the work of Supplication And therefore every one that derides the Spirit of prayer in the Saints saying these are the men and the women that pray by the Spirit blaspheme against the holy Spirit it being a main work of the Spirit to teach the Saints to pray and to help them in prayer Now all the Saints having the Spirit and the Spirit being a Spirit of prayer and supplication there is no reason in the world why a Saint should say I would pray in secret but I can't pray I can't pour out my soul nor my complaint before the Lord in a corner Sixthly and lastly Thou sayest thou canst not pray thou hast not the gifts and parts which others have But thou canst mannage thy callings thy worldly businesse as well as others and why then canst thou not pray as well as others Ah friends did you but love private prayer as well as you love the world and delight in private prayer as much as you delight in the world and were your hearts as much set upon closet prayer as they are set upon the world you would never say you could not pray yea you would quickly pray as well as others 't is not so much from want of ability to pray in secret that you don't pray in secret as 't is from want of a will a heart to pray in secret that you don't pray in secret Jacobs love to Rachel and Sechems love to Dina carried Gen. 29. ch 34. them through the greatest difficulties Were mens affections but strongly set upon private prayer they would quickly find abilities to pray He that sets his affections upon a Virgin though he be not learned nor eloquent will find words enough to let her know how his heart is taken with her The application is easie He in Seneca complained of a Thorn in his foot when his Lungs was rotten So many complain of want of ability to pray in their closets when their hearts are rotten Sirs do but get better hearts and then you will never say you can't pray 'T is one of the saddest sights in all the world to see men strongly parted and gifted for all worldly businesses to cry out that they can't pray that they have no ability to pour out their souls before the Lord in secret You have sufficient parts and gifts to tell men of your sins your wants your dangers your difficulties your mercies your deliverances your duties your crosses your losses your enjoyments your friends your foes and why then are you not ashamed to complain of your want of parts and gifts to tell those very things to God in a corner which you can tell to men even upon the house-top c. But Fourthly Some may further object and say God is very well acquainted with all our wants necessities straits tryals and there is no moving of him to bestow any favours upon us which he
small Communion with God and though some Christians have a strong Communion with God yet other Christians have but a weak Communion with God and though some of the people of God have a very close and neer Communion with God yet others of the people of God have but a more remote Communion with God and though some of Gods servants have a daily constant and uninterrupted Communion with God yet others of his servants have but a more transient and inconstant Communion with God But Thirdly I answer When a man acts grace in Closet-duties then certainly he hath Communion with God in Closet-duties 2 Tim. 1. 17. 1 Tim. 2. 8. when a man in Closet-duties acts faith on God or faith on the promises or faith on the blood of Christ or when a man in private duties acts repentance for sin or love to Jesus Christ or sets up God as the object of his fear or as the object of his joy c. then he hath Communion with God then he hath fellowship with the Father 1 John 1. 3. and with the Son An unregenerate man may act gifts and parts in a duty but he cannot act grace in a duty for no man can act grace in a duty but he that hath grace in his soul And hence it comes to passe that unsanctified Isa 1. 11 12 13 persons under the highest activity of their arts parts and gifts in religious duties enjoy no Communion with God at all witness the Scribes and Pharises Demas Judas Simon Magus c. As ever you would have an evidence of your Communion with God in Closet-duties carefully look to the activity of your graces carefully 2 Tim. 1. 6. stir up the grace of God which is in you But Fourthly I answer When a man hath Communion with God in his Closet then he gives God the glory of all his actings and Psal 115. 1. activities Communion with God alwayes helps a man to set the Crown of praise and honour upon the head of God witnesse that gracious and grateful Doxology of David and his people in that 1 Chr. 29. 13. Now therefore our God we thank thee and praise thy glorious name Men that enjoy no Communion with God in Religious Duties are still a sacrificing unto their own Net and a burning incense unto Hab. 1. 16. their own Drag they are still a blessing themselves and a stroaking of themselves and applauding Luke 17. 11. 12. themselves they think the Garland of praise the Crown of honour becomes no head but their own but now men that enjoy Communion with God in Religious Duties they will uncrown themselves to crown God they will uncrown their duties to Crown the God of their duties they will Acts 3 11 12 13 16. Rev. 4. 10. 11. Chap. 5. 11 12. uncrown their arts parts gifts and inlargments to set the Crown of praise upon the head of God alone Thou thinkest that thou hast Communion with God in Closet-duties yea thou sayest that thou hast Communion with God in Closet-duties but on whose head dost thou put the garland of praise if on Psal 148. 13. Gods head thou hast Communion with God if on thine own head thou hast no Communion with God As all the Rivers run into the sea all the lines meet in the Center so when all our Closet-duties terminate and center in the advance of Gods glory then have we communion with God in them Constantine did use to write the Name of Christ over his door When a man hath Communion with Christ in a duty then he will write the Name of Christ the Honour of Christ upon his duty Some say that the Name of Jesus was engraven upon the heart of Ignatius sure I am when a man hath Communion with God in a Duty then you shall find the Honour and Glory of Jesus engraven upon that Duty But Fifthly I answer When the performance of Closet-duties leaves the soul in a better frame then a man hath Communion with God in them When a man comes off from Closet-duties in a more holy frame or in a more humble frame or in a more spiritual frame or in a more watchful frame or in a more heavenly frame or in a more broken frame or in a more quickened and enlivened frame c. then certainly he hath had Communion with God in those Duties When a man comes out of his Closet and finds the frame of his heart to be more strongly set against sin than ever and to be more highly resolved to walk with God than ever and to be more eminently crucified to the world than ever and to be more divinely fix't against temptations than ever then without all peradventure he hath had communion with God in his closet Sixthly I answer when Closet-duties fit a man for those other duties that lye next his hand then doubtless he hath had Communion with God in them When private duties fit a man for publick duties or when private duties fit a man for the duties of his place calling and condition wherein God hath set him then certainly he hath had fellowship with God in Eccl. 9. 10. them When a man in Closet-duties finds more spiritual strength and power to perform the duties that are next incumbent upon him then assuredly he hath met with God when private prayer fits me more for family-prayer or publick prayer then I may safely conclude that God hath drawn neer to my soul in private prayer or when one Closet-duty fits me for another Closet-duty as when praying fits me for reading or reading for praying or when the more external duties in my Closet viz. reading or praying fits me for those more spiritual and internal duties viz. self-examination holy meditation soul-humiliation c. then I may rest satisfied that there hath been some choice intercourse between God and my soul When the more I pray in my Closet the more fit I am to pray in my Closet and the more I read in my Closet the more fit I am to read in my Closet and the more I meditate in my closet the more fit I am to meditate in my closet the more I search and examine my heart in my Closet the more fit I am to search and examine my heart in my Closet and the more I humble and abase my soul in my closet the more fit I am to humble abase my soul in my closet then I may be confident that I have had communion with God in my Closet Seventhly I answer That all private communion with God is very soul-humbling and soul-abasing Abraham was a man that had much private communion with God and a man that was very vile and low in his own eyes Gen 18. 27. And Abraham answered and said Behold now I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord which am but dust and ashes In respect of my original saith Abraham I am but base dust and ashes and in respect of my deserts I
another Hence t is that on the one hand he works some to cry up publick Prayers in opposition to secret Prayer and one the other hand he works others to cry up private Duties in opposition to all publick Duties whereas all Christians stand oblieged by God so to manage one sort of Duties as not to shut out another sort of Duties Every Christian must find time and room for every Duty incumbent upon him But Fifthly Love Christ with a more enflamed love O strengthen your love to Christ and your love to Closet-duties Lovers love Can 7. 10 11 12. much to be alone to be in a corner together Certainly the more any man loves the Lord Jesus the more he will delight to be with Christ in a corner There was a great deal of love between Jonathan 1 Sam. 18. 19. chap. 20. com and David and according to their love so was their private converse their secret communion one with another they were alwayes best when in the Field together or when in a corner together or when behind the door together or when lockt up together and just so it would be with you did you but love the Lord Jesus Christ with a more raised and a more enflamed love you would be alwayes best when you were most with Christ in a corner Divine Love is like a rod of Myrtle which as Pliny reports makes the traveller that carries it in his hand so lively and cheerful that he never faints or grows weary Ah Friends did you but love the Lord Jesus with a more strong with a more raised love you would never faint in Closet-duties nor you would never grow weary of Closet-duties Look as the Israelites removed their Tents from Mithcah to Hashmonah from sweetness Num. 23. 39. to swiftness as the words import So the sweetness of Divine Love will make a man move swiftly on in a way of Closet-duties Divine Love will make all Closet-duties more easie to the Soul and more pleasant and delightful to the Soul and therefore do all you can to strengthen your love to Christ and your love to Closet-work It was observed among the Primitive Christians that they were so full of love one to another that they could be acquainted one with another as well in half an hour as in half a year O Sirs If your hearts were but more full of love to Christ and Closet-duties you would quickly be better acquainted with them you would quickly know what secret communion with Christ behind the door means But Sixthly Be highly throughly and fixedly resolved in the strength of Christ to keep close to closet-duties in the face of all difficulties and discouragements that you may Psal 44. 17 18 19 20 meet withal A man of no resolution or of weak resolution will be won with a Nut and lost with an Apple Satan and the world and carnal relations and your own hearts will cast in many things to discourage you and take you off from Closet-prayer but be ye nobly and firmly resolved to keep close to your Closet let the World the Flesh and the Devil doe and say what they can Daniel was a man of an invincible resolution rather than he would om it praying in his Chamber he would be cast into the Den of Lyons Of all the Duties of Religion Satan is the most deadly enemy to this of secret Prayer partly because Secret prayer spoiles him in his most secret designs plots and contrivances against the Soul and partly because secret prayer is so musical and delightful to God and partly because secret prayer is of such rare use and advantage to the Soul and partly because it layes not the soul of open to pride vain glory and worldly applause as prayer in the Synagogue doth and therefore he had rather that a man should pray a thousand times in the Synagogues or in the corner of the streets or behind a Pillar than that he should pray once in his Closet and therefore you had need to steel your hearts with holy courage and resolution that what ever suggestions temptations oppositions or objections you may encounter with that yet you will keep close to Closet-prayer There is not any better Bulwark in the day or battel than an heroick resolution of heart before the day of battel Sanctified resolutions doe exceedingly weaken and discourage Satan in his assaults they doe greatly daunt and dishearten him in all his undertakings against the Soul That man will never long be quiet in his Closet who is not stedfastly resolved to seek the Lord in a corner though all the powers of darkness should make head against him O Sir Divine fortitude holy resolutions will make you like a Wall of Brass that no Arrows can pierce they will make you like Armour of proof that no shot can hurt they will make you like that Angel Mat. 28. 2. that rolled away the Stone from before the door of the Sepulchre they will either enable you to remove the greatest Mountaines of opposition that lye between you and Closet prayer or else they will enable you to step over them Lather was a man of great resolution and a man that spent much time in Closet-prayer And such another was Nehemiah who met with so much opposition that had he not been steeled by a strong and obstinate resolution he could never have rebuilded the Temple but would have sunk in the midst of his work Now he was a man for private prayer as I have shewen in the beginning of this Treatise Who more resolute than David who more for secret prayer than David the same I might say of Paul Basil and many others who have been famous in their Generations O Sirs Sanctified Resolutions for Closet-prayer will chain you faster to Closet-prayer than ever Vlisses his resolutions did chain him to the mast of the ship 'T was a noble resolution that kept Ruth close to her mother when her sister Orpah only complements her kisses her and takes her leave of her Be but nobly resolved Ruth 1. 10 20. for Closet-prayer and then you will keep close to it when others only court it and take their leaves of it In the Salentine Country there is mention made of a Lake that is still brim full if you put in never so much it never runs over if you draw out never so much it is still full The resolution of every Christian for Closet-prayer Plin. Hist l. 2. c. 103. should be like this Lake still brim full Tide life tide death come honour or reproach come loss or gain come liberty or bonds come what can come the true bred Christian must be fully and constantly resolved to keep close to his Closet But Seventhly Labour for a greater effusion of the Holy Spirit for the greater measure any man hath of the Spirit of God the more that man will delight to be with God in secret Zech. 12. 10. And I will pour upon the House