love to fellowship with God in secret doth speak a real love to God Tho' a person may pray in secret and yet be unsound and rotten yet a person hath an heart sound in God's Statutes who so prays in secret as not to be satisfied with the work done unless he be with God in it i. e. sensibly find God coming to him with the communications of his Grace and the sweet discoveries of his covenant-Covenant-love or at least his soul working out to God in holy desires and longings Thirdly Thou canst not but be conscious to thy self of a great many secret sins with which thou art chargeable before God and is there not a great deal of reason why thou shouldst perform secret Duties where thou didst commit secret Sins and that those places should be witnesses of thy fear of God and love to him which have been frequent witnesses of thy neglect of God and rebellion against him There are indeed those who commit uncleanness with greediness and act â—n with highest impudence they do so dearly love and delight in it that they are not at all ashamed of it but can without a blush do the Devil's drudgery the dirtiest and basest of his work Hence as in one place this is the complaint They draw iniquity with cords of vanity and sin as with cart-ropes so in another place viz. Isa. 3. 9. the complaint is thus They declare their sin as Sodom and hide it not no not they but like some who think they can mend what a better than they have made they carry their black spots in their very faces and glory in their shame Phil. 3. 19. Formerly indeed men were more modest they cast a Mantle over their Nakedness and did the works of darkness in the dark Paul saith in his time They that were drunk were drunk in the night but now wickedness is grown more common and men more audacious and they do not avoid the light of the Sun nor the eyes of men the open street and the noon-day are thought now as convenient time and place as any other they are grown so desperate that they care not what they do they will run upon the mouth of the Cannon the bosses of God's Buckler and so impudent that they care not who seeth them as 2 Sam. 16. 22. There was a tent spread for Absalom upon the top of the house and Absalom went in unto his father's conâ—â—bines in the sight of all Israel Yea these wretches when they have acted to their utmost and sinned as they could do not yet so tire and weary themselves in the Devil's service but that they will find something to do at home and give some stroaks there to the further pleasing of their tyrannical Lord and graâ—ifying their insatiate Lust. The Scripture speaking of uncleanness tells us of eyes that cannot cease to sin cannot brook an intermission they are not at rest any longer than they are at work they are looking round about for new Objects and every such Object inflames them and by it away they are carried to fresh transports of defiling folly and madness But I have dwelt too long upon these Vassals of Satan and sworn Votaries of the Flesh let us turn our thoughts another way and consider whether the Children of God themselves have not their secret Vanities Follies and Extravagancies When didst thou so put off the Old Man that there was none of his deeds to be found in thine hands What stream hath flowed from thee which hath run clear nay what drop that was perfectly pure Name that place if thou canst in which thou hast not done more than enough to pollute thy Soul to wound thy Conscience to offend and provoke thy God Ask thy own Conscience O Christian and let that tell thee Hath not God seen thy pride in thy Closet and thy worldly-mindedness hath he not been privy and eye-witness to thy unbelief and shameful distrusts of his fatherly Love and Care hath he not been acquainted with thy froward passions and swelling discontents when at any time his Providence ruâ— cross to thy humour or seemingly to thine interest hath he not heard thy murmurings and repinings when thou couldst not get the good thing thou hadst a mind to or didst lose what rhou hadst set thy heart too much upon Possibly many of these things thou hast forgotten but God hath them sealed up in a Bag they are all in the light of his Countenance I have often considered those expressions of holy David who was a precious Saint tho' his great miscarriages spake him far from a perfect one and I do advise you to consider them too and heartily wish you would Psal. 19. 12. Who can understand his errors Cleanse thou me from secret faults It is a thing utterly impossible for man to understand himself perfectly it is a mercy for him to understand his way but he cannot understand all his deviations As a Christian doth not understand his progress so not his wandrings and as for his faults there are some of them so secret that tho he be very circumspect and wary tho' he doth with utmost diligence study himself his heart and life yet he doth not know them they are secret some of them to him he doth not know them to be sins they seem lawful unto him when they are not so his ways are right in his own eyes but not in God's eyes which are purer than his some of them he doth not take any notice of such is our foolish incogitancy that many actions pass from us which we do not seriously ponder before we do them neither do we with any due deliberation reflect upon them when done Again a man hath other faults open to him they stare him in the face and his own Conscience doth roundly tell him of them but there is a veil of darkness drawn over them so that they are secret to all the world beside Some are such Masters in the Black-Art that they can lead a very bad Life and yet keep a very good Name Oh! what abominations did the Ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark Ezek. 8. Every man in the chambers of his imagery Will you be persuaded to sit down a little and take a review of your lives and consider what iniquities you commit in the Chambers of your privacy how many are they and how great You your selves know most of that tho' I know nothing Your own Consciences will tell you what no body else can I advise and beseech you to consult them and to give them leave to speak all they have to say do not stop their mouths nor hold the truth in unrighteousness And let us now bring this to the business in hand and see if there be not something of weight and cogency in the Argument Have you your secret Sins and will you not have your secret Duties Have you your secret Provocations and is it not sit that you should have your secret Supplications Will you
my Ministry as any in London and not like many given to change wandering up and down from place to place by means whereof their itching Ears have been more tickled that their precious Souls advantaged yed some of them running from the Flock to which they-belong and not keeping the place in which God by his Providence had set them have fallen into the hands of Seducers who have led them out of the way Everlasting and then robbed them of their Light and Heat the precious Truths of God and their Zeal for him leaving them wounded both in Head and Heart and wallowing in the Blood of their Apostacy I was in a prudent and very modest Letter desired to preach upon that excellent Duty of Secret Prayer by one of your number who had with grief taken notice what strangers some Professors are to the practice of it yea how some do live in the total neglect of it as if it were altogether unnecessary and unprofitable The motion being made did meet with a very ready and chearful entertainment I stood not debating but presently closed and buckled to the business and the very next Lord's Day begun it A single Sermon only was desired and I intended no more but having once engaged my thoughts they multiplied and grew up into four As soon as I knew the person that sent me the Letter and made the Motion I gave her my Thanks and I do here repeat them because I find that many through the Blessing of God have got good by it When I had finished the Discourses a Letter subscribed by several was presented me desiring That what had been Preached might be Printed which was granted as soon as asked though the Great Work which lieth upon me doth render Printing very tedious to me and alloweth me not that exactness which I delight in and should otherwise endeavour But I am Yours and take pleasure in being so and know not how to deny you any thing And now I wish That what is here sent abroad into the open World might find acceptance there and meet with a kind reception from Others as it did from You and also That it may bring forth much fruit and accomplish that for which it hath been designed even the good of precious Souls the awakening to and quickening in this great piece of practical Godliness those who have totally neglected it or been exceeding remiss Little do Men and Women think how greatly they prejudice themselves by carelesness touching matters of this nature they had better act by halves and triâ—le in the Affairs of this World than in those of Religion How can any think to be supplied fresh that Stock which is laid up in the hand of Christ or to be enriched by his inexhaustible fulness if they do not seek him How can any expect the performance and making good of the Promises to them unless they put them in suit How can any rationally hope that they shall with Ioy draw Water out of the Well of Salvation when they will not take so much pains as to let down their Bucket into it Though great and glorious things be in the heart and purposes of God concerning his People and he hath passed his Word for them which is better than Man's Bond Security sufficient yet he will be enquired of by them to do them for them Well whoever they be who undervalue God making him the Object neither of their Love nor of their Fear whoever they he that say unto God Depart from us we desire not the knowledge of thy ways nor to maintain any fellowship with thy Majesty whoever they be that taste no sweetness in holy Exercises and see not that God is necessary but hope to pick up a satisfaction for themselves out of inferior and transitory Goods Let your wants drive you to God and your love draw you to him do you seek the Lord and his strength yea seek his face evermore lay hold upon all opportunities of meeting with him bearing from him and pouring out your Souls before him go with Zacheus into the High-way that there you may get a sight of Christ and with the Spouse into the secret places of the stairs and there let him hear your voice Certainly all those that are born of God have been made partakers of the Holy Ghost are entitled to the Glory above and Ioint-heirs with Christ have received and are acted by the Spirit of Adoption which is a Spirit of Grace and Supplication and puts them upon going to him in all cases as to their Father in Christ their God in Covenant They are in the Scripture called The Generation of them that seek him And let men say what they will it will be found That the most praying Christians are the most thriving Christians They are the persons that now get most of Heaven and make the happiest progress in the way thither Do you therefore in the morning direct your Prayer to God and look up do you present Him with the First-fruits so will the whole be sanctified by that means you will secure to your selves his direction in the difficulties of the day his defence against the temptations of it his support under the afflictions of it his assistance in the work and duties of it together with his blessing upon your endeavours to succeed them and upon your enjoyments to sweeten them to you When the evening comes end your day with God make him the Omega as well as the Alpha pay him the tribute of Praise for the Mercies you recieved beg the continuance of his favour so may you lie down in peace and comfortably expect a being shadowed with his wing and having sleep given you as to his beloved Ones while the Hedge of his Protection is set about your Persons Families and all that you have Upon the Lord's day get alone and do all you can to pray your selves into an holy and heavenly frame fit for the Duties and Ordinances of it beg his Presence with you and in them and a sight of his Power and Glory and that there he would give you of his Loves and Kiss you with the Kisses of his mouth Never dare to come to the publick Assemblies till you have been with the Great Master of them who alone can bless his Provisions to your refreshing and nourishment and fasten his Truths in your Heads and Hearts as a Nail in a sure place Pray that he who hath the Key of David would open the Minister's mouth and your hearts giving him the Tongue of the Learned and you the Ear of the Obedience both prepare the Seed and likewise fit the Soil And when you return from the Congregation to your own Houses there set upon Prayer again and so cover the Seed that is sown and earnestly desire of God That as he did enable you to mingle Faith with the Word that was delivered so he would grant you to live and practice it The Life in Heaven will be a Life of
shalt make to thy self no graven Image Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath-day So here Thou when thou prayest Christ would have every one that nameth his Name that takes upon him the Profession of being one of his People to make a particular application of this to himself and to look upon this counsel as given and this charge as laid upon him Thou Thomas when thou prayest do this and thou Iohn when thou prayest do this and so thou Matthew and thou Andrew and so every one that was then alive or that shall live in any Age or place of the World It is spoken to you and to me and to all do thou enter into thy Chamber thou alone and shut the door upon thee not upon others with thee but upon thee and so pray unto thy Father get alone saith Christ and pray alone do it when there is no body by none to see thee none to overhear thee God and an holy Soul are very good company when it goes out with tears and he meets it with smiles when it draws up its Confessions and he seals its Pardons it breathes out holy desires and longings and he affords it gracious answers and in them satisfactions it states its case tells its Diseases open its Sores and he applies easing and healing remedies In a word When the Soul fires its Sacrifice and then in the holy flame thereof the blessed Angel of the Covenant doth wonderfully It is oftentimes good for the Saints to go one with another into the presence of their Father they have been called upon to strive together in prayer and that in Family duties or in publick Ordinances or in cases of common concernment but there is no Christian who hath not his own wants and his own pressures and his own bitternesses and upon these accounts it is best for him to go alone and thou canst not tell O holy Soul what special favour God may shew thee what token of love he may put into thy hand when there is no body by When disconsolate Hannah had been watering her plants weeping greatly alone pouring out her Soul in tears and prayers before the Lord she had such an impress upon her Spirit such a message of peace whisper'd to her as made her glad at heart and on a sudden dried up all her tears so that her countenance was no more sad Thou if thou engagest in this work in thine uprightness mayst believingly and comfortably expect the same in God's time However set this down with thy self and act accordingly That Secret Prayer is thy unquestionable duty by virtue of a Divine Command 4. Lastly There is a very gracious promise made to Secret Prayer and here I shall lay down this Assertion as worthy your taking notice of That the great God doth not make promises to any thing which he doth not require and which is not acceptable and pleasing to him and which accordingly is not duty in man Promises do follow Precepts and are designed for the strengthening of our hearts and hands the encouraging us to Acts of Obedience and the sweetning those Obediential Acts to us He is angry at those who offer to do those things in matters of his Worship for which they have not his Warrant Hence such enquiry as this Isa. 1. 12. Who hath required this at your hands viz. to come in such a manner And hence also that Complaint and Charge That they burn their Sons and Daughters in the fire made a Sacrifice of them which as he saith Ier. 7. 31. He commanded them not neither entred it into his heart David's Design was good and it pleased God that he had an heart so set for his honour yet it was a rebuke and check to him that God sent him this message by Nathan 2 Sam. 7. 7. In all the places wherein I have walked with the Children of Israel spake I a word with any of the Tribes of Israel whom I commanded to feed my poople Israel saying Why build ye not me an house of Cedar From whence saith Peter Martyr we learn that David failed in attempting such a thing when he had not a word for it from God from whom he ought to have expected and waited for a peculiar command as to the thing and time and place Those that run on such Errands as God never sent them on and presume to do such works as God never set them about or will venture to do his work in a way of their own cannot with any shadow of reason expect a reward from his hand let them get one where they can Why should God pay them for doing that which is none of his work or for doing it after their own fashion Nadab and Abihu did the work of God in offering Incense but they did it after their own fashion in making use of strange fire and it cost them their lives they found God not a bountiful Rewarder but a dreadful Revenger When Promises are made by God to any thing they do plainly speak that thing to which those Promises are made a duty Now we find here in the Text a great and gracious promise made by our Lord Iesus to secret Prayer Do this saith he when thou prayest enter into thy chamber and shut thy door about thee study all possible privacy and retirement let no body know of that which thou goest about if thou canst help it do it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in secret there is Christ's Counsel and it must needs be good because given by him in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge and whose name is Wonderful Counsellour now take with you the Promise annexed to this Counsel Thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly God will not send one single Petitioner empty from his Throne of Grace though thou goest begging yet thou shalt return rejoycing Abraham the Father of the Faithful had bowels of compassion yearning over his wicked Neighbours he prayed in secret for â—ilthy Sodom There was no body to back him in that Suit nor to plead together with him that City was indeed so bad that he was both ashamed and afraid to appear as an Advocate for them and therefore he did more than once deprecate the Divine displeasure Oh let not the Lord be angry yet observe how mighty he was with God He lifted up prayer after prayer and God condescended to him again and again Single and solitary Abraham had such a great interest and success that the glorious and provoked God did not give over granting until Abraham had given over praying By what hath been said I hope the first thing promised is performed namely it is made plain and evident That Secret-prayer is the Christian's duty We now proceed to the Second which is to prove That if it be rightly managed it will be his advantage and to that end I shall only shew that it will afford him these two
of the Child In Psalm 18. we find that good Man in his distress called upon the Lord and cried unto his God and God heard him Divine Love is quick of hearing He heard my voice out of his holy temple and my cry came before him even into his ears And now observe what haste God made to his Servant Vers. 9 10. He bowed the Heavens and came dewn He rode upon a Cherub and did fly yea he did fly upon the wings of the wind When Holy David wanted his God God would be with him presently I dare assure thee O Saint if thou wilt but get thy Soul upon the Wing and by the hand of servent believing Prayer knock at Heavens door thou shalt to thy comfort find that thy beloved will not be long from thee no no he will be sure graciously to return thy Visit he will come and drop some sweet smelling Myrrh upon the handles of thy lock Secret Prayer is the nearest and readiest way to secret and intimate Communion with God as it is an opening of the heart to God so it makes way for God's opening of his heart to the Saint and when that is opened what blessed discoveries are made what treasures appear and riches of Grace what counsels of Wisdom and thoughts of good and great designs the very sight of which is ravishing and may well put the Soul into a transport When guilty but convinced Ephraim got alone and made his reflections and thereupon bemoan'd himself for his former folly stubbornness and obstinacy and begged hard for converting turning Grace God presently turned toward him and with yearning Bowels spake his love this resolution was immediately taken up I will surely have mercy upon him In a word God doth sometimes in displeasure withdraw from his sinning Children but it is with a resolution to be found of them when they seek him and to return to them when he is sent for Hos. 5. 15. I will go and return to my place till they acknowledg their offence and seek my face I will stay away I will not come near them I will have nothing to do with them till they do this but let them do it as soon as they will and they shall meet with acceptance I will rise out of my place and visit them with Salvation He will be sure to come at Prayers call if some crying sin or other do not drown the voice of it and his Presence and Beams will effectually scatter the thickest and blackest Clouds the light of his countenance when once lifted up will make it a day of gladness to the most benighted Soul Whenever he comes he will be sure to bring a blessing along with him and so appear unto its joy These particulars to which I have largely spoken are I hope sufficient to prove that Secret Prayer is both your Duty and your Interest and so I have done with the Doctrinal part and shall now proceed to the improvement of it by Application which will be twofold 1. For Reprehension 2. For Exhortation The use of Reprehension or Reproof shall be directed to three sorts of persons who do indeed deserve to fall under it and oh that it may come with such power as to make them fall before it and issue in their amendment of those things which by the light of Truth breaking in upon them they shall see to be amiss First They are sharply to be reproved for they are deeply guilty before God who instead of making Conscience and living in the performance of Secret Prayer are altogether strangers to and live in the total neglect of all Prayer They do not know what it is to approach unto the Throne of God and to pour out their Souls before him they go to their Beds at night like Swine to their Sty not begging Divine protection and rise out of them in a morning and go about their business without paying any acknowledgments to their great Benefactor under the Wing of whose careful Providence they were secured yea sit down to their Tables without asking God's Blessing as if they had no dependence upon him and when they have eaten and are full rise up to work or play without giving God Thanks as if they were not at all beholden to him And thus they live Prayerless lives in the World They have passed many days and escaped many dangers and received many mercies and committed many sins but never set themselves at least in good earnest to put up one Prayer Oh how do they tumble out by wholesale an innumerable company of execrable Oaths and tremendous Curses which speaks their Tongues the Devils Instruments set on fire with the fire of Hell but no body ever saw them upon their knees before God nor heard a word of Prayer drop from their Lips They have had many Dangers prevented but never sought refuge nor took shelter in God They have every day received multitudes of Mercies but did never solemnly beg one God did in the time of the Old Testament order that the Fire of the Altar should never go out and appointed the morning and evening sacrifice but poor creatures these have no fire their hearts are as cold as Ice they know not what true love to God means and having no fire in themselves God shall have no sacrifice from them his Altars shall be empty they have nothing to lay on from the beginning of the year to the end of it How many are there that never made an attempt this way never tried to Pray never went about the work They in the pride of their countenances will not seek after God He is not in all their thoughts Ps. 10. 4. In all of them He is but in few of them and when he is in any when he forcibly breaks in upon them and makes his own way for they never invite him nor study to think of him he is not welcome nor grateful to them I fear if a man should come and ask some of you such a question as this Friend Neighbour what intercourses are there between God and you what converse and fellowship have you with God do you pray a-days do you pray by your selves in your Chambers or with your Families are you some of that blessed wrestling Generation who seek the face of the God of Jacob if you would speak the truth and not cover your sin and shame with a lie you must answer No not I God knows I cannot pray I do not know how to pray I never went about it I see no need of it I have no heart to it may we not say of these what Agur said of himself Prov. 30. 2. Surely they are more bruitish than any man they have not the understanding of a man they have not learned wisdom nor have they any knowledg of the Holy Let them be reckoned for Beasts in human shape Some have written as if they did not look upon Reason but Religion as the thing which makes the specifical difference
hence when Sickness Arrests you and you find that the King of terrors is at your very door that will be a dismal time and it will cause many thoughts and tremblings of heart and then if ever you will stand in need of Cordials and happy the Man that hath his comfortable Reflections and Prospects to support his Spirits who can look back to his Life past with peace and look forward to Eternity with hope When a Child of God that hath maintain'd a close and intimate Communion with his God and given himself unto Prayer comes to lie upon his Death-bed he is so roughly handled by that last enemy that he cannot pray his heart is so faint within him and his pains are so strong upon him that he hath not any leisure for that work in which he hath found so much sweetness and for which he hath so dear a love Alas then his case his weakness his agonies his tumblings and tossings are such that he cannot pray as he was wont only sigh and groan and lift up an eye and give a look toward God's Holy Temple and dart up a short ejaculation Poor Soul that is the utmost length he can go and it is no small grief to him that he is so straitned and confined Holy Asaph put this among the Reasons of his bitter complaints Psal. 77. 4 That he was so troubled that he could not speak But at that very time he can relieve and comfort himself with his former praying and former walking and Communion with God his former seeking of God and conversing with him When there was a message of death by the Prophet brought to Hezekiah he could send this short Petition up again to Heaven Isa. 38. 3. Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight He could do but very little then his strength was gone and his breath was short but he could with comfort remember and desire God himself to remember how he had walked and what he had done in his Halcion and healthful days So when a gracious person is disabled for his work he can think thus There is a stock of Prayers which I have laid up in Heaven against such a time of need as this is and the thought thereof will be a singular support and comfort to him But what do you think will become of you at such a time you that have been all your days strangers to this work When you come to dye you cannot pray your distempers and pains will not lâ—t you and you do not know how to go about it nor how to do one stroke at it and it will then be a sting and horrour to you to think that when you were in health and strength and all things well with you you would not pray You were called upon often by your godly Ministers and by your gracious Friends and Relations but you would not At a dying hour you will have no fitness for that work and all the time that you lived before you had no heart to it But possibly you will comfort your selves with this that when you are sick and full of fears and inward disquiets and you are not in a capacity of praying for your selves then you or some of your Friends for you will send for some godly Minister or other and desire him to pray for you Well suppose that is done and the Minister sent for comes if he knows what a wretch thou hast been and how much thou hast neglected God and thy Duty all thy days What straitnings of Soul must he of necessity be under as to thee With what holy confidence and hope may we go to God in Prayer on the behalf of a godly person when sick if we can say to God as they did to Christ on the behalf of Lazarus John 11. 3. Lord he whom thou lovest is sick But what a damp must it needs be to us when we think we are going to God for a sick and dying Man but such an one as neglected God and hated him and lived without him and in open rebellion against him I fear I fear there are too many among us that befool and deceive themselves with this That if they can get a Minister to Pray by them especially if it be such an one as will give them the Sacrament too oh then all is well and their Souls go immediately to Heaven without any stop by the way and the Gate of Glory is opened to them and entrance granted but it is probable that will not do and that these Men build their high hopes upon a Sandy-foundation that will fail them And I would fain know what great encouragement or what sufficient ground we have to believe that we shall carry them in the Arms of our Prayers safe to Heaven who would not themselves take one right step in the way that leads thither would never be humble Petitioners for the pardon of their Sins or for the Life and Salvation of their own Souls That I look upon as exceeding worthy of your observation and repeated thoughts which we meet with in the 1st of Samuel chap. 12. After that good Man had faithfully reproved the people for their great wickedness in asking a King and likewise put them into a great consternation by a Storm of Thunder and Rain in the time of Wheat-Harvest which was unusual in that Countrey they became humble Suitors to him saying in verse 19. Pray for by servants unto the Lord thy God that we die not That request he was most freely wilâ—ing to grant God forbid saith he that I should sin in ceasing to pray for you He had prayed for them and would continue to pray for them But now mark and remember that which followeth in vers 24. Only fear the Lord and serve him in truth with all your heart Which is as if he had said I will not be wanting to my Duty you are a people that I dearly love and heartily wish welfare and prosperity to I will speak for you and plead for you and wrestle with God for you but do not you lay too great stress upon my Prayers look to it that you be not found sinning against God whil'st I am praying to him for you left you do your selves more mischief than I can do you good My Prayers will not prevail on your behalf unless you will resolve to fear God your selves and to seek and serve him your selves and pray and honour and obey him your selves By warrant of that Scripture I do now say to you when you are sick and in distress and fear you shall dye you will call the Ministers to pray for you and we are ready to do it when you send for us we will come only I wish that we may be sent for sooner than we are by some of you viz. while you are able to give us an account of your selves and in
Works and Heart-examining and seeking after God either acquainting themselves with him or making their requests known to him they are utter strangers to it and never troubled themselves about any thing of that nature Now let me ask you Is this kind Is there any thing of ingenuity in it Can the great God unto whom you are infinitely obliged take it well at your hands You would have God look after you in all places where you come You do not indeed delight in his Company but would be the Objects of his Care you would have his Mercy and Goodness follow you all the days of your life If Israel wanted any thing in the Wilderness if they had not Water here and Flesh there they took pet and fell a grumbling You expect that God should secure you and support you and supply you when you are alone as well as in Company and I would have you give me if you can one good reason why you will not seek and serve Him when alone as well as in Company And I desire you to study the frame of the Spouse's Spirit and take notice of the resolution she took up and consider whether there be nothing in it worthy of your learning and imitation Cantic 8. 1 2. O that thou wert as my brother that sucked the breasts of my mother when I should find thee without I would kiss thee yet I should not he despised I would lead thee and bring thee into my mothers house Bear with me while I present you with a few thoughts upon these words In them you have the Spouse's Option and Resolution Her Option or Wish Oh that thou wert as my brother that sucked the breasts of my mother That is As near in relation and conjunction to me as near can be I am for no distance that may issue in strangeness but the greatest nearness possible that will warrant familiarity and justifie a free converse Oh that thou wert as my Brother mine own Brother my Brother in all respects who did not ouly lie in the same Womb but was nourished and brought up with the same Milk and sucked the same Breasts Well suppose it had been so what then what advantage would she have had what encouragement would she have taken from thence That you may see in her Resolution which fixed upon two things When I should find thee without I would kiss thee the world should see that I have an heart and love for thee But what O thou enamour'd Spouse thou faithful Turtle what of that Others will do so too they will have their lipkindnesses who are meer strangers to an hearty and sincere affection How many men will abound in expressions of love when they are without extraordinary kind to their Wives in the streets and in their Neighbours houses huge loving and good-humour'd before folks when they are meer Dogs or rather Devils within doors Naphtalies abroad that give goodly words but Nabals at home where their Tongues are sharp Swords Let such men know and tremble while they know there is a God in Heaven and a Conscience in their own bosoms that curiously observe and record all And just so it is in the present Case A great many will seem to kiss Christ abroad in a Church and at a publick Ordinance who there so devout as they They will cringe and bow to his very Name Iesus a great stir they make but it is nothing else than a Complement when they turn back upon the Church they turn their back upon Christ too and going home they leave at the Church-door all the respect and kindness which they would be thought to have for him But the Spouse was acted by another Principle she carried the same dearness of affection to Christ along with her to all places where she came and therefore she resolved not only to kiss him when she found him without but likewise to lead him and bring him into her mothers house She would be as dear over him and respective to him at home as abroad she would indeed be glad to meet him abroad to meet him in the High-way of his Ordinances thither she goeth there she walks and waits for that very purpose she esteems Ordinances because they are divine appointments and have the stamp of God's Authority upon them but she rests not in the bare enjoyment of them but in and by them would have communion with Christ himself and let her Sanctuary-sighs and sense of his Power and Glory there be never so clear and sweet she would for all them long to have him at home home would not be home to her but a Wilderness an Hell if she could not have communion and an intercourse of kindness with Christ there And this which we find her in that place fixedly resolved to do was no more than what she had formerly done when she had been so happy as to meet with him She had found it was a thing seasible Christ was easie to be intreated if desired he would not refuse to come under her Roof and she had found how much good she got by his Company that in having Him with her she had All in him That she had done thus before you may see in Cant. 3. 4. It was but a little that I passed from them but I found him whom my soul loveth And glad she was that she had found him she did not repent of the great pains and many weary steps that she had taken in the search But what did she do now that she had found him She tells you I held him and would not let him go I am persuaded Christ did not intend to leave her he delights to stay where he is welcom and made much of nothing drives him away but unkindness Yet true love is jealous and afraid He hath withdrawn and I did not know then how to be without him when my Sun was gone it was dark night with me and therefore she would make as sure of him as ever she could He was too good to part with therefore now she had got him again she would keep him If you ask How long she tells you Till she had brought him into her mothers house and into the chamber of her that conceived her She was for secret Duty and Fellowship Chamber-enjoyment and Communion And I think this may be taken for granted that there is not any one truly gracious Soul who knoweth what it is to have the sweet gracious comfortable presence of Christ and what it is to lie and labour sigh and groan under his subductings and absence but will be of the same mind with the Spouse having recover'd his loss he will in a pang of love and rapture of joy cry out O thou whom my Soul loveth hast thou been gone so long and have I been mourning and lamenting after thee so long and seeking thee so diligently going and weeping as I went dropping tears faster than I took steps and have I found thee at last I will
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
the love and kindness of such an one as thou art nearly related to or hast great dependence upon These things and possibly twenty more which may be reckoned up are very much the matter of thy desire and all of them are within the reach of the Divine Power that God who performed all things for David is able to perform all these things for thee and if thou wouldest not willingly have others acquainted with these things if thou art loath that thy Family should be privy to the stirrings and workings of thy heart in these respects then let them bring thee upon thy knees in thy secret Retirements there thou mayst be bold and as free as thou pleasest there thou mayst fully open thy case and unbosome thy self and tell God all that is in thine heart and keep back nothing after the manner of holy David who could say in Psal. 38. 9. All my desire is before thee and my groaning is not hid from thee Fifthly The pleasantness of the work is enough to attract and draw an holy Soul to the performance of it Secret Prayer brings the Christian into secret Communion with God and secret Communion is a sweet Communion as that person tastes and experiences who loves God indeed Two Lovers have abundantly more delight and satisfaction in each other's company when they are got in a corner and no body to interrupt or observe them than when they are in a croud and throng of People or in a room where many eyes are upon them for there they cannot be so familiar and free as their mutual affection doth require We have free leave given us yea we are under a Divine Command to come to the throne of grace with holdness Heb. 4. 16. with a freedom of speech to fetch up the bottom of our hearts and tell our whole minds to God but when the Saints go in company many times he that is called out to be at that time the mouth of the rest to God finds himself confin'd and bound up by a natural and over-powering modesty and his Christian Child-like boldness is abated nay wholly to seek and he is at such a great loss and so exceedingly troubled that he cannot speak that I may use the words of that holy man Asaph Psal. 73. His freedom is turned into oppression and he is so full of matter that his heart is almost ready to break within him because at that time he knoweth not how to give himself vent in such a case there is an awe upon him and that doth issue in a painful restraint Oh Christians if you could hear some gracious Souls in their private Addresses to God it would put you into an amazement you could not forbear standing and wondering how bold they are with God though not saucy how familiarly they will speak to God yet know and consider their distance how plain they will be how earnest and importunate how they will plead with him and produce their Arguments and strong Reasons and with vehemency urge them wrestling with him as those that must have their Petitions granted and will too before they have done and yet they do herein that which they have learned from above and use those words which the Holy Ghost teacheth who speaks in them they do not herein forget themselves or take too much upon them nor are they more bold than welcome when they have raised and enlarged their desires and wound up their importunity to the highest pitch they do no more than what they have their kind and gracious Father's allowance for and then are their Prayers his Musick And when they have done thus who but themselves and such as have taken the same course are able to tell or conceive the fruit and advantage which thereby cometh into them when their Souls have had so large a vent what â—ase do they find in themselves what peace but such as passeth understanding how do their Faces shine even as that of Moses did when he came down from the Mount what delights have they had what joys of Faith what a satisfaction do they find within This is no more than what holy David did with highest confidence promise unto himself and I do not in the least question but he was encouraged to promise so much to himself for the future by the experiences he had had in former times Psal. 63. 5 6. My soul saith he shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness He looked not only for a little taste a drop of mercy or some crumbs of comfort so much only as would set him a longing or keep life and soul together but a full meal He promised himself the best not brown-bread and water ordinary course fare but marrow and fatness yea and enough too a fulness so that he should not rise up complaining but admiring and triumphing my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips when he had his sweet refreshing his fill then he would bless his Benefactor But I desire you to take notice of the time when and the place where he did promise himself these rich and comfortable Enjoyments it was in his retirements in his secret converses with God When I remember thee upon my bed and meditate upon thee in the night-watches Upon which words Mr. Dickson hath this Observation very apposite to the business in hand The way to find refreshment spiritual is beside publick Ordinances to give our selves to spiritual Exercises in secret at such times as our civil and natural necessities may best spare and then and there to recall to mind what we have heard seen or felt of God's Word or Working and to keep our thoughts upon this holy Subject by Prayer Soliloquy and Meditation This this brings in spiritual refreshment indeed this warms the heart this feasts it this delights it this raiseth it this furnishes it with new Songs Sixthly Secret Prayer shall not be vain Our Lord Jesus doth not only walk in the midst of the Golden Candlesticks in the great Congregations in the full Assemblies of his Saints thou indeed the Prophet tell us Psal. 87. 2. The Lord loveth the gates of Zion i. e. saith Ainsworth the publick Assemblies more than all the dwellings of Iacob but he will graciously condescend so far as to afford his presence and give a meeting to two or three of his friends when met together in his Name there he will be in the midst of them You have Christ's own word for your assurance in the Case Matth. 18. 20. as to assist so to accept and bless and do for them the good things which they desire yea his Grace is so infinite and his Love so great that his condescention shall be lower yet for he will come into a corner when he has a Child of his alone praying and crying Cantic 2. 14. O my Dove that art in the clefts of the rocks and in the secret places of the stairs let me see thy countenance let me hear thy voice for sweet is thy voice
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