seeth it himself He seeth where your thoughts are He understands them afar off and He seeth where your hearts are so it appears by the charge he gave out against Israel of old This people draweth near unto me with their lips but their hearts are far from me And I would â—ain know of you how it is possible but that he should take it very unkindly at your hands and be highly offended if that he should be slighted by you who is so excellent and glorious in himself and so absolutely necessary for you and unto whom you are so everlastingly beholden and obliged How can he otherwise chuse but be angry with you if in your leisure-time and at your spare hours you will not give him a visit if you cannot find in your hearts to bestow some of that time upon him which you have to spare from your earthly Friends and worldly Business When he seeth this how canst thou think but that his fury will come up into his face Secondly Praying in secret is a very good â—nd comfortable sign of sincerity I do not say that it is a certain and infallible sign and that every one that sets upon this work hath indeed the Spirit of Adoption and may from thence arrive to an assurance of Sonship and draw an undeniable conclusion That he is born again for I do very well know there is no external act of Religion which an hypocrite may not set his hand to As Reputation and Credit among men may bring them out to publick Ordinances so that they shall come as the people cometh and sit before their Minister as the people sitteth and hear his words Ezek 33. 31. so an enlightned awakened uneasie and importunate Conscience may bring them upon their knees in private An hypocrite's heart is really in no piece of the work of God while he draws nearest to him with his lips that is far from him how indeed can he raise that up to God which he hath set upon his iniquity Yet he may have a finger in every thing that is of the out-side A Iehu knows how to be zealous against Idolatry and for the Lord when so to be paves his way to a Throne tho' when he has once got it and is warm in it he himself would be as bad as any 2 Kings 10. 31. Iehu took no heed to walk in the Law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart for he departed not from the sins of Ieroboam which made Israel to sin A Soul would sacrifice yea was too hasty at it and a Pharisee would pray in the Temple and Synagogue and those hearts run after their Covetousness and would not be obedient to the Word of God would yet go out to hear it And I do not know but persons of the like Spirits and Principles as rotten at heart as any of them may set upon Religious Actions when they are alone they may when by themselves take up a Bible or good Book and read in it and they may when there is need fall upon their knees and offer up their requests unto God An hypocrite may be at duty in his Closet tho' his heart never be with God in duty neither in his Closet nor any where else But now observe this is not so acceptable to him it is not that which he takes pleasure and delight in he is put upon it he is under a force Conscience offers violence and drag him into it as Ioab when he saw Justice would take hold on him at the last tho' it is probable he never had any great love for the Altar yet then he would â—â—ee and catch hold of the Horns of it and would even die there But I say this is not the matter of their delight they do if not so much out of choice as cut of constraint it is not That which they take pleasure in and because it is not their pleasure therefore it is noâ— their practice They may do such a thing now and then in a straight when they are put to a pinch but they do not make it their Trade Our Saviour tells us where we are most like to meet with them if we have a mind to find them at their Devotions that is in the Synagogues and the corners of the streets If you would find them in their wickednesses for hypocrites are Villains they make use of Religion for no other end but as a Cloak to cover their Knavery and there is a great deal of that which some of them are guilty of God is pleased now and then to pluck off their Masques and oh what Deformities do then visibly appear in their lives and conversations When their Paint is once off there are no persons so ugly But as I was saying if you would find them in their wickednesses then look for them in the dark and in holes it is not for their Interest it is inconsistent with their design to be so impudent and brazen-fac'd as the profane Crâ—w who glory in their shame no no these are sneaking wretches who would steal their sins and no body know of them But if you would find them at their Devotions do but listen and you may possibly hear their Trumpet found or if not the best way is to look for them in some noted and frequented places the Synagogues and corners of streets Publick places are the hypocrites haunts for they are most convenient and proper for the carrying on of their design which is not to be approved of God but seen of men And this I say Though secret Prayer and the performance of other duties of Godliness in secret be not a certain and infallible Argument of an heart renewed by Grace and upright with God yet it is a very good Argument Tho' it be not such an Evidence of Grace as alone will put it out of all doubt and question yet it is a good Evidence and will do much in a cumulative way and in conjunction with other things And tho' he may be a wicked man who doth several things that every good man cannot but do yet he cannot be a good man who doth not do those things A wicked man may be found in a good way but he is not a good man who always turns his back upon a good way and doth never walk in the Law of the Lord. So here tho' he may be an Hypocrite who doth pray in secret yet he cannot be a Saint who never prays in secret He who doth not desire and maintain secret Communion with God hath not whatever his pretences may be an heart indeed set for God The hearts of men are curiously searched into now and they shall all be openly discover'd at the last and when the day of manifestation shall câ—me he that now is not for being with God when he is alone will then be found and condemned as one that hath not been for God at all And this I do positively lay down as an undeniable Truth That
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
countenance he understands them already for he counts thy steps and tells thy wanderings he knoweth every act of sin which thou hast done and every circumstance with which that act is cloathed Psalm â—0 21. I will reproveâ— thee and set them in order before thee Upon which words Reverend Mr. Dickson hath this passage Sins forgotten cast behind the back and thrown into confusion by the secure sinner shall in the day of God's reckoning be brought to remembrance with time place and other circumstances and so presented to the Conscience as the sinner shall not be able to look aside from his fearful accusation or to deny any part of it And the only way to prevent God's charging them upon us to our confusion and everlasting condemnation is for us to confess them unto him with contrition and self-abhorrency therefore do you go and do it quickly and fully Yea further it is your duty you ought to do it for tâ—eâ—eby you give him glory Joshua 7. 19. Ioshua said unto Achan My son Give I pray thee glory to the Lord God of Israel and make confession unto him Thou didst greatly dishonour him by thy foul sins but thou wilt honour him by thy humble and free confession as it is an owning and acknowledgment of his Omnisciency there is no need of doing this openly and before others unless it be where the sin is open and others by it scandalized Open and full Confession of secret sins before Men is not or may not be in all cases safe it may not be safe for others because of the bad example by which they may be infected and it may not be safe for thy self but expose thee to punishment To be sure Men cannot heal thy Soul nor wash away thy filthiness nor lay the furious storm which is in thy Conscience but they may reproach and blemish thy name and give such a fatal blow and wound to thy reputation as cannot be cured without a scar while thou breathest 2. Art thou not sensible of base corruptions in thy heart vile Lusts which lurk and lodge in thy bosome Are they not often troublesome and vexatious to thee do they not stink in thy Nostrils when they stir in thy Soul and are they not frequently too too powerful and prevalent Thou hast oftentimes perhaps horrible and blasphemous thoughts those fiery Darts of the Devil are with a strong hand thrown into thy mind and do so startle and affright thee that thou art a burthen and terror to thy self and even weary of thy Life at other times thou hast filthy unclean and lascivious thoughts which would be fitter for a Goat or Dog than for a reasonable creature who should be able to govern and command himself and then again thy mind being like the raging Sea that cannot rest but is continually casting up â—ire and dirt there appear cruel malicious and revengeful thoughts yea and in thy very Duties thy most sacred solemn attendances upon God thou aboundest with vain foolish and impertinent thoughts And now I ask thee Wouldest thou have all know what a vile Nature and wretched heart thou hast how that loathsome dunghill is sending forth its unsavory smells what a filthy scum is continually rising up and what vermin overspreads and covers the face of thy Soul which should have the beauty of the Lord its God upon it No no I am persuaded thou wouldest not have thy dearest Friend privy to all this for a World if others should know that by thee which thou doest know by thy self thou wouldest be ashamed to shew thy head Let this then drive thee to thy Secret Prayer A Person that labours under the Foul Disease and desires a Cure will go in private and acquaint his Physician whose silence he dares promise himself God is the great and only Physician of Souls go and tell him thy Case who hath graciously and faithfully promised that he will not tell again but so pardon as to cover To this purpose read what himself hath said and given us under his hand Ezek. 33. 16. If the wicked turn from his sin and do that which is lawful and right none of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned to him They shall not be charged upon him had it been said so it would have been an admirable mercy but that is not all Divine Mercy doth not stop there they shall not be mentioned but buried in Eternal Oblivion and carried into the Land of forgetfulness As they shall not be charged upon him to his condemnation so they shall not be mentioned to his reproach God will take care not only of his Peoples souls but likewise of their names James 5. 11. Ye have heard of the patience of Iob. Yes and we have heard of the passions of Iob his cursing the day of his birth but hold not a word of that it now is as if it had never been 3. Let me propound to you one Question further Hast thou nothing to ask of God is there not some secret boon and kindness which thy heart carrieth thee out to the desiring of at the hands of God such a scruple in thy Conscience which puts thee to pain and wouldest gladly have taken out but canst not by all thy study and endeavours remove and such a blot in thine evidence for thy being in a state of grace and having a title to the glory and happiness of the other World which puts thee to a stand so that thou canst not read on nor make any thing of it to thy comfort and satisfaction this thou would not have others know but desirest a deliverance from Thou hast such a good purpose and excellent design in thy head which thou knowest not how to communicate yet thou wouldest be directed assisted and prospered in Thou hast perhaps a yoke-fellow that is a Son of Belial doth not know the duty of his place or though he knows it he will not do it but is a thorn in thy side and makest thee go mourning all the day and thou lovest him so well and art so tender of his reputation that thou wilt not tell the dearest Friend thou hast of it and I commend thy prudence and affection bear it as long and as well as ever thou canst but thou mayst do both him and thy self a singular kindness by telling thy God of it Thou hast an unnatural and disobedient Child who came out of thine own Bowels and whom thou lovest as thy own Soul but he neither fears God nor reverenceth man he is so far from following the good counsel thou givest him that he will not so much as hear it thou canst not think of him without breathing a sigh scarce see him without dropping a tear and thy Soul doth even break with the longings it hath to see him another man a new man convinced converted sanctified turned from his disobedience to the wisdom of the just and brought over from the power of Satan to God thou wouldst have more of
and dread upon thy spirit with as great â—umility and reverence in thy carriage and deportment as if thou hadst the eyes of all the World upon thee though thou mayest in thy retirements be more free and open in giving an account of thy self and thy condition thy burthens wants and desires because no body sees thee yet thou must not be rude unmannerly and sawcy because God sees thee When thou art in a Corner God is in Heaven upon a Throne of Glory attended by innumerable Angles who in his presence cover their Faces with their Wings as knowing their distance their inability and unworthiness to behold him Remember thou hast to do with Majesty yea with an Infinite and Glorious Majesty and Shall not his excellency make you afraid and his dread fall upon you Job 13. 11. And indeed then are we most excellent when we do most fear God's Excellency David began Psalm 8. with the admiration of God's Excellency O Lord our Lord how excellent is thy name in all the earth And then in the same Psalm he fell to humbling and vilifying thoughts and expressions of Man What is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visitest him Abraham was the Father of the faithful and the Friend of God yet how low was he in his own eyes and how much fill'd with an awe of God when he alone stood before him pleading for wicked Sodom Observe how he carried and what he said Genesis 18. 27. Behold now I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord which am but dust and ashes And vers 30. O let not the Lord be angry and I will speak And yet again verse 32. O let not the Lord be angry and I will speak yet but this once By all this you see how much he was afraid of offending God and this is that which God expects from his creatures yea from his dearest Children he stands upon his honour and looks to be treated like himself Levit. 10. 3. Moses said unto Aaron This is that the Lord spake I will be sanctified in all them that come nigh me See then that you have grace to serve him with reverence and godly fear as knowing that your God is a consuming fire Heb. 12. 28 29. Nadab and Abihu found him so when destroyed by fire that came from his presence upon their not observing his order in matter of worship they brought with them strange fire and met with devouring fire Therefore do you fear before him when you pray to him and though no-body be by remember and consider that God is by as to hear your Prayers so curiously to observe both the frame of your spirits and the manner of your deportments before him as he is of pitiful eyes so of pure and piercing eyes which cannot indure to behold iniquity and from which nothing can be hid all is naked and open before him with whom you have to do Secondly When thou settest about the work of Secret-Prayer study and endeavour secrecy to the utmost and be as secret as ever thou canst do not tell others the business thou art taking in hand What though none know of it let it be enough for thee that thy Father doth for that is enough he alone is sufficient to be thy witness and to do for thee all that thou desirest Never go to it with a design nor in such manner that others may take notice of it for thy commendation A Christian indeed may do Alms and pray so as to be taken notice of and let his light shine before Men in order to the alluring of others and drawing them to the like acts of piety and charity But to give others by any means an item of our private Duties in order to our own applause that we might have praise with Men and be by them accounted in the number of serious strict and eminent Christians is too low a pitch for the Children of God to fly it is Pharisaically wicked and abominable And sure I am you your selves will find it true at the last That a name thus obtained will not pay the charge but cost you a great deal more than it is worth It is far better for us to take care of our duty and leave it to God to take care of our names If we can please God and get to Heaven we shall be glad to be there though no-body knew all the steps we took in the way thither When thou art in the work and warm at it when the Fire burns speak with thy tongue it is thy friend in Prayer and thy glory in Praises but command it to keep a due decorum be not so loud that others may hear do not like some make the street ring I readily grant that the lifting up of the voice is sometimes the effect of an oppressed spirit whom speaking will not serve there must be crying and that aloud sometimes it is the effect of a soul fir'd and inflam'd with holy longings and it may be allowed to be an help to the raising up of the spirit and affections Only when thou dost make use of it get as far as thou canst out of the hearing of others that thou mayest not be as the hypocrites are If thou hast not conveniency for that neither within doors nor without then go to God as he came to Elijah in a soft and still voice Thy Father can hear thy whispers for thou always speakest in his ear yea more Romans 8. 27. He that searcheth the heart knoweth what is the mind of the spirit He had in the Verse before spoken of groans that could not be utter'd desires that are in the Soul which it knoweth not how to express but though thou canst utter neither sighs nor groans nor words God knoweth your minds what your spirits are working out after when you say nothing he can tell what you would have All my desire is before thee He understands the language of thy sighs yea thy very tears are to him articulate when he doth not hear the words of thy mouth We do not find that Woman said any thing who washed Christ's Feet with her tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head but in those tears and actions Christ saw love and thankfulness much is forgiven her therefore she loveth much yea he doth know what you have a mind to by your very looks Hence it was that when the floods compassed Ionah about and all the billows and waves passed over him and he looked upon himself as being in a perishing condition he resolved upon giving God a look before he was quite lost Ionah 2. 4. Then I said I am cast out of thy sight yet I will look again toward thy holy Temple and that look saved him Verse 6. Thou hast brought up my life from corruption O Lord my God He looks pitifully up to God and God looks graciously down upon him do thou so act the Saint as carefully to avoid every
since he is of a plasant Plant become no better than a Briar a Thorn dried Stubble fit for the burning how well might guilty Sinners call with them in the 6th of the Revelutions v. 16. to the Mountains and Rocks to fall upon them and hide them from the face of him that sitteth upon the Throne But the beloved and ever-blessed Son of God in a most gracious compliance with and pursuance of his Father's will hath restored unto man freedom of access to God Jesus Christ though He knew full well how great the attempt was and how much it would stand him in did put his life in his hand and engaged his heart to approach unto God and being our peace hath procured for us a liberty of approaching too and of drawing nigh going as near as we will even to his very Throne Heb. 10. 19 20. Having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Iesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil that is to say his flesh Christ entred into the holiest of all he entred in triumph as one that had conquered all his Enemies He entred with joy as one that had finished the work and sate down at the right hand of God to take there his everlasting rest and as you have it in the 9th of the Hebrews v. 12. He entred not by the blood of Calves and Goats but by his own blood He carried that along with him and now by that Blood we may enter too we may enter with safety there is no danger for a gracious person a believing Soul Though the Throne of God be a Throne of Glory yet is it a Throne of Grace a Mercy-seat that hath a Rain-bow round about it and because we enter with safety therefore we may enter with boldness both with a freedom of speech telling God all that is in our hearts and with the full assurance of Faith as those that shall find mercy and grace to accept and help in time of need Now if that any of you do not value this privilege at an high rate if you do not carefully improve it and make use of it now it hath been purchased by Christ for poor Sinners you deal very disingenuously do not well consider the inestimable price which it cost and you offer a most vile and wretched affront to the precious Blood of Iesus as if it were an unholy thing of no more excellency than that of a Beast a common and ordinary man or of a guilty and death-deserving Criminal 3. Thirdly All the sorts of holy Prayer are to be made use of Eph. 6. 18. Praying always with all prayer in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all Saints Your Prayers must be in the Spirit that is with your Spirit Prayer must not only be a Lip-labour but the work of the heart the words in Prayer are but the carcase of the duty the fervour and heat of the Affections are the life and soul of it and also it must be with the Holy Spirit whose work it is to help his peoples Infirmities and to make intercession in them Prayer must be by the influence and assistance of the Divine Spirit and with the heat and earnestness of our own spirits so then we are to pray in the Spirit or as Iude saith in the Holy Ghost and happy they who have not fallible men to make their Prayers for them but the Spirit of God but there are two other Expressions in the forementioned Scripture we ought to take a little notice of Praying always Do not understand it as if you were to be day and night at it as if praying were the whole of your duty for you have a great deal of other work to do which must be carefully attended and therefore the Original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all opportunities in every fit and proper season for prayer in every condition into which Providence casts you and upon every occasion that calls for it The other Expression most pertinent to our present business is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with all prayer and supplication i. e. with ordinary prayer and with extraordinary too that which hath fasting joined with it private prayer and publick too ejaculatory prayer when the Soul â—allies out on a sudden unto God gives him a visit and away knocks at his door puts in a short Petition and is gone like one that is engaged about some other business and cannot stay and also composed Prayer in which the Soul fixeth and abides some considerable time with God Family-prayer and Closet-prayer Prayer in conjunction with others and alone by our selves We may and must make use of all these kinds of Prayers as opportunity offers and occasions do require But to come more close to the matter in hand 4. Fourthly Secret Prayer is a duty incumbent upon Christians Now that we call secret Prayer when a person gets alone by himself and makes his requests known to God When being sequestred from all company whatsoever and withdrawn from his nearest and dearest Relations his most familiar and intimate Friends and by himself in a most close and private retirement he sends out his Soul upon the wings of holy and servent desires and labours with all his might to fetch down his God to him by his gracious presence and to obtain of him those favours and blessings of which he finds a sensible want either in whole or in part It is that by which he knocks at the gate of Heaven and goeth into the Holiest of all and gives his heavenly Father a visit in such a manner as that no body may know of it Noâ— that he is ashamed of what he doth for he is free to own God for his Sovereign Lord Christ for his dearly beloved Prayer as his duty and work before all the World though he be reproached scorned and maligned for it but because he would avoid the suspicion of a Pharisaical vain glorious Spirit and also that he might get as far as ever he can out of the reach of Impediments and Diversions He enters into his Chamber and there shuts his Door upon him that so he might shut out all that would interrupt and disturb that fellowship with his God which he hath so often found an incomparable sweetness in as that he counts it his Heaven upon Earth At other times he will make one of the great Congregation and go to the House of God with the voice of joy and praise with a multitude that keep holy-day Psal. 42. 4. he loves the Gates of Sion and to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his Temple Psal. 27. 4 and also he knows how to go out as Isaac did into the Fields to meditate and in the night season to be abroad and consider with David the Heavens which are the works of God's hand the Moon and the Stars which he hath created and so take
some turns in an holy fellowship and as Enoch did walk with God before he be removed from hence and taken up to the habitation of his Holiness and Glory the Chamber of his presence and in these Walks he finds his heart warmed and an holy fire kindled and then returns with that burning within him then he speaks with his Tongue and sends up a pure flame of earnest supplications Confident I am The excellency of this course will not be in the least question'd by any who believe there is a God and own that absolute and necessary dependence which both as Creatures and Christians we have upon him and who have any sense of Religion upon their Souls yea I believe it will be acknowledged a duty by many very many of those who yet do not themselves live in the performance of it there hath such a clear light broken in upon them as hath convinced their Judgments though that conviction hath not had power enough upon their wills as to bring them to the practice of it And for my own part I do not know so much as the shadow of a reason why it should be question'd and made a point of controversie This I do with a fulness of persuasion assert That if there be any such thing in the World as a duty which we owe to God secret Prayer is so And I do add this wishing those into whose hands this little Piece shall come seriously to think of it those persons that do not make conscience hereof let them make never so great a noise do indeed make conscience of nothing He is not a true Christian that is not a through Christian nor he a real Disciple that hath not a cordial respect to all that Christ commands him and I shall not at all wonder to see or hear that man is remiss and careless and negligent in other things for which at present he pretends a zeal and at the long run to throw up all Yea and I will venture to add this one thing further He that doth not seek God when he is alone hath no reason to promise himself God's gracious meeting with him when he is in Company but if you will exclude and shut God out of your Chamber and Closets you will not to your comfort though indeed you may to your terrour find him in the Congregation The only thing which I shall do more in the doctrinal part will be to prove the Point and in order thereunto I shall endeavour with all convenient breviâ—y to shew That secret Prayer is I. A Duty II. An Advantage I begin with the former of these Private or secret Prayer is a great duty which all that call themselves Christians ought to be much in the performance of For the evidencing of this to you I shall lay down these four things 1. First Secret Prayer was the practice of our blessed Lord Jesus as he came into the World to redeem us so to direct us as his Death was an expiatory Sacrifice so his Life was a leading Example He is that excellent Copy without blot after which we are to write and that most exact and perfect Pattern without blemish or defect the imitation whereof we are obliged to study and endeavour and that to our utmost we must lead his Life as near as ever we can and tread in his steps for that is to foot it right and we must shew forth his virtues there must be an impress of them upon our dispositions and conversations The same mind ought to be in us that was in him Phil. 2. 5. Then is a Christian in his beauty and glory when he is cloathed with Christ and shines with the beams of Christ. Now Christ was very much in the work of secret Prayer and exceedingly frequent at it How did his perfectly pure and precious soul delight to be on the wing and mounting up to his and our Father in his recesses He did not only teach his Disciples to pray giving them in this Chapter a most excellent pattern for them to draw theirs by nor did he only pray with them as Master of the Family but he likewise did many and many a time pray by himself alone a great deal oftner than we do or any in the world ever did know of but something to this purpose hath been by the Divine Spirit who guided the Holy Penmen put upon Record in the Sacred Scripture Thus in Matt. 14. 23. after he had wrought that great and amazing Miracle of feeding five thousand Men beside Women and Children when he had no more provision than five Loaves and two Fishes He sent the Multitude away and not being satisfied with their absence alone he would have his very Disciples go by Ship to the other side it is said he constrained them to go poor hearts they loved him dearly and nowhere enjoyed themselves so well as they did when they were in his company and therefore they were loath to leave him but he would have it so he order'd and commanded them to be gone but what was the matter what did our Lord do when they were all gone That Text tells you He went up into a mountain a-part to pray and when the evening was come he was there alone He had his Father with him and doubtless a multitude of the heavenly Hoast the glorious Angels attending and waiting but nobody else none of the multitude not so much as one single Disciple Now let me desire you to think seriously of this that it was far otherwise with Christ than it is with the best of us He had another manner of command over his mind and heart his thoughts and Affections than the most gracious Man or Woman upon Earth hath He could with the greatest ease imaginable keep his Soul close to and intent upon the business which was before him without the smallest diversion and extravagancy and yet he chose to be a-part from all and alone by himself when he prayed unto his Father and shall not we go and do likewise Sure that which Christ did was very well done You have another Scripture which holds out the same and refers to another time when he had healed Simon 's Wife's Mother who lay sick of a Fever and many others that were diseased and had cast out many Devils Mark 1. 35. In the morning rising up a great while before day â—e went out and departed into a solitary place and there prayed Hypocrites as you have heard chuse the corners of the Streets places of concourse go into the Abbeys and Cathedrals and there you will see them by a Pillar at their devotion but Christ chose solitariness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a desert lonely place where there was no body there he loved to meet his Father Take but one Text more which you have in Luke 22. 39 40. He came out and went as he was wont to the Mount of Olives and his Disciples followed him and when he was come to the place he
said unto them Pray that ye enter not into temptation First he set them to their work he knew that the Devil would quickly be at his work and Christ would have his Disciples be at their work first We are then least in danger when a danger comes and finds us at our work Christ knew that an hour of temptation was coming and he would have them lay up-Prayer against that hour Will Satan tempt then do you pray thus he setteth them at work if you ask what Christ did then do himself I answer You may be sure he was not idle what he bid them do he did but he did it alone He was withdrawn from them about a stones cast and kneeled down and prayed This was Christ's wont as to go to the Mount of Olives so to get alone and pray not having so much as any of his Disciples with him Now is not this a plain evidence of the thing and shall not this be a prevailing motive with you In my mind the practice of Christ should be a powerful and cogent Argument with all those that call themselves his people 2. Secondly The people of God in their several Ages and Generations have taken the same course and walked in the same way I mean all those whose hearts have been upright with God and the desires of their Souls have been to his name and the remembrance of him and communion with him Iasob was a plain man but a great wrestler and very famous for his skill in that holy and excellent Art and crowned he was with admirable success He wrestled with God and prevail'd like a Prince tho he got a lameness which he carried with him to his Grave yet he got a blessing which kept him company into the other World and he was alone at the work Gen. 32. 22 c. He took his two Wives and his two Women-servants and his eleven Sons and sent them over the Brook and being left alone he wrestled with the Angel till the break of day it is by the way said there was a man wrestled with him who was no other than the Lord Christ who saith Dr. Lightfoot sought to kill him for his diffidence and for his sending a Present to his Brother Esau before he had according to his Vow paid the Tythe to God But be that how it will this is plain He prayed when he was alone then he wept and made supplication When that Rebeccah had conceived and there were Twins in her Womb which fell to struggling God thereby shewing that Contention which would afterward be between them and it is said Gen. 25. 22. She went thereupon to enquire of the Lord which indeed according to the Opinion of some Learned Men was by consulting of some Prophet but I rather think according to the judgment of others she did apply her self to God immediately and consulted or enquired of him in a way of Secret Prayer And that it was so seems to be evident from the 25th verse which tells us she had her answer from God himself The Lord said unto her Two nations are in thy womb i. e. two Heads of Nations and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels so that the good Woman got alone to pray and seek the Lord. We do also read in Gen. 25. 22. That Abraham planted a Grove in Beersheba and there he called on the Name of the Lord the Everlasting God He singly and by himself Ionathan saith that Grove was an Orchard full of Fruit-trees which did afford both what was pleasant and grateful to the taste and a comfortable refreshing shade in that hot Countrey but that is only a Iewish Tradition This we learn form the Text That thither he was wont to retire himself for prayer that was his Oraâ—ory when he had a mind to be alone When Elijah was by Iezabel threatned with death he came to Beersheba and left his Servant there but 1 Kings 19. 4. He himself went into the Wilderness a days journey and sate under a Iuniper-tree and be requested for himself that he might die and said It is enough now O Lord that I die for I am not better than my Fathers He would have no body with him not so much as a Friend no not his Servant Once more in Acts 10. 9. it is said Peter went up upon the house-top to pray about the sixth hour not then with the Family in which he was nor with any of his Brethren but by himself at the top of the House upon the Leads in the open air from whence he might look toward the Temple at Ierusalem and be remote from all Company and Spectators so that you see what hath been the practice of these gracious persons whose Names stand upon Scripture-record and I dare say all the Saints who have been acquainted with God have been familiarly acquainted with this work too and now I say Do you go and do the same and in this be ye as well as in other things followers of them considering the most happy end of their holy conversation 3. Thirdly There is an express and special command that binds this upon you as your duty Our dear and precious Iesus who hath bought us and so is our Lord and Master hath directed us to this practice and in plain terms required it at our hands for the proof of this we will go no further for we need no more than the Text before us Thou when thou prayest enter into thy Closet and when thou hast shut thy door make all as close and private as thou canst when thou art so alone as that no body can come at thee then pray to thy Father I told you before and think it worth my while because it may be profitable for you to repeat it and tell you again That our Lord Jesus doth suppose thee to be one that feareth God and that makest Prayer thy business He takes it here for granted that the new Nature thou hast received will act like it self and therefore though the doth in other places command you to do it yet He doth not do so here but supposeth it and surely every man that is himself doth pray He that is a man of sense and wisdom will be a man of prayer He that doth not pray is a Mad-man He hath not the understanding of a man he doth not act according to the dictate of his own reason which if consulted would certainly put him upon it as a thing highly due to God and every way advantageous to man Christ therefore doth here suppose you do pray and therefore doth only direct you as to the manner and that in this one particular And I do likewise desire you to observe That our Lord Jesus doth here speak in the Second Person Singular Thou in the same language with the same particular application and awful Majesty as the Ten Commandments were given forth thus you know they run Thou shalt have no other Gods before me Thou
things 1. Safety 2. Comfort 1. First Secret Prayer is a choice and excellent means of Security would a Man be safe when he is alone then let him pray when he is alone On this side of Heaven there is not any one place to be sound in which a person may rationally look upon himself as quite out of the reach of danger I heard one once wittily say He did not upon the Road fear Highway-men so long as be was alone But there are other enemies from whom we may apprehend mischief when we are most alone The subtil Serpent wrigled himself into Paradise it self and there he did mortally sting our first Parents and undid them and all their posterity in them Holy Paul was perfectly safe while he continued in the third Heaven the malicious Tempter could not come at him there since he was cast down from that blessed place He never yet could and for the future he never shall make a re-entry nor is his Arm strong enough to shoot an Arrow or throw a fiery Dart so high But no sooner was that eminent Apostle come down again but he was desperately set upon worse than the Philistins were upon him there was a Thorn stuck in his flesh which could not but put him to pain and a Messenger of Satan was sent to buffet him who without peradventure gave him no small blows One would conclude a person safe enough when no-body is with him as there is none to help so there is none to hurt yet even then he may be in danger for though there be no Man with him yet there is a Devil with him yea more than one possibly more than a Legion It might have been rationally concluded That David walking upon the top of his House did not stand in need of his Life-guard about him Who was that should or could do the King a mischief there Yet even there a Naked Woman conquered that Man of War and a malicious Devil let fly one of his envenom'd Arrows and wounded him to the very heart by the eye It had been well for that good Man if instead of gazing about and viewing every object that presented he had been looking up to his God and praying in secret Know and consider O thou poor Soul the Devil hath a mind to thee not out of any Love he bears thee for there is no such thing in Devils they must cease to be Devils before they can have any kindness for Men But he hath a mind to you as a roaring Lion hath to his prey and in pursuance of his bloody design he is restless though he can do himself no good he reckons it worth his while to do thee a mischief and therefore he doth not only walk with thee up and down in the Street and from this private or publick House to that nor only follow thee to the publick Congregation there to divert thy thoughts or deaden thy affections or direct thine eye to some vain and wanton object or pick up the seed which is sown that though it be cast in at the ear yet it may never reach so far as the heart to root there and bring forth precious fruit in the Life and Conversation but he will also dog you into your Chambers and intrude into your Closets when the Door is shut he will get in you cannot while here get clear of the old Man and the old Serpent and where-ever he is you may be sure He comes for no good He is wholly set upon mischief that is his constant imploy his beloved work his heart is set upon it he follows it close and with all his might Therefore my advice is That thou wouldest make Prayer thy Closet-business that when this implacable Enemy of thine finds thee alone he may not have an advantage against thee When in Ephes. 6. the Apostle Paul had told you of the Enemies you must contend with that they are not only flesh and blood but also principalities and powers and spiritual wickednesses in high places he advised you to put on the whole Armour of God and over and above he directed you to this excellent and necessary work of Prayer as knowing that both your security and victory depend as much upon that as any thing Your Armour will not do without your God and him you cannot expect without Prayer If then you would not fall both into temptation and by it your care and work must be to watch and pray and I do not in the least doubt but Prayer hath laid many a restraint upon the Devil and kept him off from medling with a Child of God when his fingers have itch'd at him and blunted his tools often and often so that he could not do the work he intended with them and broken the neck of many a cursed design which he was most industriously carrying on 2. Secondly Secret Prayer is a special way for the making of your retirement comfortable and pleasant to you Solitariness is looked upon as having Melancholly for its usual Companion and a Life of loneliness and retirement is reckon'd a very disconsolate Life The Prophet made this a part of his bitter complaint Psal. 102. 7. That he was as a sparrow alone upon the house top And Solomon saith Eccles. 4. 10. Wo be to him that is alone Hence one said He that loves to be alone is either a Beast or a God But Secret-Prayer is an excellent way to sweeten solitariness and take off the uncomfortableness of it If thou dost but in thine uprightness apply thy self heartily to this work when thou art without any Company thou shalt not be without matter of rejoycing but with Hagar in the Wilderness find a Spring opened to thee That was a great saying of one Nunquam minus solus quam cum maxime solus I am never less alone than when I am most alone He did never find less want of Company than when he had none then a Man enjoys his God and himself and he that hath indeed that enjoyment needs no body Iohn 16. 32. Our Saviour spake thus to his Disciples The hour cometh yea is now come that ye shall be scattered every man to his own and shall leave me alone and yet I am not alone because the father is with me Not alone when alone I shall be altogether without you but not without my Father who doth more infinitely more than fill up those vacancies as at noon-day we do not want the Stars though they be all obscur'd and disappear because we have the glorious Light and Beams of the Sun who doth abundantly supply their absence David tells us in Psalm 145. 18. which is a Psalm of Praise That the Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him to all that call upon him in truth Sincere Prayer will fetch God down from Heaven to stand at thy right hand Our Heavenly Father is more ready than the most affectioâ—ate tender-hearted Mother upon Earth to arise and come in at the cry
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
between a Man and a Brute because there is something in Brutes which say they may pass for Reason to be sure it looks very like it but there is nothing like Religion in them and I would fain know what there is or at present can be of Religion in that Man or Woman who lives without Prayer and how unworthy is such an one of the name Man The late Learned Bishop Wilkins in his treatise concerning the Principles and Duties of Natural Religion hath these passages In the Actions of many brute creatures there are discernable some footsteps some imperfect strictures and degrees of Ratiocination such a natural sagacity as at least bears a near resemblance to Reason From whence it may follow that it is not Reason in the general which is the form of humane nature but Reason as it is determined to actions of Religion of which we do not find the least signs or degrees in Brutes Man being the only creature in this visible World that is formed with a capacity of worshipping and enjoying his Maker And he adds This is not any new Opinion but what several of the Ancient Writers Philosophers Orators and Poets have attested to who make the notion of a Deity and Adoration of him to be the true difference betwixt Man and Beast Thou then who hast hitherto lived without God and Prayer in the World own thy degeneracy take unto thy self both the name and shame of a Brute and now begin to act the part of a Man in falling â—pon thy knees before God and with an humble blush crying out as good Asaph did when once got from under the power and fury of an hideous temptation Psalm 73. 22. So foolish was I and ignorant I was as a beast before thee Besides this I would have you to consider the disingenuity you discover in living at such a rate and in such a neglect and contempt of God as this what will you not so much as thank God for all that good he doth you will you own him in none of the footsteps of his Providence and evidences of his care doth he step in between you and your dangers hold your Souls in life lade you with benefits direct your affairs assist you it business succeed your endeavours doth He day unto day shew his bounty and night unto night his goodness and is it not worth the owning Wilt thou not make any thankful acknowledgment nor pay him any tribute of praise wouldst thou carry thus to thy Fellow-creature or wouldst thou thy self bear it from another Think again how unnatural you are to your own Souls if a poor Creature wants bread how will he go out into the Fields and Streets and ask of every one he thinks able to give and continue upon his knees hours together dost thou not see them While thou dost thou hast reason to reflect upon thy self with indignation and abhorrency will he beg for a penny and wilt not thou pray for a Kingdom and a Crown of Glory far better than those of Gold When a Criminal hath a Sentence of death past upon him he will plead hard for his life and leave no stone unturn'd Benhadad though a great King when in danger sent his Servants in a most submissive manner with Ropes about their Necks to beg for his life Thou art a Criminal the Sentence is past upon thee and none can tell how soon execution may be done thou canst not promise thy self an hours respite how unnatural then art thou how hard is thy heart and how cruel to thy self who goest day after day and year after year without sending up a Petition for the life of thy Soul though thou hast often heard that the King of Heaven is a merciful King and that there are forgivenesses with him What shall I say if you are resolved to go on at this rate and persevere in this inhuman neglect thou mayst e'ven as well renounce thy Allegiance to God disown thy being any of his Creatures deny any dependence which thou hast upon him Call not thy self from henceforth a Man a Woman indued with reason or acting according to the principles and dictates thereof but acknowledge thy being sunk down and degenerated into a Beast and truly thou deservest to be sent with Nebuchadnezzar to graze among them till thou art made better to understand both God and thy self What O Man O Woman what dost thou mean live and not pray live merely upon God's mercy and patience and not pray live upon his goodness and his cost and not pray must thou one day dye and go into the other World and not send any prayers thither before thee Must thou go to God in order to thy being judged by him and sentenced as to thy everlasting state and yet not pray Surely thou hast lost thy reason and art chargeable with egregious folly and madness Oh that I could do something in order to thy cure and bringing thee to thy self and upon thy knees and that God would by his Spirit and Power accompany what I shall to that purpose offer to thy most serious and repeated consideration First That man who spends his days altogether without Prayer is dead while he lives though he hath a natural life yet he hath nothing of the life of Grace nothing of that divine life of which the Lord Jesus was the Purchaser and is the Principle but is to this very day alienated from the life of God thorough the ignorance and perverseness which is in him and dead in trespasses and sins New-born Children cry What! can a person be born spiritually born of God and brought forth unto God and yet not cry not pray It is a thing impossible it cannot be The work of Prayer indeed may be for a while interrupted sometimes through inward weakness and oppression as that holy man complained in Psalm 77. 4. I am so troubled that I cannot speak sometimes through violence offer'd him by temptation the Enemy of God and Man comes and stops his mouth otherwise the very nature which a Saint hath been made a partaker of doth carry him out hereunto and that holy fire which is kindled in his Soul will be ascending up in such a flame 2 Cor. 4. 13. It is written I believed therefore have I spoken we also believe and therefore speak that is to be understood of speaking in a way of confession but it is true also speaking in a way of supplication In Acts 9. 11. The Lord said unto Ananias Arise go into the street which is called Straight and enquire in the House of Judas for one Saul of Tarsus for behold he prayeth Poor Ananias was startled at the Order and not very willing to be sent upon such an Errand and began to object Lord this man hath got a very bad name I have heard of him by many He is the talk both of Town and Countrey as having been a mischievous Instrument he hath done much evil to thy Saints at Ierusalem and now
sin in him and with a load of guilt upon him He did indeed justify and applaud himself but God's Soul abhorr'd and loath'd him Whereas the poor humbled broken-hearted Publican stood a great way and prayed in the Spirit from an inward and deep sense of his own vileness and he was sent home to his House justified God gave him a Pardon and a Smile I shall not spend much time or pains about this sort of Men because I conclude their prejudice is so great that they will give very little heed to any thing that I shall say though delivered with all possible meekness and really designed for their good yet not knowing what it may please that God to do upon them who is the Father of Mercies and God of all Grace and hath the hearts of Men in his hand and can make what impressions upon them and changes in them seem good in his sight I shall not pass them by altogether in silence but offer to their consideration these two things which in my judgment carry something of weight in them First Places do not add any value to Actions of Religion so as to commend them to God I remember that which after the discourse of Cornelius Peter said unto him Acts 10. 34. Of a truth I perceive that God is no respector of persons but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted of him And I may say as there is no respect of Persons with God so there is no respect of Places with God He hath no more esteem for the Chancel than for the body of the Church and that which is within the Rails is no more Sacred than that which is without them There is as near compendious and direct a way to the Throne of God from thy House O Believer as there is from the Church or the most magnificent Cathedral and those Supplications which are made and presented there with an holy heart by the assistance of the Divine Spirit and in the name of Christ shall find as free an access to God as ready an audience with him and as gracious an acceptance It is indeed by us and all granted That the Temple at Ierusalem was an holy place yea there was in it not only an Holy Place but the Holy of Holies God himself had sanctified it and appropriated it to his own most solemn service there he had been pleased to place his Name that was an excellent Type of the Lord Iesus our ever-blessed Mediator and where-ever the Iews were into what Countrey soever they were scattered or carried Captive they were to pray toward it Dan. 6. 10. When Daniel knew that the writing was signed he went into his house and his windows being open in his chamber towards Ierusalem he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did afore-time But that Temple being destroyed and not so much as one Stone left upon another that Church-state being at an end and that dispensation ceased I know no such thing as Holiness of Places here below The Synagogues among the Iews in the Land of Canaan were not Holy but only convenient places for them to meet together in for the performance of publick Worship and waiting upon God in the way of his Ordinances And our Churches at this day come not in the room of the Temple but of those Synagogues There was indeed a very great stir and hot contention in our Saviour's days and before about the place of Publick-worship between the Iews and the Samaritans The Iews were for the Temple built by Solomon at Ierusalem and they were in the right for that was the place which God had chosen and appointed On the contrary the Samaritans stood stifly for the Temple which had been built by their Ancestors upon Mount Gerizzim The Woman of Samaria having an opportunity put into her hands did in Iohn 4. 20. start the Question and propound it to our Saviour seeking as one saith to be by him satisfied about it as in a case of Conscience Now it is worth our while to observe his Answer thereunto which you have in Verse 21. Iesus said unto her Woman believe me the hour cometh when ye shall neither at Ierusalem nor in this Mountain worship the Father Prayer Ordinances and the Worship of God shall not be restrained to this place nor to that it shall not be more pleasing powerful and prevalent in one place for the place's sake than it is in another Add hereunto that which the Holy Apostle Paul saith in 1 Tim. 2. 8. I will that men pray every where lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting Mark his manner of expression I will he speaks with Authority we may be sure he received this from the Lord. He would never have said I will had he not been sure that it was God's will it was God's will and therefore it was Paul's will But what was it That Men do not look to the place in which they pray but to the manner how they pray let them pray any where every where in what place they themselves judge fit and convenient so that their hands be washed in innocency and their hearts are but cleansed from their filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness Holy and pure Prayer shall be welcome to God and have a most gracious reception from what quarter or corner soever it comes We find that good Ionah prayed unto the Lord his God when he was in the Belly of the Fish which was so dark and dismal a place that he counted and called it the belly of Hell yet his Prayer made there did not lose its way nor fail of the end for which it was sent Ionah 2. 2. I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord and he heard me out of the belly of hell cried I and thou heardest my voice Secondly I do advise and desire you to examine your selves and to be better studied in and acquainted with your own hearts than it may be as yet you are for I cannot but tell you though this be an excellent work and necessary for all that would manage Religion to everlasting advantage and approve themselves to God so it is in a particular manner necessary for them that lay so much stress upon places and other things of like nature to watch their hearts narrowly and to keep a very strict eye upon them lest by those superstitious observances they be found wanting to and of the very vitals of the Duty and hug and please themselves with a rotten and stinking Carcass where the Soul and Life are wanting and as our Lord said to the Pharisees Matt. 23. 23. Wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for ye pay tythe of mint and anise and cummin and have omitted the weightier matters of the law judgment mercy and faith They neglected the magnalia legis the great things of the Law while they were greatly solicitous about the minutula
not part with thee if thou wilt not take me up to thee thou shalt not deny to go along with me unless desires and longings are grown insignificant unless Prayers and Tears have lost their wonted power I will have thee to my House to my Family to my Chamber I am now set for the greatest privacy and for the sweetest intimacy there will I pour out my fervent Prayers and there I will humbly and patiently yet with inflamed longings attend thy pleasure and wait thy gracious Answers We find that holy Abraham did erect Altars to God abroad in the several places to which he came God had his Tables for Abraham and Abraham would have his Altars for God God was very gracious Abraham very ingenuous God was bountiful and Abraham grateful At Sichem the Lord appeared to him and there he built an Altar and another he made near unto Bethel and another in the Plain of Mamre and doubtless as he had his Altars so his Sacrifices as all places were witnesses of God's kindness to Abraham so he would have them witnesses of his mindfulness of God Yea and as he had his Altars abroad so as you have already heard he had his Grove at home an Oratory a place of Prayer where he called on the Name of the Lord the Everlasting God There are those in the world and among our selves who can find Altars abroad and if there be none they will make some they had as lieve be without Churches as without Altars And oh how do they admire them as the most holy places tho' there be no Sacrifice and how do they plead for them and stoop and bow to them and herein they place a main piece of their Religion tho' it be but a piece of foolish Superstition if not something worse from which God deliver England and other Reformed Churches which do yet need a further Reformation Well these people have these things abroad but suppose one should ask them what they have at home May they not say We have rich Tables full Cups stately Chambers Down-beds yea and Cards and Dice Healthing and Ranting Chambering and Wantonness Yes it is very probable But what is there of the Service of God of the Worship of God of any Honour done to God Nothing of all this no nothing at all And art thou one of this number then I earnestly desire thee to think with thy self and seriously consider what a profane place is thy Closet in which there is no Prayer how it stinks in God's nostrils Whatever other Sweets thou maist have where there is no holy Duty to perfume it what a wicked place what an Hell is thy Chamber out of which the Glorious Majesty of Heaven is so far as thou canst do it excluded If there be no Prayer there then for certain there is no God there I mean by his gracious presence and if there be no God there then there are a thousand Devils But my chief design is not to deal at present with the gross and openly flagitious I have no cause to wonder that they have no such thing as Prayer in their Chambers and Closets who do by their loose vicious and abominable Lives proclaim to all that know them that there is no fear of God before their Eyes I would indeed speak a thousand words to do their Souls good and think my time and labour well bestowed But now my business lieth among Professors those of them who live in the shameful neglect of Secret Prayer to whom I shall propound these four Questions and let them consider what Answer they can give First Art thou a Christian indeed or art thou not Secondly Dost thou make Religion thy business or dost thou not Thirdly What account dost thou make of God Fourthly Doth not thy Conscience charge thee with the omission of a Duty I desire to deal faithfully with you as one that must answer before my Judge and oh that you would deal faithfully with your own Souls for it is your great and everlasting Concern First Art thou a Christian or art thou not I mean not in Profession only but in reality not in shew only but in sincerity not in word and in tongue only but in deed and in truth thou wilt answer yes I am a Christian God forbid I should be otherwise Thou sayst well but the great business is to make it out How dost thou prove it Thou wilt perhaps answer Thou hast been baptized that is well too that thy Parents did their duty in bringing thee to that sacred and solemn Ordinance of initiation and thereby binding thee to the faith fear and service of thy great Creator and Lord Redeemer But my Friend Is that all thou hast to say for thy Christianity Is that all the Evidence thou art able to produce I cannot forbear telling thee That Baptism where there is that and no more doth make a company of pitiful Christians There was an Israelite in shew and an Israelite in deed Wilt thou observe and make due use of that which Paul saith Rom. 2. 28 29. He is not a Iew which is one outwardly neither is that Circumcision which is outwordly in the flesh But he is a Iew which is one inwardly and Circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter whose praise is not of men but of God And in the same sense I may say that is not Baptism which is only outward that is not enough to give the denomination upon that single account Christ will not own a person for a Sheep of his Fold a Member of his Body that lays indeed on all them that receive it an obligation unto holiness and it will greatly aggravate the sins which they afterward live in the wilful commission of but it will not entitle them to Salvation and everlasting happiness 1 Pet. 3. 21. Baptism doth now save us by the Resurrection of Iesus Christ possibly now thou thinkest thou hast enough Baptism saveth and what do I need more but stay let the Apostle explain himself which he doth in the very same Verse Not the putting away the filth of the flesh by sprinkling water upon the face according to most or dipping in it according to others or plunging the whole body in it over head and ears according to some neither this nor that way will be sufficient and saving alone The unregenerate Children of Israel though circumcised were unto God as the Children of the Ethiopians Amos 9. 7. And as one saith A man may go to Hell with the water of Baptism upon his face But saith Peter the answer of a good Conscience toward God When Conscience is able to give this testimony of a man that he hath been baptized by the Holy Ghost renewed in the spirit of his mind that it is his desire to answer the Engagements in Baptism to attain the blessed Ends of Baptism and to approve himself to God â—y walking as becomes one of his Covenant-â—eople Now then let
me put the Question to â—hee again Art thou a Christian hast thou been baptized into Christ hast thou â—ut on Christ hath he got the possession â—f thine heart and the supreme power and â—ommand in it If thou art a Christian be â—niform let thy whole life be of a piece â—insey-woolsey Christians bear with the â—xpression are abominable both to God â—nd Men. What thou art that be in all â—laces having put Christ on keep him on â—nd walk up and down every-where as a â—an in Christ expressive of Christ making â—im visible in thy life and all the passages of it Do not thou carry like a Christian in the Congregation and like an Heathen in the Closet Since God is so very gracious as to admit thee into his House to tread in his Courts to sit down at his Table to feast it with his Children upon marrow and fatness dainties and spiced wine be not thou so disingenuous and ungrateful as to shut him out of thy Chamber when thou lettest in the World and Sin Holy Paul speaking of himself and others of the true Apostles he saith 2 Cor. 2. 14. That God made manifest the savour of his knowledge by them in every place that was a very great and excellent work they were not moral Preachers but Gospel-preachers They did not preach Plutarch but Iesus The Spouse had said Cant. 1. 3. That the name of her Beloved was as an ointment poured forth Now said Paul I determined to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and him crucified and all the Apostles were acted by the same Spirit and inflamed with the same love to Christ they took his name as a box of most precious Ointment and whereever they came they opened it and made Christ known and whereas the Gentile World was exceeding unsavoury and all places did stink most wretchedly of their Idolatry the Apostles perfum'd and sweetned and brought into them the most delightful savour of the knowledge of the true God in Christ. Now accordingly I would have you act if you be professors make every place where you come to savour of Religion let all your Discourses have a savour of it carry that savour with you into your Friends Houses and publick Houses of entertainment and be sure that in your own Houses in your Chambers and Closets you do make manifest the savour of that knowledg which you have of God and of that true sincere love which you have for God If you be Christians be uniform practice Christianity always every-where Secondly I would seriously propound this Question to thee Dost thou make Religion thy business I have not lived above Threescore Years in the World without making some Observations and getting some knowledge of it and I must needs say I know a great deal more than is good I have read many Books and I have read Men too though indeed many of them are crabbed pieces not easie to be understood But this I have found and still do to my sorrow and to their shame that many Persons among us do make a profession of Religion who never indeed took it up nor buckel'd to it as their Trade they are not altogether strangers but will be doing something but here 's the mischief it is only as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 business by the bye their thoughts and cares and studies are carried another way their main work doth lie somewhere else namely in the World that is the thing they are devoted to and set their hearts upon and spend their time and strength in the pursuit of how they should get it how they shall increase it how they shall secure it and how they shall inebriate themselves with the comforts delights and pleasures of it Whereas the gracious Soul that is sound at the bottom and that in truth which he would go for in the account and esteem of men makes his Religion his great and principal work David said Psal. 109. 4. I give my self unto prayer others give themselves over to sin God gives them up to a reprobate mind and to vile affections and to their own hearts lusts and they give themselves up one to his drunkeâ—ness and another to his uncleaâ—ness Now David gave himself to prayer and what he saith of Prayer in particular is true as to Godliness in general a godly Man gives himself up to it he is addicted and devoted to it he is all for that and the truth is none but such an one will do good upon it Believe it O Professors for your own experiences will in the end make my words good none but such as do indeed make Religion their Trade will thrive upon it and grow rich toward God Now then if thou dost indeed make Religion thy business thou wilt heartily study and do all thou canst to promote it as you know the promoting of Trade is the matter of common discourse among men and they are greatly set for it they are glad to hear of any thing that will contribute thereunto Now there is nothing in the World that doth forward a Christian more in this his great business and that doth more promote the Trade of Godliness and Religion than Secret Prayer doth I am not willing to compare one Duty with another or one Ordinance with another â—â—ir they are all of God they are all stampt with his Authority they are all greaâ— advantages to them that walk uprightly God is more wise and gracious than to set his Servants about any unnecessary 〈…〉 You know that many Persons who are wâ—llâ— moneyed men have a stock going with others as in the African and East-India Company but not satisfied with that they will have their Secret Stock also and will trade by themselves So here the Saints and People of God should be trading and have a great deal going in the common Stock in publick Worship in the Assemblies and Congregations of the Saints Psal. 42. 4. Holy David did reckon it a brave time when he went with the multitude to the house of God with the voice of joy and praise with a multitude that kept holy day Psal. 122. 1. He was glad when they said unto him Let us go into the house of the Lord. And it is prophesied and promised as a choce and singular blessing Isa. 2. 3. That many people shall go and say Come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths But it is not to be expected that they should thrive amain and grow very rich toward God unless they have a Secret Stock going too and will be trading by themselves in private and keeping up that communion correspondency and intercourse with God and Christ which others do not know of David was very much for Sanctuary sights and enjoyments when he was deprived of them he did seek and thirst and long for them Psal 63. 1 2. but still
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
and thy countenance is comely When she is most retired and absconded Christ loves both to see her and hear her tho' she be Sun-burnt with Persecution and sooted with Infirmities yet her Countenance is comely in the eye of Christ because there he seeth his own and his Father's Image and tho' her Prayers be broken and as the chatterings of a Crane yet the voice is sweet in the ear of Christ because it is the language of his own Spirit And although our Lord spake this to his Spouse the Church yet it may be applied to particular Christians who are Parts and Members of the Church and may take the comfort of it to themselves When Elijah was as you heard and we noted before under the Juniper-Tree God was pleased to come and join himself to him and would have from his own mouth an account of his Case and the reason of his withdrawing himself What dost thou here Elijah what was it that brought thee hither and what is it that thou wouldst have of me Know O holy Soul thou standest in the same relation to God and hast the same interest in him and maist promise thy self the same kindness God will not think it too much for his Majesty to come to thee alone when desired and when he comes to bring with him a blessing for thee though thou takest none here to back thee hast not a Friend on Earth to join in the Suit yet do thou go and state thine own case draw up thy Petition and present it unto God with an hand of faith setting the name of Christ to it and God will presently add his fiat his Amen though it may be the answer shall not presently be given in to thee yet the grant shall be past in Heaven thy Father will say Be it unto this soul even as it will Nay he will not only give the thing if it be good for thee but more too and while thou askest like a Child he will answer thee like a God A most gracious assurance hereof you have in the words of the Text from the mouth of Jesus Christ himself who is the faithful and true witness Thy father which seeth in secreâ— shall reward thee openly He sees the sincerity of thy heart and the importunity of thy desires he seeth how thou labourest at the Oar and what pains thou hast taken and with what great wrestlings thou hast wrestled and having seen he will reward the work is done and the reward is to come So then if thou wilt believe Christ thou shalt not lose thy labour thou shalt not have pangs and throws of Soul and after all bring forth nothing but wind never did any one Holy Prayer fall short of Heaven and drop by the way the great God is not wont to set his Children about any unprofitable work Paul I am sure was of that mind when he said in 1. Cor. 15. last Be stedfast immovable always abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. As their grievous sufferings turn them to a very good account so shall all their holy actions There is never an appointment of duty for them but it carrieth in its Bowels a design of Mercy He saith not to the seed of Iacob seek ye my face in vain the preparing and engaging of their hearts to pray speaks his readiness and resolution to incline his ear to hear When he bids them open their mouths it is that he might fill them He would not have them give a knock at his door to no purpose but hath promised when they do it shall be opened to them and when he opens his door he will open his heart and hand too and not send them away empty When he bids them seek it is in order to their finding and that which they find shall be worth their while and pay them for all the pains they took to be sure they shall not have cause to complain as those that sit down losers and have a disappointment of their expectations Nay further our Saviour tell us that he will reward us openly He will not be ashamed that the World should see how he useth his Servants they shall see there is a reward for the Righteous and though the Devil was a Fool in going about to charge rotten sordid designs and a mercenary selfishness upon Iob yet he himself was forced to acknowledg that Iob did not serve God 〈◊〉 nought He will reward thee openly both here and hereafter before Angels and Men as you have compassed his Altar with your Supplications so will he compass you about with Favour and with Songs he will make it manifest he will convince his enemies a foolish wicked and ungrateful World of all the hard speeches which they had spoken against him they themselves shall see it false That it is a vain thing to serve God he will by his liberal rewards given them extort from them this acknowledgment That the Lord is good to them that wait upon him and to the soul that seeks him especially it shall be thus at the last and great day which will be the day of recompences the day in which God will make up his Iewels and set them not in Gold but in Glory Then as you have it in Mal. 3. 18. yea then indeed shall ye discern between the righteous and the wicked betweem him that serveth God and him that serveth him not between him that seeketh God and him that seeketh him not between him that prayeth and him that prayeth not Then there shall be an apparent and manifest difference the stone-blind World those that are wickedly wilfully blind shall see it to their vexation and torment These are the motives by which I did design and do hope to work upon your hearts these the Silken Cords of a Man the Rational Arguments with which I would alluâ—e and draw you to the conscientious chearful performance of this excellent necessary and Soul-chearing Soul-fattening Duty of Secret-Prayer and oh that I might hear you have been wrought upon by them and prevailed with Now that you might do this work well and not fail as to the right management of it and so not miss and fall short of those singular benefits and advantages which come by it I shall afford you what assistance I judge needful in the case and in silence passing over those Directions which refer to Prayer in general I shall give you up some that do particularly concern and relate to Secret-Prayer they are these I beseech you mind and Practise them First Make thy secret approaches to God with the greatest solemnity of Spirit that thou canst though thou goest in the multitude of mercies and with faith in Christ and with hope of finding Grace yet be sure that in his fear thou worship toward his Holy Temple though thou art alone and without any here to be an eye-witness do thou draw nigh unto him with as great an â—we
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
and compendious way mingling with it faith in Christ to provide for your own peace and comfort when you do humbly and freely load your selves with the acknowledgment of the sins you are guilty of you may find them lie more light upon you Consciences when you bind them upon your selves you may find God loosing them and taking them off by the assurance of a gracious and full pardon Till David came to this poor man he was in a most dismal condition Psal. 32. 3. While he kept silence his bones waxed old through his roaring all the day he kept silence i. e. he did not confess sin and then he was fain to spend all his time in roaring because of the torment and anguish which he felt and so long as he did not carry toward God in a way of ingenuity God carried toward him in a way of severity Vers. 24. Day and night thy hand was heavy upon me my moisture is turned into the drought of Summer He was sunk under the weight of that hand and broken almost to shivers and dried up like a potsherd But now see what a comfortable change was wrought and how God appeared to his joy when he brake off that sinful silence yea as soon as he took up a resolution of doing it Ver. 5. I acknowledged my sin unto thee and mine iniquity have I not hid I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin So then this is the way to remove Judgements to pacifie the wrath and displeasure of God to quiet the Conscience to recover the sense of Divine Favour and to get for broken bones the joy of God's Salvation Fifthly When thou art in secret keep a strict watch over thy self Watch over both thy Body and Soul watch over thy body that it may not sleep as the Disciples did very unseasonably when they had the greatest reason to keep awake You know what our Saviour said That the body is weak where the spirit is willing It is a great sin and therefore a great shame for people yea such as profess godliness when they are about the Work and Service of God in these Assemblies hearing and praying to sleep away so much of that precious time as they do as if these things were none of their business and they were not at all concerned in it Sure I am this is not to sit here as God's People sitteth this is no sign of a serious Christâ—an coming to hear for Life and to pray for Life and working out Salvation with fear and trembling and yet they sleep in the midst of Observers when they have some on all sides to give them an awakening jog and I desire you to make conscience of doing it it is an act of Duty and of Love it is a friendly jog and the party to whom you give it is obliged to take it thankfully at your hands as a kindness He doth not know how much he may lose by a little Nap some precious Truth may then be spoken and passed in which he was greatly concerned and by which he might have been greatly benefited but it is gone and lost as to him he slept it away But when thou art all alone thou hast none by to do that friendly Office to bestow a jog upon thee then thou must do all the work thy self and look to thy self therefore thou shouldst be the more thine own Friend and take the more care and pains And also watch thy Soul thine heart keep it as thou art commanded with all diligence And as Deborah said to her self when she was in the midst of her work Iudges 5. 12. Awake awake Debroah awake awake utter a Song so do you call upon your selves in your Duties Awake awake O my Soul awake awake lift up a Prayer Thou hast now wrestling-work in hand do not be dull heavy and lazy at it watch thine heart for it needs it and two things in particular it is very subject to wandrings and coolings the heart of man is a wandering heart will not keep its way nor dwell upon its proper Object David could say My heart is fixed O God my heart is fixed But could he say so always or canst thou No tho' it is fixed in its choice of God in its affection to him in its resolution for him yet it hath not that fixation of thoughts and meditations upon him nor that fixedness of fellowship and communion with him which should be Thou thinkest thou carriest thy heart with thee to thy duty but dost thou not often find it hath given thee the slip and is gone before thou hast done Therefore look to it keep thine eye upon it that it may keep its place and to its business But then again the heart of man hath its coolings as well as its wandrings As it should keep its way so it should carefully keep its heat Be much therefore and frequent in stirring up thy self when thou goest by thy self to take hold of God beware of all deadness and dulness when thou art going to serve a living God When fire-brands are together they will help one another and burn to the last but he that would keep a single one alive had need to tend it carefully and be often blowing it yea and adding some fewel too Watchfulness is as great and necessary a Duty as any the Christian hath to do he must watch unto Prayer that he may not go about it unseasonably that he may not lose a fit opportunity but set up his sail as soon as the wind blows and that he also might make use of all advantages for the tuning of his instrument and getting his heart into a right frame and he must watch likewise in prayer that when he is at the work he may not idle in it and so lose his duty by losing himself for want of looking to Alas what is Prayer without the heart unprofitable to man abominable to God it is like a Carcase when the Soul hath once forsaken it a stinking and offensive thing who would make a Present of it to a great King Sixthly When thou art upon thy knees engaged in secret Prayer unto God be sure that thou double thy diligence and put thy strength forth to the utmost When a great many are lifting at an heary weight every one may spare himself and put forth the less strength because there is such a number to assist but when there is no more than one single person tugging at it he had need strain and labour hard else he must leave it where and as he found it When we are joined together with others in Prayer when with a Church of Christ an Assembly of Saints there is a number of Supplicants a great many besieging the Throne of Grace wrestling with God and pulling down the Blessings which are desired and then we may speak in the same manner as David did Psal. 7. 6 7. Arise O Lord in thine anger lift up