tions of his Holy Spirit, as may enable you to take out those twenty lessons that I have laid open before you. I confess the epistle is large, but do but consider your own conditions, and the present dispensations under which we are cast, and then I suppose you will not call it by the name of a tedious epistle.
Dear friends, the following discourse on closet prayer I heartily re- commend to your serious perusal. I have many reasons to hope, that when you have once read it over, you will be more in love with closet prayer than ever, and that you "svill set a higher price upon closet prayer than ever, and that you will make a better and fuller improvement of closet prayer than ever yet you have done. Consider what I say in my epistle to the reader, and labour so to manage this little treatise, that now I put into your hands, that God may be glorified, your own souls edified, comforted, and encouraged in the ways of the Lord, and that you may be ' my crown and joy, in the great day of our Lord Jesus,' 1 Thes. ii. 19, 20. So wishing that 'the good will of Him that dwelt in the bush' may abide upon you and yours for ever, I take leave and rest, dear friend, your soul's servant in our dear Lord Jesus,
ChristiaJ^ Reader, — The epistle dedicatory being occasionally* so large, I shall do little more than give thee the grounds and reasons of sending forth this little piece into the world, especially in such a day as this is. Now, my reasons are these :
1. First, Because God by his present dispensations calls more loudly for closet prayer now, than he hath done in those last twenty years that are now passed over our heads. See more of this in the 16th argument for closet prayer.
2. Secondly, Because I have several reasons to fear that many Chris- tians do not clearly nor fully understand the necessity, excellency, and usefulness of this subject, and that many, oh that I could not say any, live in too great a neglect of this indispensable duty, and that more than a few, for want of light, err in the very ^practice of it.
3. Thirdly, For the refreshing, support, and encouragement of all those churches of Christ that walk in the fear of the Lord, and in the comforts of the Holy Ghost, &c., especially that particular church to whom I stand related.
4. Fourthly, To preserve and keep up the power of religion and godliness both in men's houses, hearts, and lives. The power of re- ligion and godliness lives, thrives, or dies, as closet prayer lives, thrives, or dies. Godliness never rises to a higher pitch than when men keep closest to their closets, &c.
5. Fifthly, Because closet prayer is a most sovereign remedy, a most precious antidote of God's own prescribing, against the plague that now rageth in the midst of us, 1 Kings viii. 37-39, &c.
6. Sixthly, Because every man is that really which he is secretly. Never tell me, how handsomely, how neatly,^ how bravely, this or that man acts his part before others ; but tell me, if thou canst, how he acts his part before God in his closet ; for the man is that certainly, that he is secretly. There are many that sweat upon the stage that are key- cold' in their closets.
7. Seventhly, Though many worthies have done worthily upon all other parts of prayer, yet there are none either of a former or later date, that have fallen under my eye, that have written any treatise on this subject. I have not a little wondered that so many eminent writers
* = ' Suitably to the occasion.' — G. * ' Purely.' Cf. Sibbes' Glossary. — G.
' Another Shakespearian word ; ' poor key-cold figure,' Richard III., i. 2. — G.
should pass over this great and princely duty of closet-prayer, either with a few brief touches, or else in a very great silence. If several Bodies of Divinity are consulted, you will find that all they say clearly and distinctly as to closet-prayer, may be brought into a very narrow compass, if not into a nut-shell. I have also inquired of several old dis- ciples, whether among all the thousand sermons that they have heard in their days, that ever they have heard one sermon on closet-prayer? and they have answered. No. I have also inquired of them, whether ever they had read any treatise on that subject ? and they have an- swered, No. And truly this hath been no small encouragement to me, to make an offer of my mite ; and if this small attempt of mine shall be so blessed, as to provoke others that have better heads, and hearts, and hands, than any I have, to do Christ and his people more service, in the handling of this choice point in a more copious way than what I have been able to reach unto, I shall therein rejoice.
8. Eighthly, and lastly. That favour, that good acceptance and fair quarter that my other poor labours have found, not only in this nation, but in other countries also, hath put me upon putting pen to paper once more ; and I hope that the good will of him that ' dwelt in the bush,' will rest upon this, as it hath to the glory of free grace rested upon my former endeavours. I could add other reasons, but let these suffice.
Good reader, when thou art in thy closet, pray hard for a poor, weak, worthless worm, that I may be found faithful and fruitful to the death, that so at last I may receive a crown of life. So wishing thee all hap- piness both in this lower and in that upper world, I rest.
Thine in our dear Lord Jesus,
THE PRIVY KEY OF HEAVEN;
OK, A DISCOURSE OF CLOSET PRAYER. .
But thou, when thou pray est, enter into thy closet ; and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret ; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall retuard thee openly. — Mat. VI. 6.
These words of our Saviour are plain, and to be taken literally, and not allegorieally, for he speaketh of shutting the door of the chamber. In this chapter there is a manifest opposition between the Pharisees praying in the synagogues and corners of the streets, and others praying in secret.
In the text you have a positive precept for every Christian to pray alone : ' But thou, when thou prayest.' He saith not, when you pray, but thou, ' when thou prayest, enter into thy closet,' &c., as speaking not so much of a joint duty of many praying together, as of a duty which each person is to do alone. The command in the text sends us as well to the closet as to the church ; and he is a hypocrite in grain that chooses the one and neglects the other; for thereby he tells the world he cares for neither, he makes conscience of neither. He that puts on a religious habit abroad to gain himself a great name among men, and at the same time lives like an atheist at home, shall at the last be uncased by God, and presented before all the world for a most egregious hypocrite.