[2.] Secondly. Consider, when Christ was on earth, he did much exercise himself in secret prayer; he was often with God alone, as you may see in these famous scriptures : Mat. xiv. 23, ' And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray ; and when the evening was come, he was there alone.' Christ's choos- ing solitudes for private prayer, doth not only hint to us the danger of distraction and deviation of thoughts in prayer, but how necessary it is for us to choose the most convenient places we can for private prayers. Our own fickleness and Satan's restlessness calls upon us to get into such corners, where we may most freely pour out our souls into the bosom of God : Mark i. 3o, ' And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.' As the morning time is the fittest time for prayer, so solitary places are the fittest places for prayer : Mark vi. 46, ' And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray.' He that would pray to purpose, had need be quiet when he is alone : Luke V. 16, ' And he withdrew himself into the wilderness and prayed.' (Greek, He was departing and praying) to give us to understand that he did thus often. When Christ was neither exercised in teaching nor in working of miracles, he was then very intent on private prayer : Luke vi. ] 2, ' And it came to pass in those days that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.' Did Christ spend whole nights in private prayer to save our souls ; and shall we think it much to spend an hour or two in the day for the further- ance of the internal and eternal welfare of our souls ? Luke xxi. 37, ' And in the day-time he was teaching in the temple, and at night he went out, and abode in the mount that is called the mount of Olives.' Christ frequently joins praying and preaching together, and those whom Christ hath joined together, let no man presume to put asunder : Luke xxii. 39, 41, 44, 45, ' And he came out, and went as he was wont to the mount of Olives, and his disciples also followed him. And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down and prayed. An4 being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was as
170 THE PRIVY KEY OF HEAVEN. [MaT. VI. 6.
it were great drops of blood' (clotted or congealed blood) * falling down to the ground ' (never was garden watered before or since with blood as this was). ' And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow.' Ah ! what sad pieces of vanity are the best of men in an hour of trial and temptation ! These very men, that a little before did stoutly profess and promise that they would never leave him nor forsake him, and that they would to prison for Christ, and die for Christ, yet when the day of trial came, they could not so much as watch with him one hour ; they had neither eyes to see nor hands to wipe off Christ's bloody sweat ; so John vi. 15-17. Thus you see, by all these famous instances, that Christ was frequent in private prayer. Oh that we would daily propound to ourselves this noble pattern for our imitation, and make it our business, our work, our heaven, to write after this blessed copy that Christ hath set us, viz., to be much with God alone. Certainly Christianity is nothing else but an imitation of the divine nature, a reducing of a man's self to the image of God, in which he was created ' in righteousness and true ho- liness.' A Christian's whole life should be nothing but a visible repre- sentation of Christ. The heathens had this notion amongst them, as Lactantius reports, that the way to honour their gods was to be like them. Sure I am that the highest way of honouring Christ is to be like to Christ : 1 John ii. 6, ' He that saith he abideth in him, ought himself also to walk even as he walked.' Oh that this blessed Scrip- ture might always lie warm upon our hearts. Christ is the sun, and all the watches of our lives should be set by the dial of his motion. Christ is a pattern of patterns ; his example should be to us instead of a thousand examples. It is not only oun' liberty, but our duty and glory, to follow Christ in all his moral virtues absolutely. Other patterns be imperfect and defective, but Christ is a perfect pattern ; and of all his children, they are the happiest that come nearest to this perfect pattern. Heliogabalus loved his children the better for resembling him in sin. But Christ loves his children the more for resembling him in sanctity. I have read of some springs that change the colour of the cattle that drink of them into the colour of their own waters, as Du Bartas sings :
• Cerona, Xanth, and Cephisus do make The thirsty flocks, that of their waters take, Black, red, and white ; and near the crimson deep, The Arabian fountain maketh crimson sheep."
Certainly, Jesus Christ is such a fountain, in which whosoever bathes, and of which whosoever drinks, shall be changed into the same like- ness, 2 Cor. iii. 18.
Quest. But why ivas our Lord Jesus so much in private prayer ? Why vjos he so often with Ood alone ?
Ans. 1. First, It was to put a very high honour and value upon private prayer ; it was to enhance and raise the price of this duty. Men naturally are very apt and prone to have low and undervaluing thoughts of secret prayer. But Christ, by exercising himself so fre- quently in it, hath put an everlasting honour and an inestimable value upon it. But,
Ans. 2. Secondly, He was much in private prayer, he was often with God alone, that fte raight not he seen of men, and that he might avoid
Mat. VI. 6.] the privy key of heaven. 171
all shows and appearances of ostentation and popular applause. He that hath commanded us to abstain from all appearances of evil, 1 Thes. V. 22, would not himself, when he was in this world, venture upon the least appearance of evil. Christ was very shy of every thing that did but look like sin ; he was very shy of the very show and shadow of pride or vain-glory.
Ans. 3. Thirdly, To avoid interruptions in the duty. Secresy is no small advantage to the serious and lively carrying on of a private duty. Interruptions and disturbances from without are oftentimes quench-coals to private prayer. The best Christians do but bungle when they meet with interruptions in their privaie devotions.
Ans. 4. Fourthly, To set us such a blessed pattern and gracious example, that we should never please nor content ourselves uith public prayers only, nor with family prayers only, but that we should also apply ourselves to secret prayer, to closet prayer. Christ was not al- ways in public, nor always in his family, but he was often in private with God alone, that by his own example he might encourage us to be often with God in secret ; and happy are they that tread in his steps, and that write after his copy.