3 Nunquam minus solus, quam cum solus ; never less alone, than when alone, said the heathen. And may not a saint say so much more that hath communion with God ?
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And it was a most sweet and divine saying of Bernard, * O saint, knowest thou not,' saith he, 'that thy husband Christ is bashful, and will not be familiar in company ? Retire thyself therefore by prayer and medi- tation into thy closet or the fields, and there thou shalt have Christ's embraces.'
A gentlewoman, being at private prayer and meditation in her parlour^ had such sweet, choice, and full enjoyments of God, that she cried out, 'Oh that I might ever enjoy this sweet communion with God !' &c.
Christ loves to embrace his spouse, not so much in the open street, as in a closet ; and certainly the gracious soul hath never sweeter views of glory, than when it is most out of the view of the world. Wise men give their best, their choicest, and their richest gifts in secret ; and so doth Christ give his the best of the best, when they are in a corner, when they are all alone. But as for such as cannot spare time to seek God in a closet, to serve him in secret, they sufficiently manifest that they have little fellowship or friendship with God, whom they so seldom come at.
[7.] Seventhly, Consider the tmie of this life is the only time for private prayer. Heaven will admit of no secret prayer. In heaven there will be no secret sins to trouble us, nor no secret wants to pinch us, nor no secret temptations to betray us, nor no secret snares to en- tangle us, nor no secret enemies to supplant us. We had need live much in the practice of that duty here on earth, that we shall never be ex- ercised in after death. Some duties that are incumbent upon us now, as {^raising of God, admiring of God, exalting and lifting up of God, joy- ing and delighting in God, &c., will be for ever incumbent upon us in heaven ; but this duty of private prayer, we must take our leaves of when we come to lay our heads in the dust.
[8.] Eighthly, Consider the great prevalency of secret prayer. Private prayer is porta codi, clavis paradisi, the gate of heaven, a key to let us into paradise. Oh the great things that private prayer hath done with God ! Ps. xxxi. 22. Oh the great mercies that have been obtained by private prayer! Ps. xxxviii. 8, 9. And oh the great threatenings that have been diverted by private prayer ! And oh the great judgments that have been removed by private prayer! And oh the great judgments that have been prevented by private prayer ! I have read of a malicious woman who gave herself to the devil, provided that he would do a mischief to such a neighbour, whom she mortally hated : the devil went again and again to do his errand, but at last he returns and tells her, that he could do no hurt to that man, for whenever he came, he found him either reading the Scriptures, or at private prayer. Private prayers pierces the heavens, and are commonly blessed and loaded with gracious and glorious returns from thence. Whilst Hezekiah was praying and weeping in private, God sent the prophet Isaiah to him, to assure him that his prayer was heard, and that his tears were seen, and that he would add unto his days fifteen years, Isaiah xxxvfti. 5. So when Isaac was all alone meditating and praying, and treating with God for a good wife in the fields, he meets Rebekah, Gen. xxiv. 63, 64. So Jacob: Gen. xxxii, 24-28, 'And Jacob was left alone ; and there wrestled a man with iim until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not
178 THE PRIVY KEY OF HEAVEN. [MAT. VI. 6.
against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh ; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. And he said. Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him. What is thy name ? and he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel ; for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.' In this scripture we have an elegant description of a duel fought between the Almighty and Jacob ; and in it there are these things most observable :
(] .) First, We have the combatants or duellists, Jacob and God, who appeared in the shape or appearance of a man. He that is here said to be a man was the Son of God in human shape, as it appeareth by the whole narration, and by Hosea xii. 3-5. Now, that this man that wrestled with Jacob was indeed God, and not really man, is most evident by these reasons :
[1.] First, Jacob desires a blessing from him, ver. 26. Now, it is God's prerogative-royal to bless, and not angels' nor men's. Frgo, —
[2.] Secondly, He calls him by the name of God ; * thou hast power with God,' ver. 28. And saith Jacob, ' I have seen God face to face,' ver. 30. Not that he saw the majesty and essence of God : for no man can see the essential glory of God and live, Exod. xxxiii. 20, 23 ; but he saw God more apparently, more manifestly, more gloriously than ever he had done before. Some created shape, some glimpse of glory, Jacob saw, whereby God was pleased for the present to testify his more immediate presence, but not himself
[3.] Thirdly, The same person that here Jacob wrestles with is he whom Jacob remembereth in his benediction as his deliverer from, all evil. Gen. xlviii. 16. It was that God that appeared to him at Bethel when he fled from the face of his brother. Gen. xxxv. 7. Ergo, —
[4.] Fourthly, Jacob is reproved for his curious inquiring or ashing after the angeV-s name, ver. 29, which is a clear argument or demon- stration of his majesty and glory, God being above all notion and name. God is a super-substantial substance, an understanding not to be under- stood, a word never to be spoken. One being asked what God was, answered, ' That he must be God himself, before he could know God fully.' ^ We are as well able to comprehend the sea in a cockle-shell, as we are able to comprehend the Almighty, or that nomen Majesta- tivum, as Tertullian phraseth it. *In searching after God,' saith Chrysostom, ' I am like a man digging in a deep spring : I stand here, and the water riseth upon me ; and I stand there, and still the water riseth upon me.'
In this conflict you have not one man wrestling with another, nor one man wrestling with a created angel, but a poor, weak, mortal man wrestling with an immortal God; weakness wrestling with strength, and a finite being with an infinite being. Though Jacob had no second, though he was all alone, though he was wonderfully over- matched, yet he wrestles and keeps his hold, and all in the strength of him he wrestles with.
(2.) Secondly, You have the place where they combated, and that w^as beside the ford Jabbok, ver. 22. This is the name of a brook or ' Dionys. Areop. de Divin. Nom., cap. i.
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