[19.] Nineteenthly, Consider that Satan is a very great enemy to secret prayer. Secret prayer is a scourge, a hell to Satan. Every secret prayer adds to the devil's torment, and every secret sigh adds to his torment, and every secret groan adds to his torment, and every secret tear adds to his torment. When a child of God is on his knees in his secret addresses to God, oh the strange thoughts, the earthly thoughts, the wandering thoughts, the distracted thoughts, the hideous thoughts, the blasphemous thoughts, that Satan often injects into his soul ! and all to wean him from secret prayer.^ Sometimes he tells the soul, that it is in vain to seek God in secret ; and at other times he tells the soul it is too late to seek God in secret ; for the door of mercy is shut, and there is no hope, no help for the soul. Sometimes he tells the soul that it is enough to seek God in public ; and at other times he tells the soul, that it is but a precise trick to seek the Lord in private. Sometimes he tells the soul, that it is not elected, and therefore all his secret prayers shall be rejected ; and at other times he tells the soul, that it is sealed up unto the day of wrath, and therefore a secret prayer can never reverse that seal ; and all this to dishearten and discourage a poor Christian in his secret retirements. Sometimes Satan will object to a poor Christian the greatness of his sins ; and at other times he will object against a Christian the greatness of his un worthiness. Some- times he will object against a Christian his want of grace ; and at other times he will object against a Christian his want of gifts to manage such a duty as it should be managed. Sometimes he will object against a Christian his former straitenedness in secret prayer ; and at other times he will object against a Christian the small yearnings that he makes of secret prayer ; and all to work the soul out of love with secret prayer, yea, to work the soul to loathe secret prayer ; so deadly an enemy is Satan to secret prayer. Oh, the strange fears, fancies, and conceits, that Satan often raises in the spirits of Christians, when they are alone with God in a comer ; and all to work them to cast off private prayer. It is none of Satan's least designs to interrupt a Christian in his private trade with God. Satan watches all a Christian's motions ; so that he cannot turn into his closet, nor creep into any hole to converse privately with his God, but he follows him hard at heels, and will be still inject- ing one thing or another into the soul, or else objecting one thing or another against the soul. A Christian is as well able to tell the stars ' There is no one thing that many hundred Cliristians have more sadly lamented and bewailed, as many faithful ministers can witness, tlian the sad interruptions that they have met with from Satan, when they have been with God alone in a room, in a corner. Oh ! how often have they been scared, aflfrighted, and amazed by noises and strange apparitions, at least to their fancies, when they have been alone with God in a corner.
Mat. VI. 6.] the privy key of heaven. 197
of heaven, and to number the sands of the sea, as he is able to number up the several devices and sleights that Satan uses to obstruct the soul's private addresses to God. Now from that great opposition that Satan makes against private prayer, a Christian may safely conclude these five things :
(1.) First, The ecccellency of private prayer. Certainly if it were not an excellent thing for a man to be in secret with God, Satan would never make such head against it.
(2.) Secondly, The necessity of this duty. The more necessary any duty is to the internal and eternal welfare of a Christian, the more Satan will bestir himself to blunt a Christian's spirit in that duty.
(3.) Thirdly, The utility or profit that attends a conscientious dis- charge of this duty. Where we are like to gain most, there Satan loves to oppose most.
(4.) Fourthly, The prevalency of private prayer. If there were not a kind of omnipotency in it, if it were not able to do wonders in heaven, and wonders on earth, and wonders in the hearts and lives and ways of men, Satan would never have such an aching tooth against it as he hath.
(5.) Fifthly, That God is highly honoured by this duty, or else Satan would never be so greatly enraged against it. This is certain. The more glory God hath from any service we do, the more Satan will strive by all his wiles and sleights to take us, either off from that service, or so to interrupt us in that service, that God may have no honour, nor we no good, nor himself no hurt, by our private retirements. But, in the [20.] Twentieth and last place, Consider, that you are only the Lord's secret ones, his hidden ones ; and therefore if you do not apply your- selves to private prayer, and to your secret retirements, that you may enjoy God in a comer, none will. It is only God's hidden ones, his secret ones, that are spirited, principled, and prepared to wait on God in secret : Exod. xix. 5, ' Then shall ye be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people.' The Hebrew word segullah signifieth God's special jewels, God's proper ones, or God's secret ones, that he keeps in store for himself, and for his own special service and use. Princes lock up with their own hands in secret their most precious and costly jewels ; and so doth God his : Ps. cxxxv. 4, ' For the Lord hath chosen Jacob unto him- self, and Israel for his peculiar treasure,' or for his secret gem : Ps. Ixxxiii. 3, ' They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and con- sulted against thy hidden ones,' or thy secret ones ; so called partly because God hides them in the secret of his tabernacle, Ps. xxxi. 20, and partly because God sets as high a value upon them as men do upon their hidden treasure, their secret treasure ; yea, he makes more reckoning of them than he doth of all the world besides. And so the world shall know when God shall arise to revenge the wrongs and injuries that hath been done to his secret ones. Neither are there any on earth that knows so much of the secrets of his love, of the secrets of his counsels, of the secrets of his purposes, of the secrets of his heart, as his secret ones do. Neither are there any in all the world that are under those secret in- fluences, those secret assistances, those secret incomes, those secret anointings of the Spirit, as his secret ones are under. And therefore, no wonder if God calls them again, and again, and again, his secret ones.
198 THE PRIVY KEY OF HEAVEN. [MaT. VI. 6.