Fifthly, Saints are in a marriage-covenant with God, Hos. ii. 19, 20. Now what husband is there that will cast off his wife for her failings and infirmities ? So long as a man is in covenant with God, his infir- mities can't cut him off from God's mercy and grace. Now it is cer- tain a man may have very many infirmities upon him, and yet not break his covenant with God, for no sin breaks a man's covenant with God but such as unties the marriage knot. As in other marriages, every offence or infirmity doth not disannul the marriage union ; it is only the breach of the marriage vow, viz. adultery, that unties the mar- riage knot ; so here it is only those sins which breaks the covenant which unties the marriage knot between God and the soul : (1.) When men freely subject^ to any lust as a new master ; or, (2.) When men take another husband ; and this men do, when they enter into a league with sin or the world, when they make a new covenant with hell and death, Isa. xxviii. 15, 18. Now from these mischiefs God secures his chosen ones. In a word, if God should cast off his people for their in- firmities, then none of the sons or daughters of Adam could be saved : ' For there is not a just man upon the earth that doth good and sinneth not,' Eccles. vii. 20. Now if God will not cast off his people for their infirmities, then certainly he will not cast off the prayers of his people because of those invincible infirmities that hang upon them ; and there- fore our infirmities should not discourage us, or tate us off from closet prayer, or from any other duties of Religion. But,
(4.) FouHhly, I answer. The more infirmities and weaknesses hang upon us, the more cause have we to keep close and constant to our closet-duties.^ If grace be weak, the omission of private prayer will make it weaker. Look, as he that will not eat will certainly grow
' Eph. i. 22, 28; 1 Cor. vi. 20, vii. 23 ; 1 Pet. i. 18-20.
* In our older writers subject is frequently used aa an intransitiTO verb. — Ed.
3 The omission of good diet breeds diseases.
Mat. VI. 6.] the privy key of heaven. 243
weaker and weaker, so he that will not pray in his closet will certainly grow weaker and weaker. If corruptions be strong, the neglect of private prayer will make them stronger. The more the remedy is neglected, the more the disease is strengthened. Whatsoever the dis- tempers of a man's heart be, they will never be abated, but augmented, by the omission of private prayer. The more bodily infirmities hang upon us, the more need we have of the physician ; and so the more sinful infirmities hang upon our souls, the more need we have of private prayer. All sinful omissions will make work for repentance, for hell, or for the physician of souls. Sinful omissions lead to sinful commis- sions, as you may see in the angels that fell from heaven to hell, and in Adam's fall in paradise.
Origen going to comfort and encourage a martyr that was to be tor- mented, was himself apprehended by the officers, and constrained either to offer to the idols, or to have his body abused by a blackamore that was ready for that purpose ; of which hard choice, to save his life, he bowed unto the idol ; but afterwards, making a sad confession of his foul fact, he said, ' That he went forth that morning before he had been with God in his closet ;' and so peremptorily concludes, 'that his neglect of prayer was the cause of his falling into that great sin.'
The neglect of one day, of one duty, of one hour, would undo us for ever, if we had not an advocate with the Father, 1 John ii. 1, 2. Those years, those months, those weeks, those days, those hours that are not filled up with God, with Christ, with grace, with duty, will certainly be filled up with vanity and folly. All omissions of duty, will more and more unfit the soul for duty. A key thrown by, gathers rust ; a pump not used, will be hardly got to go ; and armour not used, will be hardly made bright, &c. Look, as sinful commissions will stab the soul ; so sinful omissions will starve the soul. Such as live in the neglect of private prayer may well cry out, Isa. xxiv. 16, Job xvi. 8, 'Our lean- ness, our leanness !' And therefore away with all these pleas and rea- sonings about infirmities, and weaknesses, and indispositions, and address yourselves to closet prayer. But,
(5.) Fifthly, I answer. It 'may he thy disteTrtper and indisposition of body is not so great, but that thou canst buy, and sell, and get gain} Notwithstanding thy aching head, and thy shooting back, and thy pained sides, and thy feeble knees, yet thou canst, with Martha, cumber thyself about thy worldly affairs. In that Cant. v. 3, Christ calls upon his spouse to open the door, and let him in. But sin and shifting com- ing into the world together, see how poorly and unworthily she labours to shift Christ off : ' I have put off my coat ; how shall I put it on ? I have washed my feet ; how shall I defile them ?' Rather than she will make* no excuse for herself, she will make a silly excuse, a worthless excuse. She was past a child ; and what a great business had it been for her to have risen to have let in such a guest, that brings everything with him that heart can wish or need require. Rev. iii. 17, 18. She was not grown so decrepid with old age, but that she was able to make herself ready ; at least, she might easily have slipped on her morning-coat and stepped to the door without any danger of taking cold, or of being
' I'he body itself, if you set too high a price upon it, will make a cheap soul ; and he is the most unhappy man whose outaide is his best side.
244 THE PRIVY KEY OF HEAVEN. [MaT. VI. 6.
wet to the skin, and so have let him in, who never comes empty-handed, Kev. xxii. 12 ; yea, who was now come full of the dew of divine bless- ings to enrich her ; for so some sense those words, ' Mine head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.' Oh, the frivolous pretences, and idle excuses that even gracions persons are apt sometimes to take up to over-colour their neglect of duty !
But some may say. It may be the spouse of Christ was asleep. Oh no ! for she saith, verse 2, ' I sleep, but my heart waketh.' She slept with open eyes, as the lion doth; she slept but half-sleep ; though her outward man was drowsy, yet her inward man was wakeful ; though the flesh took a nap, yet her spirit did not nod.
Oh ! but it may be Christ made no noise, he gave no notice that he was at the door ! O yes ! he knocked, he knocked and bounced by the hammer of his word, and the hand of his Spirit ; he knocked by outward coiTections and inward admonitions ; he knocked by providences, and he knocked by mercies. His importunity and vehemency for admission was very great.
Oh ! but it may be he did but only knock, he should have called as well as knocked ; for none but madmen would open their doors in the night, except they knew the voice of him that knocketh. Oh yes ! he did not only knock, but called also.