saith he, ' he exhorts its to pray in prosperity as well as in adversity, and not to quit the d\ity of prayer in a prosperous estate, because we are not driven to it by outward pressing necessities and miseries; and by praying with perseverance, he admonisheth us that we be not weary of tlie work, but continue instant and constant in its performance, though we liave not presently what we pray for.' So that ' praying always' is opposed to a neglect of the duty in its proper times and seasons, and 'praying with perseverance' is opposed to a fainting in our spirits, in respect of this or that particular suit or request that we put up to God, When God turns a deaf ear to our prayers, we must not fret nor faint, we must not be dismayed nor discouraged, but we must hold up and hold on in the duty of prayer with invincible pa- tience, courage, and constancy, as the church did : Lament, iii. 8, 44, 65-57, compared ; Col. iv. 2, ' Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving.' We must be constant and instant in closet prayer ; we must wait upon it, and lay all aside for it. He that is only in his closet by fits and starts, will neither glorify God nor advantage his own soul. If we do not make a trade of closet-prayer, we shall never make any yearnings of closet-prayer. Look, as they that get money by their iron mills do keep a continual fire in their iron mills, so they that will get any soul-good by closet duties, they must keep close and constant to closet duties. The hypocrite is only constant in incon- stancy ; he is only in his closet by fits and starts. Now and then, when he is m a good mood, you shall find him step into his closet, but he never holds it : Job xxvii. 10, ' Will he always call upon God,' or, as the Hebrew hath it, ' Will he in every time call upon God ?' When they are under the smarting rod, or when they are upon the tormenting rack, or when they are under grievous wants, or when they are struck with panic-fears, &c., then you shall have them run to their closets, as Joab ran to the horns of the altar, when he was in danger of death ; but they never persevere, they never hold out to the end ; and therefore in the end they lose both their closet prayers and their souls together, Isa. xxvi. 16, Ps. Ixxviii. 34, Zech. vii. 5.
It was a most profane and blasphemous speech of that atheistical wretch,* that told God ' that he was no common beggar, and that he never troubled him before with prayer, and if he would but hear him that time, he would never trouble him again.'
Closet-prayer is a hard work ; and a man must tug hard at it, and stick close to it, as Jacob did, if ever he intends to make any internal or eternal advantages by it, Gen. xxxii. Daniel chose rather to run the hazard of his life, than to give over praying in his chamber, chap. vi. It is not he that begins in the spirit and ends in the flesh. Gal. iii. 3 ; it is not he that puts his hand to the plough and looks back, Luke ix. 62 ; but he that perseveres to the end in prayer, that shall be saved and. crowned. Mat. xxiv. 13. It is he that perseveres in well doing that shall eat of the hidden manna, and that shall have the white stone, ' and in the stone a new name written, which no man knows saving him that receiveth it,' Rev. ii. 17. Those precious, praying, mourning souls in that Ezekiel ix. 4, 6, that were marked to be preserved in Jerusalem, were distin- guished, say some of the learned, by the character ^, tau, which is the » Query ' after ' ?— G., or * earnings of ?'— £d. ' Heil. Mic p. 376. [As before.— G.]
262 THE PKIVY KEY OF HEAVEN. [MAT. VI. 6.
last of all the Hebrew letters, to teach them that thoy must hold out and hold on to the end in well doing.' It is constancy in closet-duty that crowns the Christian and commends the duty.
But would God have his people to cast off their callings, and to cast off all care of their relations, and shut themselves up in their closets, and there spend their whole time in secret prayer ? Oh, no ! Every duty must have its time and place; and as one frienil must not shut out another, so one duty must not shut out another, Eccles. iii. 1. The duties of my particular calling as I am a man must not shut out the duties of my general calling as I am a Christian, nor tlie duties of my general calling as I am a Christian must not shut out the duties of my particular calling as I am a man. But that you may be fully satisfied in this case, you must remember that a man may be said to pray always,
[1.] First, When his heart is always in a praying frame. Look, as a man may be truly said to give always whose heart is always in a giving frame, and to suffer always whose heart is always in a sulFering frame — * For thy sake are we killed all the day long,' Ps. xliv. 22 — and to siu always whose heart is always in a sinning frame, 2 Peter ii. 14, Jer. ix. 3, so a man may be as truly said to pray always whose heart is always in a praying frame.
[2.] Secondly, A man prays always when he takes hold on every JU season and opportunity for the pouHng out of his soul before the Lord in his closet. To pray always is sv vavTi xai^^, to pray in] every opportunity ; but of this before.
It is observed by some of Proteus, that he was wont to give certain oracles, but it was hard to make him speak and deliver them, but he would turn himself into several shapes and forms ; yet if they would hold our, and press him hard without fear, into whatsoever form or shape he appeared, they were sure to have satisfactory oracles.^ So if we cont'nue constant in our closet-wrestlings with God, if we hold on in private { ra} er though God should appear to us in the form or shape of a judge, an enemy, a stranger, we shall certainly speed at last: 'O woman, great is thy faith, be it unto thee even as thou wilt; and her daughter was made whole from that very hour,' Mat. xv. 28.
The philosopher being asked in his old age why he did not give over his practice and take his ease, answered, * When a man is to run a race of forty furlongs, would you have him sit down at the nine-and-thirtieth, and so lose the prize, the crown for which he ran V^ 0 sirs ! if you hold not out to the end in closet-prayer, you will certainly lose the heavenly prize, the crown of life, the crown of righteousness, the crown of glory. To continue in giving glory to God in this way of duty, is as necessary and requisite as to begin to give glory to God in this way of duty ; for though the beginning be more than half, yet the end is more than all; ftnis coronat opus. The God of all perfections looks that our uUimum vitoi should be his optimum glorice, that our last works should be our best works ; and that we should persevere in closet-prayer to the end, Rev. ii. 10.
(8.) Aly eighth advice and counsel is this, In all your closet-prayers,
• J. [S ] Mennch Coin, in Ezek. cap. ix. 4. [Comment : S. S. 1719, 2 vols, folio.— G.]
• H. liner, Odi/ iv. 410 and 456, &c Ovid, Art. Am. i. 761, &c.— G.