1. All the precepts of prayer do include closet prayer : ' Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving,' Col. iv. 2 ; ' Pray without ceasing,' 1 Thes. v. 17. First God's precepts fall upon single persons before it falleth upon families and churches ; for God considereth us first as persons apart, and then in our several com- binations and societies in joining with others. The duty is rather imposed upon us than taken up by voluntary choice ; and that only at stated times, when they can conveniently meet. If we are to continue in prayer, and to pray without ceasing, we are to make conscience ourselves of being often with God. Every person that acknowledgeth a God, that hath a Father in heaven, must come and profess his dependence upon him.
2. The example of Christ, which beareth the force of a law in things moral. We read often of Christ's praying : Mark i. 35, ' He went out into a solitary place to pray ; ' and Mat. xiv. 23, and Luke vi. 12, we
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read he prayed a whole night to God. Now let us improve this instance. Christ had no such need of prayer as we have ; the God- head dwelt in him bodily ; nor such need of retirement ; his affections were always in frame ; yet he went out from the company of his disciples to pray alone to God. This pattern is very engaging, for if we have the spirit of Christ, we will do as Christ did; and very encouraging, for by submitting to this duty he sanctifieth it for all : his steps drop fatness, and leave a blessing and virtue behind him. And it assureth us of his sympathising with us ; he is acquainted with the heart of an earnest supplicant ; and it is some comfort against our imperfections ; when we are with God, and our hearts are as heavy as a log, it is a comfort to think of this particular rjart of his righteous- ness by which our defects are covered.
3. I shall urge it from God's end in pouring out the Spirit, that we may pray apart, and mourn apart over our distempers and personal necessities, Zech. xii. 10-14. Many will say they have no gifts ; certainly they that feel their necessities will speak of them in one fashion or another. But this cuts off the objection. The Spirit is given to help thee : I will pour upon them the Spirit of grace and supplication, and they shall mourn apart. Such is God's condescension to the saints, that he hath provided for them not only an advocate but a notary ; a notary to draw up their petitions, and an advocate to present them in court. And surely the gifts of the Spirit should not lie by idle and useless.
4. I might urge you too from the practice of the saints, who are called God's suppliants, Zeph. iii. 10 ; the generation that seek him, Ps. xxiv. 6. They delight in God's company, and cannot be content to stay away long from him. Daniel had his three times a day, Dan. vi. 10. So David : Ps. lv. 17, ' Evening and morning and noon will I pray and cry aloud, and he shall hear my voice.' And ' Seven times a day will I praise thee/ Ps. cxix. 164. And Cornelius prayed to God always, Acts x. 2 ; not only with his family, but sometimes alone for his family. They that have a habit of prayer will be thus affected. Now, to be altogether unlike the people of God giveth just cause of suspicion.
5. Shall I add our own private necessities, which cannot be so feelingly spoken to by others, do challenge such a duty at our hands, or it may be are not so fit to be divulged and communicated to them : 1 Kings viii. 38, ' There is the plague of our own hearts.' Paul had his thorn in the flesh : 1 Cor. xii. 7, ' I sought the Lord thrice.' No nurse like the mother ; none so fit feelingly to lay forth our case to God as ourselves. Private prayer it is a help to enlargement of heart, for the more earnest men are, the more they desire to be alone : Jer. xiii. 17, ' My soul shall weep sore in secret places.' Christ went from his disciples in his agony, when he would pray more earnestly, Luke xxii. 41, 42. Strong affections are loath to be disturbed, and seek retirement. Jacob sent away his company when he wrestled with God, Gen. xxiii. 24. Oh ! then, let all this be considered by you. If you neglect closet addresses to God, you wrong God and yourselves. You wrong God, because it is a necessary part of the creature's homage to God ; and you wrong yourselves, because such duties bring
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in a great deal of comfort and peace to the soul, and many sweet and gracious experiences, which are not vouchsafed elsewhere. Bernard saith, The church's spouse is bashful, and Christ will not communicate his loves in company. You are to use acquaintance with God, and so peace shall come to us, Job xxii. 21. It argueth little friendship to God when we seldom come at him, and maintain no personal com- merce with him. "When we pray with others, we cannot so well tell who is heard as when we pray alone, and see what God will do for our souls : Ps. cxvi. 1 , ' I will love the Lord, because he hath heard the voice of my supplication.' You sought earnestly for such a thing, and the Lord heard you. To conclude all, a man will not pray with any savour and delight in public that doth not pray in secret. I observe in Ezekiel's vision the Lord removed from the temple by degrees; first from the holy place to the altar of burnt-offerings, then to the threshold of the house, then to the mountain on the east side of the city ; there it stood hovering as loath to be gone. So first God is cast out of the closet, private intercourses are neglected, then out of the family, and then out of the congregation, and then public ordinances are laid aside as useless ; then are men given up to a strange giddy and vertiginous spirit, and all manner of profaneness. As a tree dies by degrees, first bears no fruit, then no leaves, then no bark ; so carnal Christians die by degrees.