Chapter 3: The First Use, of Information

SECT. 1. Concerning Places of Prayer.

1. If closet prayer be a Christian duty, then it shows us, that in Gospel times God stands not precisely upon places: this holy incense may ascend to Heaven with as much acceptance upon the golden altar (the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ) as well in a private chamber as a public church. Some have scornfully called private devotions, by the derogating title of Chimney-Prayers; and think to confine all religion to public places: indeed a great scholar said once, God heard prayer in a consecrated place [Non quia precatur, sed quia ibi] not because men pray, but because they pray there, as though the conceited holiness of the place added some virtue to the prayer, or rendered it more acceptable to God. This is worse than plain Judaism, to tie religion to places: the true Gospelized Christian has otherwise learned Christ. It's true, in the Old Testament dispensation, after the erecting of the temple, prayer was to be made at it, or towards it, as it typified Christ, by whom our prayers are accepted: but that holiness being ceremonial, it's now abolished by the Gospel. Now that takes place, in (John 4:21): Woman, believe me, the hour comes, when you shall neither in this Mountain, nor at Jerusalem, worship the Father, that is, God now does not so much stand upon the place, as the manner of worship, that they worship in spirit and truth (verses 23-24). Now is the prophecy accomplished, (Malachi 1:11): In every place, incense shall be offered to my name. Which the Apostle also asserts expressly, (1 Timothy 2:8). Much has been said in controversy concerning the holiness of places; but this seems to be an undeniable argument against that conceit, that if some places be holy by the church's consecration of them to holy uses, then it follows that other places not so consecrated, yet applied to the same holy use, are more profane, and less apt to divine worship than places consecrated: which would directly contradict the Scriptures last mentioned. Indeed Hooker teaches that the service of God in places not sanctified, as churches are, has not in itself such perfection of grace, and comeliness, as when the dignity of the place (which it wishes for) does concur, and that the very majesty and holiness of the place where God is worshipped, betters even our holiest and best actions: thus he. To whom we dare not subscribe; but rather say with Doctor John Reinolds, that to us Christians no land is strange, no ground unholy: every coast is Jewry, every town Jerusalem, and every house, Zion; and every faithful company, indeed every faithful body, a temple to serve God in.

But I shall not undertake a dispute upon this subject: the duty of the text clears it, if God command and accept closet prayer, then he does not make so great a matter of the place for this duty as some imagine, since it cannot be imagined that closet prayer can be performed ordinarily in a consecrated place (as they call it;) and there being no such place where a duty can be performed, to which God has more expressly promised a reward, than what is performed in a corner or closet; and therefore we have no warrant to expect acceptance merely upon the account of one place more than another.

Indeed, there is a common practice of some persons, which is, to perform their private devotions in public places. For you shall see some at their entrance into a church or chapel, whatever public worship is in hand, fall down upon their knees, or put their hats or hands before their faces, and so fall to prayer. I will not call this the sacrifice of fools, but I judge it very unseasonable: for we should join with God's people in the public ordinances, and prefer them before any thing that we can then undertake. The original of this practice was, a conceit that the place was more holy than their own houses; and that their prayer shall be heard there rather than at home: it's too sad a sign they had not prayed before they came there. I am sure, it favors rankly of a Pharisaical spirit, for this is the fault our Savior here rectifies, which was their private praying in public places; and in opposition to it directs his disciples to the duty of the text, which is to pray in their closets.

SECT. 2. The Nature of Prayer.

2. We may hence be informed concerning the nature, usefulness, excellency, and efficacy of the duty of prayer: I speak not now of prayer in general, but in reference to closet prayer. And on that account there are two corollaries hence, concerning prayer.

1. It follows, that prayer is an immediate worship of God: for what has been said, shows that we have to do immediately with God, indeed that a man alone singly has to do with God: therein it's different from other parts of God's instituted worship, which does necessarily require company; as in preaching of the Word, there must be hearers; in the seals of the covenant, as in baptism and the Lord's Supper, there must be a society, such a number as may be called a church. Hence the latter is called a communion, because says the Apostle, we being many are one bread, and one body: but it is not absolutely or essentially requisite to prayer, that there be a society; one man or woman, by him or her self alone, may perform this duty of prayer as acceptably to God, as if in the company of a thousand saints. We deny not the public or private meetings of God's people for prayer; but also affirm, that the nature of the duty is such, that it may be performed solitary and alone. Hence Schoolmen distinguish of prayer, that it is either [Communis or Singularis] common or singular: both have their place and use. Though they lay great stress upon Christ's promise, in (Matthew 18:20), promising to be where two or three are met in his name; which as we deny not, so we assert the force of this prayer of a single person according to the text: we give both their due, without comparisons.

2. Prayer cannot be stopped in its ascent to God: All the persecutors on earth cannot hinder a soul's praying. This is demonstrated two ways: 1. A child of God banished out of all human society may pray still. Suppose a man were rejected by men, and ejected out of all companies of men, and were shut up in the closest prison, or shut out in the remotest wilderness; suppose a man were in the caves and dens of the earth; yet still he might pray and be heard, according to Solomon's prayer, that, if God's people were carried captive into the land of their enemies, far or near, yet if they repented and prayed to God towards their land, and that house of God; then he begs that God would hear them: and God testifies that he did hear this prayer of Solomon (1 Kings 8:46, 48; 9:3). The passage to Heaven is as near and open from one part of the earth as another: therefore David says he will cry to God from the end of the earth (Psalm 61:2). A notable instance for this we have in Jonah: he was got into the bottom of the sea (as far from Heaven locally as one could imagine) into a great fish's belly, which he calls the very belly of hell; and as he was then far from men, so he looks upon himself as cast out of the sight of God, and he pathetically expresses his misery and hopeless state. What does he in this doleful plight? Why he will look towards God's holy Temple, Alas poor Jonah knew not now which way the Temple stood, he had but a short prospect in that dark and narrow prison; yes, faith can set Jonah upon one of the mountains of Israel, that from there he may see as far as Mount Zion, and reach as high as Heaven; he prays, indeed cries; God hears, and delivers: as low as he was he knocks at Heaven gates, and his prayer does pierce the clouds, it makes bold, and steps in, My prayer, says he, came in to you, into your holy Temple (Jonah 2:2, 7). Oh the strange and swift motion of a believing prayer! Let the praying soul be where it will, the prayer will come to God's ear, and get an answer.

2. A child of God that cannot speak a word, may put up an acceptable prayer: suppose the tongue which is the organ of speech, were cut out, yet a saint cannot thereby be obstructed in his access to God by prayer. For, as Amesius says, [Oratio formaliter est actus voluntatis] Prayer is formally the act of the will; desire is the soul of prayer which God may hear, though it be not expressed, for he knows the heart (Psalm 10:17). Lord you have heard the desire of the humble: A saint's desire is a real prayer; if the desire be right, words are but the outward garb, habit, or clothes (as I may so say) of prayer, the carcass or shell of the duty, ardent desires are the life, kernel, marrow of the performance: Hence we find that Moses, Hannah, and Nehemiah, are said to pray, when Scripture does not express a word they speak, nor is it probable they did make an articulate sound: I speak not this to indulge carnal men in their lazy conceited ejaculations, as though they could pray well enough, and never speak; or while they are working, walking, talking: Let me hint a word by the way to these. Consider, silly soul, God has given you a body, and you must offer it to God as a reasonable sacrifice; you are bound in conscience to pray and praise God with your tongue, which is your glory; indeed let me tell you, if you have those members of body, and an opportunity to pray thus solemnly with your tongue upon your knees, and never do it, I question whether you pray at all or not, since you live in the apparent neglect of a known duty: What I speak of the saints' real (though sometimes without vocal) prayers is to commend the duty, and comfort those saints that may be put to these exigencies, that though they cannot speak, yet they may pray, and be heard and answered.

Section 3. Showing the Power of Prayer.

I might from hence take occasion to discover the strength and efficacy of this duty of prayer, from the consideration of closet prayer: though but a poor single person get upon his knees in a corner, and have no creature to help him, yet he can even undertake to grapple with the omnipotent and eternal God, indeed by his strength may have power with God, as we heard of Jacob; who by single wrestling with him (hand to fist as it were) wrestled a blessing from him. One poor single Elijah could stand against at least four hundred prophets of Baal, and prevail, having recourse to the living God by prayer, indeed the apostle tells us, that this Elijah, though but a mortal man, yet he shut up and opened heaven, that it rained, and rained not, according to his prayer; hence he infers a universal maxim, that the effectual [reconstructed: fervent] prayer of a righteous man avails much; and illustrates it by that notable instance (James 5:16-18). But some may object, Elijah was a great prophet, an extraordinary person; he might prevail when we cannot: he answers, He was no more than a man, a man subject to like passions as we are, a sinful creature; he prevailed not for any merits of his own, but through faith in the mediator of the covenant, and so may we. There's not the meanest child of God but has the same plea: God has strength enough to give, says one; but he has no strength to deny. Here the Almighty himself (with reverence be it spoken) is weak: even a child, the weakest in grace of his family, that can but say, Father, is able to overcome him for prayer is in a sort omnipotent; it can conquer the invincible Jehovah, and bind the hands (as it were) of an omnipotent God, so that God is fain to cry out to wrestling Moses, Let me alone. It is said of Luther: That man could do with God even what he would. Prayer has a kind of commanding compulsive power. That's a strange text (Isaiah 45:11) — Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command you me: So some take it; you shall find me as ready to do you service, as if you had me at command: yet this must be warily received, not as though God were forced to anything against his will, but when God's people pray aright in the name of Christ according to his will, he hears them; and this he attributes to prayer, for the credit of that duty and encouragement of praying souls. That's a notable text to show the readiness of God to answer prayer (John 16:26-27) — I say not to you, that I will pray the Father for you, for the Father himself loves you. Christ in this place does not simply deny, that he will intercede for them; but shows how ready God is of his own accord to grant the saints' petitions: They shall not be put to any great trouble about it, but shall be quickly dispatched in their errand to the throne of grace: For as Luther speaks, a poor groan in the ears of God is a mighty noise, and does so fill heaven and earth, that God can hear nothing besides it, and silences all other tumults to hearken to it.

Of what an easy quick access My blessed Lord, are you? how suddenly May our requests your ear invade! To show that State dislikes not easiness: If I but lift mine eyes my suit is made: You can no more not hear, than you can die:

See more in Herbert's Poems, page 95.

Section 4. Showing the property of a true Christian.

Once more I might show the duty and property of a sincere Christian, that can make this excellent use of solitariness: carnal persons love not to be alone, except they be such whose constitution inclines them to melancholy, and then they sit poring on things without profit; it is only the gracious soul that can tell how to make the right use of solitariness by having recourse to God: no man cares for being alone but the serious person; and no man cares for going to God when alone, but the sincere Christian: man is a sociable creature, and naturally we have no mind to entertain ourselves by ourselves; a carnal heart hates a domestic audit, men that have shrewish wives love not to be at home, and persons that have guilty consciences cannot endure to hold discourse with them, lest they be tormented before the time: Oh but a Christian that is upright, and downright, would know all that concerns his own heart; the best and worst; therefore he communes with his own heart, as David did; and lest he miss or mistake in his search, he turns him to the heart-searching God by prayer, and cries out to him to search his heart and discover him to himself: the life of religion consists in a soul's communion with God in secret; a man has so much religion as he has between God and his own soul, and no more: a true saint dares approve his heart to God in a corner: he is there exercising himself, like a soldier by himself handling his pike, and keeping his postures, that he may be better fitted for a more solemn onset: Indeed a Christian does purposely withdraw himself from company that he may converse with God: papists are true Christians' apes: hence comes the solitary life of monks; pretending to imitate Elijah, and Elisha, John Baptist and the Apostles: but it is acknowledged by Hierom, and great sticklers for a monastic life, that this practice began not till about the year 260, or 300. Some say Hilarion, others Paulus Thebaeus, others Antonius, began this manner of conversation: But certainly there is a vast difference between those ancient Christians' solitary life, and the papists' way of monastic living, 1. Those first Christians lived solitary of necessity that they might lie hid more safely in a time of persecution: 2. They were not compelled to give all to the poor; 3. They were not bound to a certain rule, nor did they engage themselves by a perpetual vow to that place and state, but might change their manner of life if they saw good; they were not bound as to meats, marriage, fasting; 4. These ancient monks were of the laity, not of the clergy, no, not so much as Deacons, or Presbyters: 5. They had no conceit of merit in a monastic life, till these latter ages: I may add, 6. Those ancient monks had a particular calling and did work, as the monks of Bangor that lived by the sweat of their brows; and, 7. They were not tied up from conversing abroad as there was occasion; and occasions there are manifold: it is not fit persons should be always cooped up in a corner, but that they be of use to others in their places and capacities: we were not born for ourselves, nor must we live only within ourselves, which would contradict the law of love and charity: a constant solitariness exposes persons to a world of temptations, it is not good to be alone, says Solomon. An ancient could speak it from his own experience, that a solitary life is inferior to a common conversing, because it is full of importunate cogitations, which like little flies arising from dung, fly in the eyes of the heart, and interrupt the Sabbath of the mind: Thus he.

But I need not trouble you with the mention of Popish fopperies. A right-bred Christian, that has learned the truth as it is in Jesus, being thrust into a corner, knows how to improve solitariness for soul-advantage; and voluntarily does withdraw himself into a corner, that he may set himself to the work of God in good earnest: Hence says the Apostle, concerning husband and wife, (1 Corinthians 7:5): Defraud you not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer. Thence note, that it is convenient sometimes for Christians to sequester themselves from nearest relations, that they may have freer communion with God in holy duties: Only let these four cautions and limitations of the text be observed, 1. That it be with mutual consent, 2. But for a season, 3. The end, an advantage for fasting and prayer, 4. That they come together again: This respects not every day's ordinary performances; but some solemn undertakings of stated and extraordinary fasts in a day of danger or calamity; at which time, the bridegroom is to go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet (Joel 2:16), that is, to sequester themselves from conjugal delights, to afflict their souls by fasting and prayer: But in these cases, a sound Christian's due discretion regulated by the general rules laid down in Scripture, will help in such performances, that he may not dash on either rock, of superstition or negligence; but maintain a close and constant communion with God, both in the duties of his general and particular calling in public ordinances, and in private and secret duties.

Thus much for the first Use.