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protection and mercies we have receiv'd from him in that capacity. And this too has been the conftant practice of good men in all ages; and the reafon of the thing fufficiently fpeaks both for the piety and the neceffity of it. (5.) But laftly, there are private prayers, wherein, retiring into fome fecret place, apart from all company, and in the eye of none but God, we ferioufly and devoutly address our felves to him for fuch mercies as concern our own perfonal ftate, not forgetting alfo our particular friends, and others whom we are bound to pray for. I have reserved this to the last place, because it is that very kind of prayer, which our Lord efpecially mentions, and directs, in these verses of his fermon now before us. And indeed there is too much occafion it fhould be preffed upon the confciences of men as a duty; for 'tis juttly to be fear'd, that there are many who go to the publick worship of God, and yet neglect the fecret devotions they ought to perform at home.

I doubt

there are too many Chriftians, who have ftill fo much of the Pharifee in them, that willingly fhew themselves in fuch duties, wherein their religion may be feen of men, and wherein they may ferve their credit and reputation; but difpenfe with themselves in duties which are required to be fo private, as only to be obferved by God, and which can have no other principle than confcience and truc piety. Here, therefore, we have an exprefs command for closet prayer: When thou prayeft, enter into thy clofet; and when thou hast but thy door, pray to thy Father which is in fecret, &c. By clofet, is meant any private place, where we may be fecure of being neither feen, overheard, nor interrupted in our devotions. And to fome fuch convenience fhould every Chriftian retire, at least, twice a day, morning and evening, for that exercife; which has not only been the conftant practice

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of good men, but has the example of Chrift himfelf to recommend it, as we may gather from the following paffage. St. Mark tells us of him, that in the morning rifing up a great while before day, he went out into a folitary place, and there prayed. And St. Matthew, that when he had fent away the multitudes, he went up into a mountain apart to pray; and when the evening was come, he was there alone. The reason of fuch a practice alfo pleads for it as a duty. For what can be more reasonable than to begin the day with a pious and devout adoration of that infinite Being, upon which we continually depend for all the neceffaries and comforts of life; to praise him for his protection of us the past night, and to impore his grace to conduct us through the temptations, and his bleffing to profper us in the bufinefs of the day before us? And in like manner to conclude it, when we are going to reft, with thankful acknowledgments of his mercy; beseeching him to pardon the fins we have been guilty of, and humbly recommending our felves, and all that belong to us, to be kept fafe by his providence the enfuing night? And that this fhould be done in fecret by our felves, as well as at Church with the congregation, is highly proper; because the public fervice being to fuit the cafe of others, as well as our own, muft be performed only in general terms; whereas we have every one of us, when we confider our own fpiritual or temporal circumftances, fome things particularly to beg of God, that may be fuitable thereto; and on which we may enlarge in private prayer, as there is occafion. Our confeffions of fin fhould also be more particular in fecret, than the terms in public fervice will admit; our petitions for grace against this or that prevailing fin, and our thanksgivings for fuch mer

Mark i. 31.

† Mat. xiv. 23.

cies as we especially have received, fhould be fo too, and have more room to be fo in our closets than in public. In a word, this part of religion, I mean fecret prayer, is fo natural, fo rational, fo neceffary, that it will be hard to fuppofe any Chriftian, who neglects it, to have the fear or love of God in his heart, or any due belief or sense of his dependance upon him. Being affured therefore that fecret prayer is a duty, which every one of us owes to God, let us now confider,

II. THOSE two cautions our Saviour here interposes in the performance of it: (1.) Against oftentation. (2.) Against vain repetitions.

(1.) AGAINST oftentation. The hypocrites in our Saviour's time were used to run into fome corner of the temple, or of the streets, or other places of concourfe; and there with hands and eyes lifted up, perform what they called their private prayers; to the intent, that being obferved by the multitude, their wondrous piety might be talked of: And thus while they pretended to pay their homage to God, they were in truth idolatrously worshiping themselves; or praying to the people for reputation, rather than to him for mercy; and fettling a fund for their own praises, upon the foot of his. Now this being an odious mockery of God, our Saviour teftifies his abhorrence of it, and requires us to affect fecrecy in our prayers, as much as they did openness and obfervation: that we should not only not defire to be feen of men, when we perform them; but alfo ftudiously contrive to avoid it, by a strict and close retirement. Nor is the choice of a private place for our private devotions, all that is included: there are many little arts of vanity, which hypocrites make ufe of to defeat the intention of the letter. They will contrive perhaps to be overbeard at their prayers, tho' they will not be

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feen at them; or by fome lucky hints in converfation they will take care it fhall be known how ftrict they are in fecret duties, and the like. But all these arts, whatever they be, (for hypocrify has a thoufand fly devices) are equally condemned by the reafon and spirit of this caution; and 'tis the part of our confciences to admonish us faithfully of them, that we do not deceive our felves. Not that it is a fin, after all, to use our voices in clofet prayers, tho' 'tis poffible by that means we may be overheard in it. But when this or the like is done of purpose to be difcovered; when we pray alone in our clofets, with a defign to be overheard; or leave a door unfaften'd, in hopes to be furpriz'd and feen; or mention our prayers in company, with an intention of vanity and oftentation: This is the fin we are here caution'd againft.

Now tho' what has been faid was chiefly spoken at first of perfonal and private prayer, as diftinguifh'd from the other kinds; and tho' it is in the nature of the thing moft immediately applicable thereto; yet in thofe other kinds of prayer we are as much obliged to avoid whatsoever is really oftentation, as in this. We must go to the Church to worship God in public (and the oftner we go the better;) confequently our devotions must be seen there; and probably our devout and frequent attendance may be commended too: But if we go to Church for that very end, to gain our selves a reputation, and to draw the praises of men upon us; if, when we are there, we contrive to be taken notice of by affected geftures of devotion, a louder voice than others, or the like; 'tis oftentation and hypocrify. Tho' family prayers are to be used, and whatever happens, we are not to be afhamed of them; yet confcience towards God, and the promoting religion in our families, ought to be their only principle. If therefore we proclaim and

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boast of them, if we chufe fuch a public room in our houses to perform them in, as that we may be eafily overheard by the neighbourhood, or pray very loud on purpofe that we may be fo; 'tis till hy pocrify and oftentation. Ejaculatory prayers are good upon proper occafions, and at proper times, but if we are venting them at every turn, and do really affect them in company, to be thought devout; that wretched mixture of vanity makes them criminal to us. And fo our mental prayers, which as they are formed only in the heart, fhould be fent up from thence in a ferious, but in a filent unobferved devotion; if by any outward poftures and actions we contrive to discover them to those about us, we lose the religion in the oftentation of them. In fhort, of whatever kind our prayers are, if we defign any thing elfe but God and true religion, we, profane the facrifices of the Lord, to whom alone is due the whole intention of fuch acts of worship; and whatever we may get of the praise of men in this world, we have nothing to expect, but the portion of hypocrites hereafter.

(2.) THE fecond caution which our Saviour here gives us, is against vain repetitions. He neither fays, nor can his meaning be, that we fhould ufe no repetitions at all; for we have many inftances to the contrary in David's Pfalms; and we have the example of our Saviour too, who in his agony in the garden prayed thrice, faying the fame words. But we are forbid fuch repetitions as are vain and needlefs, fuch as the heathens ufed, who thought their Gods would the rather hearken to them for their much speaking; fuch a minute defcending to particulars in our prayers, as if that infinite Being we pray to, did not know our cafe, 'till we our felves inform him fully of it; fuch a multiplicity of words to express one and the fame request; as if he were liable to mistake us, and could not appre

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