A29703:174
The privy key of heaven, or, Twenty arguments for closet-prayer in a select discourse…The privie key of heaven, or, Twenty arguments for closet-prayer in a select discourse…
The privy key of heaven, or, Twenty arguments for closet-prayer in a select discourse on that subject with the resolution of several considerable questions : the main objections also against closet-prayer are here answered ... with twenty special lessons ... that we are to learn by that severe rod, the pestilence that now rageth in the midst of us / by Thomas Brooks.The privie key of heaven, or, Twenty arguments for closet-prayer in a select discourse on that subject with the resolution of several considerable questions : the main objections also against closet-prayer are here answered ... with twenty special lessons ... that we are to learn by that severe rod, the pestilence that now rageth in the midst of us / by Thomas Brooks.
London : Printed for and are to be sold by John Hancock, 1665
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
In the Text you have a positive Precept for every Christian to pray alone; But thou, when thou prayest: he saith not, when (you) pray, but (thou) when (thou) prayest, enter into thy closet, &c. as speaking not so much of a joint duty of many praying together, as of a duty which each person is to do alone. The command in the Text sends us as well to the Closet as to the Church; and he is a hypocrite in grain that chooses the one and neglects the other; for thereby he tells the world he cares for neither, he makes conscience of neither. He that puts on a religious habit abroad, to gain himself a great Name among men, and at the same time lives like an Atheist at home, shall at the last be uncased by God, and presented before all the world for a 1most egregious hypocrite.
In the Text you have a positive Precept for every Christian to pray alone; But thou, when thou prayest: he saith not, when (you) pray, but (thou) when (thou) prayest, enter into thy closet, &c. as speaking not so much of a joynt duty of many praying together, as of a duty which each person is to do alone. The command in the Text sends us as well to the Closet as to the Church; and he is a hypocrite in grain that chooses the one and neglects the other; for thereby he tells the world he cares for neither, he makes conscience of neither. He that puts on a religious habit abroad, to gain himself a great Name among men, and at the same time lives like an Atheist at home, shall at the last be uncas't by God, and presented before all the world for a 1most egredious hypocrite.
- 1Bellarm. de Sanctis, lib. 3. cap. 4. &c.
Bellarmine, and some others, turn the Text into an Allegory; they say ⟨p. 3⟩that in these words there are two Allegories. First, the Chamber Door is the Sense: Shut the Door, that is (say they) thy Sense, lest vain imaginations, and worldly thoughts distract thy mind in praying. Secondly, The Door, say they, is our Mouth. Shut thy Door, that is, thy Lips (say they) and let thy Prayer be like the Prayer of Hannah, conceived in thy mind, but not uttered with thy mouth. 'Tis usual with Papists, and other monkish men, that lye in wait to deceive, to turn the blessed Scriptures into a Nose of Wax, under pretence of Allegories and Mysteries. Origen was a great admirer