A29703:182
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.
Thirdly, Was it ever the way or method of God to promise again and again a reward, an open reward for that work or service which himself never commanded? Surely No. Now to this duty of Secret Prayer, the Lord hath again and again promised an open reward, Matth. 6. 6. 18. And therefore without all peradventure this is a duty incumbent upon all Christians.
Fourthly, Our Saviour in the Text takes it for granted, that every child of God, will be frequent in praying to his heavenly Father, and therefore he encourages them so much the more in the work of Secret Prayer. When you Pray; As if he had said, I know you can as well hear without ears, and live without food, and fight without hands, and walk without feet, as you are able to live without Prayer. And therefore when you go to wait on God, or to give your heavenly Father a visit, Enter into your ⟨p. 8⟩Closet, and shut your doors, &c.
Fourthly, Our Saviour in the Text takes it for granted, that every child of God, will be frequent in praying to his heavenly Father, and therefore he encourages them so much the more in the work of Secret Prayer. When you Pray; As if he had said, I know you can as well hear without eares, and live without food, and fight without hands, and walk without feet, as you are able to live without Prayer. And therefore when you go to wait on God, or to give your heavenly Father a visit, Enter into your ⟨p. 8⟩Closet, and shut your doors, &c.
Fifthly, If Closet Prayer be not an indispensable duty that Christ hath laid upon all his people, why doth Satan so much oppose it, why doth he so industriously and so unweariedly labour to discourage Christians in it, & to take off Christians from it? Certainly, Satan would never make such a fierce & constant war, as he doth upon private Prayer; were it not a necessary duty, a real duty, and a soul-enriching duty. But more of this you will find in the following discourse; and therefore let this touch suffice for the present, &c.