A29703:604
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.
My Seventh Advice and counsel is this, Be constant, as well as fervent in Closet-prayer; look that you hold on, and hold out, and that you persevere to the end in private prayer. 1 Thes. 5. 17. Pray without ceasing. A man must always pray habitually, though not actually; he must have his heart in a praying disposition, in all estates and conditions: Though Closet-prayer may have an intermission, yet it must never have a cessation. Luke 18. 1. And he spake a Parable unto them, to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint, or as the Greek hath it, not 1to shrink back, as sluggards in work, ⟨p. 340⟩or cowards in war. Closet-prayer is a fire like that on the Altar, that was never to go out, day, nor 2night. 1 Thes. 3. 10. Night and day praying exceedingly: Paul speaks like a man made up all of prayer, like a man that minded nothing so much as prayer. So Ephes. 6. 18. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, and watching. thereunto with all perseverance. Calvin makes this difference between praying always in the beginning of this Verse, and praying with perseverance, in the end of this Verse; By praying always (saith he) he exhorts us to pray in prosperity as well as in adversity, and not to quit the duty of prayer in a prosperous estate, because we are not driven to it by outward pressing necessities and miseries; and by praying with perseverance, he admonisheth us that we be not weary of the work, but continue instant and constance in its performance, though we have not presently what we pray for. So that praying always, is opposed to a neglect of the Duty, in its proper ⟨p. 341⟩times and seasons; and praying with perseverance, is opposed to a fainting in our spirits, in respect of this or that particular suit or request, that we put up to God. When God turns a deaf ear to our prayers, we must not fret nor faint, we must not be dismayed nor discouraged; but we must hold up and hold on in the Duty of prayer with invincible patience, courage, and constancy, as the Church did,