Exposition of the Sermon on the Mount, Chapter 6 · Verse 6
Verse 6.
But when thou praiest, enter into thy chamber, and when thou hast shut thy doore, pray to thy father which is in secret; and thy father which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
Christ hauing forbidden hypocrisie in praier, in the former verse,Sinceritie in praier. doth here commaund the contrarie vertue; namely, sinceritie▪ setting downe the right manner of prayer to God in that behalfe. Now because the words are not to be taken in that sense, which at the first reading they seeme to beare; therefore for the better vnderstanding of them, I will here laie downe two grounds: 1. That in this place our Sauiour Christ doth not forbid publike praier in the congregation, or in publike places; for publike praier is Gods ordinance, where two or three (saith Math. 1…. 19, 20.Christ) bee gathered together in my name, there am I in the middle among them: and whatsoeuer they shall desire, shall be giuen them of my father. Againe, publike praier serues for most worthy vses, forThe excellent vse of publike praier. which it must be maintained; as first, to make mens praiers vntounto God more feruent and effectuall; as in the common wealth, a priuate mans supplication is not so much respected, as when a whole incorporation,1 or a whole shire make petition to the Prince. Secondly, by publike2 praier a man professeth himselfe to be a member of Gods Church, and one that seuereth himselfe from all prophane societies and companies of men in the world. Thirdly, publike praier serues to stirre vp zeale in3 them that be cold and backward; for herein they are made acquainted with Gods blessings, they are left to see their owne wants, & they hauehave the good example of Gods children. 2. Ground. That priuate praier (though it be Gods owne ordinance) is not here directly commanded: for looke what was forbidden in the former verse, the contrarie thereto is here commaunded; but Christ did not simply there forbid publike praier, he aimed at an higher thing therein; namely, hypocrisie, & therefore here he commandeth not priuate praier directly, but intendeth the right manner thereof, for sinceritie, whether publike or priuate.
Hauing laid downe these two grounds, I come now to the true meaning of the words. When thou praiest, that is, either thy selfe alone, or with others, enter into thy chamber, and when thou hast shut thy dore, praie, &c. that is, be as though thou diddest pray in thy closet, intending onelyonly to approoue thy selfe, and thine heart vntounto the Lord, hauing no respect to any creature in the world; for this Christ meanes by praying in a chamber, or closet; namely, that a man in praier should not respect himselfe, or any creature, but simply intend and approoue himselfe vntounto God onelyonly.
In the words thus explaned, we are to obserue two things; a commandement, and a reason thereof: the commandement in these words, When thou praiest enter into thy chamber, and when thou hast shut the doore, pray vntounto thy father which is in secret. This commandement inioyning the right disposition of the heart to God ward in our praiers, doth prescribe the true and perfect manner of praier; whereto that we may the better attaine, I will here shew how the same is performed.
That a man in praier may approoue himselfe and his actions vntountoHow to pray aright. God alone, three kind of duties are required; some going before praier, some in the act of praier, and some after praier.
Before praier foure duties are required. 11. A man must hauehave knowledge 4. duties before we prayof three things concerning praier (for eueryevery praier must bee made in faith, and in obedience to God, which without knowledge cannot be done) to wit, of Gods commandement to pray: of the things we aske in praier, and of the manner of asking; which is this, spirituall▪ blessings cō cerning life eternall; as remission of sinnes, sanctification, and other necessarie graces must be asked simply without condition: but temporall things concerning this life, as health, wealth, liberty, and such like, must be asked with condition of Gods will, as they serue for his glorie, the good of our selues, and of our brethren. 22. A man must labour to find himselfe conuerted vntounto God, hauing a true purpose of heart not to liue in any sinne; for Ioh. 9. 31.God heareth not sinners: and Dauid saith, bPs. 66. 18.If I regard wickednesse in my heart, God will not heare my praier. When men come to the Lords table, they forsake their sinnes and turne vntounto God; which must also be done before wee praie, for therein we are to deale with God, who cannot abide iniquitie. 33. A man must seeke to be in Christ, that would pray with comfort; Ioh. 15. 7. If ye abide in me▪ and my words abide in you, aske what ye will, and it shall be done to you. In the old Testament the sacrifices were to be offered onelyonly vponupon the altar of God, in the Temple, or in the Tabernacle, which prefigured this vntounto vsus, that in the new Testament, our praiers, which are our sacrifices, must be offered onelyonly in Christ Iesus, who is our c…u. 8. 3.incense altar in heauen, & our spirituall Temple. 44. Before praier a man must, seuer himselfe▪ frō all creatures, in his thoughts and desires, & being himselfe before God▪ with feare and reuerence, that eueryevery power and facultie of the soule, may say as Cornelius did to Peter, dAct. 10. 33.wee are all here in the presence of God: for this end, his mind and memorie must be taken vp with diuine and holy thoughts, and his heart possessed with holy desires; God in Christ must be his whole delight, and all by-thoughts must bee banished. Our Sauiour Christ vsed to pray in the night, and in solitarie places apart from the societies of men; this he did (no doubt) for this end, that he might set himselfe wholly before God, and be free from all occasions of distraction in that diuine dutie.
Duties in praier are especially fiue. 11. We must labour to hauehave a5. duties in praying. true sense and feeling of our wants, of our sinnes and corruptions, and bee inwardly touched in conscience for the same; for as the begger sits still at home, and neuer goes to begge reliefe, till hee feele himselfe pinched with hunger and want, so it is with vsus, till we feele our owne wants and miseries by reason of our sinnes, wee can neuer put vp an earnest and heartie praier to God. 22. We must hauehave an inward feruent and vnfained desire toward God, for the supply of all our wants and miseries; this is a speciall thing in praier, which maketh it not onelyonly to bee a petition of the lippes, but a true request of the heart. This the Prophet Dauid expressed, when he said to God, ePs. 143. 6.My soule desireth after thee, as the thirstie land doth after raine: and Hanna also, when shee told Elie f1 Sa. 1. 15.that shee powred out her soule as water before the Lord. 33. EueryEvery petition must bee made in obedience, that is, wee must hauehave a commandement inioyning vsus to aske the thing we pray for, and a promise to assure vsus that it shall bee graunted vntounto vsus: and yet here this speciall caucat must be remembred, that we leaue both the time, and the manner of accomplishing our requests, to the good pleasure and wisdome of God. 44. EueryEvery petition must be presented to God in the gIo…. 16. 23. 26.name and mediation of Christ: for in our selues we are sinners, & hIsay 59 2.our iniquities make a separation betweene God and vsus; so that wee cannot hauehave accesse vntounto the father, saue only by the mediation of Iesus Christ. If we would come with boldnesse into the holy place, it must be by the new and liuing way, which Christ hath prepared for vsus, through the vaile, that is, his flesh. 55. In praier we must hauehave faith, wherby we beleeue, that the thing we aske shall be done vntounto vsus: Mark. 11. 24. whatsoeuer ye aske in praier, beleeue that ye shall hauehave it, and it shall bee done vntounto you: now the ground of this faith, must be Gods commandement and his promise, which I mentioned before.
The duties after praier, are chiefly two; 1. Wee must call to remembrance2. duties after praier. the praier wee made to God; if one man talke with another, he will be so attentiue, that as neere as may be, he will remember the words that passed betweene them; and much more ought we so to doe when we talke with God: now we must thus meditate on our praiers, for this ende, that we may the better doe the thing wee aske; as we craue in praier the pardon of our sinnes, so wee must after praier indeauour to leaue the practise of them. What a horrible shame is it for men to begge at Gods hands the pardon of sinne, and when they rise from praier, to fall againe to the practise of it? This is with the 2. Pet. 2. 21.dogge to returne to his vomite, and with the desperate thiefe to stealing, after he hath intreated fauour of the Iudge. 2. After praier, wee must bee2 carefull to be as plentifull in thanksgiuing for blessings receiued, as wee were in petition to craue them. This indeede may bee done in the beginning of our praier, though here I mention it last, but omitted it may not be. Ordinary men hauehave this humanitie, that where they find friendship, they will be more plentifull in rendring thankes, then in making new requests; and if we deale thus with men, shall wee not much more doe it with God, with whom true thankfulnesse for one blessing, is a speciall meanes to procure many moe? Now this thankfulnesse must not be onelyonly in word, but in deed testified by due obedience, in life and conuersation: and these are the duties whereby a man shall auoide all carnall ostentation in praier, and approoue his heart vntounto God therein.
By this description of the true manner of praier, we may learne threeVses 1. Popish errors in prayer. things; First, that the Romish Church doth neither know nor teach, nor practise the dutie of praier aright; they pray not in knowledge, for they pray in an aRhem. on 1. Cor. 14. sect. 13.vnknowne tongue, and allow of bIbid sect. 14.ignorance, as the Mother of deuotion; they commend doubting, cRhem. on Iam. 1. sect. ….by speaking against assurance, and so pray not in faith nor obedience; they praie not in humilitie, for merciemercy for their sinnes, for they thinke to dBellar. de bonis oper. in parti…. l. 1. c. 3.merit by their prayers: and which is worst of all, they direct not their praiers to God only, in the name of Christ; but to God and his Saints, making the ein offic. beat. Mar. à P…o 5.virgin Marie, their Mediatresse: yea, they fin offic. sanct. crucis ibid.pray to the wooden crosse, which is most horrible Idolatrie. Secondly, that our common people come farre short of their dutie in this part of Gods worship: for their praiers consist chiefly in the bare repetition of words, which is onelyonly a lip-labour, they pray without knowledge and feeling, & so must needes faile in many other duties. Now this bewraies the manifold wants that be in the praiers of the best Christians, for besides their ignorance of many duties in praier, their doubting and distrust, their dulnesse and deadnesse of heart, and their by-thoughts, doe all shew that their hearts are not wholly taken vp with Gods glorie, as they ought to be. Lastly,Against spels and charmes hereby we may see the grosse ignorance of our common people, about spels and charmes; because they consist of good wordes, and many strange things are done thereby, therefore they thinke them to bee good praiers: but herein they are deceiued, through ignorance in the right forme of praier; for they that make them and vse them, are either gracelesse persons that hauehave societie with the deuil, or grosly deluded through palpable ignorance: and they cannot set themselues before God, to approoue their hearts vntounto him in this action: nay, the worship that is done herein, is to the deuill, and the cure that is wrought thereby, is his worke; for these charmes are his watch-word, to stirre him vp to such exploits.
Furthermore, in this clause, Pray vntounto thy Father which is in secret, that is, an inuisible God, is couched a reason to induce men to the obedience of this commandement, to this effect; He to whom thou praiest, i… an inuisible God, therefore thou must endeauour to approoue the hidden Images of God abhominable.man of thy heart vntounto him. Hence I gather, first, that it is an horrible thing, to make an image to represent the true God, or to worship God in it; for God is inuisible. The second commandement condemneth thē both, as Moses himselfe doth so expound it, Deut. 4. 15, 16. Ye saw no Image in the day that the Lord spake vntounto you in Horeb, therefore corrupt not your selues by making you a grauen image, or representation of any signe. Secondly, that there should be no outward pompe in prayer, either for gesture, or for garments; for praier is made to an inuisible Father. This ouerthrowes the whole worship of the Popish Church, which stands in outward shews of carnall pompe; if there be any pomp, it must be inward, in the graces of the heart, among which, humilitie is the first ornament. Thirdly, that all places are alike, in respect of GodsNo differēce of place in regard of Gods presence. presence, and of his hearing; for hee is a God in secret, wheresoeuer a man hath occasion to praie, there God is: which confuteth them that make the Church a more holy place for praier, then other-where, and therefore reserue all their praiers till they come thither; for now difference of place, in respect of Gods presence, is taken away: God is as well in the fielde, and in the priuate house, as in the Church: and yet Churches are ordained and vsed in a godly policie, because a congregation may more conueniently there meete, to their mutuall edification, in the publike exercise of the word and praier; otherwise priuate houses were as good places for Gods worship, as Churches, if they were so decent, and conuenient for edification: for in all places men may lift vp pure hands vntounto God, as the Apostle a1. Tim. 2 ….teacheth.
And thy father which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. These words containe a two-fold reason, wherby Christ perswadeth his hearers, and in them all others, to the carefull practise of the former dutie, of sinceritie in praier. The first reason is drawne from Gods All-seeing propertie: the second, from his bountie. Gods all-seeing propertie is set out in these words; & the father which seeth in secret: that is, though the father himselfe be inuisible, yet when thou praiest in secret, that is, as though thou wert in secret, intending onelyonly to approoue thine heart vntounto God in praier, then thy father seeth thee, he knowes thine heart, and heares thy praier. This is verefied by the example of Ionas, who was heard praying in the Whales bellie; of Daniel, praying in the Lyons denne; and of Moses, bExod. 14. 15.who is said to crie vntounto the Lord, when as he praied onelyonly in heart.
The vse of this point is manifold. 1. It serueth to admonish vsus thatVse… 1. when wee pray, wee must in singlenesse of heart, bring our selues into Gods presence, and heartily and truely put vp our requests vntounto God, so as we may approoue vntounto him, both our hearts and our prayers; for there is nothing in our prayers that can be hid from God: and therefore we must not content our selues with the thing done, but labour so to pray, that God may be well pleased with the manner thereof.
Secondly, hereby we are taught to make conscience, not only of our2 doings and speeches, but euen of our very thoughts, and that in secret places; for though we may conceale the same from men, yet we cannot couer them from the eies of God: he is inuisible, and yet cHeb. 4. 13.all things are naked before him.
Thirdly, this prooueth that no prayer can lawfully be made to the3 Praier to Saints vnlawfull.virgin Marie, or to any other Saint departed; for he alone is to bee called vponupon in praier, who sees in secret: but God onelyonly sees in secret, neither the virgin Marie, nor any other of the Saints can see in secret; and therefore praier is to be made to none but to God alone. The PapistsRhem. on Luk. 15. sect. …. answer, that Saints departed see in secret, though not of themselues, yet by God, and in God; but that is false: the Angels before their fall saw not their own future fal, nor the fall of man. The blessed Angels in heauen, know not now the time and day of the last iudgement; yea, & the Saints departed lie vnderunder the Altar, crying, dLeu. 6. 9. 10.how long Lord? beeing ignorant of the time of their full redemption: and therfore the Saints departed see not in secret.
The second reason drawne from Gods promised bountie, is in these words, shall reward thee openly; that is, shall repay thee for thy praier in the day of iudgement, before the Saints and holy Angels, as we expoū ded the same words in the fourth verse. This is a notable reason to induce men to pray in a true and holy manner; wherein we may see the endlesse merciemercy of God, vouchsafed to them that pray aright: if any subiect put vp a supplication to his earthly Prince, he takes it for a speciall fauour, if the Prince vouchsafe to admit him to his presence: behold here the King of Kings, will not onelyonly vouchsafe vsus accesse vntounto the throne of his grace, when wee put vp our supplications vntounto him, but if we pray aright, he doth hold himselfe indebted vntounto vsus for the same, and promiseth one day to reward vsus openly. This far…e exceedes the louelove of all creatures in heauen and earth, no Prince is so kinde and gratious to his best subiects, as the Lord is to all that call vponupon him in spirit and truth.
From this place the Papists would gather, that prayer is a workeRhem. on this cha. sect. 2. Bellar. de bonis oper▪ in parti. l. 1. c. 3. that merits at Gods hand eternall life, for thus they reason; Where there is repaying by way of reward, there is something done which meriteth: but vntounto prayer there is a repaying, therefore it doth merit at Gods hand. Answ. Reward is due to man two waies, either by desert, or of free gift and promise; now in this place God will reward man for his prayers, not for their desert, but of his owne free will and grace, because he hath promised so to doe. That this is so, may thus appeare; If a Begger should aske an almes of any man, it were absurd to say, that the begger by asking did deserue the almes: and so stands the case for the merit of our prayers; thereby we beg things at Gods hands, and therefore can no more merit thereby, then the begger can deserue his almes by asking: nay rather, we may gather hence, that Gods rewarding them that pray, proceedes from his owne free grace alone; for prayer properly, is a worke of man vntounto God, wherein▪ man giues nothing vntounto God, as the Iewes did in the sacrifices, or as is done in some other spiritual sacrifices of the new Testament; but onelyonly asketh and receiueth some thing from God, and therefore cannot hereby merit any thing at Gods hands. And by this may all other places be expounded, where reward is promised to mans worke.
Lastly, note the phrase here vsed; he shall reward thee openly: that is, at the last day: whence I gather, that till the day of iudgement, no seruant of God shall fully reape the fruite and benefit of his praiers. This must bee well considered, of all that hauehave care to call vponupon God vnfainedly; for many times after long and earnest praier, we feele little or no comfort, whereby we may be brought to dislike our estate, as though God had no respect vntounto vsus: but we must know, that God doth often long deferre to reward his seruants that praie vntounto him: not doubt but Zacharie and Elizabeth prayed for … in their yonger age, and yet they were not heard till they were both olde… and Dauid saith, his eies failed for waiting on God, when hee would accomplish his promise made vntounto him: this we may also see in the petitions of the Lords prayer, for they be all according to his will, yet the full fruition of the benefits there asked, is reserued to the appearing of our Lord Iesus Christ▪