A Godly and Learned Treatise of Prayer, Chapter 26
CHAP. XXVI. Of the circumstances of prayer.
ANd thus much of the substantiall points of Invocation: Now follow the accidentall, which1. Of the persons: In which respect it is publick or private. are the circumstances of Person, Time, and Place. Prayer in regard of persons is either publick or private. Publick invocation is the prayer of a congregation, as of a parish or colledge. Of publick prayer we are to make speciall account: For if the prayer ofOf publick prayer. some one man can avail so much (as heretofore I have shewed) what shall we think of publick, where the prayers of so many ascend together unto the Lord? As the flame of one faggot-stick to the …lame of the whole faggot or bundle, so is the prayer of one man to the prayer of the whole congregation: for Vis unita est fortior, force united is so much the stronger; and a threefold cable is hardly broken. Our Saviour Christ hath bountifully promised that where two or three be gathered together in his name, there is he in the middest of them, Matth. 18. 20. Yea, such is the presence of the Lord in publick assemblies, that those which have been excluded thence have thought themselves banished from the pres…nce of God, and to be put away from his face. It was the punishment of Cain; and so he esteemed it, Gen. 4. For when the Lord had banished him from that earth which h…d received his brothers bloud from his hand, v. 11. which was the place of the visible Church, v. 14. he saith, that by reason of this punishment he should be hid from Gods face. We see the same in the practice of David; Who when he was in banishment desired nothing more then to have libertie to come into the assemblies of the saints: & when he had liberty he rejoyceed in nothing more. For the first, reade Psal. 27. and 42. and 84. In Psal. 27. 4. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I require, even that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the dayes of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to visit his temple. Psal. 42. 1, 2. As the hart brayeth for the rivers of waters, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thir steth for God, even for the living God: when shall I come and appear before the presence of God? &c. And v. 4. he saith that his soul languished when he considered, that had it not been for the tyrannie of his oppressours he might have gone with the rest of the assembly into the house of God. Psal. 84. 1. O Lord of hosts, how ami…ble are thy taber…acles! My soul longeth, yea and fainteth, that I might come to the courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh cry out after the living God. In the third verse he seemeth to envie the sparrows and the swallows which had liberty to lay their young ones there where he had no accesse: And then he cryeth out abruptly with a … patheticall exclamation, O thine altars, Jehovah, my King and my God! In the three next verses he pronounceth them happy not onelyonly that dwell in the Lords house to praise him, but also those who have liberty to come to the Church, although it were by tedious and troublesome journeys, both in respect of the way and the weather: thereby signifying, that he would think himself happy if he might have liberty to come to the assembly, although he went through thick and thin: and that no way or weather should hinder him. And again, v. 10. he saith, that one day spent in the house of the Lord is better then a thousand elsewhere, and that he had rather be a doore-keeper in the house of God then to dwell in the tents of iniquity. Thus we see Davids affection to the assembly of the Saints, when he might not enjoy them. And as he placed happinesse therein when he wanted them, so when he injoyed them his chief joy was therein: Psal. 122. 1. I rejoyced when they said to me, We will go to the house of the Lord. Reade 2. Sam. 6. 14, 16. When the ark of the Lord was to be brought to the city of David, David for exceeding great joy danced and leaped before the ark with all his might, as if he had not been his own man, insomuch as his wife despised him, & v. 20. derided him, O how glorious was the king of Israel this day, which was uncovered to day in the sight of the maids of his servants as a fool uncovereth himself! If we were men according to Gods own heart, as David was, we would have the like estimation of the assemblies of the Saints; both when we could not frequent them, most earnestly to desire them, and when we have liberty, with wonderfull …hearfulnesse and alacrity to frequent the Churches, as for other exercises of religion so for prayer. In respect whereof it is called the house of prayer, Isai. 56. 7. Neither must our private prayer exempt us from the publick: For although it be an excellent exercise and in no case to be omitted, yet if it come in comparison it must give place to the publick. But the frequenting of the publick assemblies is especially to be understood on the Sabbath, on which is mercatura animae, the merchandise of the soul; and the market-place is the Church.
Now as we are to frequent the publick assemblies,Private preparation required before publick prayer. so we must be carefull before we come thither to prepare our selves, according to the counsel of the Wise man Eccles 4. 17. to look to our feet, that is, to our affections, lest me offer the sacrifice of fools; and to lift up holy hands foreign, without wrath or doubting, 1. Tim. 2. 8. And also when we are there, to behave our selves both in soul and body as I have shewed before; labouring also inwardly for unanimity, that we may call upon God foreign, with one mind and heart, (To unanimity is the promise made, Matth. 18. 19. If two of you shall consent, &c.) as the Primitive Church did, Acts 1. 14. and 4. 24. and outwardly for uniformity so farre forth as it is joyned with decency and order, and severed from superstition.
Concerning the voice, which I said was alwayesOf the voice to be used in publick prayer. to be used in publick prayer, we are to know; If it be uttered in one voice, as in praier, the mouth of the people ought to be the minister: because it is part of proph…cie; and the Apostles Acts 6. 4. make it part of their function. If by the voice of many, as in singing (For singing also is warranted in the word of God both by the example of Christ, Mark 14. 26. & by the commandment of the Apostle, Col. 3. 16. Ephes. 5. 19. & of James ch. 5. 13.) then such singing is to be used as we may sing with grace in our hearts and spirits, with understanding to instruct and edifie both our selves and others. But we may not so sing as that neither we our selves can attend to the matter, nor they which heare us understand what is said. That both unanimitie and uniformitie may be used, it is fit that there should be see forms of publick prayer: for then may the people best joyn their consent and desire of heart when they know beforehand the very form of the request. Indeed to that which they understand they may at the end of the prayer say, Amen; but when they know beforehand what shall be asked, there may be a better concurrence between the prayer of their heart and the speech of the minister who is the mouth.
Private prayer is either the prayer of a familie,Of private prayer. or of some one. To the former doth the promise of Christ also appertein; When two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the middest of them, Matth. 18. 20. And it is so much to be preferred before the other as it seemeth to draw nearer to publick prayer: And therefore it is the duty of an houshoulder to call his familie together and to pray with them.
The prayer of some one man is properly called private: For privi with the ancient Latinists is the same with singuli. That which properly is required in this prayer is this, that it be private: as that we be not heard to pray of any man. This is done either when we are alone and ordinarily, or in the sight of others upon occa…ions offered. If when we are alone; we must neither be heard nor seen of any, but obey the commandment of Christ, Matth. 6. 6. When thou prayest enter into thy chamber; and when thou hast shut thy doore, pray unto thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. And therefore we are to be carefull to contein our voyce within the compasse of the private place wherein we pray. For otherwise we break the commandment of Christ; and it is all one as if we prayed openly. For, as Tertullian saith, petitiones su…s quid minùs … quàm si in publico orent? What do they lesse in their petitions then if they prayed in publick?
Again, if we so pray privately as that either we be seen or heard of men, our prayers wil not be void of ostentation. But as we are to avoid evil, so we are to shun all appeara…ce of evil. Now to pray for ostentations sake is a thing …imply evil and forbidden by our Saviour Christ, Matth. 6. 5. And therefore we are to forbear not onelyonly from it but also from the shew therof.
If privately thou art to pray upon occasions offered in the presence of others, then thou art to pray in the closet of thy heart without using the voice, according to the example of Moses, Exod. 14. of Abra…ams servant, Gen. 24. and Hannah, 1. Sam. 1. Ne…emiah, chap. 2. 4. But this is not to be understood of him who praying in the company of others is as it were the mouth of the rest: For we are to conceive of that as of the prayer of the family, wherein the voice is necessary.