SERMON XVIII.

SECRET PRAYER.

Matth. vi. 6. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

THE sense of this text is plain. The Saviour is reproving the ostentation and pride of hypocrites for the public manner in which they offered their prayers. In contradistinction from them he directs his disciples to go into a place where they would be alone with God; where no eye could see them but his eye, and no ear could hear their voice but his ear, and there to pray to him who dwells in a world unseen by mortals. The subject, therefore, which is now before us is, SECRET PRAYER. In considering it, I shall direct your thoughts to the duty; to the proper times and modes of performing it; and to the rewards, or advantage of it.

1. I begin with the duty of secret prayer. You will observe the peculiar manner in which this is mentioned in the text. It is apparent that the Redeemer meant to be understood as expressing his conviction that prayer should be offered to God. Yet he rather assumes as a matter of course that his followers would pray, than positively commands it; and he gives no direction as to the frequency with which the duty is to be performed. It is thus much unlike the usual form of precepts in the Bible, and wholly unlike the rules which men would have prescribed. Mohammed specified the number of times and the exact hours when his followers should pray; and perhaps some would be disposed to ask whether the apparently lax and indefinite manner in which the Saviour has left the subject, would not be attended with the consequence that his followers would seldom pray, or would perform the duty in a most hurried and heedless manner. Where it was so easy to command

and to specify, was it the intention of the Saviour to leave it designedly indefinite? If so, what object did he propose to secure by this? These circumstances make it the more important to ascertain exactly in what way the duty is enjoined in the Bible. A few remarks will explain this part of our subject.

(1.) The text may be regarded as having all the form of a command. The frequency with which prayer is to be offered is indeed not specified, but the duty of entering into the closet, and praying in secret to God, is enjoined; and enjoined on the supposition that this would be done. The same thing is implied in James v. 13: "Is any afflicted among you? let him pray." Let him present his individual wants and desires to God; let him offer his secret and solitary supplications to him who hears prayer. So in Phil. iv. 6" In every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God." Men have individual wants, and troubles, and temptations. They have feelings which others cannot know, and which it is not desirable they should know, and which, therefore, are to be brought before God only in secret prayer. So in Ephr. vi. 18. ́ "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit; that is, with all the usual modes of prayer, not limiting your supplications to the sanctuary and the family, but using all the ways of prayer in which you may present your wants before God.

(2.) But it is more by example than by express precept that the duty is enforced in the Scriptures; and that example was exhibited by all the holy men who walked with God on the earth. It will be sufficient to refer you to Jacob in his lonely wrestling with the angel of the covenant when on his way to a distant land; to Abraham who stood alone before the Lord and prayed for Sodom, (Gen. xviii. 22); to David who said, "Evening and morning, and noon will I pray and cry aloud; and he shall hear my voice" (Ps. lv. 17); to the author of the cxixth Psalm, who said, "seven times a day do I praise thee; because of thy righteous judgments" (ver.164); to Daniel who "kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed, and gave thanks before his God," (Dan. vi. 10), and to the example of the Redeemer himself. With the

Saviour's habits on this subject we are not indeed made fully acquainted. He himself enjoined secrecy in prayer, and the whole record of his life shows that he sought it; and all that we can expect is some general intimation, showing that he was in the habit of secret prayer. We have just the record which we should anticipate. We are told, on one occasion, that "in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place and there prayed," Mark i. 35. On another occasion we are told, that "when he had sent the multitude away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray; and when the eyen was come he was there alone." Matth. xiv. 23. On another occasion we are told, "that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God." Luke vi. 12. His prayer also in the garden of Gethsemane was private, for he was withdrawn from his disciples before he kneeled down to pray (Luke xxii. 41); and the whole narrative, especially in regard to the closing scenes of his life, shows that he was accustomed to retire from the busy city to some secluded part of the Mount of Olives that he might be alone with God.

Now in regard to the Saviour's habits, we may remark that secret prayer with him was attended with all the difficulties which can ever exist in its performance. His professed followers often excuse themselves for neglecting it because they are away from home, and have no convenient place for retirement. Yet no small part of the Saviour's life was spent in travelling from place to place; and he had no home. We excuse ourselves because we find it difficult to retire from the gaze of man. But the Saviour was surrounded by multitudes who thronged his path; and he retired to the mountain that he might be alone with God. We excuse ourselves because we are oppressed with business and care, and because we have no time to pray. Yet the Saviour, with the burden of redeeming the world upon him, felt so much the importance of secret prayer that he rose up a great while before day that he might secure time for secret devotion. He was in a busy city; he was as incessantly occupied as we can be; he went from place to place as we often do, but he forgot not the duty of secret devotion, and he made it

a matter or plan and study and self-denial that he might be alone with God. Fellow professor! He had not a dwelling like yours where at any time he might secure a place of retirement for prayer. Amidst all the difficulties which can encircle our path he prayed in secret; and he left a standing rebuke of the idle and the slumbering by his rising a great while before day for prayer. Let me ask of his followers, whether it would not be as easy for them to anticipate the dawning of the morning to pray as it was for their self-denying Saviour? Should they urge as an excuse for neglecting this duty that they have no time to pray when they spend the time which the Saviour sought for prayer in needless sleep? When you feel disposed to urge this, let me entreat you to call to mind the image of the Son of God before the morning had shed a ray of light in the east, treading his lonely way to the mountain-side, that he might be alone with Him who hears prayer. Your redemption was sought by one who loved the devotions of the morning, and who denied himself of repose that you might be saved.

(3.) The duty of secret prayer is enforced by the fact that we have wants which can be presented before God in no other way. Our prayers in the sanctuary must be, to a great extent, such as will meet the common wants of the entire congregation; our prayers in the family, though not as general, yet will scarce allow a reference to the circumstances of individuals. We all have easily besetting sins; we have thoughts and feelings which cannot with propriety be made known to others; we have temptations which are peculiar to ourselves; and we have sadnesses, and sorrows, and fears, and trials of which others do not know, and which cannot be met by public prayer. A true Christian, moreover, will feel the necessity of more frequent communion with God than he can enjoy either in the family, the prayer-meeting, or the sanctuary. He will have desires and feelings which can be gratified only by prayer; and he will feel his need of grace and strength that can be imparted only by direct communion with God.

Yet I admit here, that the true question is rather one of privilege than of stern and iron-handed duty. The

enquiry is not so much whether I ought, as whether I may pray. I am a lost sinner; a tempted, and a dying man. I have a heart that is by nature full of evil. I am in a world where I am every moment liable to go astray; and the question is, whether I shall meet these temptations alone and single-handed, or whether I may go to a God of infinite power and grace and implore his aid? I am called to the discharge of great and arduous duties; and may I go to God and ask him to shine upon my understanding and my heart, and to furnish facilities for the discharge of those duties by the favoring events of his Providence? I am about to die, and my whole nature shrinks back at the word death. Shall I go to meet the king of terrors armed by the little philosophy which I can assume; and after all with no security that the dark valley will not be to me full of horrors, or may I now in the days of my health and strength go before God and ask him to prepare me for that dread hour, and secure his presence when I come to die? These are the questions to be asked on the subject of secret prayer; and if man has any right feelings, the answer to these questions.cannot be difficult.

(4.) It is observable that the injunction on the subject of secret prayer does not specify the times when we are to pray. It does not say how often, nor at what time of the day, it is to be done. In this respect there is a strong resemblance between this command and that enjoining the observance of the Lord's supper. Both are to be voluntary services; and in regard to both, the time when the duty is to be performed is left to ourselves. This was evidently not without design; and the Saviour meant to accomplish what could not be accomplished had he specified the times when the duty was to be performed, or the length of the service. Mohammed undertook to regulate this matter. He enjoined prayer a certain number of times each day, and the consequence is a formal, and cold, and heartless, and ostentatious prostration of the body all over the regions where the religion of Islam has spread. Christ meant that his religion should be voluntary. It was to be the religion of the heart. It was to be sufficiently powerful to secure the proper observance of his laws without needless par