PHI LOS 0 P H Y . - Classic Works of Apologetics Online

270 DUly omllJjicacy if Prl.l)'i-r.
Private wants cannot always be made the SUbJl:d~
of public prayer; but whatever re3son there is for
praying at all, there is the same for making the sore
and grief of each man's own heart the business of
11is application to God. rl"his m'llst be the office of
private exercises of devotion, being imperfectly, if
at all, practicable in any other.
Private prayer is generally more devout aIld earnest
than [he share we are capable of taking in joint
acts of worship; because it affords leisure and opportunity
for the circumstantial recollection of those
personal wants, by the remcillbrance and ideas of·
which, the warmth and earnestness of prayer are
~hiefly excited.
Private prayer, in proportion as it is usually accotDpained
",·ith mOie actual thought and reflection
of the petitioner's own, has a greater tendency than
other modes of devotion to l·evive and fasten upon
the mind tIle general impressions of religion. Solitude
powerfully assists this errect. \Vhen a man
finds hilnself alone in communication \\Tith his Creator,
his imagination becomes filled with a conflux
of awful ideas concerning the uni\·ersal agency, and
invisible presence of that Being; concerning what is
likely to become of himself; and of the superlative
importance of providing for the happiness of his future
existence, by endeavollrs to please him \\rho is
tI1e arbiter of l1is destiny; reflections "Thiell, \vhcnever
they gain admittance, for a season, overwhclnl
~lll others; al1l1 leave, \Vl1Cn tIley depart, a solemnity
upon the thoughts that will sc1ciom fail:) in some de.
gree, to affect the conduct of life.
I)riratc pra'yer, tl1uS recomillendecl by its 0\)."r1
J)rcJl1rict~y, alld 1))T ,ld vall tages not attai11,lble in allY
feJr111 ()f relit~ious COIlllllullion, receives a sU1-1erior
'-,ll11ctlon frOY1l tl1c atltl'!orit\t and cxall1Pic of (~hrist.
J, ~
'd, \ Y'lh;tl thou prayest, enter into thy closet; and
when thou hast ~hut thy doo~·, pray to", thy Father
\\' li ~Cl1 is ill secret; (l.fill tll}Y 1~'atI1er Wllich sccth in
·-l\.:rct, sI1ali rc\vard tl1ec 0PCl11)1." "l\n(i \VllCn i1C