Downame - BV209_D69_G6_1640_v1

of Private prayer alone. when thou haft f but thy doere,pray unto thy Father which is in fecret; and thy Father whicb f eth infecret /hall rewardthee openly. And therefore we are to be care- full to contein our voyce within the compaife of the private place wherein we pray. For otherwife we break the commandment of Chrifl; and it is all one as ifwe prayed openly. For,as Tertullian faith, petitiones f as quid minús faciunt quàm fi in publico orent ? What do they leffe in their petitions then if they prayed in publick' Again , if we fo pray privately as that either we be Peen or heard of men,our prayers wil not be void of oflentation. But as we are to avoid evil, fo we are to filmall appearance of evil. Now to pray for oftentations fake is a thing limply evil and forbid- den by our Saviour Chrift,Matth. 6. 5. And there- fore we are to forbear not onely from it but alío from the Phew therof. If privately thou art to pray upon occafions of- fered in the prefence of others, then thou art to pray in the clofet of thy heart without ufing the voice, according to the example of Mofes, Exod. 14. of Abrahams fervant,Gen.24. and Hannah, a.Sam.i. Nehemiah, chap. 2.4. But this is not to be under- flood of him who praying in the company of others is as it were the mouth of the refl : For we are to conceive of that as of the prayer of the family, wherein the voice is neceffary. 155 CHAP.