A 4th reason to engage in private prayer

Here is a fourth reason to engage in private prayer:

"Secret duties shall have open rewards. Matt. 6:6, 'And thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.' So, verse 18, God will reward his people here in part, and hereafter in all perfection. He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him in a corner. They that sow in tears secretly, shall reap in joy openly. Private prayer shall be rewarded before men and angels publicly.

"How openly did God reward Daniel for his secret prayer! (Dan. 6:10, 23-28). Mordecai privately discovered a plot of treason against the person of King Ahasuerus, and he is rewarded openly (Esther 2:21-23, with chap. 6). Darius, before he came to the kingdom, received privately a garment for a gift of one Syloson; and when he came to be a king, he rewarded him openly with the command of his country Samos. God, in the great day, will recompense his people before all the world, for every secret prayer, and secret tear, and secret sigh, and secret groan that has come from his people. God, in the great day, will declare to men and angels, how often his people have been in pouring out their souls before him in such and such holes, corners, and secret places; and accordingly he will reward them.

"Ah, Christians! did you really believe this, and seriously dwell on this, you would,
1. Walk more thankfully.
2. Work more cheerfully.
3. Suffer more patiently.
4. Fight against the world, the flesh, and the devil, more courageously.
5. Lay out yourselves for God, his interest and glory, more freely.
6. Live with what providence has cut out for your portion, more quietly and contentedly. And,
7. You would be in private prayer more frequently, more abundantly."