the Neuter hurts and dangers it may be sensed the Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being sometime demonstrative pointing at a special one and other times indefinit for any one and in such a summary as our Lord here intended we may comprehend its meaning to be deliverance from all evil in the bulk and Satan as the chief A Spanish Gentleman and noctivagant or a night-walker rising in his sleep through excessive heat intending to wash in the River was met by one pretending the same businesse but tempted him to cast himself from a high bridge into a very deep place into which the tempter was already vapouring the Dons seet no sooner touched the water then he awoke and calling upon the other for help was frustrat perceiving it an evil spirit after prayer to God shifted as he could avoided the danger and guarded for the future against such extravagancies and the Devils going about to devour hath made the Religious of old urgent and vigilant to escape captivity and we in this age have no reason to be too secure though upon beds of Down From evil that is hell the place of evil in Heaven all is good on earth there is some good but in hell no good Iudas is said to go to his own place that â—is to which he was adjudged his merits worthily casting him from the Apostolat of which in and by his hypocrisie he only keep'd possession from which place worse then that wherein he died which yet as is said was so stinking that men were forced to stop their noses through unwholesome scents we beg here freedom from our Father setting him viz. Our Father in the preface in opposition to that evil one here begging his good against the others evil opposing person to person things to things a Father to a Foe Behold this evil through the prospect of Scriptural threats and exhortation and an evil example and an evil death is easily perceptible all the Law and Prophets by a Father is summed up in this viz to eschew evil and do good but Drunkards Blasphemers Idolaters Iews Turks seeking still to debauch there is strength to resist their solicitations violence their frauds and their enticements here prayed for that though men accept favour from such which yet ought not to be done saith some yet certainly no kindnesse ought to lure us unto encouraging them in unholy performances There is a people near unto Armenia called the Curdi whose Barbarous cruelty especially to Christians hath circumcised their country and made it be called terra Diaboli Devils land and it is to be lamented that so much of the European continent or indeed so many of its Islands may be thought to be governed by the same Soveraign yet how prevalent soever that Fiend be to prevent the spreading of his dominion as well as restricting the exorbitancies thereof yea for repelling its force and nullifying its being we pray in deliverance from evil Not only this but a peaceable departure and removeal is here beseeched the death of the uncircumcised or to die by the hands of a stranger being a curse yea not to die the common death of all men or a mans own death being both sad and dangerous is by all men except inconsiderat deprecated under the notion of evil fire water and sudden death being comprehended therein in the judgement of a learned Interpreter A Scholler quarrelling with one of his companions over night in the night in his sleep entered the others Chamber and slew him returning still asleep into his own bed declaring next day he dreamed he had slain his Comrade Here was temptation and evil both done and suffered yet such Reader as may befall both me and thee which should make us pray against evil whether in its causes or in its occasions whether for our selves or others It not being deliver me but Vs from evil without which charity neque multa neque magna the doing many things the doing great things being not good things availeth nothing but let it be still remembred that the greatest Evil viz. the evil of sin is to be guarded against sicknesse poverty death having no such bitter influences on the Conscience or on the Soul as transgression hath for how pleasant soever it seem to flesh it shall be toylsome burdensome and tormenting we read even of sowre honey such is sin of heavy sand but evil is heavier for that will rest at Earths Center but the other presse to Hells bottomlesse bottom therefore most to be prayed against and feared upon our Earth that from it by the power of our Father in Heaven we may be delivered and made watchful against it I say watchful for to pray against evil yet study to do evil is bold impiety and shall end in mischief It is 〈◊〉 â—he Iesuits have a Law secluding women from their Colledges and if any through the Porters inadvertence enter the dust upon which she trod is to be gathered and extruded the gates lest they be defiled to preserve chastity is good and to fear evil is happy but to avoid sin the Heart more then the Earth is to be heeded and the soul of man rather then the sole of the shoe is to be respected and praying rather then such fooling is to be used as a proper antidot and remedy against sin or evil But deliver us from evill THE pernicious consequences of sin and evil are so numerous that nature it self prompts natural men to endeavour an escape but freedom from the tincture and stain of vice is more earnestly pressed by the spiritually intelligent yea in fear or in case of sloath the Doctrine is feelingly urged upon all Saints by the Lord of glory in many Scriptures particularly in this Petition deliver us from evil that is from the Devil the Author and prompter to evil being old in wickednesse so skilfull in allurements that man with his carnal weapons cannot defeat him in his invisible assaults and therefore cry for deliverance which Petition that we may learn let us examine into the extent of the word deliver and next the use thereof It is as broad as evil as long as the day it is not à tali vel tali deliverance from this or that evil as Peter from drowning Sampson from thirsting but absolutely from all from any evil whether of temporal spiritual or of eternal concernment The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying two things 1. That we be preserved from falling into evil next that we be liberat out of the evil wherein we have fallen he trusted in God said the Jews let him deliver him and this deliverance our Father doth command four wayes 1. By renewing our natures through grace he washeth us by the blood of his Son which purgeth us from our innate pollution delivers us from the evil of a defiled soul hard heart dead
PATER NOSTER OUR FATHER OR The Lord's Prayer explained The Sense thereof and Duties therein from Scripture History and Fathers Methodically cleared and Succinctly opened at EDINBURGH BY Will Annand M. A. one of the Ministers of that City late of Univers Coll. OXON LUKE XI II. And he said unto them when ye pray say OUR FATHER WHICH ART IN HEAVEN August ad Prob. Cap. 10. Absit enim ab Oratione multa locutio sed non desit multa Precatio si servens perseverat intentio Edinburgh Printed by George Swintoun and Iames Glen and are to be sold at their Shops in the Parliament-yard Anno Dom. 1670. To the Right Worshipful Sir ANDREW RAMSAY of Abbots-hall Knight Lord Provost of the City of Edinburgh c. My Lord BOoks and Mapps of Navigation represent a long tract of Rocks in the Eastern Seas called the Pater Nosters they putting the Pilot to his prayers I here present a gift of the same name for the same end but differing in the moving cause there being here no hazard but security in bearing up and good Anchorage yea the bearing off from what is here offered in our late times is to be feared was one great cause why so many made shipwrack first of faith next of a good conscience conceiting themselves able to make way against and weather-out the Rule So pray ye And when ye pray say yet harbour in the Haven of bliss by other gales then those from Heaven which was foreseen nay foretold by a Poet then almost because not in this their own who advising for the use of the Lords Prayer in his Vox Pacifica hinteth at that Malady thus Lest that which might of bliss a means have been A means become of letting curses in I concluded to have published these sheets without designation of a Patron Dedications being now so customary that they are near to be interpreted vanity yet reflecting that at least with Divines they are no younger then St. Luke and that Charity and Candor are as cold as were the nights in which most of them were composed it was deemed rudenesse to suffer this Stripling to travel without some recommendation to some excellent Theophilus were it but for one nights lodging for I trust he is better bred then to be troublesome After which resolve let me declare it your Lordship had no Rival your Goodness Care Industry in your House Office and Authority to about and for the Ministry of this City in general and to my self in particular encouraging me and promising a courteous acceptation and enforcing upon me this Epistle so much the more that by many it is accounted a vice reverently to mention the name of a Loyal Levite whereas your Lordship more God-like will Advocat their cause Upon which it was judged disobedience against the Law and temerity against natural affection to address my Pater Noster to any save to your Lordship as a common Father of my Brethren for whose settlement as at first you were a Patron so still continueth to be and that in Solidum Your wonted affablility emboldens to crave protection for this little one under your Roof and Patronage where vertuously disposed if otherwise found faulty let it be corrected in judgment but not in wrath so shall its Parent be more encouraged to joyn in the hearty Antiphonies of this ancient and honourable Cities Ministery for your Lordships prosperity and happinesse joyntly with your Brethren the Baliffs and Councellours adding this as mine own Hymn that our Father which is in Heaven may assure you all of his Kingdom Power and Glory for ever Amen which shall industriously be pleaded-for at the Throne of Grace by My Lord From my Study Iune 15. 1670. Your Lordships Son and Servant in the Lord Iesus WILL. ANNAND TO THE READER IN the composing of these Sermons there were imitated two famous Preachers viz. Solomon and Christ because of the first sordid irreverent and unseemly expressions the Rhetorick of too many were studiously avoided being enâ—moured not so much with plainnesse as to conclude nothing such but when both Charity and Divinity must be strained yea rack'd and vehemently squeezed to strain the position and offer it for usefulnesse With the second the people is not spoken unto without a parable not to darken but enlighten the discourse and indeed since I knew the right hand from the left in Pulpit-affairs such methods of explication were approved yea much improved by that comparison of a reverend Divine and Historian lately fallen asleep attesting that reasons are the Pillars of the Fabrick of a Sermon but similitudes give the best lights the Parable of the Virgins of the Talents of the History of Siloams Tower discovers the duty of watchfulnesse charity and self-condemning most emphatically and heats the soul in personal application servidly With St. Matthew al 's for the most part I shew where it is written for if I but light my Candle at anothers Torch or borrow one beam from anothers Wood or a rough Stone from anothers Quarry for perfecting my building notwithstanding of polishing and carving in gratitude to my Benefactor his name is insculped yea if from a teeming word my fancy be so raised that with the Lark it soar may be higher then my Author attempted yet as far as my small notes could allow me I go not out of sight untill it be known whence that word came Toilsome I confess was this search unto me but if it prove profitable to any one I have sufficiency of reward To shew that importunity of friends and pressings of my Hearers occasioned the Pressing of these Papers or that my self was pressed untill I yeelded their publication were to cause all intelligent to smile that complement not to say rant being now so threed-bare that its deformity I had almost writ vanity is beheld with scorn The true cause of my publishing was this viz. that I found no Act of Parliament discharging me to scrible and that my solitary life created some hours of Melancholy especially in long nights the tediousnesse whereof I comfortably evited in blacking paper on several subjects and did really doat so much upon this my Pater Noster that pardon the boast I verily thought it might do the world as much good as half a score Books I have seâ—n withall finding few of our country write upon this Subject and of these few could never see one that Treatise of Mr. Wisharts excepted which came not to my hands untill I was within few leagues of shore To the Printer went I who it may be was of my mind and we agreed Yet for all this my papers sleep'd a full year by me and then growing bulk some not to say troublesome they were aired and dressed as thou Reader now sees them Thy humour I know not yet charity enforceth me not to conceit thee uncourteous or uncharitable but kind and Christian which will induce thee either to forbear reading 〈◊〉 papers altogether as unprofitable
below stairs when compared to us and our Congregations in the higher rooms 2. More hope for us The people of old did ordinarily draw near God by vertue of their Covenant-relation with confidence yet to us there was a better hope brought in by which we draw nigh to God that is a better Law by which its observers hopes for a better inheritance then an earthly Canaan which both makes us draw near to God and by the same hope God draws nigh to us Bias being questioned what was sweetest to men replyed hope And the knowing Christian will with Iob keep his soul alive while other comforts are fledg'd and gone with this that his Father is in Heaven his Redeemer liveth there The Romanes conjectured good or ill success from the very Preface which ushered-in the debates of their publick affairs which made Severus Augustus speaking to his Army resolve upon a fortunat Proem yet fortune prompted him to a sad prologue Heliogabulus the Emperour being killed c. which was interpreted an ill Omen predicting his own slaughter which Fate verified he being afterward murthered by his own Army But in this Prayer we have a sure ground sor determining the enjoyment of future good whether spiritual for attaining glory in the approach of his Kingdom or temporal for procuring our food by daily bread from the very entry of this form commanding us to say Father which is what one saith all Gospel-precepts are nothing less then laying the foundation of our hope a Pillar for the strengthning of our faith meat for the nourishment of our heart a guide to direct us in journey a garrison wherein we are secure untill we receive eternal glory 3. More honour given to God by us This old name Iehovah shews how he enjoys himself but Father demonstrates he hath begotten us which should draw the more respect by how much our Redemption is more honourable then our Creation the first of which makes the Angels more curious and prying they desiring to look into to the depth of it the rise the cause of it for though they rejoiced at the world because of its beauty yet they wondred that in the world there should be a Mercy-seat so great is the mystery As his redeemed sons we have a precept to command him concerning the work of his hands and therefore the more he is to be reverenc'd for his large proffer and we engaged to stand the more in aw because of his gracious condescendency 2. This tearm Father is a fastning and a more binding style and so suits best with grace The elder Brother did keep at home and served because he was a Son and the younger after a prodigal wasting of his portion returned because he had a Father Our Lord directs us to use this word as every way tying us to oblidged duty to keep at home when in his favour and to return home to prevent his anger It binds us in respect of Christ of Obedience Chastisement Resignment 1. In respect of Christ our Brother He is only the natural and eternal Son of God by whom we have only power to be called Gods Sons and in that regard it is necessary to cleave to him more fast as Ruth to Naomi for death there could and did make a separation but if we would be happy we must die in Christ and afterward rise with him This made the Church call Make haste my beloved and be like a Roe or a young Hart upon the mountains of spices so called from the hight of devotion and the fragnancy of works and conversation that by both I may be carried unto thee meaning Christ and by thee to the Heavens which are mountains because of their highness and mountains of spices because of their sweetness Jesus sitting as Mediator praying for us as oft as he hears us pray Our Father knowing his merits must be our shield and buckler untill we be past Gun-shot 2. In respect of obedience in our whole nature The all-wise God took this course to keep his people from apostacy and commanded them to say My Father and they again doubted not to come after backsliding because he was the Lord their God whence floweth the precepts of imitation that as obedient children we do not fashion our selves according to former lusts but in speech eyes in heart to be perfect as he is perfect that is in sanctity mercy and pity having a double of the Law and exact copy of his will written in our hearts for facilitating our studies 3. In respect of chastisement for our misdemeanour Some dogs when beat and servants when reproved will run from their Masters and howl but an ingenuous child when corrected will draw towards his Father and cry It was prettily said of a little one when chastised Mother kiss me and whip me again yet possibly the same infant would have strugled and have sought if but frowned upon by a stranger To roar against or complain of God holds forth no sign of son-ship since correction is a character and consequent thereof and therefore to be patiently undergone Even earthly parents chastising it may be out of spleen passion for their pleasure will be endured by their children or at least much of it since they are also flesh and not to be provoked how much more ought that Father to be tolerat whose commands in his Prophets Law and in his Gospel command what is just holy and good never smiting for transgressing thereof but for our profit that we might be partaker of his holiness and glory which should never be inherited were we left to our wantonness wickedness or folly This last made the covetous Emperour Mauricius endure the beholding and slaughter of his Queen and five sons by that Rebel and Usurper Phocas himself also after them to be likewise murthered with a Iustus es Domine Righteous art thou O Lord and upright are thy Iudgments submitting himself unto and patiently bearing the severity of that sad and sharp providence This Argument may be yet sharpened at the Philistines sorge sor so necessary is it sometimes to be brought under the smart of perplexing dispensations that Zeno being questioned by one of his pupils why he never corrected him smartly replyed Quia non credo because I do not believe Insinuating their want of any hope or sign of goodness in him created his impunity And if you eye God he hath reason to fear his Son-ship and conclude bastardy who is exempted from or doth not patiently endure the Cross. 4. In respect of resignment to the will of the Creator Children leave the nature kind proportion colour of food dyet and apparel to their parents and eat the portion that is carved for them with content and thanks And though perversness in babies should cause them walk cross to this rule yet let us take out of the Lords
sinning 2. Possess the heavenly joy the believer hath at the conversion of one sinner 3. Escape those plagues that have befallen others for sin c. A Daniel a Noah a Iob may by their servent supplications save themselves from sudden calamity which like an amazing thunder-bolt shall at last pierce the interior parts of that soul whose breast is hardened against the mishaps of men and whose spirits are careless of what befals men When God scourgeth a Land his very sondlings so to speak must not expect immunity they not being without their saults how much more shall his severity rage against them who do not only neglect to bring water to cool and allay our heat but poure on oyl to augment the fire Since such as love not peace nor delight in blessing nor rejoice in mercy are threatned with the want of them when their souls are most exposed to the contrary perils and may chance for their fiery life to die like Constantius Copronymus whose last words were I am condemned to inextinguishable flames They might charge me perhaps with cruelty should I enlarge the story and shew how his body as unworthy of burial was first burned then thrown into the Sea but this inference is harmless to induce all to live peaceably with living men lest just Providence refuse them a lodging with the dead when they are to be joined with them That is not absurd to be added which is taught us in the fabulous divinity of the old Poets of Pluto their supposed god of wealth whom they held to be nursed by Pax that is peace sufficiently knowing that where peace and amity is not an inhabitant it is not the wit nor industry of man that will prevent indigence or poverty Such therefore as complain of the decay of substance and who complains not shall make a more hopeful harvest at the return of the year if they would maugre malice cultivat their bosoms grubbing up the thorns and brambles which grow therein and makes their fellowship dangerous sowing it with â—eed of the love of God which would produce fruit in the love of man and then the Lord being our God the earth should yield her increase Unity being as Hermons dew to the hills of Zion the means wherein we shall have the blessing of fruitfulness and to that life for evermore Let us now enter upon the causes of that uncharitable spirit in our dayes wherein this precept so pray ye is not heeded and though there is no cause for it yet there is a source whence it ariseth as 1. From each ones natural corruption not being searched after He naturally hath pride he envy he curiosity he uncleanness he intemperance which suffered to grow spread diverse branches and they again bring forth infinit sprigs all which finally will be mother to direful actings and ridiculous disputings the bane of this transported prophane impure talkative and speculative age In hac dilectissimi unitate sanctorum In that unity that is to be seen among the Saints there is no spare room for the proud man nor place for the covetous nor pretence for the envyous or for whatsoever vain glory boasts of or wrath is eager for or luxury is itching after these being known not to belong unto Christ but in covenant with satan and far from being owned as pious Fremit itaque therefore the adversary to peace rageth c. If this Age be examined by this true rule many pretended Saints and loose Professors should be sirnamed by some other thing then Christian. 2. From each ones having too great respect for his own opinion Is it not obvious to the most purblind in our neighbourhood that by marrying our selves to our own humour sordidly called a principle we have divorced our selves from the God of love and peace eagerly contending for to make prize of all which have not payed Toll and Custom at our board according to our own privat law or book of rates which yet is as different as there are heads to invent making our confusion the more irreparable and our consciences the more insensible yea our vilest actions the more excusable as that each sinner inferrs the soundness of his own positions from the rottenness he beholds in the others practice Love is generally divided into five sorts that of God that of our neighbour that of our Countrey that of the World and that of our Selves this last is so near and so dear and so choice a bit that before it be not fully enjoyed all the other shall passe uncourted yea had we a love to the things of this world this generation would not so eagerly seek their own pleasures for sondness in this maketh the other languish before us our projects for Government digging sepulchres visibly for interment of Gospel-practice 3. From each ones too great aspect to his own profit Then were murderers complainers men walking after their own lusts their mouths speaking great swelling words when mens persons were had in admiration Many other reasons of this sort might be added as Gods just judgement upon us for our late barbarous unchristian dishonourable treacherous seditious rebellious behaviour towards Authority our Countrey our Relations our Religion our Selves which particularly to discusse were a task too great for a By-nature designed Historian Subordinat to these our Peace is obstructed and Charity banished First by our weighing Doctrine by men A sound truth will be received as Orthodox from one mans mouth which â—rom the mouth of a Cephas a Paul or an Apollos were they alive should either be condemned as heretical or thought unsavoury salt There is a second surmising evil things of men neglecting duty owned by themselves lest evil should thereby follow upon others which evil none seeth so consequential to that duty but it may and ought to be undergone there is a third bearing a real hatred to men for which it may be asked what the Ghost of the Murthered said to Pomenes Quare me occidisti Why dost thou kill me or hate me the tongue of the malicious being equally mortal to that of the tale-bearer which is a maul a sword a sharp arrow Qui odit Fratrem saith one He who hates his brother is in darkness and again is a murtherer he goeth out he cometh in yet he is chained unto guilt do not imagine he is not imprisoned for Carcer ejus cor ejus est his own heart is his prison and there he is tormented Where is there a Nathanael admired of Christ nay where is there a Gerhard bemoaned by Bernard O amicum fidelem O faithful friend in whom there wanted not friendly behaviour and all offices of love and charity and who sought not his own things This puts an obligation upon us deliberatly to study the acquisition of this universality of love that in our prayers we may remember all men Unto which the very word Religion binds us
confusion wherein we so lately were labyrinthically and scandalously involved by making desirable peace to be enjoyed only by our more holy Successours c. Themistocles having done great service observing himself noted and pointed at in the Olympick Games as the deliverer of his Countrey is recorded to say This day I am sufficiently rewarded for all that ever I have done for Greece God shall also hold himself really repayed for all offered and possessed mercy if we remitting somewhat of that passionat prejudice against what we have not shall render our selves grateful for what we have and for more sureties sake pursue those things wherein gratitude stands which is in invitation of others to behold the mercy in observing of the poor who stand in need of mercy in a restoring what we have taken from others without mercy in a confessing that all our good flows purely from mercy and because each man complains of the others remissnesse let every one affectionatly mourn to testifie his desire of requiting God that men do not praise the Lord for his goodnesse nor for his wonderful works to the children of men 2. Knowledge in what his mercy hath accomplished in the â—eeds of the Gospel As that the second person died for us and that all the three Persons draws us from the power of Satan to receive the forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified That as peace came down with the birth of his Son so peace and purity was infused by the shedding abroad of his Spirit upon us because of which on earth glory is to be given to God in the highest 3. Love because of that which all his attributes hath designed As a Father we have his love upon us as a King his power exercised about us as we are children we have his Angels ministring unto us at all times his face to refresh us his Spirit to comfort us and at last his bosome to entertain us To love him is to hallow him than which nothing is more equitable fruitful or honourable 4. Abilities for that which in his holy Law is enjoyned We cannot express our obligations nor demonstrat the tye that lyes upon us for spreading abroad his same wherefore this Hallowed be thy Name reflects upon our impotence and confesseth we cannot do it and therefore he must for though the devils and damned glorifie God yet they cannot sanctifie the Name of God no more can any untill there be a new heart created a new spirit infused while the Angels cryed Holy holy holy is the Lord of Hosts all that the Prophet could do was to cry Woe is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips and did not change his note untill his iniquity was taken away and his sin purged which is also prayed for in this Petition And for the continuing of which grace of sanctification and spiritual life or ability we saith a Father pray continually both day and night that by the grace and protection of the most high they may be in us and for us preserved ut qui quotidie delinquimus that as we sin daily we may by the sanctification of the Spirit be daily purged leâ—t we fall from the grace of God The Temple and Utensils thereof when defiled were cleansed and purified from their pollution quae Deo sunt destinata or dedicata vocantur sancta they are holy they are Saints they are righteous who fall not only but even those that fall and rise again washing themselves from their old sins by amendment Of which he was apprehensive who complained that having desires to be happy but his thoughts would not suffer him if such struglings happen in thy breast Reader sentence them to death and if too strong for thee put up thy supplication in an Hallowed be thy Name that the power of God may be discovered in thy infirmity and his strength in thy weakness by dissipating such cogitations His Name in the last place is to be hallowed personally if you eye man comprehending as bound thereunto both soul and body and in this Petition included and performed directly indirectly and exemplarly 1. Directly by a holy and reverend using of his Name The Romanes suffered not their children to swear by Hercules untill they went out of doors to prevent their vain and ordinary swearing The ancient manner of the Hebrews in their Judical swearing was by the Magistrats attesting the witnesse in this form Give glory to God And yet there are profane wits among us who disanulling all bonds interprets oaths to be a point wherein their gentility consists and are so little afraid of a jealous God that their jealousie is lest their comrade out-swear them so both becomes rivals of damnation Men may consult and act for the good of a Kingdoms peace and quiet yet a great man and a holy is mistaken is swearing be not worse then the edge of the sword and the plague thereof beyond that of war And if men will do no more yet let them revere the book they handle and the Gospel that is dayly before them saying Swear not at all c. but let your yea be yea and your nay nay all other being of sin And it is no ill derivation to bring the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth an oath from Orcus that is hell especially considering that even Heathens fancied if any god had swore false or broken his oath having sworn by Styx he was to be punished himself in hell for it nine thousand years for which cause said they Iupiter took the more care how he swore Whither shall we go to hide our faces off this age who hath got such a knack of swearing that it is our livelyhood our trade our pastime our humour as if our being gods i. e. great men wer a plea sufficient to reprieve us from hells torments When these who knew not the God of Heaven would out of reverence even in Markets say no more then By c. forbearing to name the god they thought upon Some will have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an oath to be brought from a word that signifieth to compel and without a necessity there is no naming of the Blood of Christ or Omnipotency of God The Hebrews call an oath Shabugnah from a Root signifying seven hinting thereby both a mystery in it and good advice or deliberat thinking before the taking of it which may be done in these cases Paxfama fides reverentia cautio damni Defectus veri tibi dant jurare libenter And when the peace of our Countrey our own good report or want of witnesses or loss of goods whether our own or trusted to us are in hazard we are lawfully to clear our selves or free our selves by an oath so are we if Authority call us to it or faithfulnesse be expected of us but to inure our tongues to an
my God He all that day traveled in safety while his companions quickly fell in the hands they feared So good it is with all boldness to magnifie Christ even in our bodies whether it be by Life or Death or Fortune Further First that is in pronounciation Even in utterance our first words in Prayer are to have our Fathers Name as Lord God Almighty or his Sirname as God of all Consolation Father of lights or of our Lord Iesus Christ this being the homage to expound this in the words of an excellent King that we ow unto God before we make our suits it being arrogancy and an impudent thing for any Subject to make a suit to his Soveraign before he did his homage in a reverent accost To blame were these men then and scarce are those words to be accounted Petitions that some pretenders to Sanctity offered up in our late times and many still offer up in which the Name of our Father is not in the Preface nor his Son our Lord Jesus in the Conclusion the practice of the old Saints and yet with the true still accounted so necessary that that Prayer uttered without these holy Indications of the parties they pray unto are to be rejected as flatulent and windy dangerous and uncertain and not to have our Amen The sum of all is this that the Glory of God and the râ—ches of his invisible Kingdom together with the mysteries contained in the Gospel are more earnestly zealously constantly to be sought after by us then the possessing of any thing we see or know we want upon Earth God resolving that his works shall never be so much loved as himself It became the object of a Heathens scorn and laughter as judicious Calvin relates that men abused the eares of God with profane and unfavoury requests Yet how do Christians ask of God to bestow upon their lusts their consciences by that declaring they have no reverence nor fear to that Name Since our heavenly Master hath so plainly proposed a rule to us to pray by and in that his own Glory not riches or vain glory to bear sway to wanton with the Prodigal to be strong with the revengeful nor wise to defraud our Brother not so much as in imagination to be reflected upon but our Fathers honour unto which once more Reader suffer a word of exhortation And in all prayer 1. Praise God for mercies received For thy bread thy bed thy cloathing thy lodging thy strength cloak liberty knowledge and for thy hope of Heaven It is said of Israel she did not know that God gave her corn and wine but she prepared for Baal these blessings the highest act of ingratitude which consisting of four parts makes their unthankfulnesse the more grosse The first is not to return a benefit and do one good deed for another there is a greater not to remember a good deed there is yet a greater to say it was done by another but the greatest of all is to honour reward and thank the adversary of our benefactor this grieved God most that Baal the Devil his enemy had the glory of the good things he gave his people the same sin is acted by such who give the praise of their purchase to their arm their wit their diligence rather then to him It is a holy and true saying of one that praise compared with petitionary prayer praise excelleth it as far as giving is better then receiving And it was also a just reproof one gave of some Fasts celebrated in our days that they fell short in Thanksgiving for such mercies as were plentifully possessed The Children of Persia were in their play accustomed to hear try and determine causes and in earnest punished delinquency but causam ingratitudinis vehementer agunt they had a detestation of ingratitude towards god their Parents their Countrey their Relation and do but consider that Thankfulness is that Ward in the Key of Prayer by which we open the doors I mean the bowels of love it is the scarlet threed we hang out of the window of our soul to let God know we are within whereby we may be saved when those that forget God shall be turned into hell non vero verecundae sed ingratae mentis indicium est beneficia tacere divina it is not modesty but iniquity to be silent in sounding praise for divine beneficence 2. Praise him for the evils you have avoided O give thanks unto the Lord calls the Psalmist for he overthrew Pharaoh and his host and led his people through the wilderness for his mercy endureth for ever One requesting of Simonides a courtesie promising to be thankful he replied he had two Chests at home in onâ— whereof he put the Money in the other the thanks he got for service done and in occasion of using either he generally found that wherein lay the Money most helpful to him how good a God serve we that offers an absolute discharge of all we owe if we be but grateful nay will do us yet more good and deliver us for ever if we publickly say that he hath healed our diseases and redeemed our life from destruction Let us therefore be thankful since we reckon our selves among them that are to be saved yet not in words only but in works and actions and this true thanksgiving is when we do those exercises wherein God is to be glorified 3. Praise him in confessing the evils you have committed Against thee thee only have I sinned said David after his fall with Bathsheba that thou mightst be justified when thou speakest Reader give glory I pray to the Lord God of Israel and shew him what thou hast done It is not my scope to handle controversies here yet that auricular confession taught at Rome enters within my thoughts judging it 1. New 2. Impossible 3. Intolerable 4. Dangerous 5. Scandalous and oft times 6. Ridiculous c. But if a conscience like a raked up fire be very hot or aking as a putrid sore it is good to confess to God or man or to both the sin so pricking that the conscience may be eased The multitude that was baptized in Iordan confessed their sin and the sick believer may acknowledge his faults to his Pastor yea where he is not it glorifies God to acknowledge the commission of some attrocious crime as Paul â—wned he was a blasphemer for know how greatly soever the impudence of the sinner in sinning displeaseth God so much is he pleased with the penitents bashfulness when regrating Confession is so necessary for the acquiring of confidence in prayer in the sense of the Church of England that in her holy that is in her common service she first prepareth her children by a confession of their sin to receive according to the Gospel a pardon as being penitent and then ordains them and not before to say Our Father which art in Heaven
cursing flee back-bitting flee heart-burning flee oppressing for by the eye as by a window temptation suffers Satan to enter and then he finds no difficult task to pick the lock of the most secret Cabinet I mean the remotest faculty of the soul which was known to that as to a sword undaunted though young Alexander he refusing to give frequent visits to Darius daughters then his Prisoners alleading that Persice Puellae the Persian Ladies made his eyes sore 2. Attraction this discovers weaknesse A fish smoothly glyding down the River is in safety but beholding the bait and turning aside after it is ensnared by the hook Let the Painter Paint as he pleaseth I am prone to suppose that Evah both went unto the tree and pluckd the fruit her self The foolish youth having seen followed after the strange woman whereas if that evil one wound us by a sinsul thought we are not to yeeld but to fight against that little to keep our selves from danger by a greater which shall besal us when sinful thinking grows to sinful doing which we have not force sufficient to evite except we bruise its head as soon as it is conceived As children having no strength to oppose runs from what may endanger them so let us flee at first sight yea the sweeter its voice be let us make the greater speed and it shall be spiritually and morally found what proverbially is received a fleeing man valueth not the Lute and this Petition beareth witnesse of our inability for self-defence yea experience proveth very few Iesus Christ excepted to have entred into the field of temptation but came off with losse Abraham held out in Mount Moriah yet could lye in Egypt hence a Father affirmeth there are temptations which we cannot bear and what are they Omnes all and in truth without God we can bear none 3. Inescation this ought to stir us to repentance We will eat of the fruit and swallow the broath though poyson be in the one and death in the other and sell our birth-right for a dish of either The soul ought as a mirrour or glasse to be kept clean that in it might perfectly be viewed the Image of God but alas sin hath dusted and darkned the same and yet we are not sorry and yet we are not warry though we say lead us not into temptation that is given us wisdom to know those evils we are encompassed with and not be so sordid as to prefer our lusts to God a Concubine to our Saviour or our Catamite to our Heavenly Paradise King Lysimachus besiedged in Thracia quitted his Army his Honour his Liberty and Kingdom to Dromichata for a draught of puddle-water to quench his thirst whereof when he tasted his sad Fate he thus sadly lamented O how for how small a pleasure have I a King made my self a servant The voice of Hell may be imagined to have something in it like this O for how small a pleasure having to aggrege their hellish dispair this that their was no such necessity for their drinking stoln waters To these three you may add Occasion awaking us to prayer neither Devil world nor flesh dare assault the most Abject among men if occasion do not fairly invite The works of the flesh though manifest as Adultery Murther Witch-craft are more or lesse brought to the birth as occasion the Midwife is sooner or later in coming that incitamentum ad malum in us corruption being fearful even to peep where opportunity is wanting which that wanton knew who to assure the simple youth of all security told him that the Good-man was not at home but was gone a long journey An ancient writing to Secundine whose life was privat and solitary among other Items of Satans subtilty is warned of this that in the souls privat retirements there shall be as it were visits made by the tempter and things brought to his mind and laid before his eyes and all to seduce him in his thinking of he cannot get him to perpetrat ungodlinesse It is written that Ioseph was held by the Garment by his Mistriss when none of the men were within it is said they were all abroad at a feast she having counterfeited sicknesse to procure an occasion to satishe her intemperance hence one calls temptation an instruction how and when to sin we say Occasio facit furem Occasion maketh the Thief it maketh also the Murtherer the Wencher and the Tipler Simulque animadvertendum let it be remembred that untill our Saviour was hungry Satan had no occasion to assault him or at least most strongly then did attempt him I have said David remembred they Name O Lord in the night Tempus tentationum I think saith a Father he means in the time of temptation when he is encompassed with darknesse take it either way it intimats in solitude God is to be remembred and contrary thoughts to be expelled from the soul imitating Pyrrhus who being alone was asked what he was about I am said he studying to be good There is Fabled of a suit commenced betwixt the heart and eye which were the causers of sin and thus it was decided Cordi causam imputans occasionem oculi the heart was the cause but the eye gave the occasion of sin In short occasion hath so great a hand in evil that it is a temptation to evil Saint Iames giving us the degrees of temptation gives them thus Every man is tempted when he is drawn aside of his own lust and enticed then when lust bath conceived it bringeth forth sin which when finished it bringeth forth death Concupiscence then being the Mother Sin the Daughter and Death the Grand-daughter all issuing from the strength of temptation set on by Satan as he finds our complexions inclinations pliable to receive the impression ought to excite us and in an holy servour to draw from us Lead us not into temptation It is observed that our Saviour had three strong temptations in the Wildernesse that there were three which refused to come to the Supper of the Kings Son and that there are three which in the world bear up enmity against God and in them all the sight of the eye bears a great stroak therefore to be lookt after in resisting temptations against which to highten your zeal consider their unweariednesse nearnesse imperiousnesse appositnesse and their closnesse 1. Their unweariednesse The Devil is still going about and temptation is never quiet Et ideo Deus meus therefore O God we ery for security cryed one because whether we sleep or wake eat or drink by force or fraud secretly or openly is our watchful enemy directing his poysoned darts for our destruction which made another cry that our life was but one temptation and another adds that it is not so one way but multipliciter illudat many here it affirms there denies there it changeth
will he is a spectator and beholder as in that case of the Babylonish Ambassadors and Hezekiah whereas he withheld Abraham from sacrificing Isaac by a contrary precept leaving the other to himself for discovery of himself This is excellently figured under that parable of King Iames of a Nurse having a child but beginning to go who may be said justly to make the child fall if she leave it alone knowing it hath no strength without help for self-supportance so God Almightly as before is said is said to lead us into when he leaves us in temptation and though he can say little or nothing that cometh after that King yet for the case in hand it may be said though the Nurse may be shent yet God is not to be blamed for his relinquishing For 1. He is not oblidged to hold us up 2. We oft conceit our selves to be strong 3. We had once strength and he is not bound to repair broken sinews 4. He can cure us and make us better And 5. Such as falls blame themselves never God Iudas an Achab go not without their own heart charging themselves with the production of sin And it may be attested also from reason that God is not the Author of sin there being no evil work without the precedency of an evil will which floweth not from him as is apparent from the nature of God the Law of God the nature of sin and the bitternesse of the death of Christ. The nature of God being once known darknesse may be thought to flow from the Sun as soon as clearly as sin can be suggested to originat from him when the root of all sweetnesse shall be embittered and the Suns darknesse in his Eclipse be defended as proceeding from its self then and not before can sin in reason be thought to proceed from God he tempting no man that is to evil The Sun-beams light on a Carrion and also on a flower that the one is sweet the other not proceeds not from the Planets influence but from the delicacy or rottennesse of the thing scented The Musician stricketh on an ill-tuned instrument that it soundeth indeed he is cause but that it soundeth ill emergeth from the vitiosity of the instrument yea what though our shallow judgments sathom not the Abysse of Gods innocency rather let us charge our selves of ignorance then him of injustice for to use the words of our Royal Expositor and a Father in so high a point it is fit for every man sapere ad sobrietatem to be wise unto sobriety Respect the expresse will of God or his Scriptures and their aim scope design energy and end is to bind curb and destroy sin It was in mans redemption said to mankind sin no more and the Apostles praying preaching amounted to this dearly beloved abstain from fleshly lusts Behold also the nature of sin and it is a departing from God it is called a work of darknesse and by it the flesh striveth against the Spirit evidencing that the wise God gave no consent to its being for who would appoint a power to check and restrict himself and though none of these might yet the bloudinesse of the death of Iesus the strong cryes he put up the bloody sweat he suffered the shamefull and painfull death he under-went for the expiating its guilt the destroying of its work cleareth his detestation thereof to all which add that in the highest accusations of an awakened conscience the sinner roareth against himself for yeelding not God for leading him into temptation Once more consider there is in sin two things First the Act and next the Deformity or obliquity in that Act. The strength by which the Murtherer puts forth his hand is from God but that he doth it to kill is from another efficient The rider causeth his horse to go but if he halt it proceds from some debility in the beasts nerves Iudas eyes saw the money which was from God his fingers told the money from him also but the sin for which he had it he chargeth solely and wholely upon himself Gods giving up the Gentiles to vile affections to a reprobat mind implyeth not his Agency therein but the Retaining of his grace and leaving them to themselves being otherwise not bound to do as was the Nurse in the above-mentioned similitude And the same serves to answer if the Lord be said to be the cause of the defection of the ten Tribes from the house of David with this addition that when it is said to be of him it is understood of the disposing the proper causes thereof for the punishment of Rehoboam and fulfilling the Prophecy made against Solomon quoniam qui providenter atque omnipotenter he in his wisdom being able to rule all things whether good or evil for his own purpose The cause of Iudas selling Christ was Covetousnesse Pilats crucifying him was for Fear all was of God that is the ordering of these things for production of the great end of mans redemption Fore note his permitting sin is not otiosa a bare looking on to behold it and no more neither is it Tyrannica as to command its actions or approve its workings neither is it libera as if sin were not under his providence and had liberty to run and come where and how far it pleased his permission being determinativa determinative he appointing how far it shall go and further then his Law neithe Iews nor Pilat nor Iudas nor sin nor the Devil can go Iesus may be put to death but who can hinder his assuming life again it being so determined by God A Hermite oft deluded by the Devil being taught and having heard many things from him supposing he had been an Angel of light was at last advised by his Familiar to slay his son who abode in the Cell with him for procuring to himself equality of glory and dignity with Abraham for which glory delirus iste senex dementatus the deluded old man attempted the act of murther but the boy by flight and nimblenesse escaped for and with his life Here was temptation yeelded unto but the sin of the temptation as to its term viz. as it ended or designed the boyes life God frustrated and bound it up that sin could not do it It was for this viz. lest God should be concluded the Author of sin that some of late read or said these words Suffer us not to be led into temptation in stead of lead us not To detect which solly at large were to be like them who said it But this may be said that these indeed were wise and holy in their own conceit that thought the Gospel wanted their pertinency or the Lords Prayer their correction as if Jesus did not know how to teach apposite devotion without their directory why was not Moses refined and that ordinary expression expunged God hardened the heart of Pharaoh but
habituated By God is an iniquity to be punished The Gentiles forbearing to name the Magician Demogargon lest the earth should tremble will be a witness against us for our abusing his Name against his Law who hangs it upon nothing without dread yea with delight A golden mouthed Patriarch or Bishop beholding swearing to be the sin of his people assured them in a Sermon that he had preached often against that sin and would do it again this day and to morrow and the third day and untill he saw them mend their manners and forsake that vice but would it not puzle an Angel to declaim against the predominant vice of this perverse generation it being overgrown as with a scab with iniquity of all sorts by pretenders to Religion and mockers of all Piety But as touching this scandalous custome ought not that Law non-assumes thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain for he will not hold him guiltless that taketh his Name in vain to be to all Christians more then a thousand Sermons to perswade against that custome A perjured wretch hearing a Sermon against the sin of swearing or â—orswearing said his hand was nothing the shorter that he had sorsworn with statim and immediately by divine vengeance it was burned and cut from him And say we not of a good man Os tuum ablue wash your mouth and then speak of him and yet the hallowed Name and that Majestativum Nomen as one calls it that Majestick Name and that Venerandum Nomen that reverent Name of the Lord our God at which the devils tremble shall be scoffingly and impiously abused by us and then come home and it may be say Amen to hallowed be thy Name without suggesting danger The rule according to a learned person to know sinful swearing by is from the initiatory letters of FATVM IDONEA F signifying Iuramentum falsum a swearing against the truth A Appetitum Iurandi a desire of swearing T Trufatorium to swear in base words or cheatingly U Vsum useing or accustoming ones self to this M. Malitiosum to swear malitiously And in Idonea I Imports Irreverenter to swear irreverently and without fear D Dolose â—raudulently O Otiose idly N Negligenter negligently if oaths come out before a man beware A Alte if with a loud clamorous or uncivil noice all which is comprised in this distich Si male Iurandi species sit cura noscendi Sit primas Fatum per Idonea notificatum If thou takes care to shun the sin of swearing Of Fatum and Idones be observing For in these Christs rule of swear not all is to be noted and by them qualified Those whose tongues can hardly spell God are become so accustomed to hear of him that their ears are good only for this tune of By God or By Iesus and can in their very play sport with it which last is aggravated and becomes a greater sin then simply to name God For 1. God hath magnified that Name 2. There is no other Name given whereby we can be saved 3. It holds forth the Divine Nature and the second Person in the Humane Nature 4. The Name God shews him to be the Creator only but Jesus both Creator and Redeemer A Monitor therefore to whisper into our debauch'd Thou shalt not take the Name of God in vain or Above all things my Brethren swear not would do well and that they would as gently receive the admonition as an aged person did that of a childs were to be wished The story is this A man of years being heard to swear was accosted by a young child who with bended knee said ne posthac jurato swear no more by God for it is not a light sin the person blushing called back the child demanded its name and its parents but getting neither glorified God and said non tu puer es thou art not a boy but an Angel of God sent to give me this wholsome counsel and know thou that hereafter I shall be careful that an oath no more fall from me O that God whose Name hath done great marvels would multiply such Angels amongst us and make their ministry as effectual Soror venerabilis Courteous Reader will you have me tell you how to avoid perjury swear not for the custome of swearing brings on the use of forswearing and pray that the Spirit of God whose Temple is thy body may put in thy mouth the seal of moderation Amen Verily or of a truth was a wholsome document of a good man 2. Indirectly by not giving occasion to prophane his Name There is a fitness equality or proportion to be kept betwixt our prayers and our practice for as Davids harp made some to magnifie the Lord so his adultery made others blaspheme the God of Israel to pray hallowed be thy Name and to live carelesse of procuring it is not only to no purpose for thy good but accelerates a curse from his hand For as one of Philosophy so I say of Gospellizing It is not populare artificium an Artifice to delude the Vulgar neither consists it in words but in things and doing good first and then speaking of good for it s said of Jesus he began to do and then to teach so ought it to be by all that profess his Name Hallowed by they Name that is Celebre â—it let it be magnified in us in our hearts by believing in our affections by loving in our mouth by praising and in our lives by well-doing that thy Name Father be not disgraced by our wicked courses thy Name the knowledge of thy Name may be confirmed by our true living it being better not to call upon God at all then to pray in our Closet and follow the youth to the strange woman Doeg to his tale-bearing Cain to his envy Rabsheka to his railing Gehazi to his lying His Name is alwayes holy our desire here is that it may be kept holy by us and in us for the adding of more glory to his Name is not here understood but the accounting estimating respecting and inlarging the knowledge to all of that holiness which from eternity he possessed that in us and by us he may be hallowed which was done when we were baptized in his Name being from Christ called Christians and Christned Audi Deo hear therefore the Apostle the Name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you therefore let us amend our lives or put an end to our Profession that our selves and not our Religion our selves and not our God be not traduced by our multiplied abominatiâ—ns which are so much the more scandalous and dangerous hat from the faults of one Christian the Gentile doth judge totam Christianorum Gentem all Christians which must infinitly influence upon Gods dishonour when the whole body of Christianity is universally leprous as it is with us this day so that
all the cause of those devastations and miseries wherewith the Church is harrass'd each Christian may say with him in the Satyr Ego omnium scelerum materia ego causa sum I have aided I have helped I have been the Author of all 3. Examplarly by doing all things in his Name Paul being put into the Ministry gave thanks to God before all and Peter acknowledged that he healed the impotent man in the Name of Iesus and Numa who first taught the Romans Religion enacted that God should not be worshipped obiter or casu at it were in passing by or by the by but to have the whole mind intent upon the service which beautifying Religion makes it graceful yea taking and it is observed that Scipio Affricanus never entered upon privat or publick business untill in the Capitol he had consulted god and was thereupon thought to be Iupiter's Son It ought to be the study of all but most especially of great man to be patterns of good works that men seeing them may glorifie God and it ought to be the duty of all men to read the Scriptures frequent Churches visit Neighbours abide in their Families as they are directed to sing Psalms viz. to the praise and glory of God Hallowed be thy Name WE are now to reflect upon the speciality of hallowing his Name and secluding all others that they do not so much as mingle with the glory attributed to it which is insinuated in the Pronoun THY NAME in which an Emphasis is apparent a Seclusion is intended 1. An Emphasis is apparent signifying that our hearts countenances voices ought to be elevated and our minds upon nothing inferiour to himself THY NAME THY NAME speaks the temper of the supplicant to be altogether holy and eying nought save Divine Attributes 2. A Seclusion is intended There being none like unto him among all the gods It must be conceded that there is no name so high to be hallowed as that by which he is called The Father is the God of glory so is the Son the Lord of glory and the holy Spirit is the Spirit of glory the sense of which being diffused in and virtuating the Soul of the Petitioner his demands are conform to his Fathers declaration I am the Lord that is my Name and my glory I will not give to another And that God be not pillag'd of that which he is resolved to keep do but consider His Eminency His Singularity His Eminency above all other gods Kings Angels are called gods yet both these wait upon him and their glory but the Jewels that adorn his foot-stool THY NAME is so singular that it admits of no companion neither is it capable of any augmentation To speak Scripturally no god hath a Name but he and where there is no name we are to attribute no praise Vna revera numen est unicum there is but one God and therefore but one Name unto which truth the wisest of the old Philosophers did assent A great Herauld delineating the particulars that grace and make a man honourable sheweth that Vertue good Parentage Wealth Office Countenance a good Name and a gracious Sirname compleat a person and if an union of these creat nobility how ought our Lord Jesus Christ to be respected in whom all these meet so in their causes as without his concurrence they shall be in none as in their subject Behold his power to act All arms before him are but as straw and the strongest is but feeble It would puzle the Creation to make one drop of rain or scatter one cloud or command a dewy morning In all our undertakings if not fools we shall say if the Lord will we shall live and do this or that Glory not therefore in thy wisdom or riches for these flee away thou saith I am add the Epithet rich or wise yet thou art not for in speaking thou art changing and no more to be seen what thou wast then we can behold again the same water in a running river Behold also his wisdom to discern He only knows the intentions causes nature and the end of things The device of saving poor man after his fall was above the imagination of the highest Angel and for Adam all he could invent was an Apron of Fig-leaves but a Garment of Righteousness never once entred into his head untill it pierced his ear in the promise He heholds the heart so clearly which even to Angels themselves is dark nisi revelentur except revealed to them by God or some external sign concluded by them that Ferdinand and fourth of Spain putting two to death for a conspiracy both of them appointed the King to appear before the Tribunal of God within thirty days to give an account why they were put to death for they were innocent at the limited time while others thought the King had been sleeping he was really dead and in probability answering the charge One Turson among the Goths condemning an innocent and beholding the execution was by the prisoner commanded that very hour to appear before God to answer for putting to death an innocent and no sooner had the executioner done his office then the Judge expired and fell from his horse Many things of this nature might be inserted to evince that all ought to cease from flattering themselves in magnifying their own opinion of Saints or humours and ascribe only Glory to the name of IAH our God Behold further his goodness to forgive Peters charity was indeed hot but not to the eight degree it could not reach to forgive above seven times But as there is in us a multitude of gross sins so with him there are multitudes of tender mercies expressed in the number of seventy times seven which yet is not a determinat number as if at that we should close but thereby is signified that our mercy should never end The Law being given us in ten Commandments which being broken sin adds one and makes the number of eleven and seven comprehending all time because time runs through the seven dayes of the Creation by which we are to press upon our selves the remitting upon Gods part the breach of the ten Commandments committed in any of the seven dayes and declare the same to our Brother crying peccavi after his offending though he owned us a hundred talents for it were an indignity to our Saviours boundless love to collect from his seventy times seven the non-forgiveness of seventy times eight since a more plain rule is before us touching pardon which is as God for Christs sake hath forgiven us and he forgiveth all Besides six is a number of work and labour wherein God wrought but the seventh is a day of rest and seventy times seven sheweth that God when our sins are at the highest rests in pardoning grace and is at friendship with the penitent and declaring the same by his Spirit