the world to save sinners And though all the Psalms be sweet yet some for their excellency are sent to the chief Musician The Scriptures discover the whole will of God yet have a hand to point at some part of it more then another as more eminent in their use and comfort and to which all other portions may be reduced For instance 1. He wills our faithful adhering to his Son Many Commandments he gave but this is his Commandment that we should believe on the Name of his Son Iesus Christ applying Christ unto our selves his death and merits to our souls without which our performances are but nauseating to his spirit and therefore Domine adauge fidem nostram Lord increase our saith is solded up in this Petition Thy will be done 2. He wills our sincere converting from sin It is iniquity causeth him grieve at us and maketh us averse to him and how careful and painful he is to reform the sinner before he be cast out as a Publican shews that if he perish it is by his obstinacy in sin rather then for his committing of it for had he delighted to punish for that he had long ago burned this present world as he spared not but drowned the old We need not many Arguments to evince this having his oath for his being delighted in the conversion of the wicked for miserable we are if we will not believe God when he swears the purposes of his heart unto us But as Gideons one Bastard slew his seventy Sons so one sin left alive will destroy our stock of gifts and graces which God knowing he wills our sincerity desiring us to be not almost but altogether Christians in departing from every evil way the end of his Commandment being charity out of a pure heart a good conscience and love unfeigned 3. He wills humility in our carriage to himself What shall or what can besall thee Reader that can excuse any insolence thy audacious spirit dare shew before him Is it death of kindred loss of goods want of health be perswaded better want all these then once to roave at him for the want of any one for hath he not shewed thee O man what it good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly love mercy and walk humbly with thy God The ancient Gauls suffered not their children even to stand before them that in perfect age they might have them in greater veneration and our Father in Heaven though more condescending will yet have of all his sons a religious reverence sawciness becoming sacriledge robbing him of his just devoir To swell for the removing of thy Gourd as Ionah may have a sadder issue imitat rather Adam whom we read not once to have spoken after banished Paradise a silent sorrow for our delinquency for sin is sorrows Prodrome being the best succour for our weather-beaten souls and is more advantagious then any Fort we can erect by argument or reason to plead against or surmize familiarity with God That of Germanicus is Heathenish giving this attestation of himself at death sifato concederem c. though I should die the common death of men I have just cause to be angry at the gods that in manly age I am robbed from my Parents Children and Countrey by them but when I die by the sorcery or poysonings of Piso c. but the Christian knows he stands at Cesars Iudgment Seat and that enjoyns reverence fear humility and love which makes him behave himself with David like a weaned child and washeth with Naaman upon deliberation in the commanded Iordan though the waters to sense appear never so despicable 4. He wills compassion in behalf of our brethrem This is his great and new Commandment that men love one another and that we put on howels of mercy to all yea the Oxe or Ass of our enemy are within the verge of his authority and law And we are not only to offer our hread but draw out our very souls to the hungry God insinuating thereby that fellow feeling which the fight of an hungry soul ought to stir up in us Non curite quid agat humanum genus not to be solicitious how the world went or careful about the concerns of mainkind was held impious by a Heathen but the religious contrary is diffusive in his charity and his willigness to do good is exemplified in the parable of the Samaritan who secured the person anointed the wounds defrayed the charges and contracted debt for the robbed Traavller Three things evince true compassion Concealed charity 2. Known poverty And 3. Unnatural death being alwayes ready to answer St. Pauls question in the negative who is weak and I am not weak who though they were Bibylonians with the Prophet that testifying good-will with a Father when a Brothers adversity causeth anguish and his tranquility exciteth thankfulness to account anothers loss our own and reckon his gain our profit loving neither friend nor soe for the world but both for God is true charity Love being a great God of whose beginning we have no History and of its ending it were madness to suppose therefore ought our life to be a life of love or then it is not the life of God nor agreeable to his will 5. He wills our folicity with himself He He hath so strong and fatherly a love to his children that he desires yea designs them heirs of his Kingdom For this is the will saith Christ of him that sent me that every one which seeth the Son I might say the Sun may have everlasting life this is a faithful laying and worthy of all acceptation And the Psalm wherein the Psalmists confidence of future glory is attested is called Michtum that is a golden Psalm of David Be not Reader abused by any natural vanity so far as in any thing to become competit or with God and untill thy will can give thee fields and vineyards nay until it can make a feather to please thee a sâ—raw to ease thee make it not the staple of thy soul but award its blows and avert its plagues for it shall to last be found the armed man to binâ— thee and a sword to kill thee whereas Gods will hath nothing more ultimatly its scope then thy salvation There are many other particulars touching our converse discovered to be the will of God such as Modesty in our expressions Righteousnesse in our actions Discipline in our manners enduring injuries loving the brethren delighting in God loving him as a Father fearing him as a Lord to value none in comparison of Christ and therefore inseparably to cleave to his love couragiously to bear his cross constantly to consess his Name which is to be heir with Christ to do the command of God to fulfill the will of the Father but such and many others being reducible to
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
than the bruits in neglecting so profitable I add so rational a service that qui non orat he that prayeth not is dead in one sense and mad in another It is represented to be a manifestation of the hearts fervency before God by which through faith in Christ we beg for obtaining of mercy and for avoiding of ill or give thanks for benefits accepted whether in words groans or sighs whence it follows that the ten Commandments and the Creed are not given to us nor to be used by us as forms of Prayer which many ignorant Protestants doth conjecture nor the Ave Maria or Hail Mary as the Romanists generally practise And that the weakest Saint might be cherished Prayer is held forth to be the bitter groanings of a heart-broken soul or the sound of incomposed words therefrom sor have we not in Scripture as well a weeping Peter and a muttering Hannah comforted as a roaring David pardoned and blessed We shall call and prove Prayer to be a hearty calling upon God for good things we or others want or deliverance from the evils they or we fear or feel by and through Iesus Christ. In which description there is the Root of Prayer it must be hearty the Beauty of Prayer it must be a calling the true Object of Prayer it must be a calling upon God the matter of Prayer for good things the charity of Prayer for our selves or others the only means of acceptance through Iesus Christ. 1. It must be hearty if the frame and structure of all our petitions be not builded on this rock they will fall as did Silo's Tower upon our selves and crush us to death for if the heart be not good the very evils we pray against will flee the more swiftly towards us and the kingdom we pray for will hasten the more to our amazement the Pharisees washed their bodies face and hands but there must be a clean heart before there be enjoyed a clear conscience for endeavouring to be seen of men is to be debarred from Gods presence and frustrate of his approbation If with Ieroboams wife we counterfeit gravity and be sober in the Temple from the face only we may hear from the Angel with her but sad and heavy things though perhaps in no worse language then friend how camest thou in hither If Delilah complained of Samson in abstracting his heart from those signs he gave her of endeared affection how shall not the furnace of incensed wrath be seven times more heated when God shall get such words as Thy will be done by him who not only demurrs but impudently resolves to give it a resistance the good man is said to have cor simplex a simple that is a soul without solds being stretched to the full length that the searcher of hearts may know and remark he is prepared to do his will in its just extension from the soul. Si lingua if the tongue utter words of righteousnesse and the heart wandring about worldly not to say hellish business there is no certainty of profite and probably without a peradventure the greater condemnation said one It not being the tongue or the throat but the soul whence prayer must ascend said another Prayer being serium animi cum Deo colloquium a serious discoursing of the soul with God said a third of which seriousness Agatho had earnest thoughts of who being interrogate what might be the hardest thing in the world replyed to pray as we ought 2. It must be a hearty calling as we have a soul to reflect upon the things we wish or want so we have a tongue to call for both and as God is said to have a heart to pity us so he is said to have an ear to hear us when complaining for which Abraham's praying is called a communing i. e. a speaking with the Lord. Heart speaking is indeed simply necessary and without it no prayer and by it alone in some cases there may be a holy petition darted upward the soul having naturally a loud voice yet outward calling is exceeding usefull heart speaking is Ecclesiastica plane operatio the Churches work being conform to her Redeemers Precept of praying in secret but to withdraw the tongue from Gods Altar is a defrauding him of his just right and detains from the supplicant himself many auxiliaries whose accession to his already mustred forces might give him abundance of spiritual courage to fight against all temptations that assaults him in his militant condition It doth not only more forceibly lay bonds upon himself not to act against what he prayes for or against committing those follies he hath repented of after prayer but hinders distraction in prayer and vehemently excits devotion even to that ardency which may constitute a joyful noise It lets Satan and the holy Angels know our holy purposes and resolutions it provokes to a good example and hath great influence in discharging of that debt we owe to God for our bodies However care must be taken that the heart speak before the tongue for avoiding battology by the tongue and to both of these we must joyn a holy life by which we speak both to God and man to God with a Remember now I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart And to man with a follow me as I follow Christ in doing of which we may be applauded and rewarded for praying continually 3. It is a hearty calling upon God he alone is a very present help in trouble and neither Saint nor Angel can clear our souls from or deliver us from evil to come as he only is our Father so he only is to be requested for our dayly bread and he being the only King who hath immortality his kingdom is only to be violently seized upon and importunatly sought after and being the Lord our God he is only to be worshipped 4. It is a calling for good things that is such things as cannot naturally have a tendency to ill as Faith Love Hope Knowledge sufficiency for to ask to be rich or honourable may as too oft they prove be unhappy mediums to extinguish heavenly heat and cause the germinating grace of God which was rooted in us by the Spirit to be eradicated and made to languish under the most favourable aspects improving grace no more then the thorns in the parable did advance the the growing of that good seed of the Word A Philosopher advised his Pupills to ask only of God bona good things because thought he God knows the particular good our souls hath most in pursuit yet our Saviour a far better teacher encourageth us in begging to hold out our finger and point out the sore we would have healed the mercy we desire to possesse for Good is either that of glory which we ask for in Thy
with contemplating of Earth This so pray ye to shew it once more renders Heaven the object of our eye and therefore of our heart to be looking to Heaven and pointing to the Earth with the Roman Senator is to become sharers of his deserved scorn and yet how many are there while Heaven is in their mouth flesh fish or ships are in their heart Acting too truly what in the Fable is said of the Wolf when at School for learning to spel Pa-ter Father but being by his Master ordered to put them together in stead of Father said Agnus Lamb thinking on his prey An userer at the same time made the like proficiency and in place of Fa-ther said Pecunia Money But let not this be among you he is in Heaven and hath his eye-lids trying the children of men not but that he is every where but in Prayer he is by design said to be in Heaven that our hearts and minds may be lifted up to the excellency of his dignity and greatness having all things naked and open before him and therefore thy hypocrisie is apparent thy in-side being naked 4. That Prayer is to be quickned by confideing in the All sufficiency of God to give what is asked whether things of Heaven or of Earth By the Heavens and influences therefrom is Earth and Sea sustained he is in Heaven therefore in the Air upon the great Waters And because he can order all for his peoples good we are not to despond and doubt of his soveraignty but let our necessities be known whether for the Wine-press or for the light of the Sun or for the Cattel upon a thousand hills fish in the Sea Fowls of the Air Angels in Heaven or mercy from his bosome for his Son we need not doubt redressing He is in Heaven and thence he gave horns to the Bull hoofs to the Horse teeth to the Lyon finns to the Fish wings to the Bird scent to the Dog motion to the Air coolness to the Water heat to the Fire light to the Sun chain to the Devils strength to the Angels his Image and his Son to man what therefore should make the humble Orator to pray sorrowing as those without hope O thou of little faith wherefore dost thou doubt He is Almighty God walk pray before him and be perfect be confident 5. That Prayer is continually to be qualified with earnest considerations tending to the honour of God while we are upon Earth It is a dishonour for a Prince to have suits made in his presence-Chamber not adequat to the dignity of that room To ask of thy Father in Heaven meat money or cloaths to debauch with the glutton to swill with the drunkard entice with the stallion is a reproach unto his Majesty ask things fit for Heaven and do things like Heaven that it may be known thy Father is in Heaven that is in thee as some expound these words saying Illi sunt Coeli These are Heaven in whom there is Faith Gravity Continency Knowledge and a heavenly life Fulgentius while young had frequently these thoughts fluctuating in his breast Cur sine spe c. Why do I live on Earth without the hopps of Heaven what profit shall the world at last bring me if we love to be merry is it not better to have a good conscience and how much better do they rejoyce that fear nothing but sin and studie but how to keep the Law c. Let us pray for these or the like matters as for the avoiding of judgments for they are revealed against all unrighteous men from Heaven or for procuring of grace for that becomes Heaven And all weighty matters bearing equality with Heaven View the whole fabrick of the Lords Prayer and there is nothing can be accounted trivial or base in it the forgiving of sins deliverance from evil the bread of our necessity the fulfilling of his will the advancement of his kingdom are substantial and solid purposes so is the request that 's first because the chief end of all for the hallowing of the Name of God which being the first Petition as impatient of any longer delay we put a closure to the Preface Our Father which art in Heaven CHAP. II. Hallowed be thy Name THis is the first part of the holy place which our eyes are invited to behold I say invited for otherwise its dazling might not only amaze us but utterly darken those Casements of the soul those balls of light our bodily eyes our souls intelligence What some have observed of all the Petitions may be attested of this one it being 1. short 2. full or comprehensive where by the way their arrogancy may be detected whose popularity made them in publick give this Prayer correctior emendatior abridged or enlarged to the people as their emptiness or vanity gave them occasion or eloqution Let thy Kingdom come in our dayes cryed one Lord lead us not into temptation cryed another equally absurd yet excusable because it might be from ignorance in regard of them whose singularity and pretended holiness ascended the chair and passed an Act of Sequestration upon the Prayer it self discharging it in the Church so far as they could by their total ommission of it or stigmatizing them who used it but for all their eminencies the Lords Prayer is sacred and verily verily where ever the Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached that Prayer that he hath made shall be used for a memorial of him The Petitions like the Precepts of the Law are divided between God and man those aspecting God are first placed as Hallowed be thy Name c. those respecting man then follow as give us our daily bread so that hallowed be thy Name is the first Petition of the first Table in this Law concerning Prayer so pray ye because of which it is first to be considered It shall not be much here debated whether there be six or seven Petitions the Ancients are generally for seven so are the Romish Interpreters and some also of the reâ—ormed The number seven was by the Hebrews called numerus juramenti because Abraham in swearing to Abimelech took seven Lambs for a testimony by others it is called numerus ultionis the number of revenge for he that killed Cain vengeance should be taken on him seven fold By others numerus libertatis the number of liberty the Hebrew servant being liberat the seventh year By others numerus purificationis because the Leper was to be tryed by seven dayes and Naman washed seven times Hence some call it numerus Sacer the holy number God rested the seventh day Iericho was taken the seventh day Christ slept in the grave the seventh day Enos the seventh from Adam was translated We have seven Lamps in Zechariah seven Trumpets and seven Seals in the Revelation and David praised seven times in the day and this hath had so great veneration in
worthy of glory but God so they only give to him their praises and their prayers and that upon good reason For 1. Angels will not have his glory and they are intelligent An Angel in the Old Testastament refused an offering and another will not have thanksgiving in the New both commanding them to be performed to God expounding these to be prayer and praise what is Romes meaning or to what purpose are those Prayers and Letany's in that Church Sancte Gabriel Sancte Raphael omnes Sancti Angeli Archangeli orate c. O thou Angel Gabriel Raphael and all ye Angels and Archangels pray for us I like that part of another office better and shall subscribe unto it O Sancta Immaculata Virginitas quibus te laudibus efferam nescio O thou blessed Virgin in what words to praise thee I know not the same I say of praying as either are interpreted Adoration This is not said to infringe the glory of these holy and glorified Saints who are to be honoured with great reverence and their names to be mentioned with great respect and their vertues to be imitated with all indutry but to hallow their names or thier vertues with a remitte or an ora pro nobis we have no warrant because no rule of faith The ground of Romes Doctrine touching the worshipping of Angels is so beastly that it is shameful to publish aâ—resh yet so irrational that it may be profitable to reprint it it was this as we read from a learned venerable Doctor of the English Saxon Church In Apulia vulgarly Puglia a Provicne in Italy in the Kingdom of Naples near the City of Siponia there was a rich man called Garganus having much Cattel which fed in a Mountain of the same name in which herd there was a wanton proud Bull which could not be got home with the rest but still kept the Mountain for which the owner resolving to kill him provided Bow and Arrow but in shooting at the beast the Arrow reverted and turned upon himself at which being amazed he tells his Bishop who did appoint a three dayes fast that God would discover what was signified by the wounding of Garganus when the Arrow was levelled or aimed at the proud Bull On the third night the Archangel Michael told the Bishop scias quia à voluntate Dei hoc factum est that all was done by the appointments of God and commanded the ground whereon the Bull stood to be consecrated and set apart for prayer shewing them under it there was a Cave and in the Cave an Altar and upon the Altar a red Pall or Cloak ibi facite orationes vestras hebete memoriam meam auxiliabor vobis there say your prayer call upon my Name and I shall help you all was searched and all was found and all was done accordingly Haec fuit saith my Author prima causa and this was the first cause or rise that Angels were remembred or worshipped upon earth he must mean by Romes authority for otherwise the same doctrine was taught in but exploded the Church before and from that time to this present are they remembred in the Church c. This is such a Cock and Bull story as the proverb hath it that it needs nay deserves to have no answer but a his And the ground of it being ut legimus as we read so that it may be ture or false and if true nothing in it but what might have been done by the devil and therefore in all respects such practices are to be shunned by worshipping of God for which we have a sure foundation I pass the Fables for so let me call them which the same Author throngs the proper festivities withall for were Peter or Mary upon earth they would undoubtedly blush at the absurdities of their zealous though ignorant prayers and cause Iohn comment upon on his old text Babes keep your selves from idols And Paul upon his let no man beguile you of your reward in worshipping of Angels and not holding the head c. 2. Saints will not have this glory and they are prudent When read we that a Noah prayed to Enos though his piety and translation were notour or that a David prayed to an Abraham or that any Israelite unto or obtained mercy by his holy Ancestors Nay contrary they urged that because of Abraham's being ignorant of them and their being not regarded by Israel God would be their Redeemer his Name being from everlasting 3. The other creatures will not have his worship or his glory and they may be observed Every pile of grasse hath a finger to point up to its Maker in Heaven and day unto day uttereth speech and readeth Lectures of Gods wise government powerful providence and rich mercy At Madrid the upper Rooms of Houses belongs by Law to the King and are not to be used untill they be compounded for by the Inhabitant and to this only wise God the King eternal not only the upper Room which is Heaven doth belong but the lowest pit also for in his hand are the deep places of the earth and ought not to be used by us before we satisfie the Law by praying and praising in doing which we add to the revenue of his glory Ezekiel saw his glory in Heaven Isaiah saw it upon earth and we ought to study the beholding of both for though his heavenly glory we cannot see with that Prophet yet we may perceive something of the appearance of it in his holy Word Heavenly Motions divine Commandments at which sight we are with the other to â—all down upon our faces and with loud cryes bemoan our infirmity vilenesse and uncleannesse His glory upon earth is so clear that he who hath eyes may see it in the clouds which are his Chariots our ears can hear the birds warble in their way the praises of their Maker the fields clap their hands in contemplation of which we are to cry Vnclean unclean for this said Isaiah when he spake of him and saw his glory and thereupon was comforted and purified 4. If we consider either our good or duty we shall own him only for God Reason leads many but profits command all persons it is rational it is profitable to ascribe only glory and honour to our Father For If you eye Conscience he can only quiet that if the Church absolve and the Spirit thereby settle doth the Word of Christ apply and the soul therupon rejoice It is but in his Name they acting but in deputation from him It is he that discovers sin that we may be in our selves nothing It is he that makes us hate sin that before him we may be holy If you eye dependence he only maintains you At first Heaven was made by him the Earth the Sea and all the Creatures therein because saith Nehemiah thou preservest them all the host of Heaven worshippeth thee
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
his Dog or as a Physitian beholding faciem Hypocraticam on his patient a deadly countenance orders him to be pleased in all things there being no hopes of recovery so riches may be given even to fatnesse untill the man have collops of fat upon his flanks yet wanting Gods presence they have no blessing which prayer procureth yea importuneth Behold Davids Throne Endors Air Nabals Mutton Ehuds Parlour Araunahs Barn and Tyres Ships if they want God are unhappy where contrarily Iacobs stone Iobs Dung hill Ieremiahs Pit Daniels Den Pauls Prison Silas Stocks having God are comfortable retirements It is a good observe of our Royal Interpreter that though we abound in all kinds of flesh or sowl yet cheap or dear years are so accounted from the abundance or scarcety of Corn that being called victual à victu because we feed upon it as if all other dishes were but as sawce to this and yet even that without our Fathers favour and good liking is but a killing portion Holy Augustin opening the miracle of the Loaves calleth the five loaves the old Law or the five Books of Moses and the two fishes either the Doctrine of the Prophets and the Baptist or both the Old and New Testaments the grasse upon which the multitude sat signifies the slighting of all things earthly It is to be wondered that our Saviours giving of thanks was not heeded yet that may be included in the two Testaments for without an allegory it is a character of the blessed man that be meditates in the Law of God the blessed consequence whereof is that what soever he doth shall prosper 2. That poverty ought to provoke prayer The young Ravens when forsaken either through the negligence sorgetfulnesse or foolishnesse of the old because of their whitenesse cry unto God for food and hath it whether by creating vermine for them out of their own dung I know not but it is sure they receive meat and shall man despond the needy man conceit himself forsaken For in this sense this is the poor mans prayer The Monkish vow of poverty is against the Law of Nature though they should keep it and also of Religion both allowing us with Ionathan to taste honey lest we faint and with Isaac to dig wells to procure water and seing to eat grasse like the Oxe is not our bread but our curse we may and ought with Abel to plow against hunger and here to pray for a dayes sufficiency of bread Besides Oeconomick there is a Politick or natural poverty as blindnesse lamenesse sicknesse madnesse against all which intensnesse in Prayer is necessary But particularly to keep more closs to our Text against poverty and want or scarcety of bread For 1. It is to the best of men a great temptation to evil Agur praying against it urgeth two arguments 1. Least he should steal an ordinary effect of want 2. Lest he should take the Name of God in vain an effect of theft in the Jewish Law for in want of clear probation the suspected purged himself by oath and was acquitted from restitution Therefore as in want of bread our Saviour was tempted to distrust so in Agur it might occasion perjury and theft as in the Levit it did arrogancy and idolatry so every way is it to be prayed against 2. It is oft trod upon by men and this breeds ill blood The former note produced ill thoughts against Gods Law this eyes ungodly speeches against man When David is become like an Owl it may cause much mischief to whoot at him as is evident in his design against Nabal and when Daniel the Prince is called Daniel of the captivity upbraiding him with his thraldome he is a Daniel who can sustain the affront and bridle his tongue not answering the taunt Quid enim paupertas for what is poverty but a certain deformed leannesse or plenty but a certain fâ—â—nesse and how hard is it for the fat not to point at and shame the poor and the lean again since a worm will wriggle when trod upon to envy malign and to his power bite the very nose from the face of him whom Parasites or Smell-feasts call beautifull Yet noli flere weep not poor man if God hath given thee this gift for poverty is his donation he will if it be imbraced give many blessings A father a mother will dandle most their blind their lame their diseased child The three Children fed on Pulse and drank Water yet were not sindged in the fiery furnace when those who it may be did eat of the Kings meat were immediatly consumed Grata paupertas patient poverty is so acceptable to God that chooseth rather to be at course fare then to countenance Herods i. e. the oppressours bloody banquet And his company shall make thy quarter-loaf of the nature of the Tarentines feast Quod jejunium appellabant for they when besiedged were by the Rhegians supported and supplied by food which by publick Edict was spared in fasting each tenth day and this succour was so happy as to cause the Romanes raise their siedge in grateful memory whereof the Tarentines kept a feast which they called a Fast and such a feast doth the holy poor continually celebrat having fellowship with the Father and the Son which Son our Iesus undertaking to deliver man abhorred not a poor Virgins womb choosing not the belly of a rich great or full sed Queen and when born slighted the Pallice the Downy Bed the fine Linnen of Egypt and imbraced the Manger yea in life had poor Fisher-men his attendants and after his ascension appointed them not grandees to be his Ambassadours to reconcile the greatest to their God who are commanded to be poor in spirit so highly doth the contempt of this world please him True riches being neither Gold Silver nor pâ—eciouâ— Jewels but Vertue and the peace of a good Conscience which rich men often wanting occasioned this Provech viz The rich is either a wicked man or a wicked mans heir Thou art not yet so poor as thou was born being then in greater indigency then ever poveity it self can redact thee unto yet then God supplied thee with food convenient which did make firm thy flesh though slubbry and consolidat thy bones though brittle and see we not the poor to have generally sounder bodies comlier faces fairer children then the rich accommodat thy self therefore to thy necessity as the Philosopher advised and be wise knowing there is a providence in all things and a blessing for the true observer Heliogabulus caused mens flesh to be sacrificed upon his altars to his heathen gods and the beholding of the treats of some might make the poor man conjecture his own samished table to be a curse unto his house but if he reflect upon the lives of them who by oppression gripping and crushing is put out to make up these culinary offerings
evil for evil yea of not for evil good Christianity is so denominat from Christ and the Christian being oblidged to walk as he walked he is to go about doing good healing the very ear of a Malchus and though reviled answered not again as he is called a Ciceronian who imitats a Cicero in his style not otherwise so he is not to be termed Christian who giveth his tongue to evil speaking his heart or hand to revengeful re-acting that being contrary both to the practice and command of Jesus Behold nature her self and this hare-brain'd fâ—llow is condemned should the pile of grass wither when trod upon or every excessive heat creat a fever in the body or should the heavens thunder at every overclouding what â—â—ights would be in the world As Chirurgions have unguentum Basilicon to cause matter so they have Apostolicum to cleanse the wound Album to expel the heat and Desiâ—â—â—tiuâ—m rubrum to dry and skin it As there are provocations to choller so there are Gospel documents which as spiritual Artists we must have ever in readinesse to apply to the place affected for curing as proper medicaments for the souls ease That advice of one Philosopher is good that when any reports thee to have been slâ—ndred say thy adversary knew not all thâ—y vices or then he had not spoke â—o little and though the world talk of honour and courage magni animi est injurius despicere It is the symptome of a large and noble soul to despise contempt or disdain revenge said another Philosopher albeit he knew not at least prosessed not the Gospel nor perchance ever saw that of the wise King he that is slow to anger is better then the mighty and he that ruleth his spirit then he that taketh a city for he sub dueth himself and possesseth himself the greatest vertue among morals It was among the Scythians a mark of insamy and dishonesty if any man had not killed some man where this bâ—dge was put upon innocency among Barbarians how mutually would they go about and prey upon one another to purchase reputation but good men detesting the procurements of such honour entails same upon themselves and their successors by their warrinesse of goring their conscience imputing it grandour to be affraid of sin and reputation to walk without offending God In that Dialogue betwixt Philosophy and her Beloved it was held as a sound advice in point of calmnesse of spirit of one Canius who being informed of a conspiracy against himself answered if I had known it I had not told it you Not to presse this on all four or every way Christianity dischargeth credulity to slanderous reports orders a check and no more to be owing the relater Moses the meekest man of the earth could bear personal calumny and before him Isaac only pleaded but scolded not for his wells and after them Paul wished no more hurt to his â—oes but that they were as himself in every thing his bonds excepted It is true these Diamonds had their flaws these Pomgranats their rotten kernels David curses and Sampson prays for the ruine of the Philistines yet these Prophetick impulses are not to be the ordinary Standart of our converse with men for Paul though sharp to Elymas prayed over the Jaylor as though he had never scourged him he gave place to wrath and adviseth like a good Preacher a good practitioner to be followers of him as he follows Christ who is maximè imitabilis most to be followed 1. For piety 2. For zeal 3. For humility 4. For patient suffering 3. From the obstruction the contrary vice bears to goodness that being by it hindered Sullenness and rancour impeding prayer from having entrance into the earâ— of Heaven the Laws whereof requiring prayer to be maâ—e every where without wrath implying frequency in that duty and composednesse of mind at it evidenceth this conclusion bottomed upon infallible verity for if Family-contentions prove obstacles to Family-duty shâ—ll not that particular Petition be doomed by men to be condemned by God whose flames are excited by the billows of fury envy hatred and passion and not by those of the Sanctuary charity love and concord The same is to be said of Sacraments spleen hindering thereby spiritual influx 〈◊〉 how can they be beneficial to him who not only is not injured but himself by ill-wishing is injurious to his brother Not to reflect it is to be feared many of our supplications because of this vanisheth into air and Sermons become unprofitable because of this unfruitfull work of darknesse malice for 〈◊〉 home understand Reader the Basis or Ground-stone of Gods forgivenesse is fixed only on the ground of thy brotherly forgiving And in spiritural conflicts allow hatred to plead its old supposed plea viz Love not him who walk's contrary to thee who derogats frâ—m thee who complains of thee and insults over thee Let love reply That the love of Christ constrains me and that quam diu so long as I keep at distance from man in point of charity so long detain I from my self the good of all my sacrifices and make my prayers yea the praying of this Prayer do me more hurt then good so much the more as this command is easie I am prone to conjecture should Christ have said Fast pray read fight kill burn and lie and be forgiven there are in this age had embraced the doctrine but to forgive is durus sermo an hard saying and cannot be digested It were some excuse if any lived and transgressed not for in many things we offend all and as a stone cast into the water creats a circle and that another and a broader so anger if tolerat will naturally kindle a fire in one mans breast which shall blow up anothers into a flame which may endanger an house and that a street and that a town and therefore happy is he first stifles it in the hearth of his own bosome lest by its heating the flesh of another be scorched in his re-offending or tart replying There was a breach made of the Kings peace in the Kings own house after the cruel servant had imprisoned his fellow for an hundred pence that is in our coyn three pound two shillings sterling when his Lord had forgiven him ten thousand talents which in our vulgar account is eighteen thousand seven hundred and fifty pounds sterling six thousand times more then was owing him yet charged upon him afresh though poor for not having mercy upon his debter when humble The stormiest man in his age it seems was Celius who was so testy though an Orator that at his own Table he avoided peace and there meeting one for patience was offended checking his guest with an aliquid contradict oppose me in something that we may discourse as if quietnesse and calmnesse in conferring had made his Table solitary yet
revenge malice ambition which were sins also under the Law under which they approve of Magistracy and now under the Gospel there is a necessity of Officers and Judges the old abominations enormities disorders through natural corruption being even under the Gospel daily breaking forth Christ himself payed tribute to Cesar and Paul appealed to him and complained to Lysias of a conspiracy against him yea pleaded his cause and innocency without reflecting or exclaiming against Courts of Judicature Good Kings in the Old Testament are famed for their Judgment and our Saviour in the New mentioneth of Judges Officers and of Prisons even while he is establishing the Doctrine of the Gospel and gives no hint to their abolishing under it In short the Magistrat being appointed to punish evil doers prevent consusion and maintain good works we may complain to him of theft murther c. and yet say this prayer Alwayes distinguishing betwixt the Offence and the Damage the offence we are called to pardon but not the losse which may be a mans whole substance again differencing the publick from my privat capacity a personal contumely I am to answer with silence or a soft reply but if my friend be murthered or maimed the malefactor is to be accused that wickednesse be restrained that if possible all the world may see that calm which Helvetia both really and proverbially heard of and had in it viz that if any man had wedges of gold hanging at his staffes end over his shoulder huic licere tuto per Helvetiam iter facere he might travel in security throughout the country This being the end of the Law it may be repaired unto observing these few rules 1. If it be the last refuge this checks the Baratour It is here as in Church-discipline tell it not the judge at first a plaister of Cantarides is not to be applied for every small it ching of the blood nor the Bar to be run unto for every trifle least the remedy be worse then the disease From the clamours of others of this lawing it may be attested what Solomon says of the strange woman go not first to it least strangers be filled with thy wealth Which Ghilon the wise reflected upon in his precepts written afterward in letters of gold at Delphos Oracle they being 1. Know thy self 2. Covet not much The 3. was Aeris alieni shun debt and the law All which how applicable to this Text is easie to apprehend and profitable to observe adding to it that of Artimidorus that the very dreaming of Judges of Attourneys signifies trouble and anger 2. If it be done in all simplicity this reproves the cheater plain-dealing becomes a court of judgment as holinesse doth Gods house to enter thy processe with salse evidences fly conveyances whereby an unjust suite is bumbasted as Taylors do the garments of crooked Customers and made to appear straight and good may cause the pursuer to seed with Pharaohs fat Kine in a meadow but God the avenger of all defrauded shall have them so consumed that their riches shall not be seen or known and illegitimat in his own way such tricks such forged evidences such extorted and cunning interpretations of the Law 3. If it be done in all charity this blameth the hater To stand at the bar without bowels of mercy and with teeth and nails to destroy and tear is toto Coelo different from that paciflck disposition required in this prayer and that little is done among us in charity is evident from our numerous suits Iosephs brethren hated him without a cause so we ours and power failing us to parallel the Patriarchs we sell our brother to a pettey-fogger 4. If it be done out of necessity this is to shame the trifler Some are like the bees bumming at the first approach of the term or Session and thrusting out their stings if men but over-shadow them Henry the sixth Emperour for his tawing nature was surnamed Asper and wanted but one degree of a tyrant these men are so nettly that a sew grains more of perversnesse would rob them of the name man having already laid aside so much humanity as makes them to act meerly to please themselves without pity or compassion towards others and like Ishmael becoming wild men irritats themselves by themselves as the Lyon is said to anger himself before fight by beating his sides with his tail are brought unto that unhappinesse as to be incapacitate to enquire any thing touching the for givenesse of their sins being convinced in themselves that they remit not the enormities or supposed transgressions of others 5. If it be done in all humility this discovers the murmurer The Law is a Lottery and he who hath the sentence of it against him is to acquiesce in the judgment even though oppressed committing his cause to him who judgeth rightously and who will sometimes blind the eyes of a judge to punish by an unjust sentence him who hath formerly been consenting to an unjust act c. Socrates being kicked and spurned at by a profligat and impure youth was in indignation by the beholders desired to accuse him publickly but what said he should I if an Asse strick me fling at the Asse again No yet this was not all the ranter had for being houted at by the people for such an unworthy deed and nick-namaed Calcitronem the kicker for grief he hanged himself Let it be below thy spirit to accost a judge or salute the bar for every disingenuous act and remembring as one said of Philosophy in all things that thou art a Christian and then shall Christ the Judge reward thee by rectifying the abuse when thou art patient but if with Patacion thou make a gain of quarrels of thy own raising or with Eurymnus thou strive to seperat even Castor and Pollux i. e. dear Brethren or with Euristenes and Procles two Brothers thou only fight and law it thy self contentiously but at death recommend the contest to thy heirs thou shalt have a reward but not of glory that being the Bravium of the patient sufferer the very hopes of which shall do thy Honour and thy Estate good but however thy conscience shall be benefited thereby for as that King was no fool who highly applauded that answer of the Augur when demanded what was best for the eye-sight which was seldom to see a Lawyer so to thy experience shalt thou perceive good to attend thy not attending at the Courts but if compulsion give thee a call observing the fore-mentioned rules thou mayest enter thy suite and say forgive us as we forgive c. In the next place if it be demanded whether Magistrats in punishing delinquents by death Confiscation Mulct or Mutilation can with a safe conscience offer up this Petition it is answered in the affirmative they can The word shews his duty being compounded of magis
its voice and is ashamed of neither 2. Their nearnesse The greatest engine wherewith Satan endeavours mans ruine is mans own heart It is thought Iobs wife gave him the sharpest and sorest temptation to despair because of her proximity being indeed as wives are said to be his second self But what pangs of horrour shall he feel and to what strange extravagancy may he be tempted unto whose inbred corruption allures to sinful exploits and then to despairing attempts because of which there is still temptation or fear of temptation which yet must not be differenced from a temptation in the soul Apollodorus dreaming of captivity among the Scythians fancied that they flayed off his skin and chop'd him in pieccs and then boyling him in a Caldron imagined his heart ex ipso lebete out of the furnace cryed unto him O Apollodours I am the cause of all this pain and misery thou endureth A Iudas a Cain may be conjectured to say the like words in torment There is within us putrid matter apt tinder which the Devil is still striving to fire and carrying it about us in our very bodies we have no reason to confide in our selves but pray Lead us not into temptation 3. Their imperiousnesse Annanias sacrilegious thoughts and Iudas covetous desires with the Jews malicious contrivings say unto them what thou dost do quickly and then it may be to do good is present with thee but such an usurped dominion hath lust got that the good we would do cannot be done being besooled besotted and enraged by the fleshes soft things the worlds vain things and Beelzebubs bitter things our own hearts joyning withall forcing upon us the acceptance of things corrupt from each as occasion shall prompt us with convenient opportunity to that degree that we might observe and write of all the world and of our selves in particular what one did of Cyprus for there the Turks despise their Alcharon the Iews smileth at their Religion and the Christian derideth the Scripture and all men and people make a mock of purity and sanctifying graces or the true way to salvation so that I am weary of this prophane Countrey and desire nothing more then the blessedness of our own c. yours in the midst of temptation 4. Their appositnesse Temptations like David take our own sword and cut off our head our own dagger and wound us the Melancholian shall have horrour trouble and vexations yea the pleasantest song in providence shall be represented in the tune of the Lamentatiâ—ns making even mercy and long-suffering an argument of Gods stupendious wrath that being but delayed untill meeting in the other world Contrary to a ranting Belshazzer it will renew the thoughts of it may be forgotten victories and hold no Goblet fit to drink his Concubines health in but the Lords Chalice no ground proper for his dance than that which is holy nor no sporting-jest so frisking as that which moves by the wyer of sacred Scripture When Herod swears out of Madnesse Drunkennesse or Vanity to grant the request of that galloping Wench Herodias it answers and is set to the Tune of her Malice and off the head of the Baptist goeth They will give the furious man occasion of broils the phlegmatick both wine and wantons and the proud shall be presented with a Boorish Clown an inadvertent Swain on purpose to make him swear and roar or with some Colloguing Gnatho to cause him huff swell and vapour all which keeps the soul like the sea in so restlesse a motion that except we anchor within the vail how easily shall all make ship-wrack of faith and a good conscience 5. Their closnesse Did temptation speak out its mind there would be no great danger to debate the cause with it Iudas did look for something beside a Halter and who can perswade that Dapper Youth in the Proverbs that he is going to the house where a dart is prepared for his liver the very seat of love which if temptation told he would avoid it as death and hell The malicious Iews averr that their blood-thirstinesse comes from a zeal to God and their spleen against the Apostles to be a voice from Heaven and Saul before he was called Paul thought in his conscience no doubt that he ought to do many things contrary to the Name of Iesus Christ. Neither doth temptation come all at once but by degrees as we listen and attend unto it and indeed as we are able to bear it It told not David at first of Vriahs murther for then it is possible he had started from adultery so it told not Iudas at first he should hang himself but set him on coveting then to stealing then to murmuring so luring him and trolling him to her hand untill she slew him There is one who wittily shews how temptation passeth through and advanceth forward in the dominion of the soul make the heart a Countrey and then temptation hath six Posts six dayes march and thus her Gests lyeâ—lâ— the first day she provoketh lust to the first motions of sin then the second day or the second Stage she turneth the heart toward it the third Stage is when the heart in a high trot that is earnestly cometh up to it in the fourth Stage she hovers is circumspect and dwells upon the way and manner of doing that evil in the fifth she begins to assent and to dally embrace and do the projected sin in the sixth the evil is done finished and accomplished Temptation is then entered the head City the Fort-royal is taken and the soul says unto it Take thy ease and indeed it may for its work is done and the errant it came for is already finished It can do no more and leaves it unto sin to bring forth death the proper work thereof Temptations then having no other end then to cast us under the wrath of God to bring and draw innumerable evils from him and atlast to have us hear the sentence of final extirpation to be pronounced by him Let us mind our deliverance and study its avoidance and if thou Reader hath yeelded formerly unto its flatterings to prevent killing by its hellish blandishments imitat that Sophist Isaeus once wilde but at last sober who when questioned if he knew that beauty or if that woman were fair modestly replied desii laborare ab oculis I have given over gazing It being a sure rule that sin is best overcome by flying that is by flying from it Lead us not into temptation THE wonders which God performed and the difficulties wherein he led his people of old are called great temptations and in that same wildernesse wherein Israel saw the works of God did our Saviour hear the temptings of the Devil but having strength within him he held out and was not tempted i. e. did not yeeld we wanting ability to oppose when he embatles against us
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