Covetousness in Buff Oppression watching Lust posting Fury thâ—â—tning Malice contiriving and Policy uniting to suppress the Gospel and though it get ground in the conversion of some to the saith of Jesus yet what Hanibal said of the Roman General Marcellus may the Church say of them and the devil their Captain that neither conquered nor conquering will they be quiet yea her case must be sad since the very liâ—e of her peace consists in fighting against these restless adversaries and where overcome yet so desperate is their wrath they with the Gadarens beseech Christ to depart It s regiment is likewise often obnubilated Grace now and then is put to the flight by an army of lusts The Church is said to be a Woman cloathed with the Sun the Moon under her feet that she is a Woman betokeneth her weakness her fruitfulness cloathed with the Sun her protection by and obedience to Jesus Christ the Moon under her feet signifyeth her contempt of all earthly because mutable enjoyments yet for all this pompous equippage she is forced to go to the wilderness for shelter against the Dragons rage and fury The feeling the beholding the hearing of these things will cause sorrow and what consolation is that offered by an Ancient comforting a Christian in sad times It was Pia tristitia beata miseria a blessed melancholy and a pleasant misery to behold the sins of others and weep and to another Plangenda sunt haec non miranda these things are to be be 〈◊〉 for not wondred at yet adds that prayer ought to be made I shall not say that after the fall God appointed our flesh our sinful lusts to rule overus for our punishment as he appointed thorns to arise out of the earth for mans vexation but since the fall lusts and corruption overshadow grace within us to that hight that Peter will curse David fall and Iacob lie to his Father and these weeds are permitted to abide in all until the Kingdom of God come with power which made David call but thou O Lord how long that is in the new Testament-stile Thy Kingdom come The Gospel in its progress is compared by our Saviour to leaven and that workes gradually regeneration to a new birth and man is perfected by degrees the Church to a builing and that advanceth by rule and measure and Wisdom is said to have hewn out her seven pillars which implies addition the new man hath not his proportion by years but by degrees and comes to perfection by distinct gifts and graces he first learns as a child to read the good examples of others then advancing forward he comes to live according to divine Law then he is so in love with Christ that marrying himself to him he would not sin though there were no Law against it growing now strong he can endure and stand out against the worlds troubles and vexations and then growing rich in the abundance of the things of the Kingdom of God he leads a peaceable and contented life then he comes to forget that is not to heed transitory things being wholly intent as aged in grace upon life eternal and now there remains but one step more that is the Kingdom of glory which advanceth towards us by the grace of faith illumination of the soul Discipline of the Church and by finishing the number of the Elect. 1. By the hearing of faith This eyes all the Kingdoms we have spoken of for as by faith we believe that Jesus came to save sinners so we believe by â—aith that the world was created and yet preserved the Father Almighty hitherto working and darkly hinted at in the conclusion of this Prayer For thine is the Kingdom power and glory All that we know of Hell his prison of Earth his Foot-stool of the Clouds his Chariots of Man his Image of Angels his Hosts of Heaven his Pallace of Christ his Son is by the doctrine of Faith for untill it come we are not savingly sensible of the Kingdom of God And the doctrine of the Worlds Creation Mans fall and Christs coming are recorded to have been the Principles of Religion taught in Adams Temple Oratory or place of worship where God dwelt from whose face Cain departed all which shew that it is necessary to believe as firmly that God the Father Almighty made the Heaven and Earth as it is to believe in Iesus Christ his only Son our Lord. The grace of faith is said to be the Kingdom of God within that Kingdom being spiritual and reigning in the hearts of the faithfull while they are in the Kingdom of providence and by which they are nourished and protected untill they arrive at the Kingdom of God in glory where they shall reign as Kings and Priests unto God for ever 2. By the enlightning of the mind This peculiarly eyes his Kingdom of grace As Moses face shined when he was with God under the Law so now God shines in the hearts of his friends under the Gospel he saith now not Let there be light but is himself a light unto his people The Gospel puts a Key in the Converts hand to intuat and behold the mysteries in Christ crucified which others cannot see and also a Lamp to know how far and in what kind for what use and for what end they appertain to him As at the Creation there was a fiat lux Let there be light so in Conversion there is a scias fu thy sins are forgiven thee which is that unction of the Spirit by which all things are known as the Eunuch knew and believed that Jesus Christ was the Son of God and by which also their Conversation is in Heaven having security by God and joy in him for which cause also it is the highest stone in Wisdoms seven Pillars upholding the house that is the Conscience or Soul of man The first whereof being good Will next a sanctified Memory the third a clean Heart the fourth a free Soul the fifth a right Spirit the sixth a devout Mind but the last and highest is an enlightned Understanding By the discipline of the Church Admonitions Reproofs Censures are as military weapons used by the Church for the upholding of this Kingdom of Grace yea a delivery over unto Satan by excommunication which if justly duly and compassionatly done is and hath been found instrumental for the stirring up the authority and power of Grace in the soul of some obdured shame and fear being very efficacious motives where other means are less effectual to perswade a soul to cry Peccavi Father I have sinned as did the incestuous Corinthian One Sigbert King of the East Saxons keeping society and familiarity with a Count or Earl whom holy Cedd had excommunicated for unlawful marriage once by accident met with Cedd as he journeyed to the Counts house and being smitten with shame and fear alighted from his horse and craved
age and upon an Altar made him swear irreconciliable enmity and hatred to the Romanes which fastned so much upon him that being demanded concerning the end of the Carthaginian War with Rome made no reply but struck the ground and made a dust denoting thundering-war untill either Rome or Carthage were levelled which happened accordingly What ever Heathens did to wed themselves to contention though even among them such courses were condemned by the most refined yet for Christians to betroth their issue unto hellish debates is not only a scandal in this present age to our adversaries but a reproach to our selves being dedicated to God by our Baptism and by it vowed charity to the body of Christ upon earth which vow ought to be observed if we expect to enjoy the benefits conveyed mystically to us in that blessed Sacrament Hast thou an enemy in point of opinion or practice love him doth he curse thee bless him doth he hate thee do him good and pray for him though he despitefully use you and what is that pray for him but that God would give them repentance and bring them out of the snare of the devil by which alone we evidence that as the elect of God we have put on bowels of mercy A Temple said that Heathen Phocion is not to lack an Altar nor the humane nature to be without compassion which indeed beautifies and maketh fragrant all our other endowments 2. From our Gods universality good meaning or intention His Sun shines his rain falls his corn grows equally on good and bad just and unjust his fish is taken in the net as well of the churl as of the liberal his water cools the reprobate as well as sleep refresheth him who is upright and though God do as sometimes he makes a difference yet every one who is even holy ought not by and by to execrate such whom they suggest to be in evil courses since the prayers of a dying Stephen may be so prevalent as to prove instrumental in snatching a persecuting Saul both from the counsel and doctrine of the Pharisees And to cause the soul to take wing for the practice of this Doctrine of Charity consider 1. The certainty we have of Gods willing all men to be saved What meant providence to move Pilats hand for this inscription upon the Cross in Latine Greek and the Hebrew Tongue IESVS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE IEWS but to cause all of these Nations read and be assured that unto all of them there was a Iesus a Saviour even Christ the Lord then dying for them and afterward to be believed upon by them His endowing his Apostles with the gift of Tongues was but to learn every man that heard the wonderful works of God to believe in God the Father Almighty maker of Heaven and Earth and in Jesus Christ his only Son is as clear as the fire the Spirit came down in Why then should dust and ashes cross the purpose and good will of God in endeavouring a blasphemous opposition by and wishing him ill unto whom God hath sent Ambassadors beseeching him to be reconciled to God Put up O man thy desire for the same end and be not surly for thou knows not but that thy prayer may prosper Ac primum noverimus know this that nothing is more profitable then love and nothing more hurtfull or unprofitable then to malign sedulously therefore study a good opinion a placid mind and benign affection toward all men There is no sinner ordinarily so perverse but hath so much of the Image of God that under the greatest conflicts with revealed wrath we may without sin both shed tears and offer up prayers for him as Samuel did for Saul yea nature it self teacheth us to love our friends and grace commands us to bless our foes and we see children either have or study to have some property of their father and let this be aimed at to imitate our Father rather in doing good then in uttering curses for that is his strange work and beseeching good for them since we behold God hath good thoughts towards them 2. The uncertainty of our being first placed In the Register of Gods future purposes one may be intended his daily bread before another be remitted of his debts one possibly is to be brought within the body of his Kingdom before another have his heart screwed up to become pliant to his Law and Will since therefore thou knows not where thy action is enrolled nor when it shall be called observe the proposed rule and pray for all men of which thy self is ever to be understood one Abraham did earnestly desire and sollicitously beg a son by Sarah and had one yet before his birth he had a son of Hagar this in providence being to precede was to come out first And so it may fare with thee in thy pressing suits The words Our Father leads us to the consideration of a great mystery of our faith an Article of our Belief the communion of Saints making us pray for them that hears us not and leads our eyes to behold as many objects as there are letters to give nos we or our being making us look 1. visione reflexiva upon our selves nos alwayes includes me and noster supposeth meum Our speaketh alwayes mine and give us our bread intimats thou art hungry 2. Visione collaterali side-wayes and that both to the right hand upon our brethren by grace and to the left hand upon our brethren by nature compassion working for both 3. Visione recta ascendente to behold directly God himself From my Author I infer he that looks not to the other two shall never beholds this last Prayer shewing love to God which is shown purely by demonstrating love to men and though in the contrary passion he deceive himself yet he cannot delude his Maker none being admitted into his house but whom he finds charitably qualified that being the place where men must live together before they enter they must pray together And none knowing who shall first enter let us call Our Father 3. The probability of the souls being the more enlarged As the bigger the Star the greater is the shine so the broader the soul be the more beaming is the glory and the better service the better wages They that be wise shall shine as the firmament and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever holding forth degrees of glory for a reward to them whose lives are more eminently holy which is in no one thing more elucide then in charitable praying for that Petition whose rise is necessity doth not so sweetly relish with our God as that doth whose basis or foundation is love and charity Yea hâ—c est Christianorum bonitas it is the beauty glory and splendor or Christianity to walk as Christ walked in relation to enemies persesecuters and
honour not his being as to make our very lives pray Hallowed be thy Name Hallowed be thy Name WE have now the application of holinesse not to say Hallownesse unto his Name to be considered that we may regularly engage our selves both to live and pray according to this rule This Petition is like that of our Saviours Father glorifie thy Name we read of old of hallowed Places Times Persons Vessels yea any thing that was dedicated to God or separat for his use or any thing used in his service now in a Scripture-sense hath a degree of holiness but God is esteemed holy being perfectly free from the very stain of impurity his mercy pure mercy his justice holy justice his truth holy truth his knowledge holy knowledge the first wanting solly the second cruelty the third mistake and the fourth ignorance yea himself being light and in him no darkness at all and therefore his Name like his House is not to be polluted by the transgressions of the people after the abomination of the Heathen And if Holiness be a knowledge of or how to worship God we are not to persevere in our ignorance but to value every document offered that may make his Name known which he is resolved to hallow that is make holy and which we ought to sanctifie that is to glorifie in our selves first and before all others next that his Name as it is holy may be hallowed honoured and magnified of us and his glory shine more and more among men though our enemies for their reconciliation It properly signifies to preserve from the Earth that it be not defiled with our terrene maleversation but contrary by a holy Artifice hold or heave it still upward as Cesar did his writings in his left hand and holding his royal Coat-armour in his teeth that the one should not be wet nor the other become a prey to his adversary when swiming for his life at Alexandria So hold we fast his Name that it may shine and out-shine all other beings in the Firmament of this world provoking one another to revere the same God said of Paul He is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my Name before the Gentiles as Standard-bearers in war are to undergo and suffer much in holding up the Banners or Colours lest they fall into the enemies hand so those that bear the Name of God or of Christ whether in peace or war are studiously to endeavour that neither by ill speaking nor ill doing it fall into the hands or vile tongues of the wicked that they may triumph in heaven above and be admired for their stoutness and courage by the holy Angels The duty is undergone three ways First generally then specially then personally the first eyes Nature at large the second Grace and the third the Souls of men Eying nature in praying Hallowed be thy Name we intreat earnestly 1. That all things might and all affairs end in his glory As this is the end of all his undertakings so it is the beginning of our desires Consuevit enim scriptura the Scripture usually putting name for glory shews us to have Gods glory in our aims for an universal discovery thereof the more pressingly knowing his Name Honour or glory to have many enemies maliciously contriving and by inraged force uniting to darken yea were it possible to extinguish the glory of his Omnipotency Many and different are the ways which Devils and devilish men conclude as apt means for the perfecting of such projects their atheism and hatred invents against God and his Church yet by an over-ruling providence all their industry defeats themselves being baffled by their own Arguments God causing his honour to be the result of their darkest and deepest consultations though differently managed and by contrary spirits acted yet are they reconciled in bringing forth this one thing Gods glory Iudas sold Christ for money the Jews delivered him for envy Pilat condemned him for fear the Souldiers guarded from obedience Carpâ—â—ters might make the Cross for profite the beholders mock for pastime and the devil pressed all for hatred the Sepulchre was watched for security yet those watchers becoming witnesses of the resurrection it shewed to their own eye-sight that both Herod Pontius Pilat the Jews the Souldiers were gathered together for to do whatsoever God had in his Counsel predetermined to be done Providentia est subdita bene disponere providence being but an orderly disposing of things for the production of some good manifests that this Prayer intimats our servent zeal consent and agreement that God would do what he doth in agreeing all affairs and consummating all designs for his own Names sake to his great glory that even Adams sin Abels slaughter Noahs drunkennesse as well as Lots vexation Iobs scraping Rabshekahs railing and Peters denying and Thomas doubting and Sauls persecuting as well as Pauls preaching might evince to all the world that God is to be feared loved and honoured 2. That all might acknowledge and owne that glory Our faith in the power of God renders it easie for us to believe that all must submit unto him but here our charity for the souls of men perswades us to become suiters at his Throne that by his Spirit he would so mollifie the hearts of our brethren as to cause them become Volunteers in his service since the will must be made willing to submit before any submission be rewarded or accepted Those Iews who blasphemously attested our Saviour to have a devil shall give compelled submission and be instrumental in causing his Name to be exalted before ail though if they sorrowed not it be in then damnation and trembling Cain became objectively a teacher of the holiness severity and justice of God But to have men move in a resolute and masculine courage by loving and sedulously acting to propogat that glory that all the world might actually ascribe unto him that excellent Majesty which is his and is his due is the import of this Petition God is then hallowed first when it is known what he is next when it is known what he is not next when it is known how he is The first keeps us from folly that we say not there is no God The second from Idolatry that we fancy not a false god The third from misery when we know he is in Heaven full of grace goodnesse power and truth all which ought to induce us to speak of his Name with fear and reverence causing our lives and actions to eccho â—orth this Petition Hallowed be thy Name ascribing to it holiness with the Angels justice with the converted Iews that as his Name is great in Israel and in Iudah known so every where his praise may be glorious for then is his Name great when he is named that is accounted according to his glorious Majesty For which Kings Princes Fathers Teachers Children are to sing and in their Sphear
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
c. Davids acquitting God that he might be justified when he spake was but an acknowledgment of his unthankfulness for his gifts received in sining against his Law and unmindfull of all the good things he possessed Yea Daniel denyeth not but confesseth that to us that is to all belongeth shame and confusion of face because we have sinned bringing the sins of the people to himself because he was one of them aggrageing the guilt The acknowledging of our sin is so indispensible that he who confesseth not is never said to forsake them and he who trusts to pardon without this shall see his sin spread before him by the hand of God in blacker colours then his tongue eye or heart can behold or conceive and therefore spread them before the Lord in thy closet or else he will discover them in the face of the Sun It is a sad story which we read as but lately done of a dying man being Bedrid and hungry cryed for meat but at sight thereof so loathed it that he was earnest for its removal out of his fight his hunger growing loathed it as before it was removed and called for a third time and again removed at last he opened his mouth and confessed Gods justice in this dealing having never craved a blessing upon his meat when he sat down nor gave God thanks when he rose up Let them heed this that rising from meat thinks of â—othing but of sleep or it may be worse viz chambering and waâ—tonness 4. Praise him in bearing and exercising patience under evils imposed Troubles are touch-stones to try the mettal of a Christian and let hypocrisie keep never so closs it shall in some act or other be discovered They tryed a Iob and found him good gold they tryed a David and found him gold likewise but something dusted now and then he was tripping they searched a Daniel and made him more servent in prayer to put a soul under crosses is Dei mos Gods custome Virtutum flos the blossome of goodness Fidei cos the whet-stone of faith Coeli dos Heavens dowry whoso weds himself to Christ must look on crosses as a part of his portion and must not only glorifie in prosperity the Name of God but in adversity also declareing ourselves still to be under the regiment of his providence It is an argument of Gods love an argument of thy faith a medicament against thy sin and an incitement of thee unto thy prayers which ought to enforce thee to restrain thy passion in the most calamitous estate who in the tryal of thy patience in thankfulness supplants thy corruptions and provides for the future strengthning of thy gifts as a winters storm doth the young Ash Beech Elme or Oak tree I see not said the moralist boldly a more pleasant sight for God to behold upon earth if he would turn his eye toward it then to behold a Cato standing upright that is not dejected with our publick calamities sure I am to see a Iob upon the Dung-hill or a Solomon worshipping upon the Throne or Daniel depending in the Den gives far more exceeding satisfaction Inarius an old Bishop of Chalcedon becoming blind through age was mocked by Iulian and bid pray to the Galilean meaning Christ for the restoring of his eyes smartly answered gratias ago Deo I bless my Lord God for depriving me of sight that I might not see thy ungodly face extracting from his own infirmity matter of glory and praise to the eternal God in the face of a blasphemer 5. Praise him for that illumination thy soul hath obtained Reads thou upon his Sons cross Come unto me hears thou in the Sacrament this is the cup of the remission of thy sin knows thou in thy journeys his Angels have a charge over thee finds thou his Spirit saying thy sins are forgiven thee And shall there be no Halelujah of praise no Hosanna to him that cometh in the Name of the Lord Knoweth thou not thy self to be a sinful man a child of wrath a denyer of Jesus then call that the voice of the cock may awake thee and that tears as Peter may wash thee The cock hath crowed in the Scriptures and our Jesus hath already wept for us and Peter hath sent us two Epistles to strengthen us he himself being converted that we be not led away with the errour of the wicked but grow in grace and knowledge Have we abilities to pray be thankful for by that we journey unto God Have we instruction by the Gospel or behold we the edification of the Church the members thereof bearing much fruit Herein is your Father glorified rejoice and if you live in peace or keep a pure soul if you speak the truth in your heart and keep guile from your tongue become not tepid in Religion be not starters from the faith nor workers of iniquity nor captivated by errour for men beholding these things shall glorifie your Father which is in Heaven It is a good observe that this word Hallow is used because holiness is the highest title of honour and glory that can belong to any though to the most high God for the Seraphims being to give God the greatest mark of renown cry Holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts It was the honour of Ierusalem to be a holy city the glory of the third heaven to be a holy place and when Christ Jesus shall present his Church unto himself he will present it holy As we pray so we ought to practise and the holiness that God giveth unto us is that we be not deceived or become fornicators or idolaters or adulterers or effeminat or thieves or covetous or drunkards or extortioners but be washed and sanctified which we daily ought to pray for in the Name of our Lord Jesus that holy thing that holy child whose Name we pray may be glorified in you and ye in him for in this we differ from bruits and for this we have a spirit and a tongue viz. even to acknowledge the Lord for all his gifts according to the grace of God and his holy Govenant and the Lord Jesus Christ So shall he in the Hebrew be hallowed that is Halal be praised and the old English word healed secured protected or restored iniquity making God as it were sick and distempered in himself and damnified by others in his renown and glory And so much for this first Petition CHAP. III. Thy Kingdom come THE Holy Ghost in Scripture makes mention of a threesold Kingdom 1. That of God 2. Of Christ. 3. Of Heaven and all here may be truly understood it not being taught us as if God reigned not but that his reigning and domination might be manifested to all and hastned to us which is properly our inheritance being by the former Petition made holy and in the Preface adopted sons of glory There is mention
is of the sons of Abraham ought to have alwayes burning upon the Altar of his heart the fire of holy charity and that to be blown up by the example of the Fathers and Testimony of holy Scripture unto which if we look and take heed the zeal for their own salvation and their brethrens glory that all might fear and declare the work of God and wisely consider of his doing is their chief care according to this rule The Multitude of sinners the fewness of Saints in the throng of professours ought to be seriously reflected upon that faith might bring our brethren in the flesh to Sons of the Spirit that living by the Laws of the Kingdom of God the Scriptures they might be accounted as the subjects of it faithful and worthy to possess the inheritance that fadeth not away the harvest therefore being great pray to the Lord thereof that the idolatrous and prophane which like the Syrians fill the countrey may be listed under the Standart of Jesus and united to Israel which are but as a few Kids that the seekers of the Lords face may be many nay may be all for which provoke one another to love and to good works It was an odd saying of Remigius yet a sad one because true that though the Church hitherto endure they being baptized that were her persecutors yet the Devil is not baptized and plagueth the Church not now or not only by the fury of Pagans but by the harshness ill-will and cruelty of Christians which to put an end unto let each man say as one said Et tu Domine Iesus Lord Jesus where is thy wonted kindness and O Father where is the sounding of thy bowels and remember we have but two commands from God one to love God the other man yet these two are but one love shewing without the one we want the other and by not doing the one we forfeit our interest in the other said a wise man Our zeal ought to extend to the utmost confines of the world for a bringing in of many sons and daughters unto this Kingdom in order to which we are to become Orators for a blessing upon Kings Princes c. That by their power upon Parents that by their authority upon Preachers that by their gravity upon Masters that by their industry the Word of the Lord may run and be glorified and that affectionatly and with ardor of mind Remissness sleepiness and dulness in prayer being one cause publickly declared from heaven in a vision of the eight persecution of the Church under Valerianus 4. His glory is in his Kingdom there is our dignity There is an earnest of the Spirit in the believers soul assuring him of glory and an earnest is part of the bargain so that in his conscience he hath a holy assurance that when ever the Kingdom of God shall appear he shall be crowned in it Here we behold the invisible God by that which is also invisible Munda scil mente vel corde a clean heart and a right spirit which argueth our distance and is at best but a comfortable ignorance but let this Kingdom be revealed and the soul being evacuat of all imperfections freed of all contagious principles or objects shall behold it self in its spiritual beauty to be the off-spring of God and as a Son behold his Fathers naked face in his ineffable glory Have we not made his dominion our choice his Son unto whom this Kingdom is given our joy and shall we not with endeared regard crave that its beautifull and powerfull manifestation be no longer retarded by the hypocrisie of some the intemperance of another the uncleaness of a third the blasâ—hemies of many the malicious quarrellings of most and the false slandrings of idle busie-bodies but as the people gathers to Shiloh the Souldiers to their Colours the Birds to the Carcass so ought we in our several capacities urge fervently the gatherings of all to the Lord of Hosts that it might be no longer with Christians as it was with the Manicheans with whom there was nothing rational nothing certain nothing blamlesse all being doubtful scandalous abominable and absurd That being truly and properly a Kingdom where a King will have such to be his subjects and they will have such an one to be their King and for this the whole creation cryeth with us adveniat Thy Kingdom come The Stars in their courses the Saints in their sufferings cry out how long O Lord holy and true because holy in himself and true in his promise therefore say the Saints judge and avenge our blood which expression being doubled shews desiderium vindicandi a desire of this Kingdom which the Ox at the Plough the Horse on the road the Elements in their motions yea the whole creation in its subjection groans for to be redeemed by it from that vanity under which they are in bondage Have we made his dominion our choice and not fight yea fight for suppressing diverting of all those forces Art can contrive Magick fancy Sacriledge Minister the Devil in the multitude of sinners can suggest or sin in the bloodiness of its aims can muster which if we do not let us be self-condemned as unworthy of its enjoyment when it shall be revealed The Romans at their first entry into Britain were much terrified by the valour and to them by the strange way of the British fighting which being perceived by the Standart-bearer of the tenth Legion he cast himself out of the Ship and assaulted his foes crying aloud Fight my companions except you will betray the Roman Eagle into the hands of the enemy for mine own part I will be faithful to the Common-wealth of Rome and to Cesar my General at which shame and courage animating all the Standart was followed a victory obtained and Britain subdued Let this exhilerat this Age whose remissness I might say whose perversness suffers the glory of the Cross of Christ and the government of Jesus to be betrayed to the hands of sin and sinners the zeal of his house being so far from consuming us or from eating of us up that we suffer both it and our selves to be swallowed up by hell and destruction I mean strife and division Consider what this Kingdom produceth which we may call its In-land Commodity and our zeal shall become importunat that consisting in peace righteousnesse joy in the Holy Ghost the two former are the leaves of the door that admits us into the latter for we have first righteousness by our faith freeing us of sin and then peace hushing all our passions then cometh joy by our here expecting and afterward enjoying our reward which three we glimmeringly enjoy in the Kingdom of grace below but shall receive them in their Meridian lustre in that Kingdom of glory above having righteousness without sin iniquity being taken away peace without disturbance
affaires and they take up a great deal of time against our own wills that this must be done against the spring that this is fit for such a countrey and this is suitable for such a coast gives us no time to study the will of God As fishers have several baits for different fishes so the world hath variety of snares for its multitude of traders Demonaae when questioned if the world had a soul then if it was round With indignation answered you are very carefull about the world yet about your filthiness contracted in the world you are carelesse Here this man is settling his heir there that man bewailing his poor crop he casting up his accounts and a fourth is preparing for a forreign plantation because of all which there is such a bumming in the ears of man that with the maniest the sound of the words carrying the sense of the will of God hath not admittance into that gate of the soul the ear which if it had we should not be so far embased about the drudgery of this pelf but write with a holy man for direction and instruction about sub jugating our wills to the will of God and what we ought to do therefore It is desired on earth though to our sorrow we know it will never be there exactly done suppose our hearts for once holy ground yet the Rod of Moses I mean the Law when cast thereon becomes a Serpent and we are scarce able to endure the sight of the just holy and good commandment sin by it taking occasion to work in us all manner of concupiscence sed hic inter in ex parte oramus we pray for some measure of obedience here that we may be perfected in all obedience hereafter God crowning in heaven with perfection our sincere service performed on earth though through weaknesse imperfecte clamemus igitur in Coelum we therefore list up our voices to Heaven because under it there is nothing but labour sorrow vanity and vexation The earth hath its heats and colds according to the cloudiness of the air or distance of the Sun obedience likewise hath her colds and heats her workings and faintings her runings and stumblings and sometimes a great intermission of her spiritual pulse On earth Faith hath her distrusts Hope her doubts Charity her damps there this opinion raiseth Choler that doctrine provoketh Rancour he caufeth offence by an ill example these are scandalled through supposed mistakes whereby the Earth that is the best of its inhabitants is but a bad copy yea indeed no copy at all hence our Lord teacheth that not Earth but Heaven be the rule for doing our Fathers will Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven THE rule of our obedience is now before us and the mould in which all actions are to be cast for Heavens that is for Gods plaudit As it is in Heaven is a Doctrine of comparing qualities not substances it respects neither Earth nor Heaven Physically but Morally pressing a conformity in the inhabitants of either to the will of the Lord of both and grand Master of each It is also a doctrine of holinesse among Spirits that the souls of the righteous here Militant may in vertue and well-doing totally resign themselves in imitation of the Spirits Triumphant for the will of God that they may be found without fault before the Throne of God That their conversation may be in Heaven by contemplating the things which are not seen here and affecting the things that are only there by working all things according to the Angels Samplar Yea even to follow God himself it being not unlawful per divina ire vestigia to walk as Christ himself walked The word is singular Heaven not Heavens as in the Preface excluding all but the very in-side of Heaven the interior parts of the Heaven of Heavens there being there exactness in opposition to Earths crookedness and stateliness against its baseness 1. Exactness Examples are to be eminent and as far as possible contrived above the censure of ordinary operators in things wherein honour is concern'd but in things divine wherein are couched the most pressing interests of the souls eternity patterns ought not to have so much as an umbrage or shadow of sensuality which not being sound on earth a David will trip a Iacob will halt and a Noah lye uncovered we are to eye Heaven for acquiring of righteousness and ture holiness 2. Stateliness How slovenly so to speak do we handle the mysteries of God Is not a trembling hand a glazy eye a blubred face commended in the approaches of the devout to the greatest pledges of their salvation and yet in these addresses not only faith but their love to God is then more sublimely to be acted that it may be felt heard and understood so that the highest raptures and most ravishing transportations like high Steeples are not without their Cob-webs whereas in Heaven the divine beams of glory shining upon the faces and hearts of the Elect both heats their souls and beautifies their exercise to that degree that with redoubled acclamations of ineffable joy they stand before their Saviours Throne and go about their Masters errant in a Royal Majestick and Authoritative deportment These are so well known to be in Heaven that good men do not only mistrust others but fear themselves pray against themselves ask forgivenesse both in and for their most religious undertakings which must cede to the performance of those Sainted above they being incapable of pollution laxation or heâ—itation through the spiritualizing of all their faculties In this Prayer there are two sicuts two as-es one is As we forgive our debters forgive us in which Earth draws a pattern from Heaven to follow sets it a copy to write a pardon by the other is this Petion As thy will is done in Heaven let it be done in Earth in which Heaven is recommended as worthy for imitation of Earth and sets before it a picture for Earth to draw the lively features of exact and acceptable duties For note in Heaven there are three whom we must imitate and follow viz. Christ Angels and the Saints glorified Behold Christ as man and as when upon earth it was meat to do his Fathers will for himself giving us in that consideration an example to prevent sin and as God a remedy against it from which it is deducible that our eyes feet hands and tongue are to be observant observers of the whole Law and will of God as Christ was we making his life our book our glass our rule our way his present residence in Heaven and work there is the Churches salvation in general thy soul Reader and that other mans in particular for it is the will of the Father that none of these little ones perish hence Christ becomes their Advocat that they all may