frame of Heart in Worship than we have about other things As in Prayer the frame of our Hearts must not be common we must not go about it with such a frame of Heart as we go about our Callings worldly Business and Converses with Men but there must be some special Reverence such as is peculiar to him When we draw near to God in the Word he will be sanctified The Word must be received with Meekness and by Faith applied to our Souls as an Instrument designed to our endless Good When we have a peculiar Reverence for God and a respect to God in all our Approaches Eccles. 5. 1. Look to thy Feet when thou goest to the House of God we must not go about these Holy Services Hand over Head but with great Caution and Heed Thus is God sanctified in Worship or in our immediate converse with him 2. In our ordinary Conversation Then God is sanctified when our Life is ordered so that we may give Men occasion to say that surely he is a Holy God whom we serve By two things you may know you sanctify God in your Conversations when you walk as remembring you have a Holy God and when you walk as discovering to others you have a Holy God 1. When you walk as remembring your selves that you have a Holy God therefore you must be watchful and strict It is notable when the Israelites were making a hasty Promise Ioshua puts them in Mind Chap. 24. 9. You cannot serve the Lord for he is a Holy God So we should remember when we give up our selves to God he is a Holy and Jealous God that is narrowly observant and he will not be put off with any thing that is Common 2. As discovering you have a Holy God A carnal Worshipper prophaneth the Memory of God in the World But now a Christian that walks according to his Holy Calling that is Holy in all manner of Conversation he discovereth what a God he hath 1 Pet. 2. 9. That ye should shew forth the Praises of him who hath called you out of Darkness into his marvellous Light We are not only to conceive and make use of them to beget Fear and Reverence in our Hearts of the All-seeing God but are to shew them forth to evidence them to others We should discover more than a Human Excellency that so those which look upon us may say these are the Servants of the Holy God Secondly For the Reasons Why God will be so glorified that he may be sanctified 1. Because this is the Glory that is due to his Name Psal. 96. 8. Give unto the Lord the Glory due to his Name Every Glory will not serve the turn but such Glory as is proper and peculiar for that God we serve It is a stated Rule in Scripture That Respects to God must be proportioned to the Nature of God God is a Spirit therefore will be worshipped in Spirit and Truth God is a God of Peace therefore lift up pure Hands without Wrath and Doubting God is a Holy God therefore will be sanctified They which worship the Sun among the Heathens they used a Flying-Horse as a thing most suitable to the swift Motions of the Sun Well then they that will glorify and honour God with a Glory due to his Name must sanctify him as well as honour him Why for God is glorious in Holiness Exod. 15. 11. This is that which God counteth to be his chief Excellency and the Glory which he will manifest among the Sons of Men. 2. This is that Glory which God affects and therefore the Saints will give it him Isa. 6. 3. The Holy Angels what do they cry out when they honour God They do not acknowledg his Power and Dominion over all Creatures as Lord of all but they give him his peculiar Glory Holy Holy Holy is the Lord of Hosts the whole Earth is full of his Glory So David Psal. 103. 1. Bless the Lord O my Soul yea all that is within me bless his Holy Name That 's the Notion upon which he pitcheth he would praise God with such praise as is welcome and acceptable to him 3. This is that Attribute which is most eclipsed and most blotted out in the Hearts of the Sons of Men because of God's Patience because he doth not take Vengeance of all the Sins of Men Thou thoughtest I was altogether such a one as thy self Psal. 50. 21. Certainly if Men did not blot and stain God in their Thoughts if they did not fancy an unreasonable Indulgence such as is not comely and proper to his Majesty they could not go on in Sin and think God could be so pure therefore he will be so glorified that he may be sanctified Vse To press us so to glorify God as we may also sanctify him Let this be your care To quicken you remember 1. God is much offended with his People that do not sanctify him Moses and Aaron as choice and as dear to God as they were yet you know what the Lord saith Numb 20. 12. Because ye believed me not to sanctify me in the Eyes of the Children of Israel therefore ye shall not bring this Congregation into the Land which I have given them When Moses and Aaron murmured and spake unadvisedly and did not sanctify him nor carry God's Excellency aloft They shall not enter And God remembreth this a great while after in that Deut. 32. 51. Because ye trespassed against me among the Children of Israel at the Waters of Meribah-kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the Children of Israel thou shalt not go unto the Land which I give the Children of Israel Well then tho God's Children should get to Heaven yet if they do not sanctify God they will want many a Priviledg God will remember this against them for he takes it ill when his People will not sanctify him as becoming his peculiar Excellency 2. If you do not sanctify God then you pollute God and stain his Memory in the World Ezek. 36. 20. Ye have profaned my Holy Name among the Heathen How is God polluted Not intrinsecally God cannot receive any Pollution from us It is here as in that Case A Man that lusteth after a Woman hath committed Adultery with her already in his Heart Mat. 5. 28. The Man pollutes the Woman in his Heart while she remains spotless and undefiled So in this Case we blemish God in appearance as much as in us lies we pollute and blot God tho he remains pure and undefiled You make Heathens think as if you had an unholy God Well then glorify God For Directions 1. Be Holy The Praise of the Wicked is a disgrace to him it is an obscuring of his Praise 1 Pet. 1. 15. As he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of Conversation 2. Study his Name if ye would sanctify his Name Psal. 9. 10. They that know his Name will put
the Love of God upon Praise Now because we are so full of Self-Love therefore are we so backward to this Duty 2. A second Cause is our stupid Negligence we do not gather up Matter of Thanksgiving and observe God's gracious dealing with us that we may have wherewith to inlarge our selves in giving Glory to his Name Col. 4. 2. Continue in Prayer and watch in the same with Thanksgiving We should continually observe God's Answers and Visits of Love and what Attributes he makes good to us in the course of his Providence But out of Spiritual Laziness we do not take notice of these things therefore no wonder if we are backward to speak good of his Name but are always whining murmuring and complaining Secondly it is not only a Doxology but a full one and very expressive of the Excellency of God From whence note Doct. The Saints are not niggardly and sparing in praising of God Kingdom Power and Glory and all that is excellent they ascribe to him A gracious Heart hath such a sense of God's Worth and Excellency that he thinks he can never speak honourably enough of it See how David inlargeth himself very sutably to what is spoken here 1 Chron. 29. 10 11 12 13. And David said Blessed be thou Lord God for ever and ever Thine O Lord is the Greatness and the Power and the Glory and the Victory and the Majesty thine is the Kingdom O Lord and thou art exalted as Head above all Now therefore our God We thank thee and praise thy gloriouâ— Name O when once a Child of God falls upon speaking of God he cannot tell how to come out of the Meditation he seeth so much is due to God that he heaps words upon words So 1 Tim. 1. 17. Now unto the King Eternal Immortal Invisible the only Wise God be Honour and Glory for ever and ever Amen And in many other places of Scripture Now this copiousness in praising of God is partly because of the excellency of the Object Nehem. 9. 5. Blessed be thy glorious Name which is exalted above all Blessing and Praise When they have done what they can to bless God remember his Benefits or praise God and recount his Excellencies still they come too far short Therefore when we cannot do all we should do much And partly it is from the greatness and largeness of their Affection they think never to have done enough for God whom they love so much David saith I will praise him yet more and more They cannot satisfy themselves by taking up the Excellency of God in one Notion only therefore Majesty Greatness Glory Wisdom and Power they mention all things which are honourable and glorious Vse The Use is again to reprove us for being so cold and sparing this way It argueth a want of a due sense of God's Excellency and straitness of Spiritual Affection Therefore we should study God more and observe his manifold Excellencies Get a greater esteem of him in your Hearts for out of the abundance of the Heart the Mouth will speak We should be calling upon our selves as David Psal. 103. 1. Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me bless his Holy Name Thirdly I observe again It is brought in with a For as relating to the foregoing Petitions Lead us not into Temptation but deliver us from Evil For thine is the Kingdom c. What respect hath this Doxology to the foregoing Requests First It serves to increase our Confidence in Prayer Secondly Our Reverence and Affection Thirdly To regulate and direct our Prayers 1. As to the Person to whom we pray 2. As to the manner of asking 3. As to the Persons praying Let us see all these Requests First The Great End is to increase our Confidence Observe Doct. It is a great relief to a Soul in praying to God to consider that his is the Kingdom Power and Glory and all these for ever His is the Kingdom God hath the Soveraign Government of all Things And then his Right to govern is backed with all-sufficient Power and Strength and so he can dispose of his Soveraignty for the bringing to pass what we expect from him â— Authority is one thing and Power another but they both meet in God He hath all Power and Authority And then His is the Glory He is concerned as well as we yea more His Interest is greater than ours for the Glory of all belongs to him And all this not for a Time but for ever These are the Encouragements to raise our Confidence that our Prayers shall be heard and granted when we ask any thing according to his Will â—here are two things that give us Confidence in any that we sue to if he be Able and Willing Now God is able to grant our Requests and very prone and willing also We are taught it sufficiently in this Prayer for we begin with him as Father and we end with him as a glorious and powerful King His fatherly Affection on the one hand shews That he is willing and his Royal Power on the other that he is able So that if we ask any thing according to his Will we need not doubt We may gather his Power and Will out of this very Clause His Power for His is the Kingdom and Power or a Right and Authority backed with absolute All-sufficiency Then his Will Thine is the Glory It is his Glory to grant our Petitions not only matter of Happiness to us but of Glory to God therefore we need not doubt But more particularly 1. There is Confidence established by that that his is the Kingdom God's Kingdom is either Vniversal over all Men or Things or particular and special which notes his Relation to the Saints to those which have given up themselves to his Government to be guided by him to everlasting Glory and both these are grounds of Confidence 1. His Vniversal Kingdom over all Persons and Things in the World This Kingdom is an absolute Monarchy with a plenary Dominion and Propriety grounded upon his Creation of them There is a two-fold Dominion Dominium Iurisdictionis and Dominium Proprietatis The one is such as a King hath over his Subjects the other such as a King hath in his Goods and Lands The latter is greater than the former A King hath a Dominion of Jurisdiction over his Subjects to command and govern them but he hath not such an absolute propriety in their Persons as he hath in his own Goods and Lands He may dispose of them absolutely at his own Pleasure but his Jurisdiction is limited In short We must distinguish of his Dominion as a Ruler and as an Owner But both these they concur in God and that in the highest degree for God is Owner as well as Ruler he made all Things out of Nothing therefore hath a more absolute dominion over us than any Potentate or King can have not only over his Subjects but his Goods And can govern all Things
House 2 Cor. 5. 1. We look for an House in Heaven no made with hands It is a Place appointed for our everlasting Abode therefore all our Hopes Desires and Delights should run that way But chiefly I would press you to love it for his sake the Place where you heavenly Father dwells God hath not taken his Denomination from Earth which is the Place of Corruption but from Heaven which is the Place of Glory and Happiness O let us not forget our heavenly Father's House We are to apt to say it is good to be here Christians let us draw home apace let us grow more heavenly-minded every day seek the things which are above prize it rather upon this occasion because if we were more heavenly in the frame of our Hearts we would be more heavenly in our solemn Approaches to God What 's the reason a Man is haunted with the World and things which are of a worldly Interest and Concern when he comes to Prayer 'T is because his Heart is taken with these Things Hallowed be thy Name WE are now come to the first petition of the Lord's Prayer there three Things will fall under Discussion I. The Order of this Petition II. The Necessity of putting up such a Request to God III. The Sence and Mâ—aning of the Petition it self I. Of the Order it is the first of all the six The Petitions of the Lord's-Prayer may thus be ranked The four first concern the obtaining of Good and the two last the removal of Evil either the removal of Evil past and already committed or the removal of Evil future and such as may be admitted by the Temptation of the Devil Among the former those Things that do more immediately concern the Glory of God they have the first place In this Petition the Glory of God is both desired and promised on our part for every Prayer is both an Expression of a Desire and also an implicit Vow or a solemn Obligation that we take upon our selves to prosecute what we ask Prayer it is a preaching to our selves in God's hearing We speak to God to warm our selves not for his Information but for our Edification From the Order observe Doct. That those Things are to be desired in the first place and with the greatest Affection which do concern the Glory of God The first Petition is Hallowed be thy Name Here to shew 1. Why this Petition if put first 2. Present some Reasons of the Point First This Petition is put first for a double Reason 1. Partly to shew that this must be the End of all our Requests All that we desire and pray for in behalf of our selves and others must be subordiante to this End All these things must be asked that by the accomplishment of them God may be brought more in request in the World See all the other Petitions in this Prayer how they are suited to this End in Scripture When we say Thy Kingdom come what do we beg that for but ultimately the Glory of God Phil. 2â— 10 11. God hath given him a Name which is above every Name that every Tongue should confess that Iesus Christ is Lord to the Glory of God the Father When we say Thy Will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven it is still to the Glory of God Mat. 5. 16. That our good Works may so shine forth before Men here upon Earth that they may glorify our Father which is in Heaven When we ask our daily Bread and Provisions for the present Life it is still that he may be glorified in our comfortable Use of the Creature 1 Cor. 10. 31. Whether therefore ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do do all to the Glory of God When we ask for the Remission of Sins it is that God may be glorified in Christ Rom. 3. 25 26 Whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood to declare his Righteousness for the Remission of Sins that are past that he may be just c. When we beg Freedom from Temptation it is that we may not dishonour God Prov. 30. 8 9. Lest I be full and deny thee and say Who is the Lord Or lest I be poor and steal and take the Name of my God in vain Still that God may be glorified in every Condition When we ask Deliverance from Evil Psal. 50. 15. Call upon me in the Day of Trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me So that the Glory of God in all Requests that we make to him like Oil still swims on the Top and must be the End of all the rest for other things are but Means in subordination to it 2. It notes that our chiefest Care and Affection should be carried out to the Glory of God when we pray We should rather forget our selves than forget God God must be remembred in the first place There is nothing more precious than God himself therefore nothing should be more dear to us than his Glory This is the great Difference between the Upright and the Hypocrite The Hypocrite never seeks God but when his Necessities do require it not in and for himself But when the Upright come to seek God it is for God in the first place their main Care is about God's Concernments rather than their own Tho they seek their own Happiness in him and they are allowed so to do yet it is mainly God's Glory which they seek not their own Interests and Concernments See that Psal. 115. 1. Not unto us not unto us O Lord but unto thy Name give Glory for thy Mercy and for thy Truth 's sake It is not a Doxology or Form of Thanksgiving but a Prayer not for our Safety and Welfare so much as thy Glory Not to reek and satisfy our Revenge upon our Adversaries not for the Establishment of our Interest but for the Glory of thy Grace and Truth that God may be known to be a God keeping Covenant for Mercy and Truth are the two Pillars of the Covenant It is a great dishonouring of God when any thing is sought from him more than himself or not for himself Saith Austin it is but a carnal Affection in Prayer when Men seek Self more than God Self and God are the two things that come in competition Now there are several sorts of Self there is carnal Self natural Self spiritual Self and glorified Self above all these God must have the Preheminence 1. Carnal Self By a foolish Mistake we take our Lusts to be our selves Col. 3. 5. Mortify your Members here upon Earth And these Members he makes to be Fornication Uncleanness and the like Our Sins are as dear to us as any essential or integral part of the Body they are our Members Now these should have no room in our Prayers at all tho usually they have the first place Jam. 4. 3. Ye ask and receive not because ye ask amiss that ye may consume it upon your Lusts. Our
holy Name God can turn the Hearts of Men this way and that way according as he pleaseth Prov. 21. 1. The King's Heart is in the hand of the Lord as the Rivers of Water he turneth it whithersoever he will As a Man can dispose of a Water-Course turn it hither and thither as the Necessities of his Field or Garden require So can God draw out the Hearts and Respects of Men. Surely there would not be so many Disorders in the World if we did often reflect upon 〈◊〉 Attribute or did deal with God about his Power over the Spirits of Men. We are wrathful and think nothing but the Confusion of Men would serve the Turn and there is no Riddance of our Burthen but by the Destruction of those who stand in our way Whereas the Conversion of Men a Change of their Spirits and Hearts would be a better Cure and bring more Honour to God and Safety with it The truth is we look more to Men than to God and that is the Reason why we pitch rather upon the Destruction than the Conversion of others Destruction that may be executed by the Creature but Conversion that is a Power to order and regulate the Spirits of Men which God hath reserved in his own hands One Angel could destroy above an Hundred and Eighty Thousand in Sennacherib's Camp in one Night but all the Angels with their united Strength cannot draw in one Heart to God But now the God of the Spirits of all Flesh who is too hard for him O did we often reflect upon this we would be dealing with God about this Matter that he would work upon the Spirits of Men. If there be a wicked Ruler or an obstinate Child or Servant c. that he would sanctify himself upon them and change their Hearts 2. You discover much Love to God when as you would not dishonour him your selves so you are careful others may not dishonour him Praise him all ye Ends of the Earth Psal. 98. 4. 100. 1. You would have all the World own him Private Spirits that would impale and enclose Religion that they may shine alone they do not love God but themselves their own Credit and their own Profit Would to God all the Lord's People were Prophets Numb 11. 29. That was a free and noble Speech God is resembled to the Sun because it is He that must shine alone but the Church is compared to the Moon and Stars where all may shine but every Star in its own glory True Christians would have all to be as they are unless it be with respect to their Bonds and Incumbrances 3. You discover Love to others you would have them glorify God The Angels they rejoice when a Sinner is converted they have a great Love to Souls Luke 15. 7. And so do Christians the more spiritual they are the more they come near to the blessed Spirits above and the more affected they are with the good done to others and with their Conversion Saith Paul Rom. 9. 3. I could wish that my self were accursed from Christ for my Brethren my Kinsmen according to the Flesh Such a Zeal and entire Affection he had to the Souls of others that he could lay all his personal Happiness at Christ's feet And thus you see what need we have to deal seriously with God in this Business if indeed we make this our Aim Especially those which are in publick Relations as Paul was which had an Office put upon him to procure the Salvation of others how will their Hearts run out upon it Secondly It is needful we should deal with God about the sanctifying of his Name as in regard of Persons so of Things and Events God hath the disposal of all Events in his own hands There are many Things which concern the Glory of God that are out of our Reach and are wholly in God's hands and therefore it discovers our Love to his Glory and our Submission to his wise and powerful Government of all Affairs when we deal with God about it and refer the Matter to his disposal and say Lord hallowed be thy Name take the Work into thy own hands We discover our Love to his Glory because we make it a part of our Request that all these Events may conduce to the glory of his Majesty As Ioshua when Israel fell before their Enemies Iosh. 7. 9. Lord what wilt thou do for thy great Name There was his Trouble And Moses Numb 14. 15 16. What will the Nations say round about Because the Lord was not able to bring this People into the Land which he sware unto them therefore he hath slain them in the Wilderness It goeth near to the Heart of God's Children when they see any thing that will tend to God's Reproach But that is not all it is not enough we discover that but also our Submission to his wise and powerful Government when we refer the Matter to his disposal and can see that he can work out his own Ends out of all the Confusions which happen there out of Sins Errors Wars Blood Psal. 76. 10. The Wrath of Man shall praise thee the Remainder of Wrath shalt thou restrain In the Septuagint it is the Wrath of Man shall keep Holy-Day to thee shall increase a Festival for thee God many times gets up in the World upon Satan's Shoulders When Matters are ravell'd and disordered he can find out the right End of the Thread and how to disentangle us again and when we have spoil'd a Business he can dispose it for good and make an Advantage of those things which seem to obscure the Glory of his Name By the way both these must go together our Love to his Glory and our Submission to his Providence Our Love to his Glory for we should not be altogether wretchless and careless how Things go and yet not carking because of the Wisdom and Power of his Providence The truth is we should be more sollicitous about Duties than Events The Glory of Events belongeth to God himself and we are not to take his Work out of his hand but mind him in it Look as some would lern their School-fellows Lesson better than their own so we would have Things carried thus and thus And so by murmuring we tax Providence rather than adore it and we eclipse the Glory of God Yet we must be sensible of the Reproaches cast upon God and must pray the Lord to vindicate and right his Name to take the Way and Means into his own hands Thus you have seen the Necessity of putting up such a Request to God Hallowed be thy Name Vse 1. Is for Information It informs us That whatever we bestow upon God we have it from God at first 1 Chron. 29. 11. Of thine own have we given thee The King of all the Earth we cannot pay him any Tribute but out of his own Exchequer When we are best affected to God's Interest and pray for God's Concernments we must beg the
Grace which maketh us to do so It is his own Gift It is he must enable and incline us quicken and direct us So that in all Things he is Alpha and Omega we begin in him when ever we end in him And when we do most 〈◊〉 God we have all from him Vse 2. For Direction in the Matter of glorifying God in four Propositions 1. This Life is not to be valued but as it yieldeth us Opportunities for this End and Purpose to glorify God We were not sent into the World to live for our selves but for God If we could make our selves then we could live to our selves If we could be our own Cause then we might be our own End But God made us for himself and sent us into the World for himself Christ saith Iohn 17. 4. Father I have glorified thee on Earth c. It is not our Duty only to glorify God in Heaven to join in Consort with the Angels in their Hallelujahs above where we may glorify him without Distraction Weariness and Weakness but here on Earth in the midst of Difficulties and Temptations There are none sent into the World to be idle or to bring forth Fruit to themselves Hos. 10. 1. to improve their Pains and Strength to promote meerly their own Interest but God's Glory must be our chief Work and Aim while we are here upon Earth this must be the Purpose and Intent of our Lives 2. Every Man besides his general Calling hath his own Work and Course of Service whereby to glorify and honour God Iohn 17. 4. I have finished the Work which thou gavest me to do As in a great House one hath one Employment one another So God hath designed to every Man his Work he hath to do and the Calling he must be in some in one Calling and some in another but they all have their Service and Work given them to do for God's glory 3. In discharge of this Work as they must do all for God so they can do nothing without God Every morning we should revive the Sense of it upon our selves as the Care of our Work and Aim so the Sense of our Impotency This day I am to live with God but how unable am I and how easily shall I dishonour him The way of Man is not in himself Jer. 10. 23. When a Christian goeth abroad in the Morning he must remember he is at Christ's dispose he is not to do as he pleaseth but to be guided by Rule and act for God's glory and fetch in Strength from Christ. Col. 3. 17. Whatsoever ye do in Word or Deed do all in the Name of the Lord Iesus Not only in our Duties or immediate Converses with God but in our Sports Business Recreation What is it to do things in the Name of Christ That is to do it according to Christ's Will and Command He hath allowed us Time for Recreation for conversing with God and calling in Christ's Help and aiming at his Glory If we have any thing to do for God we must do it in his own strength in every Word and Deed. 4. You are directed again when the Glory of God and sanctifying of his Name either sticks with us or sticks abroad God must be specially consulted with in the Case When our Hearts are backward then Lord open thou my Lips Lord affect me with a sense of thy Kindness and Mercy When it sticks abroad when such Events fall out as for a while God's Name is obscured and seems to be clouded Lord what wilt thou do for thy great Name III. Having opened the Order of the Words and the Reasons of putting up such a Request to God I now come to the Sence of the Petition Hallowed be thy Name Four Things will come under Consideration 1. What is meant by the Name of God 2. What it is to hallow and sanctify it 3. I shall take notice of the Form of the Proposal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hallowed 4. The Note of Distinction Thy Name First What is meant by God's Name 1. God himself 2. Any Thing whereby he is made known 1. God himself Name by an Hebraism is put for the Person it self Thus Rev. 3. 4. Thou hast a few Names even in Sardis which have not defiled their Garments that is many Persons So Acts 1. 15. it is said there The Number of the Names together were aboâ—t one hundred and twenty that is of Persons So it is used in the present Case God's Name is put for God himself Psal. 20. 1. The Name of the God of Jacob defend thee That is God himself So Psal. 44. 5. Through thy Name will we tread them under that rise up against us that is by Thee And to believe in the Name of Christ is to believe in Christ himself Name is put for Person for the immediate Object of Faith is the Person of Christ. Iohn 1. 12. To as many as received him to them gave he Power to become the Sons of God even to them that believe on his Name 2. Any thing whereby he is made known to us Nomen quasi not â—men As a Man is known by his Name so God's Titles and Attributes his Ordinances his Works his Word are his Name chiefly the two latter For his Works they are a part of the Name of God Psal. 8. 1. the Burthen of that Psalm is twice repeated O Lord our Lord how great is thy Name in all the Earth By the Name there is meant God made known in his Works of Creation and Providence for he speaks there of Sun Moon and Stars which proclaim an Eternal Power to all the World and he speaks of such a Name as is in all the Earth And Psal. 117. 19 20. He hath not dealt so with any Nation and given them his Word Statutes and Ordinances every one hath not that Privilege But How great is thy Name in all the Earth That is how manifestly art thou made known by thy Works But above all by Name is meant his Word Psal. 138. 2. Thou hast magnified thy Word above all thy Name There is more of God to be seen in his Word than in all the Creatures of the World and in all his other Works besides We understand more of God than can be taken up by the Creation It helps us to interpret the Book of Nature and Providence there we have his Titles Attributes Ordinances there we have his greatest Work in which he hath discovered so much of his Name the Mystery of Redemption which is not elsewhere to be known Thus by the Name of God is meant God himself as he hath made known himself in the Word We desire that he may be sanctified that he may with honour and reverence be received every where Secondly The second Thing to be explained What is meant by Hallowed In Scripture God is said sometimes to be magnified sometimes to be justified sometimes to be glorified and sometimes to be sanctified Now it is not here said
and grow weary of the Devil's Government tho it be but out of a Principle of Self-love Isa. 26. 13. O Lord other Lords besides thee have had dominion over us but by thee only will we make mention of thy Name Yea but as soon as we begin to have any serious thoughts of that miserable State in which we are Satan interposeth dealing with us as Pharaoh did with the Israelites The Israelites complain their Bondage was very sore what doth Pharaoh He doubles the Burthen Exod. 5. 17. You are idle c. So that out of Bondage of Soul they would not hearken to Moses Just so Satan deals with us When Souls begin to be serious and to leave off fleshly and worldly Lusts and to give up themselves to God that they may be directed in the way of Holiness and obtain eternal Life then he doubles our Burthens Corruptions are never more stirring than after some Conviction Rom. 7. 9. When the Commandment came Sin revived and I died not only as to a deeper sense of the Guilt of it but as to its strugling for Life The Bullock at the first yoaking is most unruly so we which are unaccustomed to the Yoke when we begin once to take it upon us there 's a mighty backwardness Fire at first kindling makes abundance of Smoke so when Conviction is stirring Corruption is more exaâ—perated The Devil is very jealous of the first Beam of Light which breaks into the Heart and of every Ordinance which conveys it therefore sets Corruptions at work that it may appear to be a vain hope of ever escaping his Clutches So Men are tired and give over and think it is to no purpose But if Light increases to more Trouble the Devil seeks to elude the Importunity of it by delay as Pharaoh put off Moses and Aaron still by delay Or else by compromising and compounding the Business as Pharaoh when he saw the People would go God would have them go then they shall not go far Exod. 8. 28. So if Men will be thinking of Christ's Service and coming under his Government they shall go but not far they shall come and pray and come and hear now and then and make a general Profession but not too far in Christ's Quarters he is afraid of that Just as Pharaoh stood hucking still They must go a good way into the Wilderness otherwise it should be an Abomination to the Egyptians yet their little Ones must stay If People will not only hear and pray but begin to reform and cleanse their Lives yet he must have a Pledg some Lust as a Nest-Egg left in the Heart some darling Sin that must keep up the Devil's Empire Then they must leave their Herds then leave their Flocks no not a Hoof. Ah! how long is it when we are under this Power of Darkness ere we are free and get rid of the Government of Satan 6. We can never be sure that Satan is wholly cast out until Christ be seriously received and entertained as Lord and King until he dwell and rule in the Heart by Faith Alas there may be some Brabble now and then between us and our Sins and some partial Dislikes but until you heartily consent to take another King that you will be governed and ordered by you are not his subjects but remain in the same State Iohn 1. 12. As many as received him to them gave he Power to become the Sons of God even to them that believe in his Name We are Children of the Devil before under his Standard and Government but when we receive him then we are under another King another Power When we receive what God offered receive Christ as Lord and King when the whole Soul opens the Door to Christ that the King of Glory may come in and dwell with us and reign over us then is his Kingdom set up The first Offer of the Gospel is Christ as Prince and Saviour Acts 5. 31. And the main thing the Business sticks at is Christ's Regal Power Luke 19. 14. We will not have this Man to reign over us Now when we receive him with all our Hearts and tho before we had but mean thoughts of him now he begins to be welcome to us and with the dearest Embraces of our Souls we entertain him and with a willing Resignation we give up our selves not only by a Consent of Dependance to rest upon him for Reconciliation with God but by a willing Subjection to obey him and give up the Keys of the Heart and lay them at Christ's Feet as Paul Acts 9. 16. Lord what wilt thou have me to do When you desire nothing more but that his Kingdom might come the King of Glory himself than that he might bring Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy-Ghost until then you are not entred into his Kingdom 7. Christ is not received and entertained as Lord and King but where his Laws are obeyed Col. 2. 6. As ye have therefore received Christ Iesus the Lord so walk ye in him If you receive him as Lord and King so also obey him And Heb. 12. 28. We receiving a Kingdom which cannot be moved let us have Grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with Reverence and godly Fear In this Prayer first we say Thy Kingdom come and then presently we add Thy Will be done We do but prattle over the Lord's Prayer and say it with our Lips only until we are resolved to do what God would have us to do love and hate fear and rejoice as God directs Until we are brought to this Frame we do not in good earnest say Thy Kingdom come An earthly King will do according to his Will Dan. 11. 3. So Christ stands upon his Will in his Law If you have taken God for your God and Jesus Christ for your King then say with David Psal. 143. 10. Teach me to do thy Will for thou art my God It is an universal Maxime His Servants you are whom you do obey Where is your Obedience If Subjects of Grace Every Thought is brought in subjection 2 Cor. 10. 5. You will watch not only against your irregular Actions but every Thought which lifts up it self against the Obedience of Christ. There will be a greater Tenderness upon us not to break any of the holy Laws which belong to Christ's Government Hereby you may know whether you come under another King Do you fear a Commandment That is the Description of a good Man Prov. 13. 13. It is not he that feareth a Punishment but he that feareth a Commandment when the Heart is brought under an Awe of Christ's Laws So that when a Man is tempted to Sin O I dare not the Lord hath commanded me the contrary this is more than if a flaming Sword stood in his way When we have such workings of Heart when we are tempted to this and that Sin so when we are doing any Duty tho irksom to Flesh and Blood yet it is the Will of my
Prayer not a drousy Devotion not only that we hear but take heed how we hear not only that we serve him but serve him instantly not only run but so run The great thing that is put into the Ballance of the Sanctuary when God comes to weigh the Actions of Men what doth he consider He weighs the Spirits Prov. 16. 2. All the Ways of Man are right in his own Eyes but the Lord weigheth the Spirits That is he considers vvith vvhat frame of Heart and in vvhat manner vve go about any thing vve do for him And therefore this is the main thing vve should look after in what manner we serve him even as the Angels do in Heaven not in an ordinary but perfect manner But wherein doth the Resemblance hold How should we be as the Angels 1. In conformity to the Angels we must serve God readily The Angels are represented as with Wings Isa. 6. 2. And the Angel Gabriel is said to flie swiftly upon God's Message They are hearkning for God's Word and go on God's Errand So we should be ready and speedy in our Obedience Psal. 119. 60. I made haste and delayed not to keep thy Commandments It is not enough to keep God's Commandments but vve must make haste that is before the strength of the present Impulsion be lost and those Fervors which are upon us be cool'd 2. Willingly and chearfully and without murmuring Angels are ready at God's beck they are ministring Spirits even to the meanest Saints God hath sent them abroad for the Heirs of Salvation they are as Guardians to them to look after them in all their Ways The Devils what Christ bids them do do it murmuringly the unclean Spirit would not come out without rending and tearing Mark 9. Christ's presence was a Burthen to them Mat. 8. When we do things with reluctancy murmuringly we are more like the Devil than the Angels When the Devils obey his Word they are forced to it by the absolute Power of Christ yet they do it not with Willingness and Freeness as the good Angels do But we are to do it freely I delight to do thy Will O my God Psal. 40. 8. And Iohn 4. 34. It is my Meat and Drink to do the Will of him that sent me That was the Dish Christ loved 3. Constantly and unweariedly Thus do the Angels in Heaven The Devils they abode not in the Truth but Angels they do it without weariness they rest not Day nor Night but are still lauding praising and serving God and are never weary God in Communion is ever new and fresh to them the Face of their heavenly Father is as lovely as at first moment no Weariness or Satiety creeps upon those good Spirits Thus should we do it without Weariness and then we shall reap if we faint not 4. Faithfully not picking and chusing They hearken to the Voice of his Word whatever it be be it to ascend or descend So we if it be to go backward for God tho it be against the Bent of our Hearts David is said to be a Man after God's Heart because he did all God's Will Acts 13. 22. All which should be a Patern for us and we should strive to come up to it Give us this day our daily Bread WE are now come to the second sort of Petitions that concern our selves as the former did more immediately concern God Now you may observe the Stile in the Prayer is altered It was before Thy Name Thy Kingdom Thy Will now it is Give us and forgive us c. Before our Lord had taught us to speak in a third Person Thy Will be done and now in a second Person Give us this day Which is not so to be understood as if we were not at all concern'd in the former part of the Lord's Prayer In those Petitions the Benefit is not God's but ours When his Name is sanctified his Kingdom cometh and his Will is done these Things do not only concern the Glory of God but also our Benefit It is our Advantage when God is honoured by the Coming of Christ's Kingdom and the Subjection of our Hearts unto himself But these latter Petitions do more immediatly concern us Now among these in the first place we pray for the necessary Provisions of the present Life Some make a scruple why such a Prayer should be put in the first place Surely not to shew the Value of these Things above Pardon and Grace but this is the last of the Supplications The Lord's Prayer may be divided into Supplications and Deprecations Among the Supplications there we pray'd first for the Glory of God next for the Kingdom of God next for our Subjection to that Kingdom and in the last place we pray for daily Bread or Sustentation of the present Life But the other two are Deprecations and that either of Evil already committed and so we pray for Pardon of Sin Forgive us our Trespasses Or Deprecation of Evil that is likely to be admitted and so we pray against Temptation Lead us not into Temptation So that this Request is put into a fit Order First we seek God's Glory as the End his Kingdom as the primary Means our Subjection to that Kingdom as the next Means and last of all our comfortable Subsistence in the World as a remote subservient Help that we may be in a capacity to serve and glorify God In this Petition there is I. The Thing asked and that is Bread by which is meant all Things necessary for the maintenance of this Life Now this is set forth 1. By a Note of Propriety Our Bread 2. By an Adjunct of Time Daily Brea◠II. The Manner of asking Give we ask it as a Gift of God III. The Persons for whom we ask Give us as many as are supposed to be in a Family together Those that can call God Father by the Spirit they may come with most confidence to God about daily Supplies IV. The renewing of our Request 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This day There is very much in that we ask but from Morning till Night Give us this day our daily Bread Before I come to explain these Circumstances let me observe in general Doct. I. That it is the Lord which doth bestow upon us freely and graciously the good Things of this Life It is Bread we ask and we ask it of God and to God we say Give All which Circumstances do fully make out the Point This Point again must be made good by parts 1. That God giveth it 2. That he freely and graciously giveth it First I shall shew you how God is interested in the common Mercies we do enjoy and how every one high or low rich or poor full or in a mean Condition of what rank soever they be even those that have the greatest Store and Plenty of worldly Accommodations they must come from Morning to Morning and deal with God for daily Bread Those common Mercies which we do enjoy 1.
such a Right as sollicited Vengeance But the Right Christ purchased was a gracious Right that God might protect and preserve us Well then if Christ purchased Body and Soul he hath obtained not only that God should be gracious to our Souls but gracious to our Bodies then the Argument runs clearly for confirming the Faith of the Saints in expectation of temporal Benefits 2. God hath given us greater things therefore he will not stand upon the less when a Man hath been at great Cost he will not lose it The Lord hath given us his Christ Rom. 8. 32. He that spared not his own his Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all Things Can any Man be so illogical so ill-skilled in Consequences as not to conclude from thence if God give us Christ with him he will give us all things So Mat. 6. 33. Seek first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness and all other Things shall be added to you 3. These things are dispensed to inferior yea to the worst of his Creatures Psal. 147. 9. He giveth to the Beast his Food and to the young Ravens which cry Will God maintain the Beasts of the Field and will he not maintain his Children It is monstrous and unnatural to think thus that God will not support you and bear you out in your Work This is Christ's own Argument Mat. 6. 34. Take therefore no thought for the Morrow for the Morrow shall take thought for the Things of it self Sufficient unto the Day is the Evil thereof Daily Bread is in your Father's Power and he gives it graciously to all his Creatures and therefore certainly he will give it to you Thus you may see with what Confidence you may expect daily Supplies Secondly It informs us that we may ask temporal Things if we ask them lawfully It is true Prayers to God for spiritual Things are more acceptable As your Child pleaseth you better when it comes to you to be taught its Book rather than when it comes for an Apple So it is more pleasing to God when you come for the Mediator's Blessing and spiritual Things Acts 3. 26. God hath sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from his Iniquities But yet we may ask other Things why For they are good and useful to us in the Course of our Service and without them we are exposed to many Temptations And Prayer easeth you of a deal of carking about them Phil. 4. 6. Be careful for nothing but in every Thing by Prayer and Supplication with Thanksgiving let your Requests be made known unto God We may ask them but it must be lawfully and that for Order not in the first place That is howling when we come to God meerly for Corn Wine and Oil when we prefer these Things before his Favour and the Graces of his Spirit Then it must be lawful too as to the Manner a moderate Proportion not to set God a Task to maintain you at such a rate but to ask a moderate Allowance Christ teacheth us here to pray for Bread which is a necessary Allowance Prov. 30. 8. Feed me with Food convenient for me And 1 Tim. 6. 8. If we have Food and Raiment let us therewith be content And then ask them with Humility and Submission to the Will of God We ought to say as in Iam. 4. 15. If the Lord will we will go to such a Place and get Gain And then lawfully too as to the End not for an unlawful End for Ostentation and Riot that we may live at large and at ease Jam. 4. 3. Ye ask and receive not because ye ask amiss that ye may consume it upon your Lusts. But we must ask it for a good End Psal. 115. 1. Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name give Glory for thy Mercy and for thy Truths sake Lord not for our Ease or our Plenty but that thy Name may be glorified that we may be supported in Service And then again lawfully as to the Plea We must not come and challenge it as if it were our Due we must not use the Plea of Merit but of Mercy Our Saviour doth not say Let this Bread come to us any how as he saith Let thy Will be done our Subjection to God is due but Give us this day our daily Bread acknowledging the Lord's Mercy Vse 2. Let us not place our Confidence in second Causes but in God by whose Goodness and Providence over us all temporal Things do come unto us for without him all our Carking and Labour is nothing and if we have our Wishes without Labour yet we shall not have our Comfort and Blessing without God Mat. 6. 27. Which of you by taking thought can add one Cubit unto his Stature By taking thought he meaneth anxious Care about Success We cannot change the Colour of a Hair by all our anxious Thoughts We cannot make our selves stronger or taller Many a Man is pierced through with worldly Cares and still the World frowns upon him so all his Care comes to nothing Prov. 10. 4. it is said The Hand of the Diligent maketh rich compare it with vers 22. and it is said The Blessing of the Lord it maketh rich and he addeth no Sorrow with it Most commonly they that are diligent they thrive with their Diligence yea but if that be all if they have not the Lord's Blessing they have not that Sweetness and Peace when they have gotten Abundance O therefore let us place our Confidence not in second Causes but in God Vse 3. Let us be thankful to God for these vvorldly Things that vve enjoy I urge this First Because of the Danger of Ingratitude Usually we never forget God more than when he remembreth us most When Men have what they would have then God is neglected they grow careless in Prayer or flat and cold in the performance of it There is a great deal of difference between Men poor and rich When poor they will seem to put a natural Fervency into their Prayers but when rich they grow cold and careless Mark what the Lord saith Hosea 13. 6. They were â—illed and their Heart was exalted therefore have they forgotten me O how frequent is this that many having been kept under a great Sense of God in a low Condition but when they have been well at ease then they bear it up as if they could live without God the Bucket comes to the River with an empty Mouth gaping to receive its Fulness as it were but when it is full the Bottom is turned towards it So it is very usual with Men to turn their Backs upon the Mercy-Seat and when the Lord hath given them great Increase in worldly Things and leased out a great Estate to them he hath very little Rent from them Now because this is usual therefore those whom God hath blessed with the Supplies of the present Life how
as belonging to God Kingdom Power and Glory 1. By Kingdom is meant God's Right and Authority over all things by which he can dispose of them according to his own pleasure 2. By Power is meant his Sufficiency to execute this Right and to do what he pleaseth both in Heaven and Earth 3. The final cause of all is his Glory Thine is the Glory or the Honour of all things in the World belongs to thee Glory is Excellency discovered with praise We desire that he may be more honoured and brought into request and esteem Secondly We have the Obsignation and sealing of our Requests in the word Amen which is Signaculum Fidei an Expression of our Faith and Hope And actus desiderii the strength of our Desire There is the Amen of Faith and the Amen of hearty Desire as by and by Now let us look upon this Conclusion first as a Doxology or expression of praise to God And the Note is Doct. That in every Address to God lauding or praising of God is necessary For in this perfect Form of Prayer Christ teaches us not only to ask things needful for our selves but to ascribe to God things proper to him There are two words used in this Case in Scripture Praise and Blessing Praise relateth to God's Excellency and Blessing to his Benefits Psalm 145. 10. All thy Works shall praise thee O Lord and thy Saints shall bless thee All the Works of God declare his Excellency but the Saints will ever be ascribing to God the Benefits they have received from him So they are spoken of as Things though somewhat alike yet as distinct Nehem. 9. 5. Blessed be thy glorious Name which is exalted above all Blessing and Praise Our Praise cannot reach the Excellency of his Nature nor our Blessing express the Worth of his Benefits Both may be here intended For thine is Kingdom and Power relateth to his Excellency and thine is the Glory to his Benefits for God's Glory is the Reflex of all his Works and so expresseth the Benefits shewed to the Sons of Men especially to his People Well then when-ever you would pray to God to bless you you must bless God again and praise his Name Ephes. 1. 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual Blessings in Heavenly Places in Christ. 'T is the Eccho and Reflex of his Grace and Mercy to the Creatures God blesseth us and we bless God as the Eccho returneth the Word or the Wall beateth back the Beams of the Sun Only consider We bless God far otherwise than he blesseth us God's Blessing is operative ours declarative His words are accompanied with Power Benedicere is Benefacere He doth good we speak good when we remember the blessed Effects of his Grace and tell what he hath done for our Souls The Reasons why we are to mingle Praises and Thanksgiving with our Requests are these 1. Because this complieth more with the great end of Worship which is not so much the Relief of Man as the Honour of God therefore we should not only intend the supply of our Necessities for that 's but a brutish Cry howling for Corn Wine and Oil Hosea 7. 14. But we should intend also the Honour of God Psal. 50. 23. Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me A Man may offer Requests to God yet not honour him but seek himself but he that offereth Praise glorifieth me He that doth affectionately and from his Heart give God the honour of his Attributes and Titles in Scripture he glorifieth him and therefore Worship being for the Glory 〈◊〉 God that should not be left out 2. This is the most effectual spiritual Oratory or way of praying Psal. 67. 5. Let the People praise thee O God Let all the People praise thee What then Then shall the Earth yield her increase and God even our own God shall bless us We have Comforts increased the more we praise God for what we have already received The more Vapours go up the more Showrs come down as the Rivers receive so they pour out and all run into the Sea again There is a constant circular Course and Recourse from the Sea unto the Sea So there is between God and us the more we praise him the more our Blessings come down and the more his Blessings come down the more we praise him again so that we do not so much bless God as bless our selves When the Springs lie low we pour a little Water into the Pump not to inrich the Fountain but to bring up more for our selves 3. It 's the noblest part of Worship and most excellent and acceptable Service It is a great honour to Creatures to bestow blessing upon God In other Duties God is bestowing something on us but in praise according to our manner and as Creatures can we bestow something upon God In Prayer we come as Beggars expecting an Alms In Hearing we come as Scholars and Disciples expecting Instruction from God Here according to our Measure and Ability we give something to him not because he needs it being infinitely perfect but because he deserves it being infinitely gracious This is the Work of Angels and glorified Saints Other Duties more agree with our imperfect State as Hearing and Prayer that our Wants may be supplied but this Duty agrees with our State when we are most perfect Love is the Grace of Heaven and Praise the Duty of Heaven we are for Vials they Harps Prayer is our main Work and Praise theirs Vse To reprove us that we are altogether for the supply of our Necessities but little think of giving God the honour due to his Name Either we meddle not with it at all or do it in a very slighty fashion In this perfect form the Glory of God is the Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending of this short Prayer the first Petition it is for God's Glory and the final Conclusion also And therefore it is verily a Fault that God is no more praised In our Addresses to him Psal. 22. 3. it 's said O thou that inhabitest the Praises of Israel the meaning is dwellest in Israel where he is praised of them because it is the great Work they are about Surely our Assemblies should more resound with the Praises of God In Church-Worship there should be a mixture of Harps which are Instruments of Praise as well as Vials full of Odors which are the Prayers of the Saints Rev. 5. 8. But usually we thrust Gratulation Thanksgiving and Praise into a narrow Room and are scanty therein but can be large and copious in expressing our Wants and begging a Supply This Duty is made too great a Stranger in your dealings with God What are the Reasons of this Defect 1. Self-Love We are eager to have Blessings but we forget to return to give God the Glory Prayer is a Work of Neeessity but Praise a Work of Duty and Homage Self-Love puts us upon Prayer but
Men Angels and Devils according to his Pleasure It is more absolute than any Superiority in the World and more universal as comprizing all Persons and Things God hath right to be King because he gave being to all things which no Earthly Pâ—tentate can Therefore the Author must be owner All other Kings are liable to be called to account and reckoning by this great King for their Administration but God is Absolute and Supream Now this is a great incouragement to us that we go to a God that hath an absolute Right for which he is responsible to none We go not to a Servant or a subordinate Agent who may be controul'd by a higher Power and whose Act may be disanulled but to an absolute Lord to whom none can say What dost thou Job 9. 12. Here 's the Comfort of a Believer that he goes immediatly to the Fountain and Owner of all Things the Absolute Lord of all the World is his Father the soveraign and free disposing of all Things is in his Hand If we expect any thing from subordinate Instruments God's leave must first be asked or they can do nothing for us but he can do what he pleaseth 't is his own Mat. 20. 15. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own None can call him to an account 2. His Relation to the Saints It is the Duty of a King to defend his Subjects and provide for their welfare So God being King will see that it be well with those that are under his Government It concerns you much to get an Interest to be under this King then to mention it in Prayer Psal. 44. 4. Thou art my King O God command deliverances for Jacob. If you want any thing for your selves or the Church put God in mind of his Relation to you Thou are my King Let not this Interest lie neglected or unpleaded All the Benefit which Subjects can expect from a potent King you may expect from God Again the word Command is notable and expresseth the Case to the full command Deliver ances All Things are at God's Command and Beck if he do but speak the word or give out Order to second Causes it is all done in a trice So Psal. 5. 2. Hearken unto the Voice of my Cry my King and my God for unto thee will I pray to thee and to none other Why should we go to Servants when we may go to the King himself So Psal. 74 12. For God is my King of old working Salvation in the midst of the Earth God will defend his Kingdom and right his injur'd Subjects Therefore if we would have any Blessing to be accomplished for our selves or for the Publick let us go to God Thine is the Kingdom And more especially if we would have any good thing to be done by those in Authority and subordinate Power over us do not so much treat with them as with God Let us beseech God to perswade and incline their Hearts for his is the Kingdom he can move them to do what shall be for the glory of his Name and the comfort and benefit of his afflicted People Let us go to God who is the sovereign King he can give you to live a quiet and peaceable Life in all Godliness and Honesty 1 Tim. 2. 2. Or he can give you Favour dispose of their Hearts to do good to his People Nehem. 1. 11. Prosper I pray thee thy Servant this day and grant him Mercy in the sight of this Man For I was the King's Cup-bearer The soveraign disposal of all things is in the Hand of God 2. Thine is the Power This also is an Argument of Confidence that God hath not only â— Kingdom but Power to back it Titles without Power make Authority ridiculous and beget â—â—orn nâ—t Reverence and Respect But now 〈◊〉 Kingdom is accompanied with Power and 〈…〉 He hath right to command all Kings no Creature can be too hard for him Earthâ—◠〈◊〉 when they have Authority and Power 〈◊〉 it is limited 2 Kings 6. 27. When the Woâ—an came to the King of Israel Help my Lord O â—ing Aâ—d he said If the Lord do not help 〈…〉 shall I help thee â—ut God's is an â—nlimited Power An absolute Right and an â—nlimited Power they meet fitly in God thereâ—ore this is an encouragement to go to him Christians that Power of God which educed all things out of nothing which established the Heavens which fixed the Earth that Power of God it 's the ground of our Confidence Psal. 121. 2. My help cometh fâ—om the Lord which made Heaven and Earth This Power should we depend upon We can ask nothing but what God is able to give yea above our asking Eph. 3. 20. Now unto him that is able â—o do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think Our Thoughts are vast and our Desires very craving and yet beyond all that we can ask or think According to the mighty Power that â—orkâ—th in us We cannot empty the Ocean with a Nutshel nor comprehend the Infinite God and raise our Thoughts to the vast extent of his Power only we must go to some instances oâ— God's Power that Power which made the World out of nothing and that Power which wrought in you where there is such infinite Resistance We may go to God and say Mat. 8. 2. Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean You need not trouble your selves about his Will he is so Good and Gracious prone and ready to do good so inclineable he is your heavenly Father But that which is most qâ—estioned is the Sufficiency of God can you believe his Power Now determine but that Lord thou canst and that 's a great relief to the Soul Our Wants are not so many but God is able to supply them our Enemies and Corruptions not so strong but God is able to subdue them surely your heavenly Father will do what is in the Power of his Hand A Beggar when he seeth an ordinary Man coming lets him pass without much Importunity but when he seeth a Man well habited well attended and with rich Accoutrements he runs close to him and will not let him alone but follows him with his Clamor knows it is in his power to help him So this should encourage us to go to the mighty God which made Heaven and Earth and all things out of nothing The third Argument which Christ propounds Thine is the Glory The Honour and Glory of all will redound to God as the Comfort accrueth to us it is for God's Honour to shew forth his Pâ—wer in our Relief and to be as good as his Word Now this is a ground of Conâ—idence That he hath joyned his Glory and our Good togâ—ther And that God's Praise waiteth while our dâ—liverance waiteth Psal. 65. 1. Praise waiteth for thee O God in Zion You think your Comfort stays and all this while God's Honour waits So Psal. 112. 1. Praise ye the Lord Blessed is
the Mâ—n that feareth the Lord. It is the Lord's praise tâ—at his Servants are the only and blessed People in the World And this is a wonderful ground of Confidence Think surely God's Glory he will be chary and tender of he will provide for the Glory of his great Name There is nothing God stands upon more than upon the Glory of his Name nothing prevaileth with God more than that If God were a loser by your Comforts if he could not â—ave or bless thee without wrong done to himself we might be discouraged But when you can come and plead with him as Abigail It will be no grief of Heart unto my Lord to forgive thy Servant So it will be no loss to God if he shew Mercy and Pity to such poor Creatures as we are you then may pray more freely and boldly If thy Comforts were inconsistent with his Glory or were not so greatly exalted by it then it were another matter but all makes for the Glory of his Name If our Good and Happiness were only concerned in it there might be some Suspicion but the Glory of God is concerned which is more worth than all the World We are unworthy to be heard and accepted but God is worthy to be honoured It is for the Honour of God to choose base mean and contemptible Things and to shew forth the Riches Goodness Power and Treasure of his Glory Much of our Trouble and Distrust comes only from reflecting upon our own Good in the Mercies that we ask as if God were not concerned in them whereas the Lord is concerned as well as you As the Ivy wrapt about the Tree cannot be hurt except you do hurt to the Tree So the Lord hath twisted our Concernment about his own Honour and Glory Thus the Saints plead God's Glory as an Argument Jer. 14. 7. O Lord tho our Iniquitieâ— testify against us do thou it for thy Names sake They do not tell him what he shall do but do thou that which shall be for thy Glory So Ezek. 36. 22. Thus saith the Lord God I do not this for your sakes O House of Israel but for mine holy Names sake So Isa. 48. 9. For my Names sake will I defer mine anger and for my Praise will I refrain for thee that I 〈…〉 4. The Duration For ever all Excellencies which are in God they are eternally in God God is an infinite simple independent Being the Cause of all things but caused by none therefore he was from Everlasting and will be to Everlasting Psal. 90. 2. Before the Mountains were brought forth or ever thou hadst formed the Earth and the World even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God If there were a time when God was not then there was a time when nothing was and then there would never have been any thing unless nothing could make all things therefore God is eternally glorious for whatever is in God is originally in himself and absolutely without dependance on any other to everlasting How loosely do Honours sit upon Men Every Disease shakes them out of their Kingdom Power and Glory and within a little while the State Show and all the Command of Earthly Kings will fade away and come to nothing Governours and Government may dye Principalities grow old and infirm and sicken and dye as well as Princes Kingdoms expire like Kings and they like us Psal. 82. 6 7. I have said ye are Gods and all of you are Children of the most High But ye shall dye like Men. But thy Throne O God is for ever and ever Psal. 45. 6. His Kingdom and Power and Glory they are without beginning and without end Now this is also a ground of Confidence and Dependance upon God Earthly Kings when they perish their Favourites are counted Offenders 1 Kings 1. 21. When my Lord the King shall sleep with his Fathers that I and my Son Solomon shall be counted Offenders When other Governours are set up they and their Children will be found Offenders But our King lives for ever therefore this should encourage us to be oftner in attendance upon God performing it with all Diligence and Seriousness rather than court the Humours and Lusts of earthly Potentates who die like one of the People and leave us exposed to the rage and wrath of others that do succeed them But God is the same that ever he was to all those that ever called upon his Name God is where he was at first I AM is his Name there is no wrinkle upon the Brow of Eternity His Arm is not short that it cannot save or his Ear heavy that it cannot hear Isa. 59. 1. Whatever he hâ—th been to his People that have called upon him in former Ages he is the same still So Isa. 51. 9. Awake awake put on strength O Arm of the Lord awake as in the ancient days in the Generations of old Art thou not it that hath cut 〈◊〉 and woundâ—d the Dragon God hath done great things for his People he smote Rahab and kill'd the Dragon meaning Phaâ—aoh and God is the same God still his Kingdom Power and Glory are for ever and God will be your God too for evermore Look as this doth encrease the terror of the damned in Hell that they fall into the Hands of the living God Heb. 10. 31. God lives for ever to see Vengeance executed upon his Enemies so it is a Comfort to have an interest in the living God that can and will keep you and bring you to Heaven where you shall be with him for evermore that will ever live to see his Friends rewarded Secondly It directeth and regulateth our Prayers 1. It directs us as to the Object of Prayer to whom should we pray but to him that is absolute and above controul To God and God alone not to Angels and Saints To whom should we go in our necessities but to him that hath Dominion over all things and Power to dispose of them for his own Glory Will you think it a boldness to go immediately to God It were so indeed if we had not a Mediator for a fallen Creature can never have the Impudence and wicked Men that have not got an Interest in Christ cannot expect Relief from God but it is no Impudence to come with a Mediator Heb. 4. 16. Let us therefore come boldly to the Throne of Grace that we may obtain Mercy and find Grace to help in time of need 2. It directs us how to conceive of God in Prayer Right Thoughts of God in Prayer are very necessary and very difficult no one thing troubleth the Saints so much as this how to fix their thoughts in the apprehensions of God when they pray to him Now hereâ—s a direction how we should look upon God Look upon him as the eternal Being and first Cause to whom belong Kingdom Power and Glory We cannot see God's Essence and therefore we must conceive of him according to his Praises in the Word Now take
but the Preface and the Conclusion and then you have a full Description of God Look upon him as an Eternal Being whose is the Kingdom absolute Right to dispose of all things in the World backed with All sufficiency and Strength And look upon him as your Father that is in Heaven for Our Father which art in Heaven relates to Christ that is in the heavenly Sanctuary appearing before God for us This will help you in your Conceptions of God that you may not be puzled nor intangled in Prayer 3. It directs us as to the Manner of praying with Reverence with Self-abhorrency and with Submission 1. With Reverence for he is a great powerful and glorious King Thine is the Kingdom Power and Glory O shall we serve God then in a slight and careless Fashion Mal. 1. 8. If ye offer the Blind the Lame and Sick for Sacrifice is it not evil Offer it now unto thy Governour will he be pleased with thee or accept thy Person saith the Lord of Hosts Go to an Earthly King would you come to him with rude Addresses not thinking what to say tumbling out Words without Sence and Understanding And compare this with Vers. 14. saith God when they brought him a sickly Offering I am a great King implying it is a lessening of his Majesty You do as it were dethrone God you put him besides his Kingdom you do not treat him as he doth deserve if you do not come into his presence with a holy Trembling 2. With Self-abhorrency and a Sense of your own Nothingness I observe this because all the Arguments in Prayer are not taken from us but from what is in God from his Attributes Thine is the Kingdom Power and Glory It is a blessed thing to have God's Attributes on our side to take an Argument from God when we can take none from our selves Christ teacheth us to come with Self-denial The two first Words Kingdom and Power shew that all things come from God as the first Cause and the last Word Thine is the Glory shews all must be referred to God as the last End So that Self must be cast out So that all the Reasons of Audience and Acceptance are without us not from within us Dan. 9. 8 9. To us belongeth Confusion of Face to the Lord our God belong Mercies and Forgivenesses Therefore thus it directs us to place all our Confidence in God's fatherly Affection in his Power Goodness and Glory and in his absolute Authority nothing to move God from our selves 3. To come with Submission Thine is the Kingdom that is he hath an absolute Power to dispose of all Blessings therefore it is lawful for him to do with his own as he pleaseth We must come not murmuring or prescribing to God but expecting the fulfilling of our desires as it shall seem good to the Lord according to his Wisdom and Power by which he exercises his Kingdom over all Things as may be for the Glory of his Name Psal. 115. 1. Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name give Glory for thy Mercy and for thy Truths sake Not to satisfy our Revenge not to gratify our private Interest and Passions but Lord for thy Name-sake as may be for manifesting thy Mercy and Truth so do it Not too passionate for our own Ends but confident that God who hath the Kingdom and Government of the World in his own hands will administer and carry on all Things for his own Glory 4. It directs us again what are the Duties of the Persons praying 1. Freely to resign up our selves to God's Service Otherwise we mock God when we acknowledge his Dominion over all the World and we our selves will not be made subject to God Therefore certainly a Man that useth this Prayer Thine is the Kingdom Power and Glory will also say I am thine save me Psal. 119. 94. Let us freely resign up our selves for him to reign over us Can you say with any face to God Thine is the Kingdom yet cherish rebellious Lusts in your own Hearts It 's the most unsuitable thing that can be Thine is the Power He is able to bear you out in his Work however the World rage And therefore we should not think scorn of his Service for his is the Glory The Service of such a King will put honour upon you 2. Another Duty of him that is to pray is to depend upon God's All-sufficiency Shall we speak thus of God and say Lord Thine is the Power and yet not rely upon him He that cannot rely upon him for this Life and the other doth but reproach God when he saith Thine is the Power Thine is the Power yet I will not trust thee but fly to base Shifts as if the Creature had Power and Man had Power as if they could better provide for us then God Therefore we are to live upon him and cast our selves into the Arms of his All-sufficiency 3. Another Duty of them that would pray this Prayer is sincerely to aim at and seek the Lord's Glory in all things Why for the Glory is thine Wilt thou say Thine is the Glory and yet give and take the Glory which is due to God to thy selâ— All is due to him from whom we have received all things But he that prides himself in Gifts and Graces cannot be in good earnest Wilt thou rob God of the Honour and wear it thy self Did â—en believe all Glory belongs to God they would not take Vain-glory to themselves Heroâ— was eloquent and the People cried out The Voice of a God and not of a Man He did but receive this Applause and usurped the Glory due to God and God blasted him Therefore when we pride our selves in our Sufficiencies and abuse our Comforts to our own Lusts we cannot with a good Conscience say Thine is the Glory Forâ—â—ver Amen ALL this is seal'd up to us in the last Word Amen Which may signify either so be it so let it be or so it shall be The Word Amen sometimes is taken Nominally Rev. 3. 14. Thus saith the Amen the faithful and true Witness the beginning of the Creation of God Sometimes it is taken Adverbially and so it signifieth Verily and Truly and so either it may express a great Asseveration or an affectionate Desire Sometimes it expresseth a great and vehement Assâ—veration John 6. 47. Amen Amen Verily Verily I say unto you In other places it is put for an affectionate Desire Ier. 28. 6. When the false Prophets prophesied Peace and Ieremiah pronounced War Amen! the Lord do so the Lord perform thy Words which thou hast prophesied Amen 't is not an Asseveration as confirming the Truth of their Prophecy but expressing his own hearty wish and desire if God saw it good Two things are required in Prayer a fervent Desire and Faith A fervent Desire therefore it is said James 5. 16. The effectual fervent Prayer of a righteous Man availeth much And then Faith James 1.
Thomas Manton DD. A PRACTICAL EXPOSITION OF THE Lord's-Prayer BY The late Reverend and Learned Divine THOMAS MANTON D.D. LONDON Printed by I. D. and are to be sold by Ionathan Robinson at the Golden-Lion in St. Paul's Church-yard 1684. The Preface SUch is the Divine Matter and admirable Order of the Lord's Prayer as became the Eternal Wisdom of God that composed and dictated it to his Disciples In it are opened the Fountains of all our regular Petitions and the Arguments contained to encourage our Hopes for obtaining them In our Addresses to Men our study is to conciliate their favourable Audience but God is most graciously inclin'd and ready to grant our Requests therefore we are directed to call upon him by the Title of Our Father in Heaven to assure us of his Love and Power and thereby to excite our reverent Attention to raise our Affections to confirm our Confidence in Prayer The supream end of our desires is the Glory of God in Conjunction with our own Happiness This is exprest in the two first Petitions That His Name may be Hallowed and His Kingdom come that we may partake of its Felicity In order to this our Desires are directed for the Means that are proper and effectual to accomplish it And those are of two kinds the good things that conduct us and the removal of those Evils that obstruct our Happiness The good things are either the Spiritual and Principal Means to prepare us for Glory an intire cordial and constant Obedience to the divine Commands exprest in the third Petition Thy Will be done on Earth as 't is in Heaven Or natural and subservient the Supports and Comforts of this Life which are contained in the fourth Petition Give us this Day our daily Bread The removal of Evils is disposed according to the order of the good Things we are to seek We pray that our Sins may be forgiven the guilt of which directly excludes from his glorious Kingdom that we may be preserved from Temptations that withdraw us from observing the Divine Commands and to be delivered from all afflicting Evils that hinder our arrival at our blessed End The Conclusion is to strengthen our Faith by ascribing to our Heavenly Father the Kingdom Power and Glory and to express our ardent desires of his Blessing by saying Amen This divine comprehensive Prayer is the Subject of the following Sermons wherein the Characters of Dr. Manton's Spirit are so conspicuous as sufficiently discover them to be his and the Reader is assured they have been diligently compared with his own Copy WILLIAM BATES ADVERTISEMENT DR Manton's second Volumn of Sermons in Folio on the 25th Chapter of St. Matthew the 17th of St. Iohn the sixth and eighth Chapters to the Romans and the fifth of the second Epistle to the Corinthians being perused by Dr. Bates Dr. Collins and Mr. How is now in the Press and will be finished with all Expedition there being three Presses already at work and two more will be shortly imployed for the dispatch thereof Therefore all Persons who expect the benefit of the Proposals are desired to send in their Money forthwith The Proposals are to be had at Ionathan Robinson's at the Golden Lion in St. Pauls Church-yard AN INTRODUCTION TO THE EXPOSITION OF THE Lord's-Prayer MATTH 6. 6 7 8. But thou when thou prayest enter into thy Closet and when thou hast shut the Door pray to thy Father c. I Intend to go over the Lord's Prayer and to make way for it I shall speak a little of these foregoing Verses wherein our Lord treats of the Duty of Prayer and the Necessity of being much therein In the beginning of this Chapter our Lord taxeth the Hypocrisy of the Pharisees which was plainly to be seen in all their Duties their Alms their Prayers and their Fasting I. For their Alms. Christ deals with that in the four first Verses It seems it was their Fashion when they gave Alms to sound a Trumpet and their Pretence was to call all the Poor within hearing Or to give notice that such a Rabby giveth Alms to Day Now our Lord sheweth that tho this were the fair pretence to call the Poor yet their Heart was meerly upon their own Glory their own Esteem with Men and therefore he perswades his Disciples to greater Secresy in this Work and to content themselves with God's Approbation which will be open and manifest and honourable enough in due time when the Arch-Angel shall blow the Trumpet to call all the World together 1 Thes. 4. 16. And Christ shall publish their good Works in the hearing of Men and Angels Matth. 25. 34 35 36. Thus he deals with them upon the point of Alms. II. For their Prayers Christ taxeth their Affectation of Applause because they sought out places of the greatest Resort the Synagogues and Corners of the Streets and there did put themselves into a praying Posture that they might be seen of Men and appear to be Persons of great Devotion and so might the better accomplish their own Ends their Publick Designs upon the Stage for the Pharisees were great Sticklers at that time and also their private Designs upon Widows Houses that they might be trusted with the management of Widows and Orphans Estates as being devout Men and of great Sanctity and Holiness In which Practice there was a double Failing 1. As to the Circumstance of Place performing a personal and solitary Prayer in a publick Place which was a great Indecorum and argued the Action to be Scenical or brought upon the Stage meerly for publick Applause And certainly that private Praying which is used by Men in Churches doth justly come under our Lord's Reproof 2. Their next Failing was as to their End Verily they do it to be seen of Men. Object But what Fault was there in this Doth not Christ himself direct us in his Sermon Mat. 5. 16. Let your Light so shine before Men that they may see your good Works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven And yet the Pharisees are here taxed for praying fasting and giving Alms that they might be seen of Men How can these Places stand together By way of Answer 1. We must distinguish of the different Scope and Intention of Christ in these two places There Christ's Scope is to commend and enjoin good Works to be seen of Men ad edificationem for their Edification Here his Scope is to forbid us to do good Works to be seen of Men ad ostentationem for our own Ostentation There Christian Charity to the Souls of Men is commended and here Vain-Glory is forbidden 2. Again Good Works are to be distinguished Some are so truly and indeed others only in outward shew and appearance Good Works that are truly so and indeed Christ enjoins there Hypocritical and feigned Acts that are only so in outward shew and semblance are forbidden here To pray is a good Work take inward and outward Acts of it together and so 't
Instrument out of Tune but it s being neglected and not looked after Certainly by Experience we find none so tender so holy so humble and heavenly as they which are often with God This makes the Heart tender which otherwise would grow hard dead and stupid 2. It is not only an Omission in general but an Omission of Prayer which is first a Duty very natural to the Saints Prayer is a Duty very natural and kindly to the new Creature As soon as Paul was converted the first News we hear of him Acts 9. 11. Behold he prayeth As soon as we are new-born there will be a crying out for Relief in Prayer It is the Character of the Saints This is the Generation of them that seek thee Psal. 24. 6. a People much in calling upon God And the Prophet describes them by the Work of Prayer Zeph. 3. 10. My Supplicants And Zech. 12. 10. I will pour upon them the Spirit of Grace and Supplication Where ever there is a Spirit of Grace it presently runneth out into Prayer Look as a Preacher is so called from the frequency of his Work so a Christian is one that calleth upon God Every one that calleth on the Name of the Lord shall be saved Rom. 10. 13. In vain he is called a Preacher that never preacheth so he is in vain called a Christian that never prayeth As Things of an airy Nature move upward so the Saints are carried up to God by a kind of Naturality when they are gracious God hath no Tongue-ty'd or dumb Children they are all crying Abba Father Then it is an Omission of a Duty which is of great Importance as to our Communion with God which lieth in two Things Fruition and Familiarity in the Enjoyment of God and in being familiar and often with him Fruition we have by Faith and Familiarity is carried on by Prayer There are two Duties which are never out of season Hearing and Prayer both which are a holy Dialogue betwixt God and the Soul until we come to Vision the Sight of him in Heaven Our Communion with God here is carried on by these two Duties We speak to God in Prayer God answereth us in the Word God speaks to us in the Word and we return and eccho back again to him in Prayer Therefore the New Creature delighteth much in these two Duties Look as we should be swift to hear James 1. 19. until we come to seeing we should take all Occasions and be often in hearing So in Prayer we speak to God and therefore should be redeeming Time for this Work In the Word God comes down to us and in Prayer we get up to God therefore if you would be familiar and often with God you must be much in Prayer This is of great Importance You know the very Notion of Prayer it is a visiting of God Isa. 26. 16. O Lord in Trouble have they visited thee they poured out a Prayer when thy Chastening was upon them Praying to God and visiting of God are equivalent Expressions Now it argueth very little Friendship to God when we will not so much as come at him Can there be any Familiarity where there is so much Distance and Strangeness as never to give God a Visit 3. It is the Omission of personal and secret Prayer which in some respects should be more priz'd than other Prayer Partly because here our Converse with God is more express as to our own Case When we join with others God may do it for their sakes but here Psal. 116. 1. I love the Lord because he hath heard my Voice and my Supplication When we deal with him alone we put the Promises in Suit and may know more it is we that have been heard We put God more to the Trial we see what he will do for us and upon our asking and striving Partly here we are more put to the Trial what Love we will express to our Father in secret when we have no outward Reasons no Inducements from Respects of Men to move us In publick Duties which are liable and open to the Observance of others Hypocrites may put forth themselves with great vigor quickness and warmth whereas in private Addresses to God they are slight and careless A Christian is best tried and exercised in private in those secret Intercourses between God and his own Soul there he finds most Communion with God and most Enlargement of Heart A Man cannot so well judg of his Spirit and discern the Workings of it in publick because other Mens Concernments and Necessities mingled with ours are taken in and because he is more liable to the Notice of others But when he is with God alone he hath only Reasons of Conscience and Duty to move him When none but God is conscious and our own Hearts then we shall see what we do for the Approbation of God and Acceptance with him And partly in some respects this is to be more prized because Privacy and Retiredness is necessary and is a great Advantage that Mens Spirits may be setled and composed for the Duty Sinful Distractions will croud in upon us when in Company and we are thinking of this and that How often do we mingle Sulphur with our Incense carnal Thoughts in our Worship How apt are we to do so in publick Duties But in private we are wholly at leasure to deal with God in a Child-like Liberty Now will you omit this Duty where you may be most free without distraction to let out the Heart to God And partly because a Man will not be fit to pray in publick and in Company which doth not often pray in secret he will lose his Savour and Delight in this Exercise and soon grow dry barren sapless and careless of God Look as in the Prophet Ezekiel you read there that the Glory of the Lord removed from the Temple by degrees it first removed from the Holy Place then to the Altar of Burnt-Offerings then to the Threshold of the House then to the City then to the Mount which was on the East Side of the City there the Glory of the Lord stood hovering a while as loth to be gone to see if the People would get it back again This seems to be some Emblem and Representation of God's dealing with particular Men First God is cast out of the Closet private Intercourses between God and them are neglected and then he is cast out of the Family and within a little while out of the Congregation publick Ordinances begin to be slighted and to be looked upon as useless things and then Men are given up to all Prophaneness and Loosness and lose all So that Religion as it were dieth by degrees and a carnal Christian loseth more and more of the Presence of God And therefore if we would be able to pray in Company we must often pray in secret 4. Consider the Mischief which followeth Neglect of private Converse with God Omissions make way for Commissions If
Humility and Reverence His Goodness in your Soul 's rejoycing His Greatness and Iustice in your trembling before his Throne The Worship must be like the Worshipped it must have his Stamp upon it 2. For the other Notion God is a Spirit therefore the Soul must be the chief Agent in the Business not the Body or any Member of the Body Spirits they converse with Spirits The Body is but employed by the Soul and must not guide and lead it but be led by it Therefore see whether there be the Spirit otherwise that which is most Essential to the Worip is wanting To have nothing employed but the Tongue and the Heart about other Business is not to carry your selves as to a God and a God that is a Spirit Recollect your selves where 's my Soul in this Worship And how is it affected towards God Secondly As there must be Thoughts to direct us in his Being and Nature so also in his Relation as a Father As one that is inclinable to pardon pity and help you We have the Spirit of Adoption given us for this very end and purpose that we may cry Abba Father and Gal. 4. 16. Because you are Sons therefore he hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your Hearts crying Abba Father And Rom. 8. 15. We have received the Spirit of Adoption crying Abba Father that we may come to God in a Child-like manner dealing with him as with a Father acquainting him with our Wants Necessities Burdens with a hope of Relief and Supply Object Ay saith a distressed Soul if my Heart be thus carried up to God if I could discern such a Spirit of Adoption prompting me to go to God as a Father then it would be better with me To this I answer 1. Many times there is a Child-like Inclination where there is not a Child-like Familiarity and Boldness What 's that Child-like Inclination The Soul cannot keep away from God and that 's an implicite owning him as a Father Jer. 3. 19. Thou shalt call me My Father and shalt not turn away from me It is a Child-like act to look to him for all our Supplies and to recommend our Suit As when a Child wants any thing he goes to his Father 2. There 's a Child-like Reverence many times when there is not a Child-like Confidence the Soul hath an awe of God when it cannot explicitely own him as our God and Father yet it owns him in the humbling way Luk. 15. 18. I have sinned against Heaven and before thee and am not worthy to be called thy Son Tho we cannot confidently approach to God as our reconciled Father yet we come with Humility and Reverence Lord I would fain be but I deserve not to be called thy Child 3. There 's a Child-like dependance upon God's General Offer tho we have not an Evidence of the Sincerity of our particular Claim God offereth to be a Father in Christ to all penitent Believers Now when a broken-hearted Creature comes to God and looks for Mercy upon the account of the Covenant tho he cannot see his own Interest for then we come to God tho not as our Father yet as the God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ and that 's a Relief in Prayer as Eph. 1. 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ. And vers 17. The God of our Lord Iesus Christ the Father of Glory And Eph. 3. 14. I bow my Knees unto the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ. Mark when we come to him as the Father of Christ we believe what God offereth in the Covenant of Grace namely that he will deal kindly with us as a Father with his Children that he will be good to those that come to him by Christ. The Term Father is not only to be considered with respect to the Disposition or Qualification of the Persons but the Dispensation they are under 'T is the New Covenant In the new Covenant God undertakes to be Fatherly that is to pitty our Miseries to pardon our Sins to heal our Natures to save our Persons Now all that come for refuge to take hold of this hope set before them may come to God as a Father if they believe the Gospel in general tho they are not assured of God's love to themselves 4. There may be a Child-like Love to God when yet we have not a Sense and Assurance of his Paternal Love to us God hath a Title to our choicest and dearest Love before we can make out a Title to his highest Benefits We owe our Hearts to him Prov. 23. 26. My Son give me thy Heart If you give him your Hearts you are Sons tho you know it not God may be owned as a Father either by our Sense of his Fatherly Love or by our Choice and Esteem of him Optando si non affirmando Come as Fatherless without him Hos. 14. 3. or to speak it in other Words the unutterable Groans of the Spirit do discover the Spirit of Adoption as well as the unspeakable Joys of the Spirit 1 Pet. 1. 8. There is an Option and Choice tho we be not assured of our special Relation 5. God is glorified by an Affiance and a resolute Adherence where there is no Assurance When you are resolved let him deal with you as an Enemy you will stick to him as a Father Job 13. 15. Tho he slay me yet will I trust in him Faith can take God as a Friend and Father and put a good construction upon his Dealings when he seems to come against us as an Enemy And we give Glory to God when we can adhere to him as our only Happiness and trust his Fatherly Kindness and Goodness tho he cover himself with Frowns and hide himself from our Prayers and you own him as the Father of Mercies tho it may be you have no Sense and Feeling of his Fatherly Love to you 6. There is a difference between the Gift it self and the Degree We cannot say we have not the Spirit of Adoption because we have not so much of the Spirit of Adoption as others have I mean as to the Effects We may have the Spirit as a Sanctifyer tho not as a Comforter tho he doth not calm our Hearts and rebuke our Fears yet if he doth sanctify us and incline us to God The Spirit was only given to Christ without measure but to Christians in a different Measure and Proportion and usually as you submit more to his gracious Conduct and overcome the Enemies of your Peace the Devil the World and the Flesh. The impression is left upon some in a smaller and upon others in a larger Character All are not of one growth and size some are more explicitely Christians others in a Riddle Much Grace doth more discover it self than a little Grace under a heap of Imperfection Some are more mortified and Heavenly-minded than others 7. When all other Helps fail Faith will make use of our common Relation
is not to be understood so as if he were included in Heaven or locally circumscribed within the Compass of it For the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him 1 Kin. 8. 27. In regard of his Essence he is in all Places being infinite and indivisible He is not included within the Heavens nor excluded from Earth but filleth all Places alike Ier. 23. 24. Do not I fill Heaven and Earth saith the Lord. But yet in an especial manner is God present in Heaven That appears because there is his Throne Psal. 103. 19. He hath prepared his Throne in the Heavens Earthly Kings they have their Thrones exalted higher than other Places but God's Throne is above all it is in Heaven He hath a more universal and unlimited Empire than all the Kings of the Earth so he hath a more glorious Throne Heaven is the most convenient Place to set forth his Majesty and Glory to the World because of the Sublimity Amplitude and Purity of it And so Isa. 66. 1. Thus saith the Lord The Heaven is my Throne and the Earth is my Footstool Heaven is his Throne because there is his Majestical Presence more of his Glory and Excellency is discovered And the Earth is his Footstool because there in the lowest part of the World he manifesteth his powerful Presence among the lower Creatures Briefly to conceive how God is in Heaven we must consider 1. The several ways of his Presence He is in Christ hypostatically essentially or as the Apostle speaks bodily Col. 2. 19. The Fulness of God dwells in him bodily In the Temple under the Law there God was present symbolically because there were the Signs and Tokens of his Presence The Jewish Temple was a Sacramental Place and Type of Christ in whose Name and by whose Merit Worship was acceptable to God But now in Christians he is present energetically and operatively by his Spirit And in Heaven he there dwells by some eminent Effects of his Wisdom Power Greatness and Goodness God hath shewed more of his Workmanship in the Structure of the Heavens than in any other part of the Creation that being the most glorious part of the World Psal. 19. 1 2 3. The Heavens declare the Glory of the Lord and the Firmament sheweth his handy Work c. Certainly it is meet God should dwell in the most glorious part of the World now Heaven is the most glorious part of the Creation Heathens in their Straits would not look to the Capitol where their Idols were but to Heaven where God hath impressed his Majesty and Greatness When ever we look upon these aspectable Heavens the vast Expansion of those glorious Luminaries the Purity of the Matter and Sublimity of its Posture it cannot but raise our Hearts to think of a glorious God that dwelleth there When we come by a poor Cottage we guess the Inhabitant is no great Person but when we see a magnificent Structure we easily imagine some Person of account dwells there So tho the Earth doth declare the Glory of God and shew much of his Wisdom and Power yet chiefly the Heavens when ever we look upon them we cannot chuse but have awful Thoughts and be struck with a Religious Horrour at the remembrance of the great God which hath stretched out these Heavens by his Wisdom and Power 2. Therefore God is said to dwell in Heaven because from thence he manifesteth his powerful Providence Wisdom Justice and Goodness God is not so shut up in Heaven as not to mind human Affairs and to take notice of what is done here below Psal. 11. 4. The Lords Throne is in Heaven His Eyes behold his Eye-lids try the Children of Men. Tho his Throne be in Heaven yet his Providence is every where his Eyes behold he seeth how we behave our selves in his Presence and his Eye-lids try the Children of Men He may seem to wink now and then and to suspend the strokes of his Vengeance but it is but for our Trial. He owneth his Children from Heaven Deut. 26. 15. Look down from thy holy Habitation from Heaven and bless thy People And from thence he punisheth the Wicked Rom. 1. 18. The Wrath of God is revealed from Heaven 3. There is God most owned by the Saints and glorified Angels therefore he is said to dwell there as a King is beloved by his Subjects but most immediately served and attended upon by those of his own Court. So that in Heaven there we have the highest Pattern of all that Duty which doth immediately concern God In this Prayer Hallowed be thy Name thy Kingdom come thy Will be done these three Petitions concern God more immediately now before we put them up Christ would have us think of our Father in Heaven praised by 〈◊〉 and Saints that fall down before his Throne crying Honour â—lory and Praise There he Reignâ—th his â—hrone is there and there he is perfectly obeyed and served without any oppoâ—ition 4. There God is most enjoyed and therefore he dwells there for there he doth more immediately exhibit the fulness of his Glory to the Saints and Angels In Heaven God is all in all Here we are supplied at second or third Hand Hos. 2. 18. I will hear the Heavens and the Heavens shall hear the Earth c. But there God is immediately and fully enjoyed Here there are many Wants and Vacuities to be filled up But in thy Presence there is fulness of Ioy and at thy right hand there are Pleasures for evermore Psal. 16. 11. Look as when the Flood was poured out upon the World you read that the Windows of Heaven were opened Gen. 7. 11. The drops of Rain were upon Earth but the Cataracts and Flood-Gates were in Heaven So when he raineth down drops of Sweetness upon his People the Flood-Gates are above they are reserved for that place where they are fully enjoyed Thirdly Why hath God fixed and taken up his dwelling place in the Heavens I answer 1. Because mortal Men they cannot endure his glorious presence Deut. 5. 23. When ye heard the Voice out of the midst of the Darkness for the Mountain did burn with Fire ye said Behold the Lord our God hath shewed us his Glory and his Greatness and we have heard his Voice out of the midst of the Fire now therefore why should we dye For this great Fire will consume us if we hear the Voice of the Lord our God any more then we shall dye Any manifestations of God how easily do they over-set and overcome us A little Spiritual Enjoyment it is too strong for us If God pour out but a drop of Sweetness into the Heart we are ready to cry out Hold Lord it is enough Our crazy Vessels can endure no more Therefore when Christ was transfigured the Disciples were astonished and fell back they could not endure the Emissions and Beamings out of his Divine Glory because of the Weakness and Incapacity of the present State therefore hath God a place above
Prayers should be the Breathings of the Spirit and usually they are but the Belches and Eructations of the Flesh. And for these it is we are so instant and earnest with God We would have God bless us in some revengeful and carnal Enterprize We deal with God as the Thief that lighted his Candle at the Lamps of the Altar So many would make God a Party in their carnal Designs Prov. 21. 27. The Sacrifice of the Wicked is an Abomination how much more when he bringeth it with a wicked Mind It is an Abomination when it is at the best but when he hath an ill Aim then it is an Abomination with a witness Foolish Creatures vainly imagine to entice Heaven to their Lure Balaam buildeth Altars and sacrificed out of hope that God would curse his own People and engage in Moab's Quarrel like the Man in the Gospel that would make no other use of Christ than to compose his civil Difference Luke 12. 13. he comes to him as a Man of Authority Master speak to my Brother that he divide the Inheritance with me We all look upon God tanquam aliquem magnum as Austin said he did in his Infancy as some great Power that would serve all our carnal Turns In this Sence we make God to serve our Sins Isa. 43. 24. when we would have God to contribute to our Lusts to our Pride Wantonness Revenge This is such a foolish Request as if a Wife should beg of her Husband to give her leave to go on with her Adulteries Survey all the Petitions which are in this present Platform of Prayer there is not one that is calculated for such an evil purpose as our Revenge Pomp Pride Pleasure Carnal Self surely must give way to God 2. There 's a natural Self when we seek our own Temporal Felicity Christ hath allowed these natural Desires a Room in our Prayers but they must keep their Order and their Place first God's Glory and then our Safety The obtaining of natural Good is put in the last place And therefore when our Thoughts only run upon Temporal Felicity and outward Supplies it is not Prayer but a brutish Cry Hos. 7. 14. They howl upon their Beds for Corn Wine and Oil. Beasts are sensible of their Pain and are carried by natural Instinct to seek their own Welfare as well as Men. And therefore when this is our first and only Request it is a Perversion of that Order which Christ hath set down in this perfect Form of Prayer 3. There is Spiritual Self Which is valuable either in point of Justification or Acceptance with God or in point of Sanctification and Conformity to him Now as these Blessings cannot be severed from God's Glory where they are really enjoyed so they must not be severed in our Prayers nor preferred before it To ask Pardon as a separate Benefit as it concerns our Ease and Quiet not as it concerns God's Glory is a Perversion and a Diversion of our Prayers The main thing which God intends should be the main thing in our Requests is the Praise of his glorious Grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved Eph. 1. 6. And therefore this is the main thing which the Soul intends Psal. 79. 9. Help us O God of our Salvation for the Glory of thy Name and deliver us and purge away our Sins for thy Names sake The Argument is not taken from themselves meerly or from their own Misery but from God's Glory If God could not be more glorified in our Pardon and Acceptance with him than in our Death and Damnation it were an evil thing to desire Pardon But now when God hath abundantly cleared up this to us he is no Loser by Acts of Mercy that this conduceth more to the exalting of his great Name to accept poor Sinners to Mercy the Soul goeth with the more confidence to beg it of God that he would purge us from our Filthiness for his Names sake But now Mens Thoughts are wholly taken up with their own Peace and Safety and take no care for God's Honour this is but a Selfish Request or an Offer of Nature after Ease For the other part to ask for Grace and Conformity to God's Will meerly as it is a Perfection of our Nature abstractly from God's Glory it is not a right Request It is contrary to the very Nature of Grace whose Tendency is to God in the first place that his Name may be glorified that we should be to the praise of his glorious Grace Grace wrought in us is but a Creature and not to be preferred before the Creator See how the Apostle prays 2 Thess. 1. 11 12. We pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this Calling and fulfill all the good Pleasure of his Goodness and the Work of Faith with Power That the Name of our Lord Iesus Christ may be glorified in you and ye in him according to the Grace of our God and the Lord Iesus Christ That is a regular Prayer when all our spiritual Interests are swallowed up in God and we beg that his Name may be glorified in us and upon us 4. There is glorified Self which standeth in the eternal Fruition of God Man was made for two Ends to glorify God and to enjoy him Now our Crown of Glory must be laid at God's Feet as the Elders Rev. 4. 10. Saying Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power All our Desires must give place to this that he may be glorified in our eternal Happiness and we are to beg it no farther than as it may stand with his Honour Mans chief End and so his chief Request in respect of himself is to enjoy God but with respect to God so it is the highest only of subordinate Ends for the highest chiefly and absolutely is the glorifying of God Well then therefore this is put first to shew that our chiefest Care and Affection should mainly run upon the Glory of God and that God might be advanced and lifted up on high Secondly To give you some Reasons why those things which concern the Glory of God must be sought in the first place and with the greatest Affection 1. As we are reasonable Creatures it is fit it should be so In all regular Desires the End is first intended and then the Means But now the Glory of God that is the End of all things Prov. 16. 4. The Lord hath made all Things for himself that is for his own Glory for the manifesting of his Excellency And so our Redemption Luke 2. 14. Glory be to God on high When God came to shew his Good-Will in Christ it was to make way for his Glory As it begins in Good-Will so it must end in Glory This is the end of all the Privileges we have by Nature and Grace Now God's Glory is the end of our Being and Service and therefore must be first taken care of in our Prayers first his
corrupt and wholly poisoned with Self-Love we prefer every base Interest and Trifle before God nay we prefer carnal Self before God Some are wholly brutish and so they may wallow in Ease and Pleasure and eat the Fat and drink the Sweet never think of God care not how God is dishonoured both by themselves and others And then some O how tender are they in matters of their own Concernment and affected with it more than for the Glory of God! Ioh. 12. 43. They are more affected with their own Honour and their own Loss and Reproach than with God's dishonour or God's Glory If their own Reputation be but hazarded a little O how it stings them to the Heart But if they be faulty towards God they can pass it over without Trouble A Word of Disgrace a little Contempt cast upon our Persons kindles the Coals and â—ills us with Rage but we can hear God's Name dishonoured and not be moved with it When they pray if they beg outward Blessings if they ask any thing it is for their Lusts not for God 't is but to feed their Pomp and Excess and that they may shine in the Pomp and Splendor of external Accommodations If they beg Quickning and Enlargment it is for their own Honour that their Lusts may be fed by the Contributions of Heaven So by a wicked Design they would even make God to serve the Devil The best of us when we come to pray what a deep Sense have we of our own Wants and no desire of the Glory of God If we beg daily Bread Maintenance and Protection we do not beg it as a Talent to be improved for our Master's use but as Fuel for our Lusts. If we beg Deliverance it is because we are in pain and ill at ease not that we may Honour and glorify God that Mercy and Truth may shine forth If we beg Pardon it is only to get rid of the Smart and enlarged out of the Stocks of Conscience If they beg Grace it is but a lazy Wish after Sanctification because they are convinced there is no other way to be happy If they beg eternal Glory they do not beg it for God it appears plainly because they can be content to dishonour God long provided they at length may be saved Most of us pray without a Heart set to glorify God and to bring Honour unto his great Name Tho a Man hath never so much sense and feeling in his Prayer yet if his Hâ—art be not duly set as to the Glory of God his Prayer is turned into Sin It is not the manner of the Vehemency only for a Carnal Spring may send forth High-Tides of Affection and Motions that come from Lust may be earnest and very rapid Therefore it is not enough to have Fervour and Vehemency but when our aim is to honour and glorify God Zech. 7. 5 6. When ye fasted did ye at all fast unto me even to me And when ye did eat and when ye did drink did you not eat for your selves and drink for your selves Vse 2. For Exhortation to press us to seek the Glory of God above all things Take these Arguments 1. How necessary it is the Lord should have his Glory The World serves for no other purpose it is made and continued for this End Rev. 4. 11. Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power For thou hast created all things and for thy Pleasure they are and were created All that God hath made it was for his own Glory And Rom. 11. 36. For of him and through him and to him are all things To whom be Glory for ever Amen Of him in a way of Creation Through him by way of Providential Influence and Supportation that they may be To him in their final tendency and result God did not make us for our selves but his own Glory 2. It is a singular Benefit to be admitted to sanctify God's Name O that poor Worms should come and put the Crown upon God's Head And that he will count any thing we can do to be a Glory to himself â— Chron. 29. 14. But who am I and what is my People that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort For all things come of thee and of thine own have we given thee 3. Consider how much it concerneth us that we may make some Restitution for our former dishonouring of God therefore we should be more zealous in this Work How forward have we been to dishonour God in Thought Word and Deed before the Lord wrought upon us There is not a Mercy but we have abused it nor any thing we have medled with but one way or other we have turned it to the Lord's Reproach and Dishonour Now when the Lord hath put Grace in our Hearts When we are a People formed for his Praise Isa. 43. When he hath made us anew we should think of making some Restitution some amends to God and should zealously affect his Glory above all things Vse 3. For Trial. Do we prefer the Glory of God in the first place Take these Marks 1. Then we would be content with our own loss provided the Name of God may gain any respect in the World and so he may be magnified no matter what becomes of us and our Interest and Concernment Phil. 1. 20. The Apostle expresseth there a kind of Indifferency So Christ shall be magnified in my Body whether it be by Life or by Death O then it is a sign you make it your purpose drift and care when you are contented to do or be any thing that God will have you to be or do This holds good not only in temporal Concernments when you are content to want necessary Food c. But it holds also in Spiritual Concernments As to sense of Pardon tho God should suspend the Consolations of his Spirit yet if it be for the Glory of his Grace I am to be content Nay in some Cases God's Glory is more to be cared for than our own Salvation if they two could come in competition but that case never falls out with the Creature our Salvation is conjoyned with the Glory of God But yet in supposition if it should as Paul and Moses puts the Supposition Exod. 32. 32. Blot me I pray thee out of the Book which thou hast written So God might be honoured in saving that People So Rom. 9. 3. For I could wish that my self werâ— accursed from Christ for my Brethren my Kinsmen according to the Flesh. It was not a rash Speech a thing spoken out of an unadvised Passion see but with what a serious Preâ—ace it is ushered in vers 1. God is my Witness I lye not my Conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost He calls God to witness this was the real disposition of his Heart and he speaks advisedly and with good deliberation Object But is it lawful thus to wish to be accursed Certainly Paul could not
wish himself to love Christ less or to be less beloved of him for these things we cannot part with them without Sin but in our enjoyment of Christ there is a happy part some personal Happiness which resulteth to us now all this he could lay at God's Feet How so What for others A regular Love begins at home and every Man is bound to look to his own Salvation first and then the Salvation of others But that was not the case it was not their Salvation and Paul's Salvation which was in Competition but the Glory of God and the common Salvation of the Iews and Paul's particular Salvation It was a mighty prejudice to the Gospel that the People from whom Christ's Messengers proceeded for the Law went out of Sion the Gospel came out from among the Iews that so many of them were prejudiced and a mighty Eclipse to the Glory of God Now he could lay down all his personal Happiness at God's Feet he speaks in Supposition if such a Case falls out But however this is a clear Rule the Glory of God must be preferred before our own Salvation In some Cases there will be need of this Rule For Instance there 's many a Man that possibly is convinced of a false Religion and the first Question Men make is if they can be saved in such a Religion but many Men are hardned in Popery When therefore a Man is contented to continue in a false Religion and dishonour God with his complyance there provided he may be saved he prefers his own Salvation before the Glory of God And in case of the delay of Repentance when Men dally with God and put off the work of returning to the Lord until another time or hereafter it is time enough to repent these Men prize their Salvation before the Glory of God If it were true upon that Supposition that if ever they shall be saved they are contented God shall be dishonoured a great deal longer and that if they be saved at length this will satisfy them Quest. But how may we discern that we make the Glory of God the first and chief thing we aim at in Prayer 1. Partly by the work of your own Thoughts The End is first in Intention tho last in Execution When you are praying for a publick Mercy against an Enemy what runs in your Thoughts Revenge Safety and your own personal Happiness or God's Glory What wilt thou do O Lord unto thy great Name Josh. 7. 9. Are you pleasing your selves with Suppositions of your Escape and Deliverance and reeking your Wrath upon your Adversaries So in Prayer for Strength and Quickning what is it that runs in your Mind Are you entertaining your Spirit with Dreams of Applause and feeding your Minds with the sweetness of popular Acclamation 2. By the manner of praying absolutely for God's Glory but for all other things with a sweet Submission to God's Will Joh. 12. 27. Father save me from this hour but for this cause came I unto this hour Father glorify thy Name Then came there a Voice from Heaven saying I have both glorified it and will glorify it again Christ is absolute in the Request and he receives an Answer Is this enough Do you mainly press God with this that he might provide for his own glorious Name that his Name might not lye under Reproach But now carnal Aims do make Affection impetuous and impatient of check and denial Rachel must have Children or dye When the Heart is set upon earthly Success Pleasure or Comfort then they cannot brook a denial without Murmuring The Children of God only accept of God's Glory and in all other things they leave themselves to God's disposal and therefore this is the main thing 3. Partly too by the Disposition of your Hearts when your Prayers are accomplished and God hath given any Blessing you pray for we do not ask it for God's Glory if we do not use it for God's Glory The time of having Mercies is the time of Trial and therefore when we consume our Mercies upon our Lusts when they do not conduce to check our Sins it is a sign God's Glory is not the thing intended as it should be Thus for the Order of this Petition II. The Necessity of putting up such a Request to God 'T is his charge to us in the Third Commandment That we should sanctify his Name Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain The positive part of that Commandment is Thou shalt sanctify it Now here we make it matter of Prayer to God Hallowed be thy Name From whence let me observe Doct. Those that would have God's Name Hallowed and Glorified must seriously deal with God about it There are several Reasons why we must put up such Requests to God I might argue from the Utility and the Necessity of it First the Utility We put up these Requests to God 1. That we may more solemnly warn our selves of our own Duty In Prayer there is an implicit Vow or solemn Obligation that we take upon our selves to prosecute what we ask It is a Preaching to our selves in God's hearing So that every Word we speak to God is a Lesson to us and our Requests are as so many Exhortations to glorify his Holy Name With what Face can we ask that which we are wholly wretchless and neglectful of Then we shall certainly come under that Character Mat. 15. 7 8. This People draweth nigh unto me with their Mouth and honoureth me with their Lips but their Heart is far from me It is the greatest Mockage of God to ask unless we have a Mind to pursue and diligently to attend to this Work and Business that the Name of God may be glorified in us and upon us 2. That we may have a due Sense and Grief for God's Honour God's Children they are troubled to see God dishonoured Lot's righteous Soul was vexed not with Sodom's Injuries but with Sodom's Sins 2 Pet. 2. 8. And David saith Rivers of Tears run down mine Eyes because Men keep not thy Law Psal. 119. 136. Many will scarce weep for their own Sins where they have advantage of remorse of Conscience but when they are zealously affected with God's Glory they will weep for others Sins When his Name is torn and rent in pieces it is a grief of Heart to them Now God will have us ask this that this Holy Sense of Spiritual Grief may be kept up for when it is become the matter of our Requests then we are interested in the Glory of God We are loth to see things miscarry where we have petitioned and begged for others so when we have begged the Glory of his Name it will further this Spiritual Sense and Grief of Heart when his Name is dishonoured 3. That we may count it as great a Blessing when God is glorified as when we are saved Continue in Prayer saith the Apostle and watch thereunto with Thanksgiving When we have been instant
with God in Prayer that he might be glorified then we shall count it as great a Blessing when he is glorified as when we are saved Prayer makes way for the increase of our Esteem and engages us to observe the return When we have asked it of God we will be affected with it then When we see all his Works praise him what a Comfort will this be to the Soul Bless the Lord O my Soul Psal. 103. ult But Secondly Let me shew the Necessity of dealing with God about it The Necessity will appear both in respect of Persons and Things when we beg that God's Name may be Hallowed we beg Dispositions of Heart and Occasions First The Necessity will appear in respect of Persons both as to our Selves and Others First In respect of our Selves There is a great Necessity that we should deal with God about the Hallowing of his Name because we need Direction Quickning Sincerity Submission to God Humility and Holiness To instance in these six Things 1. We need Direction The Habits of Grace are God's Gifts and the Exercise of Grace is another thing to actuate quicken guide and direct it 2 Thess. 3. 5. The Lord direct your Hearts to the love of God And so in Prayer and in honouring of God In Prayer We know not how or what to pray for as we ought Tho we have Grace yet we need Direction A Ship that is well rigg'd yet needs a skilful Pilot. Rom. 8. 26. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our Infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought How much are we to seek to give God his due Honour Of our selves we cannot so much as think a good Thought 2 Cor. 3. 5. There is an utter insufficiency in us to meditate of God and conceive aright of his Excellency and give him the Honour which is due to him None of us but needs daily to go to God that we may be taught how to hallow and sanctify his Name 2. We need Quickning being so backward to this Duty All the Lepers could beg Help and but one returned to give God the Glory There is much dulness and deadness of Heart as to the praising of God and glorifying of God Self-Love will put us upon other Things but it is Grace must quicken us to glorify him and praise him When we go to God for our selves our Necessities will sharpen our Affections and put a shrill Accent upon our Prayers But now when we beg of God for God then there is a greater Restraint upon us And therefore David saith Psal. 51. 15. Open thou my Lips and my Mouth shall shew forth thy Praise We need God to open our Mouths that is enlarge our Hearts and quicken our Affections How apt are we to turn the back upon the Mercy-Seat Ezek. 46. 9. If a Man came in at the North Gate he was to go out at the South Gate but never at the same Door why That he might not turn his Back upon the Mercy-Seat When we have prayed we are apt to forget that God which hath blessed as and therefore that our Hearts might be inlarged and quickned we need to go to God 3. We need Vprightness and Sincerity that we may mind the Glory of God This is not a Work of Nature but Grace Phil. 2. 21. All Men seek their own not the Things which are Iesus Christ's There is the Fruit and Effect of Nature it puts Men upon seeking their own Things worldly Ease Profit and Pleasure every Creature naturally seeks its own Welfare But to make the Glory of God our great Aim and Pursuit it is â—raâ—e puts upon that Water ascends no higher than it descends so Nature cannot rise beyond it self The Stream cannot rise above the Founâ—ain and above the Principle A Man that hath nothing but Nature he cannot unfeignedly seek the Things which are of God The Old-Man with the deceitful Lusts that 's the natural Man The upright Heart that unfeignedly seeks God needs Grace from above Without Influence from God our Actions cannot have a tendency to God We shall prefer our Interest before God's Glory if we have no higher Principle than what our Hearts could furnish us with 4. We must go to God for Submission Now there is a double Submission required which if we have not we shall find it marvellously difficult to glorify God One as to the choice of Instruments another as to the Way and Means by which God will bring about his own Glory 1. As to the Choice of Instruments There is in us an Envy and wicked Emulation O how hard a matter is it to rejoice in the Gifts and Graces and Services of others and be content with the Dispensation when God will cast us by as unworthy and use others for the glorifying of his Name Therefore that we may refer the Choice of Instruments to God we need go to him and say Lord hallowed be thy Name do it which way and by whom thou pleasest We are troubled if others glorify God and not we or more than we if they be more holy more useful or more serious Self will not yield to this Now by putting up this Prayer to God we refer it to him to chuse the Instrument whom he will employ It was a commendable Modesty and Self-denial in Iohn Baptist which is described John 3. 13. He must increase I must decrease When we are contented to be abased and obscured provided Christ may be honoured and exalted and be content with such a Dispensation tho with our Loss and Decrease Many are of a private Station and straitned in Gifts and can have no publick Instrumentality for God now these need to pray Hallowed be thy Name that they may rejoyce when God useth others whom he hath furnished with greater Abilities 2. A Submission for the Way that we may submit to those unpleasing Means and Circumstances of his Providence that God will take up and make use of for the glorifying of his holy Name Many times we must be content not only to be active Instruments but passive Objects of God's Glory And therefore iâ— God will glorify himself by our Poverty or our Disgrace our Pain and Sickness we must be content Therefore we need to deal with God seriously about this Matter that we may submit to the Lord's Will as Jesus Christ did Iohn 12. 27 28. Save me from this Hour but for this cause came I unto this Hour Father glorify thy Name And there was a Voice from Heaven that said I have glorified it and will glorify it again Put me to Shame Suffering to endure the Cross the Curse so thou mayest be gloriâ—ied This was the humble Submission of Christ Jesus and such a Submission should be in us The Martyrs were â—â—ntented to bâ— bound to the Stake if that way God will use them to his glory Phil. 1. 20. saith Paul So Christ shall be magnified in my Body whether it be by Life or by Death If
he was in Paradise and there was the good Thief with him The Scriptures do not establish any such drousy conceit as the Sleep of Souls or such an Estate wherein they do not enjoy God We read of the Spirits of just Men made perfect which make up the Congregation which is above of which Christ is Head Heb. 12. 23. As the Spirits of the Wicked are in Prison 1 Pet. 3. 19. that is in Hell This is the Kingdom of Glory begun 2. There 's a Kingdom of Glory consummate when Sin and Death is utterly abolished and the Elect perfectly separated from the Reprobate and conducted into Heaven and there remain with the Lord for ever This is a Kingdom Mat. 25. 34. Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you The full and final Estate we enjoy after the general Judgment and Resurrection that 's called a Kingdom Well now you see what 's meant by the Kingdom we pray for Secondly Here 's a note of Distinction Thy Kingdom by which the Kingdom here spoken of is limited by particular reference to God not only to difference it from the Kingdoms of Men which are subordinate to it but those adverse Kingdoms which are set up against God as the Kingdom of Sin Satan Anti-christ the destruction of which we intend when we pray for the advancement of God's Kingdom As I shall shew you Thirdly Here 's the Supplication or the Request which we make to God about this Kingdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let it Come What do we mean by that This Word must be applied to the several acceptations of Christ's Kingdom 1. If you apply it to the External Kingdom of Grace then when we say Thy Kingdom come the meaning is Let the Gospel be published let Churches be set up every where let them be continued and maintained against all the malignity of the World and Opposition of the Devil And in the publication of the Gospel where the sound of it hath not been heard that God would come there in the Power of his Spirit and draw People into Communion with himself Mat. 12. 28. If I cast out Devils by the Spirit of God then the Kingdom of God is come unto you meaning in the publick tenders thereof Saith he if this Miracle doth clearly as it doth in your Consciences evidence my Mission then you may know the Kingdom of God is come that is that there is a Publication of the Gospel of Grace Then we pray for the continuance of this Privilege notwithstanding opposition that Christ may stand his Ground This is that we seek of God that he may maintain his Interest among the Nations of the World that the Gates of Hell may not prevail against his Kingdom 2. If you refer it to the Internal Part of this Kingdom then we beg the Beginning the Progress and the final Consummation of it First the Beginning or the Erection of a Throne for Christ in our own Hearts and the Hearts of others that he may fully exercise Regal Power Secondly The Increase of this Kingdom by Holiness and Obedience and sincere Subjection to him for the Kingdom of Grace is so come already that it will still be coming yet more and more So long as we need to pray so long shall we have cause to say Thy Kingdom come Thirdly The Consummation of it when the Fulness of Glory in the second Coming of Christ shall be revealed when our Head shall be glorious and his Day shall come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For the present it is Man's Day so the Scripture seems to call it but then it is the Day of the Lord when all the Devils shall stoop and Enemies receive their final Doom and the Saints shall have the Crown of Glory put upon their Heads in the Sight of all the World Well the Sum of all is this That tho this Petition do mainly concern the special Kingdom which God administreth by Christ yet God's universal Kingdom the Kingdom of his Power and Providence is a mighty Support and Prop to our Faith in making this Request to God When we consider what an unlimited Power God hath over all Creatures even Devils themselves to dispose of them for his own Glory and his Churches Good we need not to be discouraged though Christ's Kingdom be opposed in the World but should with the more confidence deal with God about it That which I shall handle upon this Petition will fall under these two Points 1. That God hath a Kingdom which he will administer and manage for his own glory 2. All those which are well affected to God's glory should desire the coming of this Kingdom and seriously deal with God about it For the first namely Doct. 1. That God hath a Kingdom which he will administer and manage for his own Glory I speak not of the Kingdom of his Power and Providence but of the Dispensation of Grace by Christ. The Evangelical Gospel-State is compared to a Kingdom as Mat. 3. 2. The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand So to the Disciples Mat. 10. 7. And as ye go preach saying The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand And so Christ himself It may be called so with very good reason For in this Kingdom there is a Monarch Jesus Christ to whom all Power and Authority is given God the Father calls him my King Psal. 2. 6. I have set my King upon my holy Hill And this King hath his Throne in the Consciences of Men where Thoughts are brought into Captivity to him 2 Cor. 10. 5. And he hath his Royal Scepter Psal. 110. 3. which is called the Rod of his Strength And he hath his Subjects and they are the Saints Rev. 15. 3. King of Saints And he hath his Laws and Constitutions we read of the Law of Faith and the Law of Liberty And in this Kingdom there are Privileges and Royal Immunities there 's Freedom from the Curse of the Law and from the Power of Sin and from the destructive Influence of Satan and the World And here are Punishments and Rewards both for Body and Soul there is Hell and Heaven Now because all these things do so fitly suit therefore is the Gospel called a Kingdom It will not be amiss to insist upon some of these 1. The State of the Gospel or Evangelical State 't is God's Kingdom in regard of the Monarch whom God hath set up that is Jesus Christ the great Lord of all Things There is no King like him God hath made him higher than the Kings of the Earth Psal. 89. 27. How doth he exceed all other Monarchs and Potentates in the World Partly for Largeness of Command and Territory All Kings and Monarchs have certain Bounds and Limits by which their Empire is terminated but Christ is the true Catholick King his Government runs throughout the whole Circuit of Nature and Providence he hath Power over all Flesh Iohn 17. 2. yea Devils themselves are to stoop to him Phil. 2.
difference there is between serving God and serving others If you refuse God's Government you are under a worse under Sin and the Power of Darkness you are under your own Lusts nay and by a just Judgment God may give you over to live in Bondage to unmerciful Men. How many Kings and Lords doth he serve that will not serve one Lord O therefore renounce those other Lords that have Dominion over you and come under this Kingdom which God hath set up Vse 2. To press the Children of God 1. To walk worthy of the Gospel it is a Kingdom The Apostle hath an Exhortation and Charge to this purpose 1 Thess. 2. 11 12. That ye would walk worthy of God who hath called you unto his Kingdom and Glory Walk in obedience to Christ that 's one thing Christ is a King by a natural Right God hath chosen him God hath set him upon his holy Hill The Lord hath made him to be Head over all Things Ephes. 1. 22. Nay the Church chuseth Christ They shall appoint to themselves one Head Hos. 1. 11. And therefore for you that are called to his Kingdom and Glory that have entred into Covenant with Christ that have subscribed to him as Head and King for you to be disobedient give way to Sin it is worse in you Will ye go away also saith Christ to his Disciples Christ hath a Right to reign over wicked Men but you have actually chosen him Treason is less culpable in those which have not submitted to a Power and Prince and owned him for their King than in those that have sworn Faith and Allegiance You have passed under the Bond of the holy Oath God hath called you to his Kingdom and Glory therefore you should be more obedient than to allow a disloyal Thought or rebellious Lust against Christ. 2. As you should be more holy wary watchful that you do not break the Laws of Christ for you have consented to him so live as Kings exercising all Acts of Regality within your own Souls ruling your own Spirits exercising Judgment over your own Hearts and over every Affection that will not be bridled It is a Disgrace to the Regal Estate of the Gospel for you to be over-mastered by a Lust to lie under the Power of any Sin yet thus it is God's Children are conflicting with one Sin or other more than the rest So far you have not experience of that Truth Iohn 8. 32. And ye shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free A Man that liveth in Bondage to his Lusts how can he chuse but doubt of those glorious Privileges Have you found the State of the Gospel to be a Kingdom do you walk worthy of the Gospel 3. It teacheth us Contempt of the World and earthly Things Phil. 3. 14. I press toward the Mark for the Prize of the high Calling of God in Iesus Christ. It is not for Princes to embrace a Dunghil nor for Eagles to catch Flies Remember thou wilt one day be a King with God in Glory and therefore shouldst not be as low and base as the Men of the World are but walk worthy of God who hath called you to a Royal State 4. A generous Confidence in the midst of the Troubles and Abasements of the World What tho you be accounted as the Scurf and Off-scouring of all Things tho your outward Condition be low and mean know the Worth of your high Calling in Christ. How poor and despicable soever you are in this World yet you are Heirs of a Crown and Kingdom Therefore remember you are Princes that walk up and down in disguise in a foreign Country If you are kept in a mean Condition it is but a Disguise God hath put upon you We are the Sons of God tho for the present it doth not appear what we shall be God's Heirs make little shew in the World But there is a high Dignity a mighty Privilege put upon you you are called to be Heirs of this Kingdom and this blessed and Royal Estate which God hath provided for them that love him Vse 3. Are we translated into this Kingdom Col. 1. 13. He hath delivered us out of the Power of Darkness and translated us into the Kingdom of his dear Son Every Man naturally is under other Lords the Devil hath Dominion over him and he is under the Government of his own Lusts but now are we translated into the Kingdom of Christ The Second Point is Doct. 2. All those that are affected with God's Glory should desire the coming of this Kingdom and seriously deal with God about it None else can rescue and pluck them out of the Power of Darkness and deliver them from the Thraldom of those other Lords that hold them and none else can defend and preserve them I shall handle the Point 1. In a private 2. In a publick Respect First In a private respect Every Man should desire that the Kingdom of God should come down and be set up in his own Heart Here I must repeat and apply the Distinctions of Christ's Kingdom He is to desire the Kingdom of Grace and the Kingdom of Glory may come to himself and others I. The Kingdom of Grace that it may be begun continued and encreased First That this Kingdom may be begun and a Throne erected for Christ in our Hearts The great Necessity of this Request will be evidenced in these Considerations 1. That every Man by Nature is under another King under the Kingdom of Sin and Satan Satan is the Monarch and Sin is the Scepter Christ and the Devil divide the World either we belong to the one or the other Now the Devil by reason of the Fall of Adam he hath the Start of Christ and the Lord Jesus coming to possess the Heart doth not seize upon it as a Waste which belongeth to the next Occupier but he seizeth upon it as already possessed by Satan The Devil quietly ruleth in the Hearts of the Unregenerate he keeps House and all the Goods are in Peace Luke 11. 21. And therefore wicked Spirits are called The Rulers of the Darkness of this World Eph. 6. 12. All the ignorant and carnal part of the World falls to his share and he doth not easily quit possession Christ indeed employeth Men to wrestle with Principalities and Powers The Work of the Ministry is to shake and batter the Empire of the Devil You must be turned you must be rescued You must be turned Acts 26. 18. To turn them from the Power of Satan unto God You must be rescued and plucked out of this Captivity by strong hand Col. 1. 13. Who hath delivered us from the Power of Satan who hath taken us out of Darkness by a powerful Rescue Even as the Israelites were brought out of Egypt by a strong Hand and stretched-out Arm so are we brought out of the Power of Darkness By such an irresistible Power of Grace must God recover you otherwise Men yield themselves
Lord to whom I have entirely given up my self in a way of Subjection This is a Sign you are brought under his Government 8. None can obey his Laws but by the virtue and power of his Spirit The new Covenant it is not only a Law but the Law of the Spirit of Life which is in Christ so it is called by the Apostle Rom. 8. 2. It is not a bare literal Command that shall urge us to Duty but it giveth strength and efficacy to the Heart Other Kings they give Laws that Men may keep them by their own Strength But now Christ he would be owned as a King not only in a way of Subjection but establish a constant Dependance He is a King not only to require but to give Repentance Acts 5. 31. not only to make a Law but to write and work a sense of this new Govenant-Gift upon the Heart Heb. 8. 10. He doth not only set up his Ordinances Laws Constitutions but there is Power goeth along with the Dispensation of this Kingdom and thereby we are fitted and enabled to love serve and please God and then are we under the Kingdom of God when we are under the spiritual Power of it It is not only necessary to obey his Laws but that we do it by virtue of his Power and Spirit The Kingdom of God stands not in Word but in Power 1 Cor. 4. 20. That we may both acknowledg his Authority and wait for his Strength This is a true Submission when we look for all from him and serve him in the strength of his own Grace 9. All those that act through the virtue and power of his Spirit they do unfeignedly seek his Glory and make Christ to be not only their Principle but their End for having a new Principle they have a new Tendency acting in the Power of the Spirit their Hearts are carried out to seek Christ's Interest and Christ's Glory when they can say with the Apostle Phil. 1. 21. To me to live is Christ when their whole Business is to set up Christ. We set up our selves in the room of Christ if he be not at the end of all 2 Thess. 1. 11 12. That God might fulfill all the good Pleasure of his Goodness and the Work of Faith with Power and that Christ may be glorified in you If you have the Power of Christ's Kingdom this will be the immediate Result and Issue of it that Christ may be honoured and set up not only as a Law-giver and Fountain of Grace but as the last End If to us to live is Christ then is the Kingdom of God come into our Heart For this we pray that the Lord would so break the Yoke and Government of Satan that we may receive the Lord Iesus into our Heart that we may come under the Awe of his Laws and in the Power of his Grace may seek his Kingdom and Glory To conclude All this Grace is offered to you if you refuse the Offer your Condition is worse than if it had never been tendred to you The Lord hath sent his Son to help you out of the Power of the Devil and bring you in Heart and Life again to himself if you refuse this then This is the Condemnation that Light is come into the World and Men love Darkness rather than Light John 3. 19. The Lord Jesus when he comes in flaming Fire to render Vengeance it shall be upon them that do not obey his Government 2 Thess. 1. 8. that did not acknowledg God to be their Sovereign There will be a sore Vengeance on them which had the Gospel tendred and this wonderful Provision brought home to them and left to their Choice and yet have turned their Backs upon it Secondly We beg the Continuance of it that he would maintain this Kingdom in our Heart and preserve us in this State for those which can call God Father are still to say Thy Kingdom come It is not enough to go to Christ to begin it but to carry it on and to keep and preserve us unto his heavenly Kingdom 2 Tim. 4. 18. That we may not revolt to the Devil's Side after we have chosen God for our God and so our latter End be worse than our Beginning Thirdly We pray for the Increase of it that it may get ground more and more There are some Reliques of the Kingdom of Darkness yet left and there is something wanting to the Kingdom of Grace we are troubled and molested still Tho Sin doth not get the Throne tho the Regency of it is cast down yet it is not cast out in regard of Inherence Sin shall not have Dominion over you that is all we can hope for Rom. 6. 14. We cannot hope for an Extinction of Sin but only that it shall not have Dominion As the Beasts in Dan. 7. 12 tho their Dominion was taken away yet their Lives were prolonged for a season and time The Reign Power and Dominion of Sin is taken down yet it continues for our Exercise and Molestation Now we desire he might rule in us by his Grace and that of the Increase of his Government there may be no End II. For the Kingdom of Glory which in this private Consideration as it concerns each Person is to begin at Death And when we desire the coming of the Kingdom of Glory we do two things we express our Readiness for it or our Desire after it 1. Our Readiness for it at least the Kingdom of God is ready for us if we were ready for it as the Apostle saith 1 Pet. 4. 5. God is ready to judg but we are not ready to be judged And therefore we read of the Kingdom of Heaven prepared for us and of Men prepared for the Kingdom of Heaven It is prepared for the Saints Mat. 25. 34. A Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World And the Saints prepared for it Rom. 9. 23. Vessels of Mercy which he had afore prepared unto Glory And this is that which the Apostle gives thanks for unto the Father which hath made us meet to be Partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light Col. 1. 12. Before we come to Heaven there is a Right to Heaven we are made meet more mortified and weaned from present Things often in Communion with God here and so for ever with the Lord hereafter We are still to have our Eyes to our Rest and happy State that we may be made ready for it We express our Readiness or we beg it 2. That we may express our Desires after the Enjoyment of it A Christian is to desire the Company of Christ. Phil. 1. 23. I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ And he is to hasten the coming of the Day of God 2 Pet. 3. 12. Now because this cannot be but by our Death therefore here we may examine a Case or two Case 1. First about longing for Death Is it lawful to desire Death The Law doth not
only forbid Acts but Thoughts and Desires therefore is it lawful to long for Death Answer Yes but yet we are not anxiously to long after it till the time come not to grow weary of Life our of Desperation and Tiresomness of the Cross as Ionah did chap. 4. 3. but in order to God's Glory and Accomplishment of our Happiness See more at large Psal. 119. vers 17. pag. 104. Case 2. Secondly Do all that have an Interest in Christ desire to die Is not Death terrible Certainly Death is terrible both as a natural and a penal Evil. As in it self it is the Curse of the Covenant and as it depriveth us of Life the chiefest Blessing Yet we should train up our selves in an expectation of Death we should look and long for it that when the time is come we might be willing to give up our selves into the hands of God It is required of a Christian that he should not only be passive in his own Death to die in Peace but active How to hasten his Death No but to resign up himself willingly into the hands of God that his Soul might not be taken away but given up and commended to God We should be willing to be in the Arms of Christ to be there where he is to behold his Glory If Christ had such a good-will to Men as that he longed to be with us solacing his Heart with the thought of it before all Worlds Prov. 8. 31. He was thinking of us how he should come down and converse with Men Surely we should not be so backward to go to Christ. And therefore as Iacob's Spirit revived when he saw the Chariots Ioseph sent to carry him into Egypt so our Hearts should be more chearful and comfortable when Death approacheth Especially since Death is ours it is changed therefore we should be framing our selves to such a temper of Heart by degrees that we might be ready Vse 1. For Reproof to those that would be glad in their Hearts if Christ's Kingdom would never come As to the Kingdom of Grace in the external Administration they hate the Light and will not come to the Light lest their Deeds should be reproved Iohn 3. 20. A wicked Man is loth to be troubled God's Witnesses are the Worlds Torment Rev. 11. 10. They tormented them that dwelt on the Earth A Man that is bodily blind would have a sit Guide but these wretchedly blind Sinners nothing so troublesom and hateful to them as one that would lead them to the Kingdom of God And then as to Internal Grace when this Kingdom of Heaven breaks in upon their Hearts when any Light and Power darts in they seek to put it out they resist the Holy-Ghost Acts 7. 51. and refuse his Call And for the Kingdom of Glory they say It is good to be here and would not change their Portion here for their Portion in Paradise Vse 2. To exhort us to desire the Coming of Christ's Kingdom to our selves If you have any Love to the Lord's Glory or your own Good you should do it Rev. 3. 20. Behold I stand at the Door and knock If any Man hear my Voice and open the Door I will come in to him and sup with him and he with me Will you not open to God that hath the best Right Will you not set open the doors to the King of Glory When Christ comes to bring entertainment to you to sup with you Again all Men will they nill they are subject to Christ either they must come and touch his Golden Scepter or feel the Bruises of his Iron Mace they must own him as King Every Knee shall bow Phil. 2. 10. Therefore be more willing to have the Kingdom of Glory come Again if God be not your King you will have a worse Master every Sin every Lust Tit. 3. 3. Serving divers Lusts and Pleasures You will be at the Beck of every Lust and carnal Motion and the Devil will be your Master to purpose for upon the refusal of Christ's Government there 's a Judicial Tradition you are given up to your own Hearts Lusts. Psal. 81. 12. Israel would none of me so I gave them up to their own Hearts Lusts and they walked in their own Counsels And to Satan to be insnared by him 2 Tim. 2. 26. Taken captive by him at his Will and Pleasure Not to buffet them as Paul was but to ensnare and harden their Hearts Again if you be not subject to God you go about to make God subject to you in effect You would have the Kingdom of Glory and yet continue in your Lusts. Isa. 43. 24. Thou hast made me to serve with thy Sins thou hast wearied me with thine Iniquities When you would have God patient hold his hand and be merciful to you and yet would continue in your Lusts then you make God serve with your Sins Again many temporal Inconveniencies will follow if we do not give way to the Kingdom of Christ to seize upon us when we make no difference between God's Service and the Service of other Lords then he gives us up to the Service of Men to a foreign Enemy to an oppressive Magistrate or breaks the Staff of Government among Men that we might know what it is to be under his Service and Government Therefore give willing Entertainment to the Kingdom of Christ. So much for the private Consideration of this Request Thy Kingdom come that is to us and our Persons both the Kingdom of Grace and the Kingdom of Glory Secondly Having spoken of the Kingdom of Christ in a private now I come to speak of it in a publick Consideration And that is twofold 1. The publick visible Administration of the Kingdom of Grace 2. The publick and solemn Administration of the Kingdom of Glory at the Day of Judgment when Enemies shall have their final Doom and Saints have their Crowns set upon their Heads in the sight of all the World I shall speak of both but because the Discourse may be more fresh and lively upon other Texts 1. The publick visible Administration of the Kingdom of Grace on Psal. 51. 18. Do good in thy good pleasure unto Sion build thou the Walls of thy Jerusalem 2. The Kingdom of Glory on Rev. 22. 20. Surely I come quickly Amen Even so Come Lord Iesus For the first Tho the Church be never so afflicted Psal. 102. 14. when all is defaced as to external appearance lying in a ruinous Heap yet it is beloved and pitied by God's Servants Thy Servants take Pleasure in her Stones and favour the Dust thereof There is nothing God's People desire so much as Zion's Welfare Psal. 106. 54. That I may see the Good of thy Chosen that I may rejoyce in the Gladness of thy Nation that I may glory with thine Inheritance And David in this Psalm Psal. 51. 18. having prayed for himself prayeth for Mercy to the Church and State Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion build
for that time when Christ shall be seen in all his Glory that he may be dishonoured no more that Sin and Opposition may have an end Here God haâ—h not his perfect Glory neither from us nor from the Wicked neither from Angels nor Devils Not his perfect Glory from us and therefore the Saints long for that time when Christ may be more admired in them it is the Comfort of their Souls that God is glorified in their Glory that there will a Time come when he shall be admired and glorified in their Glory and when they they shall praise him for evermore without weakness and distraction And then the Wicked that they may oppose and dishonour him no more that the whole Course of Justice may be seen in the History of the World which shall be produced at the Day of Judgment that his Power may be seen when Devils and all ungodly Men are trodden under foot and all Offences taken away and all opposite Powers are abolished First Christ would zealously affect us to the Glory of God Hallowed be thy Name then he would have us pray Thy Kingdom come That our Zeal for God's Glory might make us earnest and instant for his Kingdom Then 3. There are certain Experiences that we have here which set us a longing and groaning for this time Rom. 8. 23. We which have the First-fruits of the Spirit groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption to wit the Redemption of our Body When they have tasted of the Clusters of Canaan O they long to see the Land they long that Jesus the Captain of their Salvation the spiritual Ioshua may lead them into the good Land The Church hath here enjoyed Christ in her House I brought him into my Mother's House Cant. 3. 4. Now they would enjoy him in his own House have a more plentiful enjoyment of him Wherefore have we a taste but to long for a fuller Banquet Why doth God give out such a Pittance but to awaken our Desires to look for more Indeed these Beginnings are sweet and are a wonderful Mercy to hear Christ say in a Promise Come to me that you may have Life But when once they have embraced this they will be longing for another Call for the great Voice to say Come ye blessed of my Father c. When Christ biddeth them welcome into the Kingdom of Heaven to the Crown of Glory When we can get any Joy in the Holy-Ghost a little Peace of Conscience any sweet Experience of our being cleansed from Sin this is reviving and comfortable But why is this given but to set us a longing for the whole Harvest for this is but the First-fruits It is sweet now to find Pardon of Sin and any comfortable feeling of God's Love in the Conscience to have any Doubt resolved any Fear silenced and supprest to have a glimpse of the Light of God's Countenance a little Elevation of the Heart in Duty Now this draws on the Soul to long for more for we begin then to think what a sweet reviving will it be when we enjoy the Full of all these things If there be but one Promise now set home upon our Hearts tho here we haâ—e only the Right not Enjoiment if we have but our Right cleared up to a Promise it is very reviving God gives us this Experience that we may long to enjoy the thing promised the full Possession of it When you have gone away feasted with Loves at the Lord's Table thou hast said One Hours Communion with God is better than all the World If thy Heart was melted a little in Duty if it was affected with godly Sorrow for Sin it hath yielded thee more Comfort than all the Mirth and Musick which fond Worldlings chear themselves withal than all their Jollity Now this is but given as a Foretaste as a Prelibation and to awaken our Desires after more In the Lord's Supper many times we come and drink of that Cup which God hath tempered for us this is but a dark Presignification of the new Wine we shall drink in our Father's Kingdom Mat. 26. 29. and of those eternal Comforts we shall have there and those unmixed Joys in the presence of Christ. Therefore because of the Tastes they have had and those Beginnings of Glory their Hearts will be more enlarged and drawn out to look for more and long for that happy time when all this shall be accomplished III. There may be Arguments taken and drawn from the Coming it self that they long for his Coming Wherefore doth Christ come what are the Ends of it It is to manifest his Love to the Saints mainly as to punish his Enemies and glorify his Justice 1. I 'll mention the first to gather the Saints together to draw all his scattered People into one holy Body and Communion Psal. 50. 5. Gather my Saints together unto me those that have made a Covenant with me by Sacrifice Now they are scattered up and down as God hath Service for them to do one here another there they are spread in several Places where they are like two or three Berries in the uppermost top of the Bough That Psalm is generally acknowledged to be spoken of the Day of Judgment then they are gathered to meet in one great Assembly the Psalmist speaks of the great Congregation of the Righteous where the Sinners shall not stand Psal. 1. 5. At that great Day when Christ comes all the Saints shall make but one Assembly and one Congregation As the Wicked shall be bundled together and the Tares cast into unquenchable Fire so all the Saints shall be gathered together into one great Assembly and this glads their Hearts Therefore we are not feasted to the full because we have not all our Company all the Guests do not meet together until the Day the Son of God comes to bless the Elect. 2. He comes to proclaim our Pardon and to pronounce the Sentence of our Acquittance juridically in Court as Judg upon the Throne Our Pardon is past and seal'd as to Conscience then he will blot out all our Sins therefore it is said Acts 3. 19. That your Iniquities may be blotted out when the Times of refreshing shall come from the Presence of the Lord. He comes then to comfort and refresh the Souls of the Saints by proclaiming their Pardon in the Ears of all the World To whomsoever the Throne of Christ is terrible it should not be terrible to the Saints If he comes as a Judg to them he comes to acquit them upon the Throne he means no trouble to them 3. He comes to crown us Certainly there is a longing for this Day and Coming for what is his Work He comes to crown the Saints 2 Tim. 4. 8. Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the righteous Iudg shall give me at that Day Then he comes to put the Crown of Righteousness upon our Heads and invest us with all the Fruits of
Heart towards God but only a few Wishes 6. Halâ—ing the Will of God as in many Cases many will do part of the Will of God but not all they come not fully up to the Mind of God For Instance They will take notice of some great Commandment but not of the least we cannot dispense with our selves in the least Mat. 5. 19. Whosoever shall break one of the least Commandments and shall teach Men so he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven We are apt to say It is but a little one and my Soul shall live No Sin is little which is committed against a great God It argueth more Wickedness to break with God for a Trifle and a very small Matter it argueth more Corruption As a little Force will make a heavy Body move downward Again in another Case The Ceremonialist stands upon some lesser things as the Jews Iohn 18. 28. would not go into the Iudgment-Hall lest they should be defiled yet they could seek the Life of the Lord of Glory They are not brought under the Dominion of the Lord's Grace Faith Repentance Holiness and the weightier things of the Law these are things they regard not This is Hypocrisy Like one that comes into a Shop to buy a Penny-worth and steals a Pound 's worth so they are punctual in lesser things that they may make bold with God in greater Again some will do the Will of God in publick where they may be observed but not in private and when alone They make a fair shew in the World but in their Families their Converse is more loose and careless Psal. 101. 2. I will walk within my House with a perfect Heart A Man that is truly holy will shew it at home and abroad in his Closet and secret Retirements every where he makes Conscience of the Will of God Many times we strain our selves and put forth our Gifts in publick God will be served with our utmost in secret also and the Will of God is exprest concerning the inward as well as the outward Man and we must make Conscience of both Isa. 55. 7. Let the wicked Man forsake his Way and the unrighteous Man his Thoughts c. Not only make Conscience of our Way our outward Course but of our Thoughts as well as our Actions for the Thoughts fall under a Law So some will make Conscience of the First-Table Duties and neglect the Second and some of the Second and neglect the first Some are very punctual in dealing with Men but neglectful of God Rom. 1. 18. The Wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all Vngodliness and Vnrighteousness of Men. Both Tables are owned from Heaven Some will not wrong their Neighbour of a Farthing but stick not to rob God of all that Faith Fear Love Trust Worship that is due to him Many that will not defile their Bodies with promiscuous Copulation yet are Adulterers and Adulteresses to God their Hearts stragling from God doting upon the Creature to the Wrong of God Many condemn the Rebellion of Absalom and rise up against their heavenly Father and are Murtherers that strike at the Being of God They are tender of wronging the Reputation of Men yet dishonour God and are never troubled So on the other side others fear and worship but in their Dealings are very unconscionable they will not swear an Oath but are very uncharitable censuring their Brethren without pity and remorse This is the fashion of the World to be in with one Duty and out with another 7. A Loathness to know the Will of God to search and enquire into it argueth Deceit and that we are loth to come under the Power of it Some Men shrewdly suspect it is true but are loth to enquire into it Iohn 3. 20. Every one that doth Evil hateth the Light neither cometh to the Light lest his Deeds should be reproved They have a shrewd Guess about the Ways of God but will not search to be satisfied 2 Pet. 3. 5. They are willingly ignorant As Tertullian saith of the Heathens they would not search into the Christian Religion because they had a mind to hate it So these are loth to enquire further into the Will of God There 's a great deal of Deceit in it it shews we are afraid to come too near a suspected Truth Again now and then when Lusts are under some restraint Men seem to lie much under the Will of God A Horse that is kept low is easily ruled by the Rider but when fed high he grows head-strong Many times in a mean Condition a Man seems to make Conscience of doing the Will of God but when prosperous he waxeth wanton and disobedient Ier. 5. 5. I will get me to the great Men but these have altogether broken the Yoke and burst the Bonds So that there are a great many Mistakes about doing the Will of God therefore you had need search Secondly How shall we know we are rightly affected with the Will of God 1. When God's Will is Reason enough for what he hath required of us when a Man is so sensible of God's will that this is instead of all Reasons Obedience is never right but when it is done upon the meer sight of God's Will This is enough to a gracious Heart that this is the Will of God 1 Pet. 2. 15. 1 Thess. 5. 18. tho the Duty be never so cross to our own Desires and Interests This is to obey the Commandment for the Commandment's sake without any other Reason or Inducement There is indeed Ratio formalis Ratio motiva the formal Reasons of Obedience and the Motives of Obedience The formal Reason of Obedience is the sight of God's Will the Motives to Obedience are Rewards and a Dread of Punishment The formal Reason is God's Will and this is pure Obedience to do vvhat God vvills because God vvills it 2. When a Man is very inquisitive to know what is the Will of his heavenly Father When he doth not only practise what he knows but searcheth that he may know more Rom. 12. 2. That ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect Will of God And Ephes. 5. 17. Be ye not unwise but understanding what the Will of the Lord is When a Man is desirous to know the whole Will of God not for Curiosity but for Practice that he might do it When the Understanding hath a confused Notion of a thing they will not know it distinctly but when Men search and are willing to find out the Counsel of God in all things that they may come up to it this is a Sign the Heart is rightly affected to the Will of God 3. Hereby may you know your Affection to God's Will by keeping your selves from your Sins Psal. 18. 23. I was upright before him and kept my self from mine Iniquity There is an Iniquity that we may call ours upon which the Will is most passionately addicted be it Worldliness Sensuality
Kindness do maintain a Friendship between Man and Man so do these renewed Acts of Love and of God's Care and Kindness over us maintain a Friendship between God and us 2. It engageth us to a constant Dependance upon God and Communion with him It is Dependance which maintains the Commerce between Heaven and Earth Now if we did keep the Stock our selves God and we should soon grow Strangers When the Prodigal had his Portion in his own hands he goes out of his Father's House Luke 15. The Throne of Grace would lie neglected and unfrequented if we did not stand in need of daily Receivings when would the Lord hear from us And therefore to oblige us to a constant Dependance God will keep the Grace in his own hands that ever we may have something to drive us to himself some Necessities upon us for the Throne of Grace is for a Time of Need Heb. 4. 16. 3. This is that which keeps us humble and that upon several Considerations All we have 't is by Gift and then what can we be proud of Not only the Habits of Grace themselves but also those actual Incitements which are necessary to draw them forth into Act. So that of all our Excellencies we may say Alas 't is but borrowed and if we be proud of them we are but proud we are more in Debt than others when most enlarged and most assisted it is from God We would laugh if a Groom should be proud of his Master's Horse and his Master's Cloak Shall we usurp that Honour that is due to God What hast thou that thou didst not receive 1 Cor. 4. 7. And then we have it from Hand to Mouth That which we have received will not bear us out unless God come in with new Influences of Grace We should soon grow proud if God did not direct us and give out the renewed Evidences of his Love day after day And we should not acknowledg our Benefactor if God should do all at once therefore he lesseneth and weakneth our Corruptions by degrees and by the renewed Influences of his Grace And by this means we are made sensible of the Mutability of our own Nature God left Hezekiah to try him that he might know all that was in his Heart 2 Chron. 32. 31. God hath so dispensed Grace that he will be going and coming as to actual Influence therefore sometimes he will leave us that he may discover a Man to himself Tho we have Grace planted in our Hearts and are renewed yet if God leave us how weak and foolish are we We are renewed but not fully recovered of that Maim and Bruise we got by the Fall of Adam and we cannot do as we will If God withdraw his Quickning his Strength secret Corruption will break forth and our Indisposition to holy Things will soon appear 4. Then it is for the Honor of the Lord's Grace It doth abundantly provide for the Glory of Grace that from first to last we are indebted to God not only for those permanent and fixed Habits which constitute the New Creature but for those daily Supplies without which the Motions of the Spirit are at a stand And this is that which makes the Saints still to put the Crown upon Grace's Head When the Servants gave an Account of improving of their Talents saith one of them Luke 19. 16. Lord thy Pound hath gained ten Pounds He doth not say My Industry but Thy Pound So Paul Gal. 2. 20. I live yea but he interposeth presently Yet not I but Christ liveth in me They are ever ascribing all to God because they see they can do nothing without him When we come to Heaven 't is a Question which we shall admire most Grace or Glory the Glory of that Estate into which we are brought or else Grace which was the Foundation of it O when we see all that was done and suffered for God it was from God Of thine own have we given thee How will the Soul admire the Riches of his glorious Grace We have not only traded with his Money but by his Direction and when our Stock was imbezell'd he supplied us at every turn For these Ends the Lord still keeps Grace in his own hands that we can do nothing to any purpose unless he be pleased to concur by the Influences and Quicknings of his own Spirit VSE The Use shall only be in these two Branches 1. In doing any good Work let us do all things in him as well as to him Let us not only make this our Scope that we may do it to God but let us make his Grace our Principle Otherwise when we go to work for God without God it will befall us as it did Sampson that thought to go out and shake himself as in former time but his Locks were cut and his Strength gone Men that have had former Experiences think to find a like Vigor of Affection a like Raisedness of Spirit a like Savoriness of Expression but if they take not God along with them they find their Strength is gone their Affections dead that all their Spirits are dry and sapless and that they do not go forth with such Life and Power as formerly Therefore when ever you go about a good Work say as David I will go forth in the Strength of God 2. It directs us in ascribing the Honour of what we have done It is dangerous to assume Divine Honour to our selves or accept it from others but we must give the Lord the Glory whose Concurrence doth all the Work Remember we have received all from God and God must have all the Glory and Honour If others should ascribe it to us we are not to take it To conceal and receive stollen Goods brings us within the Compass of Theft as well as to steal them our selves So when others would ascribe any thing to us still let the Lord have the Glory of every Work and Business The third Point Doct. 3. We are not only to look to this that his Will be done but to the Manner how it is done It is not for the Honour of his Majesty to be put off with any thing we must serve him with all our Mind and Strength Mal. 1. 14. When ye brought that which was torn and lame and sick should I accept this of your Hands saith the Lord. I am a great King saith the Lord of Hosts and my Name is dreadful among the Heathen We are to aim at the highest manner of serving God There is an ardent Desire in the Saints to be perfect If by any means they would attain to the Resurrection of the Dead Phil. 3. 11. That is that happy and sinless State they shall enjoy hereafter The Manner is more considerable than the Work it self A Man may sin in doing good but he cannot sin in doing well therefore the Manner is that which is mainly stood upon in Scripture God doth not only look that we pray but it must be â—ervent effectual
God God is greater than our Consciences His Authority is greater for God is Supream whose Sentence is decisive Now tho Conscience should not do its Office 1 Cor. 4. 4. For I know nothing by my self yet am I not hereby justified but he that judgeth me is the Lord. All depends upon God's Testimony 2. Because of his Power who only can still the Conscience Isa. 57. 19. I create the Fruit of the Lips to be Peace Peace That is the Lips of his Ministers or Messengers who bring the glad tydings of Peace or the reconcilement of God to his People And therefore 't is called the Peace of God Phil. 4. 7. as wrought by him The Gospel is a sovereign Plaister but 't is God's Hand that must make it stick upon the Soul otherwise we hear Words and return Words 't is by the lively Operation of his Spirit that our Hearts are setled God cometh in with a sovereign powerful Act upon the Soul Otherwise one Grief or sad Thought doth but awaken another Till he command Loving Kindness Psal. 42. 8. We are still followed with Temptations As the Rain swells the Rivers and Rivers the Sea and in the Sea one Wave impelleth another so doth one Temptation raise another Vse 1. It reproveth those that do not deal with God about the Pardon of their Sins If God alone pardon Sins then God must be sought to about it For tho there be none in Earth to call us to an Account yet God may call us to an Account and then what shall we do Many if they escape the Judgment of Man think they are safe But Alas your Iniquities will find you out You think they are past and never more to be remembred but they will find you out in this World or the next our Business lieth not with Man so much as with God Therefore this should be the question of your Souls Job 31. 14. What then shall I do when God riseth up and when he visiteth what shall I answer him Which way shall I turn my self when God calleth me to an Account He will come and enquire into our ways are you provided of an Answer David's Sin was secret his Plot for the Destruction of Vriah closely carried Nathan tells him 2 Sam. 12. 12. Thou didst it secretly But against thee have I sinned Many escape blame with Men but God's Wrath maketh Inquisition for Sinners You cannot escape his Search and Vengeance if you do not treat with him about a Pardon Vse 2. It shews the Folly of those that have nothing to shew for the pardon of their Sins but their own secure Presumptions 'T is God's Act to pardon Sin Man may forget his Sin But if God remember it he is miserable Man may hide his Sin but if God bring it to Light Man may put off the Thoughts but if God doth not put away Man may excuse his Sin but if God aggravate it the Debtor may deny the Debt but if the Book be not crossed he is responsible Psal. 32. 1 2. Blessed is he whose Transgression is forgiven whose Sin is covered Blessed is the Man to whom the Lord imputeth not Iniquity c. We must have God's Act to shew for our Discharge then we may triumph 'T is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth c. Rom. 8. 33 34. God is the offended Party and the Supream Judg. Then Conscience hath nothing to do with us nor Satan neither as Accuser or Executioner Not as an Accuser for then he is but a Slanderer not as an Executioner for he is turned out of Office Heb. 2. 14. That he might destroy him that had the power of Death even the Devil Have you your Pardon from God Is your Discharge from him When have it we from God 1. Have it you from his Mouth in the Word or Prayer upon suing to him in Christ's Name and earnest waiting upon him If Men would consider how they come by their Peace they would sooner be undeceived You were praying and wrestling with God and so your Comfort came God speaketh Peace But when it groweth upon you you know not how it was a thing you never laboured for like Ionah's Gourd it grew up in a Night 't is but a fond Dream 2. Have it you under his Hand Is it a Peace upon Scripture terms of Faith Rom. 5. 1. Therefore being justified by Faith we have Peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ. Repentance Luke 24. 47. That Repentance and Remission of Sins should be preached in his Name among all Nations c. And the Exercise of Holiness Then have you God's word to shew for it But if it be not a Peace consistent with Scripture-Rules nay you are afraid of the Word Ioh. 3. 20. You are loth to be tried 't is a naughty Heart 3. Have it you under his Seal 2 Cor. 1. 22. Who hath also sealed us and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our Hearts Have you the Impress of God upon you God's Seal his Image Doth the Spirit of Promise assure your Hearts before God that you can live in the Strength of this Comfort and go about Duties chearfully Then 't is God's Pardon otherwise 't is but your own Absolution which is worth nothing Vse 3. It sheweth that we need not fear the Censures of Men nor the Hatred of the Ungodly for 't is God pardoneth and who can condemn God will not ask their Vote and Suffrage who shall be accepted to Life and who not 1 Cor. 4. 3. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you or of Mans Iudgment c. A Man must expect Censure that will be faithful to God but if he acquit us it is no matter what our guilty Fellow-Creatures say Vse 4â— Is Comfort to broken-hearted Sinners to those that need and desire Pardon 'T is well for them that God doth not put them off to others but reserveth this power of pardoning Sins to himself 1. 'T is his Glory to forgive Sins Exod. 33. 18. And he said I beseech thee shew me thy Glory compared with Exod. 34. 6 7. And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in Goodness and Truth Keeping Mercy for thousands forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin c. 'T is not only the Glory of a Man who is so offensive himself and so passionate that this Passion will draw him to what is unseemly but of God 2. 'T is his Glory not only above the Creatures but above all that is called God in the World Mic. 7. 18. Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth Iniquity and passeth by the Transgression of the Remnant of his Heritage He retaineth not his Anger for ever because he delighteth in Mercy The Heathen Gods were known by their Terrors rather than their Benefits and feared rather for their Revenges than their Mercies We may boast of him above all Idol Gods
6. But let him ask in Faith nothing wavering What 's that Faith required in Prayer A Persuasion that those things we ask regularly according to God's Will that God will grant them for Christ's Sake Now both these Amen signifies our hearty desire that it may be so and our Faith that is our Acquâ—â—â—scency in the Mercy and Power and Wisdom of God concerning the Event Christ would have us bind up this Prayer and conclude it thus Amen so let it be so it shall be Observe hence That it is good to conclude holy Exercises with some Vigour and Warmth Natural Motion is swifter in the end and close So should our spiritual Affections as we draw to a conclusion put forth the Efficacy of Faith and holy Desires and recollect as it were all the foregoing Affections that we may go out of the Presence of God with a sweet Savour and Relish and a renewed Confidence in his Mercy and Power Again This Amen relateth to all the foregoing Petitions not to one only Many when they hear Lord Give us this day our daily Bread will say Amen but when they come to the Petition Thy Will â—e done on Earth as it is in Heaven they are cold there and have not hearty Desires and earnest Affections Many beg pardon of Sin but to be kept from Evil to bridle and restrain their Souls from Sin they do not say Amen to that Many would have Defence Maintenance and Viâ—tory over their Enemies but not with respect to God's Glory They forget that Petition Hallowed be thy Name but this should be subordinated to his Glory Nay we must say Amen to all the Clauses of this Prayer Many say Lord Forgive us our Debts but do not like that as we forgive our Debtors they are loth to forgive their Enemies but carry a rancorous Mind to them which have done them wrong But now we must say Amen to all that is specified in this Prayer Then Mark This Amen it is put in the close of the Doxology Observe hence There must be a hearty Amen to our Praises as well as our Prayers that we may shew zeal for God's Glory as well as Affection to our Profit Your Allelujahs should sound as loud as your Supplications and not only say Amen when you come with Prayers and Requests things you stand in need of but Amen when you are praising of God FINIS ERRATA PAge 19. line 14. after Lord read as our selves P. 18 l. 34. for like r unlike p. 42. l. 11. f. misprision r. misapprehension p. 47. l. ult r. a grâ—at p 49. l. 28. r 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p 57. l. 13. r. to God p. 58. l. 4 5. r. that may hence either formally or by just Consequeâ—ce be taxed p. 64. l. 34. r. worship p. 65. l. 15. f. and r. he p. â—0 l. 30. dele thought l. 32. ast and add you p. 71. l 8. after and add is l. 17. r. spiritual Weaknesses are c. l ult r. without Fire p. 73. l. 4. f. digested r. indighted p. 76. l. 31. â— now r. and not only as p. 80. l. 6. r Heb. â—2 9. p. 81. l. 17. dele Christ saith p. 87. l. 10. r. 2 Cor. 6. 18. l. 18. r. in all comparisons p. 88. l. 22. r. Gal. 4. 6. p. 89 l. 37. r. Mal. 3. 17. p. 97. l. 9. dele when f. can r. may p. 93. l. 3. f. take r. think p. 105. l. 30. f. Look aâ— the Right was r. Or as any Israelite had l. 31. f. so we r. hâ— p. 110. l. 20. r. Mar. 13. 25. p. 112. l. 27. aft expansin dele of f. those r. the. p. 125. l. 18. r. which are a solid Body l. 19. r. as fluid p. 129. l. 10. f. warm r. warn p. 136. l. 20. aft serve dele the turn of l. 25. f. him r. iâ— l. 25. aft of r. it p. 141. l. 27. f. of r. or p. 164. l. 12. r. Psal. 147. p. 177. l. 34. r. 1 Sam. 6. 20. p. 200. l 6 7. r Thâ— they worship not by Pagan Rites p 202. l. 16. dele and. p. 206. l. 9. r. First The King of Glory himself and for than r. then l. 14 r. but where his Will is obeyed and his Laws observed p. 211. l. 33. f. Covenant r. Law p. 218. l. 21. r. Isa 34. 2. p. 220. l. 6. aft Soul add longeth p. 239. l. 10. r. a day of Vengâ—ance p. 240. l. 3. aft God add requireth p. 253. l. 25. r. few good Examples p. 254. l. 14. r. Prov. 16. 2. p. 255. l. 10. â— what r. which p. 280. l. 12. f. remove r. offer l. 16. aft give r. the Habits of Grace p. 283. l. â— f. Motions r. Notions p. 284. l. 15. f. to r. as l. 18. r. find him to be one p. 317. l. 20. dele not l. 21. r. it will not p. 354. l. 6. f. ouâ— r. their p. 359. l. 16. f. Inheritance r. Inherency p. 369. l. 23. f. of r. the. p. 408. l. 16. aft Hoasts r. if p 444. l. 23. f. by r. off p. 465. l. 33. r. a colour of Gracâ—