not that they on earth are idle for all his works praise him put Angels for the host of Heaven and Saints for the work of his hands on earth and then we may infer our duty to bless the Lord because he only preserveth us King Iames knew this who is of happy memory were it but for this that knowing a Prince that feareth not and loveth not the Divine Majesty nothing in his Government can succeed well with him therefore my son said he to his Prince first of all things learn to know and love God Which darkly was performed by Numa Pompilius who knowing that God hated sloathful services commanded the Romanes though Heathen to wait and attend upon prayer rebus omnibus post-positis all other affairs being first laid aside Iupiter and Iuno conceited Deities were so called by their worshippers from the help and aid they gave to things but our God doth more then juvare help because vitam salutem tribuit he giveth life health and happinesse and therefore ought more affectionatly to be implored and only to be adored An Army of Infidels rushing into the Dominions of the famous Christian Emperour Theodosius were worsted rather by his prayers then Arms for first a thunder-bolt from Heaven slew Rugas their Captain next a plague thinned their Army and the remnant were consumed by fire from the Element After which Proclus Bishop of Constantinople expounded a portion of Ezekiels Prophesie wherein God was exalted and the Patriarch applauded for his applying of it sanctifying God before their eyes he having magnified himself in the eyes of many Nations If you eye service he only can reward Should one intreat the Virgin Mary or St. Barbara against his wifes barrenness it may be doubted if ever he should have a Son or had Peter when sinking followed the Doctrine of his pretended successour and cryed Abraham or Ieremiah save me or I perish I am prone to conjecture he had been drenched by this one instance be excited in life or death to pay the tribute of Prayer and Praise to him solely who hath not only an eye to see and an ear to hear us but by precepts hath commanded us to adresse our selves to him for comfort in the life he hath given us in the death before us and in the hopes of that Heaven he hath proposed to us If you eye justice he only doth merit Are not the Cattle upon a thousand hills his Are we not the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hands Are we not in spight of our hellish adversaries preserved by the artifice and methods of his providence The good we have is it not from him the peace health we enjoy is it not of him the Gospel we read did not he teach it us and the soul we live by did not he give it us What a mad project and unjust proceeding must that therefore be to fancy that some other then he ought to have the sacrifice of our souls the fruits of our lips That distinction of the Romish Schoolman is not so concluding as perhaps he thought it viz. that God is only to be repaired unto for grace or glory not the Saints they being only desired to assist us or to pray for us for the Scripture in things relating betwixt God and man hath given no ground for such distinction it denying any Mediator except Christ who also invites us to come directly to him for rest and ease and to him our selves without sending another And as when he trode the Wine-presse he was alone and none with him so in the application of its benefits we have no example of imploying Man or Angel to plead for us at his hand now glorified Besides how can we call on him or her in whom we have not believed and Rome with us professing to believe in God the Father Almighty c. ought with us also to expunge their Saints Litanies from their service Not to affront Gabriel or Paul or Peter or the Virgin Mary whose faith whose vertues whose example is this day in the greatest part of the Christian world commemorat and taught for her eternal renown in which we oppose her receiving prayers or in this sense giving glory to her name It was justice that extorted from a poor serving man that excellent decision of that ridiculous question started by the Romish Friers in this Kingdom whether the Lords Prayer might be said to Saints and after much talk hot debates absurd distinctions the Servant concluded when he had asked his Master to whom should it be said meaning the Lords Prayer but to God and let the Saints have said he Credos and Ave Marias enough for it might suffice them and too good for them But he spoke more knowingly and of this Kingdom likewise who said Let us remember that the Pronoun Thy is possessive and pointeth out the Name to whom glory and honour do most chiefly and of due belong For though there be many names yet there is not any name to which honour and glory both of debt and duty belongs but only to the Name of God 1. Because by him is named all the family in Heaven or Earth 2. Because by his sufferings and victorious triumphs he hath obtained a name far above all others 3. There is no other name by which we can be saved The Son gave it us to put up to our Father not to Peter or Brother much lesse to the Virgin Mary our Sister And therefore to the King eternal immortal invisible the only wise God be honour and glory for ever and ever Amen And so much for the matter of this Petition Hallowed be thy Name NOw we are brought unto the order of this Petition unto which for brevities sake we shall annex the method of the whole Prayer and to avoid confusion hint withall at the exactness required in our accesses unto God All our actions ought to have God for the ultimat design or end and so should our prayers to which purpose they either are to eye his glory as in Hallowed be thy Name or enjoyment of his glory in thy Kingdom come unto which something is directly and principally necessary as Thy will be done or necessary and instrumentally as give us our dayly bread or necessary and accidentally as the removing of hinderances either directly excluding out of Heaven as forgive us our sins or impeding us in our way towards it as lead us not into temptation or irksomness in our life travelling towards it as Deliver us from evil There are who shew the order thus all Petitions respecting either the good things of Heaven or Earth are here ordained by our Saviour to be thus sought after such as relate to Heaven are first to be demanded and are contained in the three first Petitions and the first of them being Hallowed be thy Name regards his glory and the other
are free from turbulency of the Airs mutations so is their Maker from mans tumultuous conceptions his not their abode being in Heaven In Heaven that is in the Saints saith a Father by a harmless mistake concluding that because wicked men may and are termed Earth so just men may be designed by Heaven they being the Temples of God which Heaven is also said to be yet not in a Figure but in a proper sense is he said to be in Heaven as a King is said to be in his Court that being the most glorious ample magnificent part of the created world discovering to us power quietness observance in God when we are at Prayer 1 His power to grant what we ask This word in Heaven prevents any harsh constructions flesh could make of his delay in answering our suits by letting the greatest infidel know since he can rule and doth reside in Heaven he hath power authority omnipotency to avert from us what ever we fear and bequeath unto us what ever we demand being there as a Father in his Cellar as a parent in his Buttry as a King in his Exchequer as a Prince in his Council as a Merchant in his Counting-house ready to perform the requests made by us proper to those offices There can none ascend thither to assist him in his designs he there stands in awe of none to impede him in his purposes we need not say if thou canst do any thing help us for there he hath done and will do whatsoever he pleaseth holding all under and in subjection laughing at those who obstinatly seek to make resistance against his dominion 2 His blessed quietness to hear us when we ask Heaven is remote from that noise and garboil with which our Earth and Sea and the inferior Regions are infestred It 's true it is compared to a Sea but it is of Chrystal solide bright and pure God is said to have two dwellings and they both evidence composure 1. the Heavens 2. the Humble In both which he is in so serene a Region that if he can be said to have any work it is to look down and see who seeks after him 3. Observance where ever we ask As Heaven is above us so are we thankfully to acknowledge that our prayers be not hindered neither by the roof of the house nor space of the Air nor the thicknesse of the clouds from appearing before God and from being under his eye The pilgrimages of Rome are but pilgrimages and their pennances not very comfortable since we are by precept and example to lift up our eyes to the hills whence our help must come and disdaining such fruitless wandrings let us look up to Heaven which the Moralist had some sense of when he protested his knowledge that the whole world was his Countrey the gods governing above him and about him censuring that is judging his words and actions Put God in the place of gods the saying is divine and the practice thereof in every place will make us holy Again Pray after this manner Our Father which art in heaven Enforceth our souls to collect that in Prayer God expects from us Pureness Zealousness Sadness Reverence 1. Pureness of soul in not minding the Earth is scarce good enough for us to look upon or think upon at any time but in prayer it ought to appear singularly despicable our appetite ought to be where our eyes are fixed and they by this precept are extended toward heaven at which they ought to be intensely viewing that it may be demonstrated our affections are above 2. Zealousness of Spirit for the things of Heaven It supposeth the eye thitherward and implyeth the heart to be already in love with glory Man having one Muscle more then any other Creature by which he can and doth look directly upward ought to be as a Pully fixed in his soul to draw it Heaven-ward for the attainment of heavenly bless for which even nature intimats a great respect in affording man proper Organs to behold it that beholding may cause wondring and wondring may effectuat a desire to possess Do not you therefore value or cleave to the Earth having found a Father which is in Heaven 3. Sadness of heart for being out of Heaven The fiâ—st and second Petitions irreâ—ragably clear this to have been in our Lords eye Hallowed be thy Name bemoaning the profaning thereof by wicked men and let thy kingdom come regrating the delay thereof from good men A child in a ditch will cry for help and a Saint in the pit will call for deliverance out of heaven the possession whereof being enjoyed by the glorified Angels Earth beholding him but as a stranger passionatly invits him to beg its festination or appearance There is Heaven where there is no sin where no wickedness is wrought where death is not felt saith one pointing toward Heaven and say thou because of that Thy Kingdom come 4. Reverence of the whole man It is said of holy Basil that in sancta sanctorum non semel quotannis sed quotidie ingrediens appearing before the Lord in the holy of holys he used it not only once in but every day of the year Imitating Moses Aaron Ioshua Elias Iohn the Baptist Paul c. whose respectful and religious life whose awful and religious reverence unto God in Prayer hath produced and obtained much mercy for themselves and revoked many menaceing Edicts against offenders There are two vices especially make our prayers not only wearisome to our selves but odious to God 1. Nimia trepidatio Much fearfulness 2. Nimia oscitatio Much boldness The soul when too much dejected with the dreadful apprehensions of incensed wrath by sorestalled imagination the fancy for reiterated offences only representing hell is curbed by this Phrase Our Father And when self-confidence makes us more daring in our behaviour being stout before God projecting rather how to be homely not to say clownishly familiar then how to be holy or savingly sprinkled we are chastised by this expression which art in Heaven that making us serve with fear and rejoice with trembling not presuming upon any works of our own but solely depending upon Christs merits the only golden Vesture wherein we shall be accepted Our Father which art in Heaven OF all that â—eap of Accidents by which one thing is distinguished from another God can and is only differenced by his countrey and his name two remarks communicable to none are here designed to guide us in our addresses to him All Translations read it Heavens the Hebrews for Heaven having no singular number In the first Language here it is thought to be denominated from its clearness to be seen others will have it so called from its betokening a mark bound or limit Coelum is derived by some from Covering others from Engraving because of the lustre of those Stars that seem
worthy of glory but God so they only give to him their praises and their prayers and that upon good reason For 1. Angels will not have his glory and they are intelligent An Angel in the Old Testastament refused an offering and another will not have thanksgiving in the New both commanding them to be performed to God expounding these to be prayer and praise what is Romes meaning or to what purpose are those Prayers and Letany's in that Church Sancte Gabriel Sancte Raphael omnes Sancti Angeli Archangeli orate c. O thou Angel Gabriel Raphael and all ye Angels and Archangels pray for us I like that part of another office better and shall subscribe unto it O Sancta Immaculata Virginitas quibus te laudibus efferam nescio O thou blessed Virgin in what words to praise thee I know not the same I say of praying as either are interpreted Adoration This is not said to infringe the glory of these holy and glorified Saints who are to be honoured with great reverence and their names to be mentioned with great respect and their vertues to be imitated with all indutry but to hallow their names or thier vertues with a remitte or an ora pro nobis we have no warrant because no rule of faith The ground of Romes Doctrine touching the worshipping of Angels is so beastly that it is shameful to publish aâ—resh yet so irrational that it may be profitable to reprint it it was this as we read from a learned venerable Doctor of the English Saxon Church In Apulia vulgarly Puglia a Provicne in Italy in the Kingdom of Naples near the City of Siponia there was a rich man called Garganus having much Cattel which fed in a Mountain of the same name in which herd there was a wanton proud Bull which could not be got home with the rest but still kept the Mountain for which the owner resolving to kill him provided Bow and Arrow but in shooting at the beast the Arrow reverted and turned upon himself at which being amazed he tells his Bishop who did appoint a three dayes fast that God would discover what was signified by the wounding of Garganus when the Arrow was levelled or aimed at the proud Bull On the third night the Archangel Michael told the Bishop scias quia à voluntate Dei hoc factum est that all was done by the appointments of God and commanded the ground whereon the Bull stood to be consecrated and set apart for prayer shewing them under it there was a Cave and in the Cave an Altar and upon the Altar a red Pall or Cloak ibi facite orationes vestras hebete memoriam meam auxiliabor vobis there say your prayer call upon my Name and I shall help you all was searched and all was found and all was done accordingly Haec fuit saith my Author prima causa and this was the first cause or rise that Angels were remembred or worshipped upon earth he must mean by Romes authority for otherwise the same doctrine was taught in but exploded the Church before and from that time to this present are they remembred in the Church c. This is such a Cock and Bull story as the proverb hath it that it needs nay deserves to have no answer but a his And the ground of it being ut legimus as we read so that it may be ture or false and if true nothing in it but what might have been done by the devil and therefore in all respects such practices are to be shunned by worshipping of God for which we have a sure foundation I pass the Fables for so let me call them which the same Author throngs the proper festivities withall for were Peter or Mary upon earth they would undoubtedly blush at the absurdities of their zealous though ignorant prayers and cause Iohn comment upon on his old text Babes keep your selves from idols And Paul upon his let no man beguile you of your reward in worshipping of Angels and not holding the head c. 2. Saints will not have this glory and they are prudent When read we that a Noah prayed to Enos though his piety and translation were notour or that a David prayed to an Abraham or that any Israelite unto or obtained mercy by his holy Ancestors Nay contrary they urged that because of Abraham's being ignorant of them and their being not regarded by Israel God would be their Redeemer his Name being from everlasting 3. The other creatures will not have his worship or his glory and they may be observed Every pile of grasse hath a finger to point up to its Maker in Heaven and day unto day uttereth speech and readeth Lectures of Gods wise government powerful providence and rich mercy At Madrid the upper Rooms of Houses belongs by Law to the King and are not to be used untill they be compounded for by the Inhabitant and to this only wise God the King eternal not only the upper Room which is Heaven doth belong but the lowest pit also for in his hand are the deep places of the earth and ought not to be used by us before we satisfie the Law by praying and praising in doing which we add to the revenue of his glory Ezekiel saw his glory in Heaven Isaiah saw it upon earth and we ought to study the beholding of both for though his heavenly glory we cannot see with that Prophet yet we may perceive something of the appearance of it in his holy Word Heavenly Motions divine Commandments at which sight we are with the other to â—all down upon our faces and with loud cryes bemoan our infirmity vilenesse and uncleannesse His glory upon earth is so clear that he who hath eyes may see it in the clouds which are his Chariots our ears can hear the birds warble in their way the praises of their Maker the fields clap their hands in contemplation of which we are to cry Vnclean unclean for this said Isaiah when he spake of him and saw his glory and thereupon was comforted and purified 4. If we consider either our good or duty we shall own him only for God Reason leads many but profits command all persons it is rational it is profitable to ascribe only glory and honour to our Father For If you eye Conscience he can only quiet that if the Church absolve and the Spirit thereby settle doth the Word of Christ apply and the soul therupon rejoice It is but in his Name they acting but in deputation from him It is he that discovers sin that we may be in our selves nothing It is he that makes us hate sin that before him we may be holy If you eye dependence he only maintains you At first Heaven was made by him the Earth the Sea and all the Creatures therein because saith Nehemiah thou preservest them all the host of Heaven worshippeth thee
pardon but Gedd replyed Dico tibi I shew thee because thou refrainest not from the house of that prosane wretch thou shalt for thy punishment die in it which fell out accordingly the Earl and others treacherously killing the King at a solemn treat Pyrrhus Sons demanding to which of them he would leave his Kingdom Answered To him who had the sharpest sword Let the swords either of Gideon or of God be viewed Gods is the sharpest and therefore to be most â—eared of all who believes the coming of that Judge who commands his Anointed not to be touched By Baptism the Professor takes pay from Jesus as the Captain of his salvation and by scandalous behaviour he as it were runs from his Colours and by censure is he brought back and placed again in his rank that men beholding may fear and say that God is in her viz. the Church of a truth As Lycon the Philosopher had Ambitio pudor shame and honour to goad his Schollars forward in the practice of vertue so the Church hath honour and a Rod to excite to good behaviour restraining the vicious and encourageing the vertuous 4. By finishing and perfecting the just number of the Elect. Scripture sheweth that the Kingdom of glory shall not come untill the number of these appointed for Salvation be compleated not to speak of that great mystery of the Jews blindnesse untill the fulnesse of the Gentiles be brought in the Elect whether Jew or Gentile are gathered 1. At their natural dissolution 2. At Christs publick manifestation 1. At the Saints natural dissolution Every soul here uncased and divested of the body is a stone added for the perfecting of that house which is above and when the Quarry of eternal appointment hath been hewed out by the Gospel and fitted by death the roof is laid on and the work is finished for time shall be no more and Graces government over the soul is perfected then in glory If that Prayer be a reall History which is recorded for Ieroms and in his works which he made a little before his death for hastning of his glory how pithy is it but the Conclusion much more comfortable there appearing on a sudden after his communicating so beautiful and glorious a light in his Chamber that the sick could hardly be seen and a voice heard saying Come my beloved the time is now wherein thou art to receive a reward for these labours which manfully thou hast undergone for me to which he replyed Behold I come Lord Iesus unto thee receive my soul which thou hast redeemed with thy blood which words though thus uttered by him are still expressed as oft as we say Thy Kingdom come Not that death is to be simply called for or out of impatience as did Iob or Ionah but as Moses desired a sight of God but could not perfectly get it untill he went up to die so we are to understand that Pauls Cupio dissolvi his desire to depart upon saving knowledge is the most speciall comfortable text to a man in his departing said a reverend Prelat in his own Funeral for know we not that every day we breath here we lose one days sight of heavens beauty which we may justly pray to see not to alter Gods purpose but to manifest our longing desire 2. At Christs publick manifestation At Jesus his coming in the Clouds with the train of his holy Angels who are to gather his elect from the four winds from one end of Heaven to the other the dead in Christ rising first then those that are alive caught no all allarmed by a mighty shout with the voice of the Archangel and Trump of God shall the accomplishment of the full â—â—lly or number of the elect be finished At which time the Saints of their prayers of this prayer shall say consummatum est it is come the Kingdom is come the King of glory comes Arise let us go hence and enter into our Masters joy for the Kingdom is come c. But alas how unprepared are we for its coming for the dead consciences scandalous lives malitious complotters the medlers or busie-bodies about other mens matters the hatred and envy that appears in the actions of too many professing Christianity may cause remembrance of that old complaint sine Martyrio persequeris thou persecutes without blood-shed and thou kills under the mask of Religion and thou destroyes the saith of Christ by speaking of him c. This Kingdom hath come before day as upon Iacob and Iohn the Baptist before they were born and at the dawning of the day as upon Samuel and Timothy at noon-tide of the day as on Paul and Elisha and sometimes at the setting of the Sun as upon the converted thief but as it were dark night with us we sleep and fatten in our sins neither fearing nor desiring our Lords coming and though it be come to our Iudah this part of the world yet as the Gergesens we seek by our carefulness its removeal from us Be intreated therefore to throw away our old sins while we have time wash away our spots unravel the knots of our lives study purity that the King may have pleasure in our beauty and let us be the more earnest that the coming of our Lord is nigh He stood before the doors in St. Iames his time we have reason now to apprehend he is is half over the threshold In thy Kingdom come we shew eagerness to be under his dominion subject to his power censured by his Gospel yet by our carnal divisions we evince our aversness unto all and certainly by Amen we confirm our hearts in their rebellion against his Supremacy refusing to be under him for though both Devils and sinners be under the Dominion of God yet because they will not obey they are not said to be in his Kingdom We also bewail in it our straitnesse This world is a prison at best but an Inn wherein the beautifulest Chamber even a Kings presence is so incumbred we may say of it as Seleucus of his Crown that if people knew the vexations under it they would not deign to list it from the ground yet our deeds make apparent that this world is our rest and our choice not the Kingdom of our God having no respect to its government evident in the loosness of our lives and scandalousness of our divisions O God thou hast hardened our hearts against thy fear turn thy self to us again bless our provision satisfie thy poor with bread and cloath thy Priests with righteousnesse that thy Saints may shout for joy expecting the new Ierusalem coming down from God out of Heaven prepared as a Bride adorned for her Husband Thy Kingdom come THere are three graces mainly to be exercised in our petitioning viz. Charity Humility Fervency the first is found in each Line Word
those above-mentioned we surcease from more particular designation Four brethren visiting one Pambus discoursed of some special duty wherein they had exercised themselves One had been much in fasting another had so slighted the world that he had nothing of it nor in it a third professed he had studied that eminent grace of charity the fourth had lived two and twenty years in obeying the will of another to whom Pambus gave the crown of superexcellent commendation in regard he had quitted his own will and served anothers whereas his companions had chosen what their own wills had beheld as delectable and though we sacrifice our selves by giving our bodies to be burned yet obedience is more acceptable with him with whem we have to do and more performable shall his will be to us if we reflect that he wills only what is profitable and all his will is profitable for us in that he wills them to us It is to be adverted that God wills only good let none therefore be harsh it is by accident if he wills ill the means that leads to glory be more lucidly discovered and most pathetically press'd Samuel wept for Saul and David harped for him though both knew God had left him It is a scandalous practice of some to wish either the means or tendencies towards hell or to presume at first Gods final determination and accordingly with delight wisheth not to say prayeth ill for their brethren It is the will of God that all Israel be saved let it not be thy will to have any Edomite damned left thou curse thy self He wills moreover the doing of his will by thy self also be not an hypocrite exclude not thy self from this service for it is not let thy will be done by these or these or by him but let thy will be done that every where throughout the earth Errour may be eradicated and Vertue planted and in worshipping of his Name Earth may not be different from Heaven which cannot be if thy own soul be not by thy self weeded from vice and his will performed to thy power It is Storied of religious Borgia of Guant that he said the furious Dog in hunting would be commanded from the Hare at the command or hollow of the Hunt-man yet man would not abandone his lusts his sinfull projects his fleshly and hellish designs at the voice call yea thunder of God But let it not be so with thee beating up thy soul to that degree of conformity that the very whisperings of Gods Spirit may command practice and be obeyed without recoyling that God may as it were wonder at thy servency as Christ did once at a womans humility with an O man great is thy obedience Yet in applying this Petition to our selves it is good to remember his advice who propofeth this three-sold rule in and about the will of God that his will if we be particular be done 1. With a si vis as the leper Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean Moses prayed for entrance into Candan but finding it not to be the will of God he desisted from that suite 2. There must be a sicut vis a deliverance any way he will David desired to behold both the Ark and its habitation but if it were otherwise determined in the Council of God he was content 3. There is a quando vis when he will he hath called upon thee and thy Fathers house oft but his offers and his invitations have been oft rejected and Iosephs brethren flighting the anguish of his soul when they told him made Ioseph unknown to them untill the second time they went down to Egypt Wait upon the good pleasure of God therefore There were two wayes in the opinion of Poets and Philosophers in which all men walked and was thus figured â— one leading to bliss the other to sorrow the one was called the way of vertue the other of vice Christianity in its Law shews the disparity betwixt a licentious and a regular life neither is there any other path for happinesse and glory then obedience obedience obedience Wait then upon God and the God of peace that brought again our Lord Iesus from the dead shall in his own good time make you perfect in every good work to do his will Thy will be done on Earth c. THE will is the souls hand for applying to its self such things as appear useful helpful and convenient but heavenly things as most necessary must be reached unto yea violently attracted left as disobedient to Law it be stigmatized as rebellion and restrained in its other attempts all other designs saving those of piety which have the promises of both Earth and Heaven proving abortive in themselves and destructive to the brain wherein they are bred for prevention whereof we must have the earth qualified with obedience by good will and our selves upon earth to have heavenly wills that we may glorifie God in the lowest earth as he is in the highest Heavens betwixt which that there be an holy conformity pray that his will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven On Earth a real limitation and properly a boundiary unto all supplications for all Saints yet of so large an extension as includes all that are afar off upon the Sea and signifies that of David God be merciful unto us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us Selah That thy way may be known upon earth thy saving health among all Nations On Earth as it is in Heaven hath received different and various senses from the Ancients by Heaven some understanding the Saints and godly by Earth the sinner and unbeliever making the Petition this Let thy will be done by the wicked of the world as truly as sincerely as it is by the righteous and religious Again by Heaven is understood the Spirit and by Earth the flesh or body of man which is a servant to the law of sin and then the Petition signifieth this Let all the members of my body wherein sin dwells be made by thy power as easily induced to the obedience of thy will as is my spirit by which I serve the Law of God Further by Heaven may be understood the Church and by Earth the unbaptized multitude and then the Petition speaks Let all Atheists Iews Turks do thy will as it is done in the Congregations of those professing thy Name Two Fathers will have us by Earth to understand our enemies and that here we pray against their earthly-mindednesse which being removed they and we may live in heavenly concord confirming this position from the Apostles their not being called earth but the salt of the earth yea Non abhorret it is not absurd to understand saith one by Heaven our Lord Jesus Christ and by Earth the Church who as a wife is desired to be like the Spouse her Husband in
with the blood tears and sighs of the widows orphans wherewith the other delicats receive a hough-gough he shall rejoyce in his penury and say of their plenty let me not eat of their dainties The Lacedemonians regarded not wealth pleasure delicates nor abundance but made it their care to have strong sound bodies which Portion is evidently seen to be entailed to that Family where scantnesse is at board and the reason is known to the Scripturist the Lord preserving the stranger he relieving the father lesse and widow though not so well to the heathen who yet knew but I know not what way that goodnesse and poverty were sisters I have seen the Scelet of a famous Queen and really it appeared not so lovely as the bones and sculls in ordinary Charnel-houses on such as adorn the Frontispiece of common Graves so that even of bones we might answer with him who being asked why the poor had generally more thriving children then the rich answered The rich was at their own keeping the poor at Gods that is trusts more to it riches oft causing forgetfulnesse of God Hence one speaking of them whose prayers God principally heareth mentioneth the Penitent the faithful the afflicted but maketh the prayer of the poor to begin his roll Demonax the Philosopher never travelled with Coyn but when hungry step'd in at the first open door and got supply yet dying in his hundred year was honourably buried upon the publick charge And if this be thought stale or antick let the Water Poet be reflected upon who travelled from London to Edinburgh and from that to many places and from that to London again entertaind with the best drank of the best and eat most times of the best yet never spent penny borrowed never penny and begged never a penny and chearfully wrot his travels for his own mirth the Readers wonder and this Kingdoms fame and particularly this Cities honour neither dare I exclude Gods glory the Poet having religious aâ—imad versions We never read that either Christ of his Apostles begged yet they had no lands our Saviour made no Testament yet got both a Tomb and a Winding-sheet Remember poor man that seven loaves did seed many thousands bread multiplying bread either upon the table the Apostles hands or in the eaters mouth Pray for a blessing thy piece of bâ—ead thy quarter loaf may be commanded to 〈◊〉 in thy mouth thy stomack and in thy bowels for strengthening of thy body a higher degree then they who have their coâ—â—â—y â—iands their flately chynes yea if thou want it say My â—on God will provide us one and depend It was a strange yet true prodigy and wonder of love that in a great death in England Anno Dom 1555. there grew about Orford in Suffolk upon hard and solid Rocks where grasse or earth was never seen to grow without tillage or sowing a rich crop of Pease and there was in August gathered above one hundred quarters saith my Author that is two hundred bolls and in blossoming remained as many more growing immediately still from the hard Rock Meditate upon this in the night season and consider the widows oly enlarged untill her debt was payed and Hagars empty bottle was at last filled for the keeping alive her Son Once more observe Conveniency of food ought to be all our prayer our daily bread nec amplius vult he will have us to ask that but no more such as follow us to abate the edge of hunger in our travelling through this vale of Bacha and the sufficiency not to be required for it self but propter salutem corporis for the health of the body which possessing in praying for daily bread the continuance of it is desired but if it be wanting the obtaining of it is sued for in Give us this day our daily bread It is well said of an holy man that semper Dives est Christiana paupert as the poor Christian hath greater and larger possessions then the rich having more good things about him having God and in him a sufficiency yea an overflowing of all delectable things for if a Cup of cold water be rewarded and the widows mite be praised there shall be always some to shew mercy to such who have been merciful to others From all which we inferr this threesold duty 1. Look backward upon your life and praise him Noah builded an Altar after his deliverance from the stood and David composed a Psalm alter victory we have out-lived the sword the pestilence and famine and shall there be no song of triumph have we purchased our daily bread by a da nobis our prayers and shall there be no tuum est Regnum no Hosannah to our Father which art in Heaven for praise 2. Look forward supposing life and depend upon him Should the poorest of us all cast up our yearly expences they would amount to a pretty sum He is hearty at fourscore years and it may be never had so many farthings free together if his bounty hath flowed untill now trust his beneficence and distrust not though thy strength fail Let the worst be suggested and blessed are the religious poor for they only possesse their souls under arrest or confiscation in the keeping of which they cannot want their bread an omnipotent and invisible arm affording out of an immense Treasury sufficient to keep his servants soul alive Young Cyrus at a richly furnished Table begged liberty to do what he pleased gave one to this and another dish to that man and to a third another for teaching him to ride c. as thinking it against health to seed upon variety if God a greater King then Cyrus give this rich quâ—ntum to one and that to another and give the strength health sound sleep and a cheery heart with thy pittance thou hast enough yea abundance 3. Look present on passing life and be content The richest of us all can have but a belly-full and what they have more is not theirs if the poors bowels be not empty they may be said to be both rich alike The multitude had their fare but we read not that they got the fragments and without them having sufficient for the day we ought to be grateful Bread being a help to life not the end of life pleads at our hands industry for its acquisition It was poverty after high prodigality that made Aristotle both wise and samous and pinches ought to make us importunatly presse God for bread for food and raiment as the very words of this Prayer imports curbing our mouths girthing our bellies composing all disputes about what shall we eat in commanding us to call and allowing us but to call for our daily bread this day The matter of this Petition being discuss'd the order is to be next viewed and it is easie to behold that the Petitions relating to the Kingdom