makes to God ought to be ratified with an Amen sent from our very hearts which if we sincerely and affectionately perform we have abundant assurance that what is confirmed by so many suffrages on Earth shall likewise be confirmed by our Father which is in Heaven And how beautiful how becoming would this be when the whole Church shall thus conspire together in their Requests St. Jerome tells us It was the custom in his days to close up every Prayer with such an unanimous consent that their Amens rung and echoed in the Church and sounded like the fall of Waters or the noise of Thunder This would be a Testimony of our hearty consent to the things we Pray for And if any two that shall agree upon Earth touching any thing that they shall ask they shall have it granted them as our Saviour hath promised Matth. 18.19 then certainly the joynt Prayers of a whole multitude of Christians must needs have a kind of Omnipotency in them and be able to do any thing with God And thus I have with God's Assistance given you a brief Exposition of this most excellent Prayer of our Saviour The Lord Sanctifie it unto you and make it a means to help you to Pray with more understanding with stronger Faith and with greater Fervency The End of the Larger Exposition A Catechistical EXPOSITION OF THE Lord's Prayer By way of QUESTION and ANSWER By the Right Reverend Father in God EZEKIEL Lord Bishop of Derry by which he examined the Youth each lord's-Lord's-Day during the whole Time he preached upon the Lord's Prayer Quest IS the Lords Prayer a Form of Prayer or onely a Pattern for Prayer Answ It is both That it is to be used as a Form appears Luke 11.2 When ye pray say Our Father which art in Heaven c. That it is a Pattern Matt. 6.9 After this Manner therefore pray ye Our Father which art in Heaven c. Q. What are the Parts of this Prayer A. They are Four 1. The Preface or Introduction 2. The Petitions and Requests 3. The Doxology or Praise-giving 4. The Conclusion and Ratification Q. What is the Preface to this Prayer A. Our Father which art in Heaven Q. What observe you from it A. That in the Beginning of our Prayers we ought seriously to consider and reverently to express the glorious Attributes of God as an excellent Means to compose us into an Holy Fear of his Divine Majesty Q. How many are the Petitions contained in this Prayer A. Six Whereof the three first respect God's Glory and the three last our own Good Q. What learn you from this Order and Method A. That we ought first to seek God's Glory before any Interests and Concerns of our own Q. How are those Petitions divided which immediately concern the Glory of God A. In the first of them we pray that God may be glorified in the other two for the Means whereby he is glorified Q. How divide you those Petitions which concern our own good A. One relates to our Temporal the other two to our Spiritual good Q. What observe you from placing the Petition for our Temporal good in the Midst of this Prayer A. That we are onely to bait at the World in our Passage to Heaven and onely refresh our selves with our daily Bread in our Way and Journey thither Q. What are the Petitions which relate to our Spiritual good A. They are two One whereby we beg the Pardon of our Sins the other whereby we beg Deliverance from them Q. What ascribe you to God in the Doxology A. Four of his most glorious Attributes 1. First His Sovereignty Thine is the Kingdom 2. Secondly His Omnipotence And the Power 3. Thirdly His Excellency And the Glory 4. Fourthly The Eternity and Unchangeableness of all these They are Thine for ever Q. What signifies that Particle Amen at the End of this Prayer A. It signifies two Things So be it Which notes our Desire for the obtaining of what we ask So it shall be Which notes our Assurance of being heard Q. What is the Preface to the Lord's Prayer A. Our Father which art in Heaven Q. What doth this teach us A. That in our Entrance into Prayer we should seriously consider both the Mercy of God as he is our Father and likewise his Majesty as he is in Heaven That the one may beget in us Filial Boldness and the other awfull Reverence and by the mixture of both we may be kept from Despair and Presumption Q. In what Respects may God be stiled Father A. In three especially 1. First in respect of the Eternal Generation of his Son And so this Title is proper onely to the first Person of the Trinity 2. In respect of Creation and Providence and so he is the Father of all Mal. 2.10 Have we not all one Father Hath not one God created us 3. In respect of Regeneration and Adoption And so he is the onely Father of the Faithfull John 1.12.13 But as many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God even to them that believed on his Name Which were born not of Blood nor of the VVill of Flesh nor of the VVill of Man but of God Rom. 8.15 16. For ye have not received the Spirit of Bondage again to Fear But ye have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father The Spirit it self beareth witness with our Spirit that we are the Children of God Q. In what Respects do we call God Father in this Prayer A. In the two last As he hath created us and doth preserve us and as he hath regenerated and adopted us Q. When ye stile God the Father do ye mean onely God the Father the first Person of the Trinity A. No. For God the first Person is eminently called the Father not in respect of us but in respect of Christ In respect of us the whole Trinity both Father Son and Holy Ghost is our Father which is in Heaven Isaiah 9.6 For unto us a Child is born unto us a Son is given and the Government shall be upon his Shoulder and his Name shall be called Wonderfull Counsellour The Mighty God The Everlasting Father The Prince of Peace John 3.5 Jesus answered Verily verily I say unto thee Except a Man be born of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Q. What is implied in this Particle Our Our Father A. That God is the Father of all Men He is the Father of the VVicked by Creation and Providence but especially of the Godly by Regeneration and Adoption Q. Is it proper in our secret Prayers to say Our Father A. It is For so we find Dan. 9.17 Now therefore O our God hear the Prayer of thy Servant and his Supplications and cause thy Face to shine upon thy Sanctuary that is desolate for the Lord's Sake Q. What learn we by stiling God our Father A. First to esteem one another as Brethren
are giving Alms to others or whilst we are praying to the great God of Heaven and Earth to make frail mortal Men like our selves our Idols which we do whensoever we pray rather that we may be heard and admired by Men than that God should hear us and accept us In the next words our Saviour proceeds in laying down some other Directions concerning the Duty of Prayer and therein he forbids his Hearers to use vain Repetitions in Prayer verse 7. When you Pray use not vain Repetitions as the Heathens do Not that all Repetitions in Prayer are vain bablings in the sight of God for our Lord himself Prayed thrice using the same words for so we read Matth. 26. and 44. For doubtless as Copiousness and Variety of fluent Expressions in any usually flow from raised Affections so when those Affections are heightned and raised to an Ecstasy and Agony of Soul in our wrestlings with God in Prayer Ingeminations are then the most Proper and most Elegant way of expressing them doubling and redoubling the same Petitions again and again not allowing God if I may so speak with Holy Reverence so much time nor our selves so much leasure as to form in our minds much more with our Lips to offer up any new requests till by a Holy Violence in wrestling with God we have extorted out of his hands those Mercies and Blessings our Hearts are set upon the suing to him for Vain Repetitions therefore are such as are made use of by any without new and lively Stirrings and Motions of the Heart and Affections at the same time And that which makes a Prayer vain makes a Repetition in Prayer to be vain also Now that is a vain Prayer and we shall certainly find it so when the requests we offer up to God therein are heartless and lifeless For we must know God hath Commanded us to Pray not that he might be excited and moved by hearing the Voice of our Cries in Prayer to give unto us those Mercies and Blessings which he himself was not resolved before hand to bestow upon us but that we our selves might be fitted and prepared to receive from him what he is always ready and willing to confer upon us He requires Prayer from us not that he might be affected therewith for as the Apostle St. James tells us With him there is no variableness nor shadow of turning James 1.17 but that we our selves might have our Hearts raised and affected therewith And therefore the chiefest effect of Prayer being to affect our selves if Prayer it self be not vain neither are Repetitions in Prayer vain if whilst we are spreading the same requests before God we do it with new Affections and Desires No Prayer therefore ought to be accused of idle Babling and vain Repetitions but those that Pray may I fear too often be charged with it And here by the way I desire all those who are offended at or refuse to joyn with the Stated Forms of Prayer that the Church hath appointed to be made use of either in publick or private because the same requests do many times occur therein to keep a strict Eye upon their Hearts and Affections and then the Scruples and Objections that they make will presently be removed for it is much in their own Power to make them to be either vain Repetitions or the most fervent Ingeminations of their most affectionate Desires unto God and the most Spiritual and Forcible part of all their Prayers and Supplications they offer up unto him But then further as our Saviour forbids vain Repetitions in Prayer so he likewise forbids much speaking for they think says our Saviour St. Matth. 6.7 That they shall be heard for their much speaking Now as the former Prohibition doth not exclude all Repetitions in Prayer so neither doth this latter exclude as some Ignorant Persons perhaps who are soon wearied out with the Service of God may be apt to think long Prayers for this would be a flat contradiction to his own practice for it is said in St. Luke 6.12 That he went out into a Mountain to Pray and continued all night in Prayer unto God Some indeed take the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prayer to signifie the House of Prayer as if our Saviour continued only in such a Dedicated House or Chappel all night according as Juvenal useth the word in quâ te quaero prosencha Yet as it will be hard to prove that the Jews had any such Houses for Prayer besides their Synagogues which were not seated in Desolate whither our Saviour went then to Pray but in Populous Cities and frequented Places So it will be more hard to imagine that our Saviour would continue all night in the House of Prayer if he had not been taken up in the performance of the Duty of Prayer There is therefore a great deal of difference between much speaking in Prayer and speaking much in Prayer for certainly a Man may speak much to God in prayer when yet he may not be guilty of much speaking for there is a compendious way of speaking to speak much in a little and there is a babling way of speaking when by many tedious Ambages and long Impertinencies men pour out a Sea of Words and scarce one drop of Sence or Matter Now it is this last way of speaking unto God which our Saviour here condemns and condemns it justly for it shews either Folly or Irreverence Folly in that it is a sign we do not sufficiently consider what we ask Irreverence in that it is a sign we do not consider of whom we ask and such men are rather to be esteemed talkative than devout But when a man's Soul is full fraught with matter of which if he duly weighs either his Spiritual wants or his Temporal Sorrows and Afflictions he can never be unfurnished to pour out his Soul and with a torrent of Holy Rhetorick lay open his Case before God begging seasonable supplies in suitable expressions certainly he cannot fall under the reproof of much speaking although he may speak much and long for such an one hath much to say and whilst Matter and Affections last let his prayer be an hour long yea a day long yea an eternity long as our Praises shall be in Heaven he is not to be censured for a Babler but hath still spoken much in a little It is true the Wise Man hath Commanded That our words be few in our Addresses to God Eccles 5.2 and he gives a most forcible Reason For God is in Heaven and thou upon Earth His Infinite Majesty should therefore over-awe thee from using any rash and vain loquacity But yet this makes not against long prayers for many words may be but a few to express the sentiments of our Souls and none can be too many while the Heart keeps Pace with the Tongue and every Petition is filled with Matter and winged with Affections And whereas our Saviour condemns the Pharisees who devoured Widows Houses
Kingdom and then shew you how this Kingdom comes And lastly what we pray for in presenting this Petition to God Thy Kingdom come First We must distinguish of God's Kingdom Now the Kingdom of God is Two-fold either Universal or more Particular and Peculiar The one is his Kingdom of Power the other is his Kingdom of Grace First His Vniversal Kingdom which extends over all things in Heaven and Earth yea and Hell it self And so he is the sole Monarh of the whole World and all the Princes and Potentates of the Earth are but his Vice-Roys and Vicegerents that Govern under and should Govern for him For he is that Blessed and only Potentate the King of kings and Lord of lords as the Apostle Styles him 1 Tim. 6.15 and his Kingdom ruleth over all Psal 103.19 It is true in this Vniversal Kingdom there are many Rebels that would not have him to Reign over them Many that daily rise up in Arms break his Laws defy his Justice and reject his Mercy Many that were their Power equal to their Malice would Dethrone and Depose him from his Sovereignty Whole Legions of Infernal Spirits are continually mustering up all their Forces and drawing wretched sinful Men into the Conspiracy and their quarrel is for no less than Dominion and Empire who shall be King God or Satan yet all their attempts are but vain and frustrate and in spite of all their impotent rage God's Kingdom shall stand and as it was from Everlasting so shall it be to Everlasting for thine is the Kingdom and Power for ever and ever And therefore the most wicked of all God's Creatures are still his Subjects not subject indeed to his Laws for so they break his Bonds asunder and cast away his Cords from them but they are subject to his Power and Providence and that in Three respects As it grants Permission As it imposeth Restraints And as it inflicts Punishments First All are God's Subjects in that they can do nothing without his Permission Neither the Devil that Arch-Creature nor the worst of his Instruments can so much as touch an hair of our Head unless leave be granted them Yea we find that a whole Legion of Devils after they were dispossessed of their usurped abode durst not so much as house themselves in a Herd of Swine without first craving leave of our Saviour Mark 5.12 And all the Villainies and Out-rages that have ever been committed in the World have had their pass from God's Permission without which the Lusts of Men as furious and eager as they are must needs have miscarrying Wombs and dry Breasts Nor is it any taint at all to the pure Holiness of God that he doth thus permit the wickedness of Men which if he pleased he might prevent For though we are obliged to keep others from sin when it lies in our power to do it yet no such Obligation lies upon God though he can keep the wickedst Wretch on Earth from ever sinning any more yet he permits Wisely for the greater advancement of his own Glory and the Exercise of his Peoples Graces and at the last he punishes Justly Secondly His Kingdom is over all in that he can bend in and restrain his Rebellious Subjects as he pleaseth Sometimes he doth it by cutting short their Power of doing mischief He chains up those Mad Men and takes from them those Swords Arrows and Fire-brands which otherwise they might hurl abroad both to their own and others hurt Sometimes he raiseth up an opposite Power against them that they cannot break through to the Commission of their sins so the Jews would often have taken Christ and put him to Death but they feared the People whom his Miracles and Cures had obliged unto him Sometimes Providence casts in some seasonable diversion and thus he over-ruled Joseph's Brethren restraining them from killing him by the Providential passing by of Merchants that way And sometimes by removing the Objects against which they intended to sin So Herod intended to put Peter to death but that very night God sent his Angel to work his escape and prevented that wickedness Many other ways there may be of his Exercising his Sovereignty and Dominion over his most Rebellious Creatures who though they are Slaves to their Lusts yet God holds their Chain in his own hand slacking it by his permission and sometimes straitning it by his Powerful restraints And therefore we find in Scripture that God hath a certain measure for Mens sins beyond which they shall not exceed Zach. 5. There is mention made of an Ephah of Wickedness And this signifies to us that though wicked Men break the bounds of his Laws yet they cannot break the bounds of his Providence God hath set them their measure which they can neither fill without his Permission nor exceed because of his restraint Thirdly God declares his Kingdom to be over all by inflicting deserved punishments on the most stubborn and rebellious Sinners though they transgress his Laws and provoke his Holiness yet they shall never out-brave his Justice but he will certainly humble them if not to Repentance yet to Hell and Perdition Luke 19.17 Those mine Enemies that would not that I should Reign over them bring them hither and slay them before me And therefore we see how God hath erected Trophies and Monuments to the Praise of his dread Power and Servere Justice out of the Ruins of the most Proud and Insolent Sinners Pharaoh who was both the great Type and Instrument of the Devil how did God break that stubborn Wretch with Plague upon Plague and one Misery after another For to this very purpose God set him up that he might shew his Signs and Wonders upon him And thus God deals with many others in this Life by some Signal and Remarkable Punishments making them Examples to deter others from the like Crimes But thus he deals with all his Rebels in Hell for even that is one and a large part of his Kingdom It is his Prison wherein he hath shut up all his Malefactors whom his grim Serjeant Death hath Arrested It is the great Slaughter-house of Souls and the Shop of Justice Devils are there his Executioners and Fire and Rack and Torments the due Guerdon of those impenitent Rebels who shaking off his Yoke and casting of his Cords from them are crush'd for ever under the insupportable load of his Wrath and bound in Chains of massy Darkness reserved for the Judgment of the Great Day Thus we see God's Vniversal Kingdom consists of Three great Provinces Heaven Earth and Hell In Heaven only Grace and Mercy Reigns on Earth both Mercy and Justice in the various dispensations of them towards the Sons of Men in Hell pure and unmixed Justice triumphs in the Eternal Damnation of his Apostate Creatures This is God's Vniversal Kingdom But Secondly Besides this God hath a peculiar Kingdom and that is his Kingdom of Grace which though it be not so large and extensive as the
establish their Purgatory No O Sinner there is not any guilt left for thee to satisfie for not any reserve of punishment for thee to undergo but all thy Sins are so pardoned that they are in God's Account as if they had never been committed against him And therefore be thy Comforts never so strong and flowing and thy sense of God's pardoning Grace never so clear yet know that thy Pardon is still infinitely more perfect than thy Joy in it can be satisfactory For Assurance and the sense of Pardon is a Work of God's Spirit wrought in us and is commonly mixed with some hesitation and misgiving doubts but our Pardon is an Act of God in himself where it meets with nothing contrary and therefore with no abatement but is as perfect and absolute as ever it shall be in Heaven it self Thirdly Is it God that Pardons Then for thy comfort know that he can as easily forgive great and many Sins as few and small For the greatness and multitudes of thy Sins can make no odds in infinite Grace and Mercy only repent and believe God proclaims his Name Exod. 34 7. The Lord God Merciful and Gracious Long-suffering and abundant in Goodness and Truth forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin That is all sorts and sizes of Sins The greatest Sins repented of are no more without the extent of his Mercy than the least unrepented of are without the cognizance of his Justice And that there is any one though but one Sin unpardonable ariseth not so much from the atrociousness of the Fact as if it exceeded Mercy but only from the malignity of its Nature hardning the Heart against God and making it uncapable of Repentance otherwise could they who commit this Sin repent even they also should obtain Pardon Say not therefore Mine Iniquity is greater than can be forgiven I have out-sinn'd Mercy and there is no Portion for me in God his fiery Indignation will eternally devour me This is to be injurious unto God and to stint that Grace and Mercy which he hath made infinite And thou may'st with as much Truth and Reason say that thou art greater than God as that thy Sins are greater than his Mercy Yet here before I leave this let me caution you that you do not abuse this comfortable Doctrine of God's pardoning Sin and turn that into Presumption that was intended only to arm you against Despair Indeed both Presumption and Despair tend in a divers manner to encourage and harden Men in Sin The Despairing Sinner argues If I must not be saved if my Sins be so many and great that there is no Pardon for them to what purpose then should I live strictly To what purpose should I cross and vex my self by an unprofitable severity It is too great niceness to scruple farther sinning when I am already sure of Damnation and therefore if I must go to Hell I will make my way thither as pleasant as I can This is a kind of Despair that produceth not horrour as it doth in some but a most wretched carelessness what becomes of them On the other hand Presumptuous Men argue God is able to pardon the greatest and vilest Sinners they cannot sin beyond the reach and extent of his Grace and Mercy and therefore what need they yet trouble themselves to repent and reform they will yet indulge themselves a little longer in their Sins for it is as easie for God to pardon them at the last moment of their lives as upon many years preparation We see Iniquity every where most fearfully to abound in the World and doubtless both Despair and Presumption have too great an influence both upon the Minds and Lives of Men to make them careless in their Eternal Concernments Enough hath been spoken to the Despairing which are but few but to the Presumptuous let me add a Word It is the most unworthy and dis-ingenuous use they can make of the Mercy of God to press it to serve against its Authority Shall we continue in Sin that Grace may abound God forbid Shall we Sin licentiously because God pardons freely no the Grace of God obligeth otherwise the Love of Christ constraineth otherwise the filial disposition of the New Creature enclineth otherwise Gratitude and Retribution engage otherwise But if these motives be too refined and ingenious for thy sordid and slavish Spirit and if thou wilt still go on in the Presumption of thy Heart crying Peace Peace to thy self although thou continuest adding one Iniquity to another know O vile wretch that the Lord will not spare thee but the Anger of the Lord and his Jealousie shall smoak against thee and all the Curses that are written in his Book shall come upon thee and the Lord will blot out thy Name from under Heaven Deutr. 29.19 And thus I have done with the general consideration of God's pardoning Sin held forth to us in this Petition Forgive us our Debts or Trespasses Now in this Petition we pray not only for the Pardon of Sin but likewise for all things that are antecedently necessary to obtain it As First We pray that God would discover to us the horrid odious Nature of Sin that he would convince us of the woful miserable Estate that we are in by Nature and how much more wretched and miserable we have made our selves by our sinful lives that he would set home the terrours of Sin upon our Consciences to our humiliation and make us Despair in our selves that we might fly unto Christ and lay hold on that help and refuge he hath set before us Secondly We pray that God would humble us under the sight and sense of our manifold Transgressions that as our Sins have made us vile in God's Eyes so they may make us vile in our own to loath our selves in dust and ashes for them Thirdly We pray that God would give us his Spirit to enable us to confess our Sins cordially and sincerely to pour forth our Hearts before him and to acknowledge our manifold Provocations with shame and godly sorrow upon which God promised to grant us pardon and forgiveness Prov. 28.13 He that covereth his Sin shall not prosper but he that confesseth and forsaketh them shall find Mercy And the Apostle tells us If we confess our Sins God is Faithful and Just to forgive us our Sins and to cleanse us from all Vnrighteousness 1 Joh. 1.9 Fourthly We beg a more clear understanding of the Sacrifice and Atonement made by Jesus Christ through which alone all Pardon is purchased and procured To know both what it is and why ordained and likewise the knowledge of God's rich and free Mercy and the Conjunction of this Sacrifice and Mercy together in the great Mystery of the freeness of Divine Grace and the Satisfaction of Jesus concurring to the Remission of our sins and the Salvation of our Souls Fifthly We pray that we may have a high esteem of Christ and may hunger and thirst more after him and his
for ever and it is an incommunicable Attribute of his Divine Essence to be so But because all the perfections and properties of God are God himself therefore this everlastingness here in the Doxology ascribed to his Kingdom his Power and his Glory are said to be for ever Yet not only these but whatsoever is in God is absolutely Eternal His Righteousness is an everlasting Righteousness Psal 119.142 His Truth endureth for ever Psal 117.2 His Mercy is for ever Psal 136.1 His Mercy endureth for ever which is there made the burden of that most excellent Song and the sweet close of every verse in it His Love is for ever Jer. 31.3 I have loved thee with an everlasting love Now in treating of the Attributes of God I shall endeavour to shew these three things First What the true and proper notion of Eternity is Secondly That God is Eternal Thirdly What encouragement our Faith may have from this Attribute of God's Eternity that those things which we pray unto him for shall be granted unto us First Let us see what Eternity is And here though it be altogether impossible exactly to describe what is boundless and infinite yet to help our weak and shallow conceptions we may take this notion of it Eternity is a duration which hath neither beginning nor end nor succession of parts Or according to the common description of Boethius Est interminabilis vitae tota simul perfecta possessio It is the compleat possession of an endless life all at once So that it is distinguished from all other durations whatsoever First In that other durations have had their beginnings for all things were Created either in time or with time but Eternity was before all time and shall be after it Secondly In that all Temporal durations are successive measured by the motions of Heavenly Bodies by years days and hours but Eternity is permanent it is but one abiding instant and hath no parts following one after another and though it comprehends all time within its infinite Circle yet it doth not move along with time For as Rivers are contained within their banks and flow along by them part after part without any motion of the banks themselves so Time is contained within Eternity and flows along in it without any motion or succession of Eternity it self This I confess is hard if not altogether impossible to be formed into an Idea yet conceiving Reason will infallibly demonstrate that Being which neither hath beginning nor end can have no succession in its duration for where-ever there is Succession there must needs be a Priority and where-ever there is a Priority there must needs be a beginning And if Eternity did consist and were made up of such parts as are equal and commensurate to our years and days it must needs follow that these parts themselves must be infinite for if they be but finite we shall come to a beginning which is not to be granted in Eternity And if they be infinite then in Eternity there must be as many Millions of Years as of Minutes and consequently a Minute would be equal to a Million of Years yea the least part of a Minute would be equal to it which is grosly absurd But I shall not detain you with these Philosophical Speculations Only when we say that God is from everlasting to everlasting we ought not to conceive that there is any Succession in his duration that he grows older or that he hath continued longer this day than he was yesterday For though when we speak of God we are forced to use such expressions and denote Succession in his Being as that he was from everlasting and that he shall be to everlasting yet to say that God was or that he shall be is only allowable by reason of the penury of our conceptions But in strict propriety these are derogatory to him for God neither was nor shall be but only is and enjoys his Eternal Essence immutably and unsuccessively And therefore when Moses demanded his Name that he might inform the Israelites who that God was that would take pity of their Sufferings he tells him thou shalt say unto them I AM hath sent me to you Exod. 3.14 And this indeed is the best and fittest expression of his Eternity and unchangableness Yea and the Scripture hath given us one more high and lofty expression of it Psal 90.4 A thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past what is yesterday to this day but a mere nothing So a thousand years yea all the thousand years and all the time that ever the Orbs of Heaven shall spin out to the World is all to God but as yesterday when it is past he lives not by it nor is his Being measured out by days or years but it is a perpetual Now a standing Moment an indivisible and permanent instant without flux or vicissitude Indeed it is wholly inconsistent with Eternity and an infinite duration that there should be any thing past or any thing to come in it For what is already past cannot be infinite because it is already ended And what is to come cannot be Eternal because there was something going before it And from hence it appears that a duration which is Eternal must be without beginning without end and without any Succession of parts Now Secondly That God is thus Eternal appears both from clear Evidence of Scripture and invincible demonstrations of Reason it self First The Scripture bears abundant witness to the Truth of this Attribute Psal 102.25 26 27. The Heavens are the Works of thy hands they shall perish but thou shalt endure yea all of them shall wax old as a Garment but thou art the same and thy years shall have no end 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 Isa 43.10 Before me was there no God formed neither shall there be after me 1. Tim. 1.17 Now to the King Eternal and Immortal the only Wise God be Honour and Glory But I cannot stand to cite all the Testimonies that might be alleadged Secondly The Eternity of God may be demonstrated by clear and irrefragable reason And that I shall give you in these several gradations First It is absolutely necessary that there be some first cause of all things that are made which is not it self made or produced by any For the series of Causes is not infinite otherwise no effect could be produced since what is infinite cannot be pass'd through And if all Beings that are are caused by some pre-existent Being then there is not nor ever was a Being before which there was not another and so this gross absurdity will follow That before there was a Being there was a Being which is a contradiction Therefore we must necessarily rest in some first Cause from which all things have their Origin and is it self caused by no other Secondly
not my Will but thine be done A. These are not so much Prayers as Declarations of their Submission unto and Patience under the Hand of God Q. May we not pray at all that God's Will of Purpose may be done A. Yes it is for Temporal or Spiritual or Eternal Blessings on our selves or others Q. What force doth the Particle Thy carry in it when we pray Thy will be done A. It may be taken either emphatically or exclusively 1. First It signifies that God's Will ought to be preferred above and before all others Acts 4.19 But Peter and John answered and said unto them whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God judge ye Both because it is most Soveraign and because it is most Holy and Perfect so that we act most like Men when we act most like Christians 2. Secondly It signifies exclusively that God's Will and not our own may be done For ours being carnal and corrupt we pray for the subduing it to his Q. What mean you by praying that God's Will be done in Earth A. First I pray that it may be done by my self and all others living on the Earth Psal 67.2 That thy way may be known upon Earth thy saving Health among all Nations Secondly We pray that we may improve the few Days of this Mortal Life in the Service of God for there is no Device nor Operation in the Grave Q. Having given this Account of the Petition in the Matter of it what is next observable A. The Proportion of it As it is in Heaven Q. But is it not impossible to do the Will of God in Earth as it is done in Heaven where the Holy Angels do perfectly perform it A. It is as to the Equality of Perfection but not as to the Similitude and Proportion of our Endeavours after it For we are commanded to be holy as God is holy and perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect Matt. 5.48 Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect Which Command we obey when we seriously endeavour it Q. How then is the Will of God done in Heaven A. First Thine Obedience is absolutely perfect both as to Parts and Degrees that is to say they obey all God's Will enjoined them and that with all their might and after this Perfection we ought to strive and in this Petition pray for a greater Measure of it Secondly Their Obedience is chearfull not extorted by Fears or Sufferings Thirdly They do the Will of God with Zeal and Ardency Psal 104.4 Who maketh his Angels spirits his Ministers a flaming Fire Fourthly They do it with Celerity and ready Dispatch and therefore the Angels are often in Scripture described to have Wings Fifthly The Will of God is done in Heaven with all possible Prostration and Reverence Rev. 4.10 The four and twenty Elders fall down before him that sat on the Throne and worship him that liveth for ever and ever and cast their Crowns before the Throne saying Sixthly The Will of God is done in Heaven with Constancy and Perseverance Rev. 7.15 Therefore are they before the Throne of God and serve him Day and Night in his Temple and he that sitteth on the Throne shall dwell among them And thus we ought to pray and endeavour that we may do the Will of God on Earth Q. What learn you from this A. That we ought not to satisfie our selves in comparing our Obedience with other Mens as the boasting Pharisee did but to take the Examples for our Holiness from Heaven and to endeavour to imitate the Purity of Angels and the God of Angels For St. Paul himself when he prescribes his Life as an Example for Christians doth it onely as he followed the Pattern of Christ 1 Cor. 11.1 Be ye followers of me even as I also am of Christ Q. We have already considered the three first Petitions which immediately related to God s Glory it remains now to treat of those which immediately concern our own Good Which is the first of them A. That wherein we beg the good things of this present Life in these words Give us this Day our daily Bread Q. What is here meant by Bread A. All Temporal and Earthly Blessings that contribute either to our being or well being For Bread being the most usual and usefull Support of Life it is often in Scripture put for all kind of Provision necessary for natural Life Gen. 3.19 In the Sweat of thy Face shalt thou eat Bread till thou return into the Ground for out of it wast thou taken for Dust thou art and unto Dust shalt thou return Q. What learn we hence A. That it is not below a Spiritual Christian to pray for Temporal Mercies both because they are needfull for us Matt. 6.32 For after all these things do the Gentiles seek for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things And God hath promised to bestow them Phil. 4.19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his Riches in Glory by Christ Jesus Q. How ought we to pray for them A. Onely conditionally if it may consist with God's good Pleasure to bestow them otherwise we do not pray but invade and if it may consist with our good to receive them otherwise we ask a Curse instead of a Blessing Q. What learn you from the word Give A. That God is the Giver of every Temporal Mercy Q. How is God said to give us our daily Bread A. First by producing it and bringing it to us for though the Chain of natural Causes be never so long yet God holds the first Link of it in his own hand Hosea 2.21 22. And it shall come to pass in that Day I will hear saith the Lord I will hear the Heavens and they shall hear the Earth Vers 22. And the Earth shall hear the Corn and the Wine and the Oil and they shall hear Jezreel Secondly by blessing it to us without which our daily Bread can never nourish us Deut. 8.3 And he humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger and fed thee with Manna which thou knowest not neither did thy Fathers know that he might make thee know that Man doth not live by Bread onely but by every word that proceedeth out of the Mouth of the Lord doth Man live Q. What mean you when you pray for daily Bread A. By this we pray That God would bestow upon us daily those Mercies which are sufficient for the Day Q. What learn you hence A. That as in praying for Bread we pray for Conveniencies not for Superfluities or Delicacies So in our praying for daily Bread we pray for present supplies not Goods laid up for many Years Which teacheth us to moderate our Cares and Desires after Earthly Things and to rest satisfied in God's Providence and present Blessings Q. May we not then carefully provide for the Time to come and the Support of our Dependents A.