it is strucken downeward the higher it rebounds upward so the lower thy prayers take their rising from thy heart the higher they ascend up into the eares of God Stoope therefore O my soule and bee sure to bee humble and so thou mayst be sure to command faile â—ot to be lowly and so thou shalt not faile to be exalted be content to be strucken the harder downeward and so thou shalt make the higher bound upward into Heaven But will not this be a dry diet to have onely bread and no drinke to it Did it not even choake the Bethulians and almost wither the Israelites in the Wildernesse Or why should we thinke to have drinke without asking more then bread Is it for that wee sinned first in eating and therefore are punished with begging for bread to eate Or is it that Christ keeps within his compasse and teacheth us to aske for bread from heaven who was himselfe the bread that came downe from heaven Or is it as Christ sayd of the poore that water we have alwaies with us but bread wee have not alwaies such indeed may bee the mazes of thoughts when they wander in darknesse but by the light of the first cause wee shall see the true cause that Christ who is himselfe verbum Abbreviatum makes this prayer for us in a kinde of Hierogliphicks where one character stands for many things and if Moses comprehended all Elementar matter as fire ayre water under the one word of earth why may not Christ comprehend all temporall things under the one word of bread and indeed in this sence oftentimes the Scriptures use it as when wee read in Ezekiel that one of the sinnes of Sodome was fulnesse of bread wee must not thinke that their excesse was onely in eating of dry bread but that they exceeded in the superfluity of all meates and drinkes adding thirst to drunkennesse and making themselves Artificiall stomackes with devises of gluttony But why then should hee use so many words even five whole petitions in expressing spirituall Graces Is â—t not that temporall things like foule cloathes or ragges may well enough bee wrapped up in one bundle together but spirituall graces as things more precious require more roome and being to make us without spot are themselves to bee made up without wrinkle Yet may it perhaps not bee without mistery also that Christ teacheth us here to aske onely for bread as he promiseth us in heaven to give us onely drinke to shew that this life and the next are both but one meale and that we cannot drinke with him in his Fathers Kingdome unlesse wee first eate him here the bread which came downe from heaven But doth not this petition seeme to be out of his right place and doth it not come in before his time seeing Forgivenesse of trespasses is a more excellent gift then giving of bread and in all reason that which is first in excellency should also be first in order Yet we shall finde reason for this ordering of these petitions and the lawes of true Heraldry no way transgressed For as Rachel sayd to Iacob Give me children or else I die so wee much more justly say to God Give us bread or else we die So that as Nature is before Grace and life before a happy life It must needs be reasonable that asking for bread which nature cals for to supply the defects of life should goe before Forgiving of trespasses which Grace cals for to supply the defects of a hapy life and as there is this reason in respect of our selves so their is a stronger reason in respect of God for nothing can more admirably set forth the admirable goodnesse of Gods Nature then the very scituation of these petitions For by this bounty is placed before his mercy and it comes to passe that the Sunne shines upon the good and the bad and the raine fals upon the just and unjust And even for us it is a most happy marshalling of the petitions for if God should never give us any thing but when he hath nothing to forgive us he should never give us seeing our life is a perpetuall encrease of our debts and while wee aske him to Forgive us even in that we commit somthing that needs forgivenes It is proper to this petition that it is not proper to any one sort of creatures but is common to all and therefore though it stand in a valley yet it hath the largest prospect And it may be called the petition of providence for where all the other are intentive to the care of another life this onely is appoynted to make provision for the present life Here now would bee competition for place betweene the two that follow but that Repentance is in wonderfull grace with God and hath the Angels also for speciall friends and therefore hath precedence For when we say Forgive us our trespases is it not plainely the prayer of penitent sinners who are alwaies confessing their sinnes and professing their amendment imploring Forgivenesse and deploring their owne weakenesse all which and onely which are the parts of this petition And therefore this petition if wee did well should not bee spoken with words but with sighes for what can come from a broken heart but sighes and untill the heart bee broken this petition will never bee truely sound And least our owne sighes should not bee sufficient the Spirit it selfe makes request for us with sighes that cannot be expressed which though it bee true of all the other petitions yet most properly of this For if sorrow griefe feare shame all of them great and all of them together deserve sighing they are all here met or are all heere to meete in this Petition There is a word which though it be no part of the petition yet because it brings the petition in it is not it selfe to be left out namely the conjunction And which in all the former petitions was never used because indeed there was no use of it For they went all singly by themselves as chiefly referred to the honour of God who is Actus simplicissimus and chiefely fitted for the mouthes of Angels who are substantiae simplices but now that we are come to the Petitions for the onely use of men now there is use of this conjunction for all blessings in this world are tied as it were by linkes together are not good but in conjunction therefore this conjunction And is now here used that as the first use of it that ever was was to joyne the bodies themselves of heaven earth together so the use of it here is to joyne the blessings of heaven earth together for as an earth without a heaven would have made but a miserable world so these earthly blessings without the heavenly will make but a miserable man And therefore wee have no sooner sayd Give us this day our daily bread but it presently followes And forgive us our
anguish and torment but in Heaven it is had for not onely the Angels but the Saints of God behold his Face and this is that which makes the heavens to be a heaven of heavens for the heavens which his hands made shall be dissolved but the heavens which his Face makes shall bee for ever and were able to make even hell also to bee a heaven if that were capable to receive it But how doe we know that God is any more in heaven then any where else or that he is in heaven or any where else at all O my soule take heed of comming so neere to be the foole that David speakes of though thou say not in thy heart There is no God yet to let thy tongue but make it a question For doth not David tell us that the heavens tell â—s The Heavenâ— declare the glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his handyworkeâ— as much as to say The heavens declare that there is a glorious God and the Firmament is a worke that sheweth him to be the workman The heavens indeed declare it so plainely by the heavenly bodies that in them as in plaine letters and characters we may even reade not onely that God is but that he is there But if the heavens declare it never so plainely and we will not take notice or believe their declaration what are we the better For wilt thou believe that the Starres which thou seest as small as sparkes are bigger yea much bigger then the whole earth and then what a world of worlds must there be in the starry heaven which yet are all as nothing compar'd to the magnitude of the greater heavens Wilt thou believe that the motion of the Sunne which yet seemes to stand still is swifter yea manifold swifter then a â—let from a Canon and yet is slownesse compar'd to the swiftnesse of the Primum Mobile Wilt thou believe that the earth as great as it is is yet but a point or centre to the starry heaven and that the starry heaven is so high above us that though the sight of our eyes can reach unto it in an instant yet the swiftnes of a hundred miles a day cannot reach unto it in a thousand yeeres yet is hard by compar'd to the distance of the highest heavens All which and many the like though they exceed our capacity yet they exceed not our knowledge and though they be so strange that theymake both art suspected nature astonished yet are they so certain that they are demonstrable And this is a great ascent from earth to heaven yet an easie one for we know these wonders of the heavenly bodies as perfectly bâ—ing on earth as if we were in heaven to see them But it is a farre greater ascent from heaven to God and yet a farre easier For who can chuse but know the first cause to be omnipotent which hath made second causes so excessively potent Who can chuse but acknowledge the Creatour to bee infinite who hath made Creatures that to our capacity are themselves infinite And therefore the authour of the Booke of Wisedome speaking in proofe of the deity waiveth all other reasons and insists upon this That by the greatnesse of the creatures and of their beauty the Creatour being compared with them may bee considered God indeed hath reserved the sight of himselfe untill our eyes shall put on Immortality but the sight of his dwelling hee hath afforded to our mortall eyes that though in it we cannot see his person yet by it we may be assured of his being and of his being there For as when wee see a building of invaluable valew we presently conceive it to be the Pallace of a Prince so when we see the Frame of heaven so full of wonders where Sâ—arres are but as dust and Angels are buâ— servants where every word is unspeakeable and everâ— motion is a miracle we may plainely know it to â—e the dwelling of him whose name is Wonderfull For who is fit to inhabit such a house but hee onely who inhabiteth eternity and who fit to be Master of such servants but he who was a Master before he had servants that is he onely who onely is But why doth God write himselfe of heaven which how glorious soever it be is but of a late building For no doubt God had a dwelling and a place to bee in before hee made heaven and he should rather write himselfe of his ancient mansion place then of his new seate But O my soule be sober For where thou thinkest that God had a place to be in before he made heaven thou art even in that deceived for how could he have a place to be in when place it selfe had yet no being For as heaven and earth were twinnes created both at once so time and place were twinnes made both together and all of them for the use of the creatures none of them for any use to God for God being eternall hath no use of time and being infinite can have no place but out of eternity by his omnipotent Power he produced Time and out of infinitenesse he produced place for no use to himselfe but in relation to his creatures If therefore thou wouldst comprehend where God was before he made heaven thou must comprehend infinitenesse which were not infinite if it could be comprehended And yet as no place is great enough to hold God so none is small enough to exclude him for he is place to himselfe he is place himselfe as David saith Thou art my place to kide me in and it is one of the names which the Iewes attribute to God that he is called Maquom that is to say Place Yet it is happy for us that God writes himselfe to be in heaven because we know now where to finde him least otherwise we might wander infinitely in the search of him and be never the neere not that heaven limits Gods ubiquity but that it regulates our capacity for as one sayd well in another sence Qui ubique est nusquam est so certainely if we knew nothing of Gods being any where but that he is every where we might easily fall into the errour to thinke hee were no where Iustly therefore doth God write himselfe of heaven now that he stiles himselfe Our Father seeing he therefore made heaven because he intended to be our Father that there might bee one House to hold both Him and his Children and that where he is wee might bee also for to be with God where God was before he made the world or where he now is above or without the world is utterly impossible for men or Angels to attaine to But why say we Our Father which art in heaven and say not rather Our heavenly Father seeing by that we tell onely where God is but by this we might tell what he is By that we name onely his place but by this we might name his substance But we must
much a singularity of Majesty but much rather a plurality of Persons And being more then One that they are but Three and that Three they are is revealed also to us by St. Iohn where he saith There are three beare record in Heaven The Father the Word and the holy Ghost and these three are one And but for feare of prophanenesse I could here borrow an Argument from some Philosophers who thought God a Number For certainly if he be a Number He must needs be the first perfect Number and that is Three For One is no number being lesse multiplyed by it selfe then added to it selfe and Two is but imperfect being but equall whether multiplied by it selfe or added but Three is more multiplyed then added which is the true Perfection of a Number One other Miraculous secret in Gods Nature seemes revealed to us by St. Iohn where he saith that God is love for certainely if he be love he is all love seeing God is not any thing in part and is not this miraculous wee may conceive that God is just and that he is mercifull and we may perhaps conceive that hee is justice it selfe and that hee is mercy it selfe but to conceive that he is all justice and yet all mercy that hee is all wisedome and yet all power that hee is totally so many things and yet distinctly but one thing this is that we cannot conceive yet this wee must conceive before wee can conceive what the Substance of God is What have we then to say here but as Christ said With man it is impossible but with God all things are possible with man whose understanding is onely perpendicular and measures all things by streight lines It is impossible but with God with whom circles are streight lines and streight lines are Angles both this and all things else are possible And what remaines then for us to doe but seeing we know God now but in Aenigmate and shall know him hereafter Facie ad Faciem that wee beate not our braines to expound this Riddle before the time but that contenting our selves to sit in the cloude till he remove it up and shine upon us we acknowledge him to be infinite and not to be measured to be eternall and not to be comprehended to be all wisedome and not to be understood to be all mercy and not to be conceived to be all power and never to be enough magnified to be all glory and never to be enough adored But may wee not make some further use of these words Which art in Heaven that knowing now where God is we may seeke strive to goe thither if we desire to be with him It is enough for God that he hath descended into Heaven as David saith It is a descent to him to see the things in Heaven we must not looke that he will come any lower It is our turne now to ascend up to him It is true he sent once his onely sonne to us on earth but his entertainement was so ill that he had not one pleasing day in his whole life but was Vir Dolorum a man of sorrowes all the time he was amongst us but it shall not bee so with us in going to heaven for if once wee come there we shall desire to continue there still and never to come from thence any more For this is the true Hic whereof Peter spake when he spake in Extasie Bonum est esse Hic It is good being here let us make three Tabernacles one for Christ another for Moses and another for Elias Not Hic here on Earth the being here God knowes is not so good to be worth making Tabernacles Nor Hic here on the Mount as it were betweene earth and heaven for though we mount never so high It is but as an apparition there is no stability in it but Hic here in heaven where Christ hath a Tabernacle not made with hands sufficient to hold both Moses and Elias and us all And it may be mervailed how Moses and Elias were ever gotten to come from thence to meete Christ on the Mount but that we may consider they did not wholy leave heaven when they came to visit the Lord of heaven in whose presence are the joyes of heaven And yet perhaps a further matter in it that seeing the Law and the Prophets reach to Christs suffering It was fit that Moses and Elias representing the law and the Prophets should come to Christ before his suffering or rather seeing Christ was to be Authour of a new Testament and was shortly to have it sealed It was fit that Moses and Elias representing the Old Testament should come in person and make their surrender Enough hath beene said to make us long to be there but how shall we doe to get thither For there seemes as great a space to bee passed as the Gulph betweene Dives and Abrahams bosome This must be the worke of the Petitions following for if we can follow them well we shall quickly overtake Moses whatsoever we doe Elias and come to heaven in body as soone as he though he be gone so many hundred yeeres before us Here offers it selfe a note which though it may seeme of small note yet because nothing is small in the Word of God whereof one jot shall not passe It may not be passed over without observing that where it is said Which art in Heaven and where it is said In Earth as it is in Heaven in both places we have in our translation but onely the singular number whereas in the originall and in most other languages the first is put in the plurall number which expression may not perhaps bee without some mystery seeing one heaven holds all Angels but all heavens cannot hold one God or rather seeing the Angels are in heaven as defined by place but God is in the heavens as being in all places but defined by none which our language might expresse also if it pleased but that it followes the mother tongue which cannot expresse it if it would the word for heaven in the Dutch tongue having no plurall number as in the Hebrew Tongue it hath no singular number It is a great honour to bee the sonne of a Prince and the greater the Prince is the greater the honour to be his sonne Oâ—hen my soule what honour is it to thee tâ— bee the sonne of him who is the Prince of Princes whose Kingdome is everlasting and poâ—er iâ—init Canst thou thinke this and not with Paul be â—apt â—p into the third heaven in an extasie Canst thâ—u â—ay this and not with Zachary bee struâ—n dumbe with amazement God the Almighty and Incomprehâ—n ible God the God of all Glory and Majesty 〈◊〉 our Father The Angels were created in great glory yet are but ministring Spirits We Dust and Ashes and dwell in houses of clay and for us to bee the children of him whose dwelling is in heaven O most admirable promotion to
where there is no other will done Wee learne by this Petition what it is wee must doe when wee come to Heaven and doth not this make men carelesse whether ever they come there or no for seeing the Will of God is so unpleasing a thing to doe heere how can they thinke it will be any better or be ere a whit mended to doe it there and therefore if there bee nothing gotten by going to Heaven but doing of Gods will they thinke themselves better as they are and would bee glad to tarry heere still where they may doe their owne wills But O my soule is not this to bee starke dead in sinne For it there were any sence of life or any life of sence remaining in us we could not choose but see the beauty and tast the sweetnesse and smell the Odour of doing Gods Will. Sweeter saith David then the hony or the hony combe More beautifull saith Salomon then the rowes of Iewells or then chaines of Gold More fragrâ—t saith hee also then an Orchard of Pomegranats or then Myrrhe and Aloes with all the spices O thou eternall light and life of all things so enlighten the eyes and quiâ—ken the senses of my soule and body that I may both see the Beauty and Tast the sweetnesse of doing thy will I shall not then neede any greater motives of longing to be in heaven then that I may be as able as willing who now am scarce willing but altogether unable to doe thy Will But why doe wee pray that Gods Will may be done in Earth which is done in Earth already and that by Creatures which one would thinke were never able to doe it Hee hath set bounds to the Sea which it must not passeâ— and the Sea as raging as it is and provoked by all the Rivers of the Earth that come running into it as it were for the nonce to make it passe his bounds yet keepes it selfe precisely within the limits He hath appointed the earth to stand still and not to move and the earth though but hanging in the Ayre and nothing at all to hang upon yet offers not so much as once to stirre He hath chargedthe Trees to bring forth fruit and the Trees though even killed with cold of winter and threatned with tempests of the spring yet take heart to come forth and seeme to rejoyce they can doe as they are bidden The very beasts though never so wilde and savage yet observe the properties of their kind and none of them encroach upon the qualities of another And why all this but onely to doe the Will of God And that which may seeme more strange the Flowers come out of the durty earth and yet how neate and cleane Out of the unsavoury earth and yet how fresh and fragrant Out of the sowre earth and yet how mellifluous and sweet Out of the duskish earth and yet how Orient and Vermillian Out of the unshapen earth and yet in what dainty shapes in what curious formes in what enammelings and Dyapers of beauty as if the earth would shew that for all her being cursed she had something yet of Paradise left and why all this but onely to doe the Will of God And why then should there be complaining as though the Will of God were not done in earth O wretched man It is onely thy selfe that is out of tune in this harmony Man that should be best is of all the worst that should bee cleanest is of all the foulest that should be most beautifull is of all the most deformed most full of graces yet most voyde of grace of most understanding to direct his will yet of least will to follow the direction of understanding Man endued with celestiall qualities yet leaves them all to encroach upon the qualities of every beast upon the obscenity of swine in drunkennesse upon the greedinesse of Cormorants in covetousnesse upon the craftinesse of Foxes in fraud upon the cruelty of Tygers in malice as if he would strive to exceede his first parents in transgressing and try whether God had any greater punishment left then casting out of Paradise that if Christ would have served us in our kinde and as we deserve he needed not have gone for patterns to Heaven he might have found patterns good enough for us amongst the meanest creatures of the earth and as he told the Pharisees the Queene of the South should rise up against them in Iudgement so he might have told us the Flowers the Trees the Beasts shall all rise up in Iudgement against Man that we had more need to say O that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountaine of teares that I might weepe day and night then after Trees and Beasts have done Gods Will to come after them all with but onely saying Thy Will be done in earth as it is in heaven But how doe these Petitions hang together or how is not this directly contrary to that which went before For there we desire a Kingdome that we may doe what we list and here we desire subjection and to be at anothers command Yet here is no contrariety for there we desire to raigne over our owne wills and here we desire to be subject to his will and this subjection is our true reigning this service our perfect freedome Or is it not rather a straighter Obligation For by the comming of his Kingdome we may be thought onely subjects at large but by submitting our selves to his will we are servants by vow that seemes to referre to Gods promise to the Israelites Yee shall be to mee a Kingdome of Priests and an holy Nation this seemes to referre to the peoples answere to God All that the Lord hath spoken we will doe And so there is no contrariety betweene the petitions but the latter is a consectary to the former But is it not rather that wee overshoote our selves and make it here a suite to bee made bond-slaves for what is it but slavery when wee can never have our wills but must live alwaies subject to the will of another especially where there is so great an antipathy as betweene Gods Will and ours But O my soule consider how wretched a thing thine owne will is how blessed a thing the Will of God is and be not here a Dogmatist but an Empyricke rather hearken not to thy reason which oftentimes is but a Parasite to thy sence but looke upon experience which rightly discerned will make thee alwaies to discerne the right Hath not misery alwaies followed the doing of our owne will happines alwaies the doing of Gods Will Our first parents left Gods Will to doe their owne will in eating the forbidden fruit and what fruite followed but the utter undoing of themselves and all their followers Cain left Gods Will to doe his owne will in killing his brother and what became of him but that hee became a vagabond lived like a beast and came at last to be killed for a
as for bread for the day why take we not as much care for our eyes as for our stomackes Is it not because this followes necessarily upon that For when God in the day gives us our daily bread he gives us in the night our naturall rest but when men have bread in the day not given them of God there when night comes they are keept waking with cares and the unquietnesse of their minds lets not their bodies take rest Or is it not a worse matter that when God gives us our daily bread he gives us withall the light of his countenance but where there is bread not given of God there men may revell it out and runne ryot for a time but when the night comes they are left without light and their portion is to bee cast into utter darknesse Or is it that as bread feeds us in the day so sleepe feedes us in the night and then if sleepe bee bread for the night in praying for bread for the day we pray as well for sleepe for the night for the evening and the morning make but one day But what is this day for which we aske bread Is it the naturall day of foure and twenty houres or is it the day of our naturall life For if it be that day a little bread will serve but if it be this day it requires good store But be not deceived lesse bread may serve for this then for that for in that day we are sure of so many houres but in this day wee are not sure of one minute of an houre But why doe wee aske bread but for a day would it not be lesse trouble to God and more providence for our selves to aske it for a longer time Indeed if it could be had but there is no having it for more then a day our barnes may have it for a longer time but our bodies cannot for as it is out of the very necessity of nature that we aske for bread so it is to the full extent of Nature that wee aske it for a day For let us eate never so much let us fill our bellies never so full too day yet it will serve but for a day too morrow wee shall neede it againe as much as wee did before unlesse wee should thinke of praying for miracles and to doe as Elias did goe forty daies together in the strength of one meales meate which we have small reason to thinke of seeing Christ denyed miracle to Iames and Iohn as well as hee loved them and though they asked him for it in his owne behalfe And may it not be another sence of the word Too day that though it bee expressed onely in this petition yet it is to bee understood also in the petitions following For the three former are common to us with the Saints in Heaven but the three latter are proper onely to us and no way communicable to any of them the three former are without limitation of time but these three latter are bounded with time they must bee obtained eyther now or never in this life or not hereafter they prepare us indeed for another life but when another life is once come both the prayers and the things prayed for shall all cease for after the day of this life there shall be no more eating of bread against the Millenaries No more forgiving of trespasses against the Origenists No more deliverance from evill against the Purgatorians David prayed God to teach him to number his daies as though they were so many that hee could not number them without a teacher yet they made all but threescore and ten yeeres which a meane Arithmetician would easily cast up We have here but a day to reckon and yet wee shall never reckon it aright unlesse God teach us though wee cannot properly say to number it yet to measure it which is all one for we shall have as much benefit by measuring our day as David found by numbring his daies and we shall finde it as hard a matter to measure our day truly as David did to number his daies rightly and as it is difficult to measure it true so it is dangerous to measure it false for if wee take the measure too long it may prolong our repentance and make us surprised with stulte hac nocte and if wee take it too short it may shorten our providence and make us a laughing-stocke to the Ant we must therefore have a composition made of these two of Providence and Repentance and this will be the best Elixir to keepe our life alive and the truest rule to measure our day but this wee shall never bee able to doe unlesse we pray as David did that God will teach us to measure our day We may know our daies to bee very miserable seeing we are beholding to bread that wee live a day and we may know our building to be very unstable seeing it hath no Foundation but is faine to stand upon proppes for what are foode and rayment but the proppes of our life And will any man that is wise in seeking to uphold his ruinous house choose rather to use fine proppes that bee weake then course ones that bee strong Dainty fare and costly apparrell are indeed the finer proppes but course fare and plaine cloathes are the stronger are we so unwise to keepe so much a doe for getting the finer and are not contented when we have the stronger Is it not strange that having but a day to live we should make such provision for many yeeres and yet are not sure to live out this short day neyther Ere it be long there will come a long day for which all the provision wee can make will be little enough Are we so unwise to make so much provision for this short day and for that long day to make so little for indeed to have bread against that day will bee worth the having and if it were not for the day we hope to live then the day we live now were not worth the living There is nothing more deere to us then this day of ours yet we are ever finding fault with it eyther it is too short or it is teadious or it is uncertaine It seldome contents us never satisfies I cannot therefore blame thee O my soule if thou often fall into these wishing kinde of thoughts O when shall the time bee that time shall no more bee and when will the day come after which shall come no night but now and hereafter shall bee one season too day and for ever of one continuance For we shall then finde no more fault eyther with the shortnesse which never shall have ending or with the teadiousnesse which ever shall have pleasure or with the uncertainenesse which shall bee more fixt then the poles of Heaven But are wee so tied to asking bread for the day that wee must not bee carefull to provide against too morrow must wee be so carelesse
bread and this likewise was figured by the next favour shewed to the Israelites his sending downe of Manna day by day from Heaven and his bringing water out of the Rocks The next Petition is for sanctification when our wills are made conformable unto his and though by his Adoption we are children yet by our owne Vow are servants â—nd this also was Figured in the Israelites by his giving of the Law when God said to them ye shall be to me a Kingdome of Priests and an holy Nation and they againe answered God All that the Lord hath spoken we will doe The next Petition is for the comming of his Kingdome which is not onely wages as to servants but an Inheritance as to children For it is not only said Euge bone serve but venite Benedicti Patris and this was also figured in the Israelites when God distributed amongst them the Kingdomes of the Heathen and every Tribe had their stations assigned them in the land of Canaan some by Geometricall proportion and some by Arithmeticall The last Blessing is our first Petition when we shall come to be as Angels and when our Hallowing of Gods Name which is now our worke shall be our happinesse and this was also Figured in the Israelites when they rested in Canaan and subduing their Enemies round about them had nothing but songs of Praise and Thanksgiving for the Blessings they enioyed After this there is no more Figure for we are come to that which cannot be Figured there shall be no more use of the Name of Father for we shall Haliow God in his proper Name and as hee is in himselfe and our charity shall bee in that we shall then love God Not as Misericordem Not as Bonum nobis but as Bonum and not onely love him for himselfe but not love our selves but for him that it is no merveile Saint Paul leaves Faith and Hope behind this Charity seeing They are onely for our selves This only for God and great reason for God shall then be All in All. And now before we make an end to speake of Hallowing Gods Name It may not be unfit to consider the Three First Petitions as they are onely Hallowings or Alleluiahs for observing the difference of the songs we shall perceive the difference of the singers The First when we say Hallowed be thy Name is the Alleluiah of Angels and we may truely say is Canticum Canticorum the song of songs not only because it is sung without ceasing but because it shall be sung without Ending and is both the cause and the effect both the signe and the substance of our Eternall Happinesse The Second when we say Thy kingdome come is the Alleluiah of the Saints in Heaven and is an aspyring to the First but in aspiring in a very neere degree Neere in Dystance though remote in Existence for they are an assurance of Attayning and doe but tarry the time but the time will not be till Time will not be The Third when we say Thy will be done is the Allelujah of the Saints on Earth and is an aspiring to the second but an aspiring in a remote degree for while they are in the world they are subiect to all the rubs of the world while they live in the Flesh to all infirmities of the Flesh yet they have a confidence though no assurance or an assurance though but in confidence and therefore are remisse but not dejected Bold but not presumptuous not out of heart but not out of feare And may it not here be observed that as we beginne in saying Hallowed be thy Name so we end in a kinde of facting the Hallowing it and our first and last words are all for his Glory who is the first and the last and these three Attributes seeme to answer to our th ree first Petitions Hallowed be thy Name for Thine is the Glory Thy Kingdome come for Thine is the Kingdome Thy will be done for Thine is the Power and we seeme to sing not only in the first an unisonewith the Angels but in all the Three the same Ditty with the Saints in Heaven for their Allelujah is Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power and ours here Thine is the Kingdome the Power and the Glory that having sung the Song of Saints and Angels here on Earth we may be admitted into the Qâ—ire of Saints and Angels in Heaven and sing eternally Thou art moâ—thy O Lord toreceave Glory and Honour and Power For Thine is the Kingdome the Power and the Glory for ever and ever Amen And now O my soule Consider how perfect this Prayer is where are the Petitions of Men and Angels the Petions of the Church Militant and Triumphant the Petitions of Innocent Infants Paenitent sinners and Faithfull Beleevers And then harken what Musicke it makes in Gods Eares how Pleasing where the songs are all of Christs owne setting how Melodious where they are all so sweet singers how loud where there are so many voyces especially when this Chorus Cantantium this Quire of singers which hitherto have sung their parts a part shall all ioyne their voyces together in that sacred Antheme For Thine is the Kingdome the Power and the Glory and so End all in that which is the End of all and is it felfe without End The Glory of God FINIS Esa. 1.1 Heb. 2.9 Esa. 59.10 Mal. 2.8 Eph. 4.19 Fph. 3.12 Heb 4.16 Heb. 8.9 â—oh 16.14 Colos. 2.3 Ier. 8.6 Deut. 1.45 Zach. 7.13 Ier. 11.11 Esa. 1.15 Colos. 1.20 Mat. 21.22 Esa. 51.16 Luk. 18.1 Exod 16. 8. 1 Thes. 15.17 Levit 6. 12. 1 Cor. 11. 10. Ezekiel 36 37. Hosea 14. 3. Psal. 87.7 Psal. 10â— 1 Psal. 87.7 Iam. 1.6 Psal. 65.2 Luk. 18.13 Psal. â—4 10 Psal. 84.1 Psal. 94.2 Mat. 6. 〈◊〉 I am 3. 41. Psal. 139. 7. 〈◊〉 23 24. Châ—o 2. 6. Psal. 57.5 Eph. 4.10 Psal. 19.1 Rom. 1.20 Wisd. 13.50 Nah. 3.1 Psal. 32.7 Ioh. 14.3 Psal. 66.9 Exod. 〈◊〉 .15 15.3 Psal 104. 2. Zach. 14.9 Esa. 42. 16. Psal. 113 6. Esa. 53.3 ler. 51.53 lob 20.6 Heb. 9. 11. Iob 4. 19. Reâ— 3. 21. Psal. 73. 5. lob 21. 7 8. Ioh. 8.39 Ioh. 4 19. Ioh. 6. 44. Deut 13.13 Mal. 1.6 Ezek 20.25 Psal 37.25 Ioh. 14.3 Isa. 13.7 Luke 6.24 Wis. 6.6 Revel 18.7 Psal. 19. 7.99 130. Ecâ—lef 18. 6. Psal 83. 18 Psal. 27. 4. Luk. 10.42 Math. 5.45 Iohn 1. 12. Rom. 8.14 Luke 11.13 Revel 11.4 Isa. 11. 2. Colos. 2.14 Revel 1. 18. Psal 142. 7. Esa. 42. 7. Psal. 51.10 Eccles. 18.1 Mal. 1 〈◊〉 Iudg. 13.18 Psal. 103. 1. Psalm 8. Psal 118. 12. Num. 20.10 Psal. 106.33 Num. 20.12 1 Kin. 8. 65. P Sal. 40.16 Psal. 148. Psal. 118. Exod. 33.21 Revel 4.3 Revel 4.10 Revel 6.10 Math. 5.3 Iam. 4.4 Ioh. 17.16 Revel 3.20 Esa. 41.8 Esa. 63. 16. Col. 2.18 Exo. 33.15 Eph. 2.12 Esa. 26.13 â—udg 9.14 Zach. 4.11 1 Chro. 16.33 Psal. 96.12 Psal. 24.9 Esa. 47.7 Esa. 40.10 Esa. 16.13 Prov. 13.26 Luk. 17. 21. Revel 7.16 Psal. 125.6 〈◊〉 Revel 7.17 Revel 6.11 〈◊〉 Cor. 6.3 Iohn 15.11 Iohn 16.22 Mâ—r. 2.2 Iohn 12.13 Rev. 6.11 Rev. 5.4 Rom. 5.5 Psal. 135.6 Esa. 14.24 46.10 Ier. 42.6 Psal. 49. 20. 73. 22. Esa. 1. 3 Esa. 1.13 Mal. 3.6 Psal. 6.27 Col. 5.9 Psal. 69.9 Psal. 119.105 Iohn 4. 24. Psal 119.66 Psal. 50. 16. Exod. 19.8 Psal. 119.112 2 Pâ— 3. 13. Psal. 14. 3,4 Esa. 1.23 Mic. 〈◊〉 7.2 Rom. 8.21 Esd. 30.33 Cant. 1.10 Cant. 4.13 Ier. 9.1 Exod. 19.6 Ier. 10.23 24.7 Ier. 3.7 Ier. 3.20 Lam. 5â—21 Esa. 40.10 Esa. 4.10 1 Cor. 9.17 Iohn 16.17 Wisd. 11.25 lam 1.18 Math. 5.48 Mal. 3.14 Esa. 61.3 Psal. 104.21 Psal. 147.9 Psal. 65.9 Hos. 2.22 Psal. 78.25 Psal. 145.15 Gen. 2â— 20. Hab. 1.16 Eccles. 6.2 Eccles. 11.1 2 King 7. Deut. 11.14 Esa. 21.12 Psal. 127.2 Eccles. 5.12 1 King 19. 8. Psal. 90. 31. Rev. 10.6 Esa. 60.19 Math. 6.34 1 Tim. 5.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 14.11 Eccles. 5.11 Ecclus. 30.15 Psal. 4.7 Mark 14.3 lam 4.10 Esa. 10.23 Ezek. 16.49 Math. 26.29 Gen. 30.1 Rom. 8.26 â—en 1.x Revel 〈◊〉 Ioh. 8.10 â—oh 1.9 leâ— 8.22 1 Cor. 1â— 44 Luk. 1.6 â—l 18.24 2 Cor. 1.23 5.5 Mich 7.9 Psal. 103.12 Esa. 38.17 â—sa 64.6 Psal. 40. â— Psal. 103. Psal. 136. Psal. 19.11 â—l 15.17 â—od 34.6 Math. 6.12 Lâ—k 11.2 Cal. 6.5 Math. 6.14 Luk. 14.17 â—oh 13 35. Esa. 58.5 Ioh. 22.3 Psal. 16.2 Psal. 18.25 Ezck. 25.12 Exod. 32.3 Phil. 1.15 Psal. 44.22 Acts 21.23 Psal. 68.19 1 Sam. 15.22 Ioh. 1.16 Psal. 25.11 Iob 13.27 Manass. Psal 38.4 Gen. 4 10. Psal. 25.11 Psal. 6.4 Psal. 110.1 Ioh. 11.14 1 lim 2.6 Esa. 53.12 Ioh. 1.6 Psal. 109.7 Esa. 29.13 Heb. 12.29 Ioh. 1.9 Mark 6.5 Math. 18.23 psal 51.4 Psal. 10.4 37.33 Rom. 12.9 Psal. 97.1 2 Sam. 24.13 Psal. 56.4.11 Heb. 13.6 Ier. 15 11. Psal. 51.2 Mark 22.32 Heb. 11.6 1 Cor. 1.8 ler. â—1 9 Ioh. 16.33 Gal. 5.29 Gal. 3.24 Psal. 119 37. Psal. 26.1 2 Psal. 31.3.51 lâ—b 1 11. Iob 1.8 Iam. 1. â— 1 Cor. 10.13 Prov 30.8 Ioh. 17.20 Psal. 68.18 Iam. 1.14 Luk. 22.31 1 Pet. 5.8 Psal. 26.2 Psal. 141.4 Esa. 37.3 Psal. 18.48 Psal. 49.15 Ier. 9.4 Eccles. 6.13 1 Pet. 5.8 Exod. 14.4 Exod. 15.2 Psal. 118.14 Esa. 12.2 1 Sam. 2.30 Heb. 6.11.18 Psal. 16.9 Ioh. 19 2â— Gal. 5.5 Tit. 3 7. Math 22.32 Num. 26.54 lesnua 21.44
trespasses as if it would inferre that unlesse the spirituall blessings be added also these temporall blessings will doe us small good or rather indeed will doe us more hurt then good For what good did Dives riches doâ— him but to beare his charges in his journey to hell 〈◊〉 what good did Hamans honour doe him but to procure him a higher paire of Gallowes to bee hang'd upon what good did Aâ—hitophels wisedome doe him but to finde out a cunning how in one act he might both doe a murther and revenge it but all this is helpt by this conjunction And for if the spirituall blessing be added to the temporall thy riches will prove a good unto thee as being a purse for charity thy honour will proove a Good unto thee as being a stage for humility thy wisedome will prove a Good unto thee as being a lanthorne for devotion and a shield against temptations The chiefe force of this petition is in the vertue of confession for to confesse our sinnes is as it were to unsin them againe at least it stops the mouth of our great accâ—ser the divell For is it not his quality as taking no notice of Gods Omnisciency that he will not come to accuse but when hee can bring as it were some new matter as though he thought to informe God of something that hee knew not before and herefore when he heares us confesse already his worke is at an end for what should he doe to come charging us with that with which wee charge our selves and if we can be thus ridde of our accuser may we not well hope to finde as much favour at Gods hands as the Adultresse in the Gospell found at Christs who sayd unto her when her accusers were gone neyther doe I condemne thee But besides this there is a good quality in the confession though it publish the ill qualities of the confessour that it ascribeth to God his due attributes It ascribeth unto him Omnisciency acknowledging it were in vaine to hide it from him who knowes it already It ascribes unto him mercy for it were madnesse to confesse to him in whom we conceived no compassion It ascribes unto him justice as St. Iohn sayth If we confesse our finnes he is faithfull and just to forgive us our sinne Wherefore O my my soule if thou canst not be strong enough to resist sinne be humble to confesse it but confesse it with contrition dissolve into teares for that which is past resolve upon amendment in that which is to come and if thou canst doe this thou shalt finde this petition the true Balme of Gilead though thy sinnes were as red as Scarlet they shall be made as white as Snow But were it not better Culpa Vacare quam culpam deprecari were it not better to be without sinne then to aske Forgivenesse and we shall not sinne if wee can keepe the Commandements and certainely wee may keepe them if we will for otherwise wee should make God unjust to give Commandements that could not be kept O my soule this is the right reasoning of our crooked reason for it is not the hardnesse of the Commandements that makes them they cannot be kept but it is the crookednesse of our owne natures that makes us we cannot be conformable to the streight rule of them For the Commandements are the rule of our life and a rule is a streight line and a streight line is the shortest betweene two points that can be and such are the Commandements the shortest and easiest that could be devised eyther betweene God and men or betweene men amongst themselves And yet let no man say we may keepe them if we will that is strictly according to the rigour of the law and by our owne power for this were to include all the faculties of the soule within the will which though it were so would not serve and being not so is impossible For we can neyther forget what wee would nor remember what wee would wee can neither love what wee would nor hate what we would we can neither thinke what we would nor will what we would and seeing a perfection in every one of these is necessarily required to the keeping of the Commendements how farre off must we needs be who are defective in them all and therefore when flesh and blood shall finde it selfe to have all these in all perfection then it may talke of keeping the Commandements and not before which will not be which cannot be untill our bodies shall be raised up spirituall bodies and untill corruption shall put on incorruption But this manner of perfection failing us here we have a refuge to slie to in the sanctuary of this petition Forgive us our trespasses By this petition then it appeares that every man commits sinne because every man is here enjoyned to aske Forgivenesse but what say some men this is no necessary consequence For as in the former petition every man is enjoyned to aske for bread yet every man doth not need bread for many have enough in store so every man is enjoyned here to aske Forgivenesse though every man perhaps may not need Forgivenesse as Zachary and Elizabeth who were just before God and without reproofe and certainly they which cannot be reproved need not be forgiven But there is no standing for Saints against St. Iohn who was as great a Saint as the best yet he saith of all including himselfe If we say we have no sinne we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us But how then shall wee reconcile St. Luke who saith They are just and St. Iohn who saith that all are sinners even as wee reconcile the Prophet David with himselfe who saith that he walked before God in the innocence of his hands and yet confesseth his sinnes to be more then the haires of his head They were just before God that is if we take it legally they performed not onely all civill duties towards men but all religious duties towards God and they were just before God by resolute intentions and endeavours to be just not by absolute performance of compleate Iustice. And if we take it Evangelically They were just before God in his Mercy not in his Iustice before God as a Father not as a Iudge before God in Christ not in themselves And in a word to make good Davids words They were Iust before God not by their not committing but by Gods not imputing sin unto them Or to speake more Gospel-like with St. Paul They were iust before God not by Gods receiving satisfaction from them but by their receiving a pledge and earnest of Grace from God But yet how shall we reconcile St. Iohn with himselfe who sayth much more that They cannot sinne and yet that all are sinners Is it not as one sayth that the first is spoken in regard of the first fruits of the New man the later in regard of the reliques of the Old man for