Pharaoh that pursues to destroy us but thou art the Lord of Hosts that gettest thee honour upon Pharaohs Host and thine is the glory And for this deliverance from Pharaoh and his Host though but a type of ours Moses long since sung a song so loud that it hath ecchoed from him to David and from David to Esay and from Esay is come to us Thou O Lord art our strength and our song for thou hast beene our deliverance But is deliverance from evill the highest blessing we can reach to by our prayers what becomes then of the resurrection of our bodies and the life everlasting things so much talked off and so highly magnified Are they onely idle names and are there no such things indeed Or are they so little worth the praying for in all this absolute prayer we bestow not so much as a word upon them Or shall we thinke the prayer unperfect seeing the greatest things are left unprayed for and not once named or implyed O my soule take heede let not the weake fancies of thy owne spirit or the strong suggestions of a worse Spirit move such unhallowed doubts within thee For our deliverance from evill shall plainely appeare to bee the highest blessing wee can directly attaine to by our prayers and yet our confidence for the resurrection of our bodies and for the life everlasting shall have foundation enough to stand most firme For the three first petitions seeme chiefly referred to the honour of God in whom all his attributes are equall and therefore in them we goe as I may say upon even gronnd we can finde neither rising nor falling in them we seeme to see nothing that carries any higher than the earth or that tarries any longer then this life and therefore that clause In Earth as it is in Heaven though it be expressed onely in the third petition yet it is by many understood also in the other two but in the three latter which are referred to our owne benefit wee seeme to bee climbing up Iacobs ladder for at every petition we take a steppe higher In the first we begin very low and aske as Iacob did but onely meat and rayment In the second we take a steppe higher and aske a pardon of our faults In the third we goe yet higher and aske an absolute protection from all dangers and deliverance from all evill wherein we may be sayd to have wrestled with the Angell and obtained a blessing for this is the highest steppe we can possibly attaine to in this mortall life But how doth this step reach so high as Iacobs ladder which reacheth up to heaven Marke therefore O my soule for having begun in humility It seemes as if Christ here should say unto us Friend sit up higher for this step of our deliverance from evill seemes to deliver us to Heaven seeing it is contiguous and joynes immediately to the first steppe we shall take in Heaven when all teares shall be wiped from our eyes and they be made cleere to behold the blessed vision of God which is the highest steppe of all and in which consists the summe and summum of our eternall happinesse But why in all this prayer should we have for these things no petition Is it that wee shall have them rather by the participation of Christ then by the intercession rather as sonnes by inheritance then by suit as servants and is as much beyond our prayers as above our capacities Or is it that our deliverance from evill which is the highest steppe we are capable of in this world implies an Adhering to the Deliverer himselfe in the world where we shall be capable Or may we not say that the petition Thy Kingdome come though it goe from us with an onely reference to the honour of God yet it is returned from God to us with this Interence Honorantes me Honorabo and though it reach not so farre as the suite of the mother of Zebedeus sonnes to have one sit at his right hand the other at his left yet hee reacheth as farre as the suite of the thiefe upon the Crosse Lord remember me when thou commest into thy Kingdome But least it should be sayd that we goe about to take the Kingdome of Heaven by violence may wee not make the matter playner by saying that we therefore pray not for the resurrection of the body and for the life everlasting because they are not so properly the objects of fayth which have most to doe in our prayers as they are the objects of hope which is a transcendent to our prayers Fayth indeed prepares us for hope and the things we here pray for for the things we here after hope for but as it is not the fashion of a sonne to pray his father to make him his heire but hee carryeth himselfe dutifully and performeth his obedience and then he doubts not but he shall be heire so it is not our fashion with God to pray for our inheritance which is life everlasting and the Kingdome of Heaven but we pray that as sonnes wee may doe our duties and obey his Will and then we have an assured hope we shall enjoy them Although therefore by Name and in expresse termes we pray here but for the things onely which may bee had here yet by consequent and as in their causes wee pray also for the things which shall be had hereafter For the Graces which are the causes preceding now the blessings which are the effects will necessarily follow that is remission of sinnes and obedience to his Will and an uniting to Christ by the comming of his Kingdome being here obtayned the resurrection of our bodies and the life everlasting and the blessed vision of God will undoubtedly succeed Wee therefore pray onely that all impediments of our owne defects may bee removed and that all graces necessary may be supplyed and for the rest we rest our selves upon God and Fayth seemes here to put us over to hope for we have no more petitions to make but the next thing that followes is that of the Martyr Stephen concerning our eternall life In manus tuas Domine Commendo spiritum meum concerning the resurrection of our bodies that of the Prophet David My stesh shall rest in hope For having the promise of his word and the truth of his promise and the infallibility of his truth for our security though we have not done with Fayth yet wee have now more to doe with hope and thorough fayth are made confident to say in hope I know that my Redeemer liveth and though wormes destroy this body yet I shall see God in my â—esh For we thorough the spirit wayte for the hope of righteousnesse thorough fayth and that being justified by his grace wee shall bee made heires according to our hope of everlasting life But yet at last if it be exacted of this prayer that it must of necessity include also the blessings of
but none of these have coales from the Altar and the hallowing of Gods Name is a sacrifice and must be done with fire a fire of feare and reverence bâ—rning in the heart and sending forth flames of holy and devout thoughts in the minde of godly and sanctified communications in the tongue of lowly and chast aspects in the Eyes of Innocency and deeds of charity in the hands and when every part both of body and soule hath thus contributed its heate there will then be made as perfect a sacrifice to hallow Gods Name as the sacrifice of peace offring which Salomon offred at the 〈◊〉 of the Temple It is a 〈◊〉 â—couragement to men for doing of anything whâ—ther can see apparent reasons whâ— they â—oe it â—us what reasons doe wee see heâ—re for hallowing of Gods Name O my soule art thou so blinde of sight so dull of understanding Hast thou said Our Father which art in Heaven and dost thou consider his love as being our Father his Majesty as being in Heaven and dost thou complaine for want of reasons to hallow his Name as a Father he hath created and begotten us hee hath Elected and Adopted us he hath preserved and redeemed us and have we not reason then to hallow his Name as creatures as living creatures as reasonable creatures as servants as children as heires as bondmen freed as leapers cleansed as dead men revived borne anew if we should set our selves to reckon them up all It is not the stars of heaven that would be counters enow to summe them And if his love afford us so many reasons doth not his Majesty afford us as many more he is in heaven not with in heaven within it but not contained contained but not defined He is in heaven and that makes the Sun so bright which without his being there should have no brightnes He is in heaven and that makes the heavens so glorious which without his being there should have no glory Doe we see how bright the Sunne is and doe we not coÌ„sider how great his brightnes is that made the Sunne Doe we see how glorious the heavens are and doe we not consider how great his glory is that made the heavens He is in heaven that he may looke downe in mercy upon us on earth he is in heaven that we may looke up in faith to him in heaven he is in heaven to let us downe the Angels ladder from heaven he is in heaven to draw us up to be as Angels in heaven if we should stand to finde out all the reasons which may be drawne from the consideration of his Majesty for the hallowing of his Name It would not be be a worke for time but for eternity for as wee know not where to begin in that which is incomprehensible so we should never know how to end in that which is infinite O my Lord God so enlighten my understanding that I may see the reasons of hallowing thy Name so sanctifie my nature that I may above reason be able to hallow it We say here Hallowed be thy Name but might we not say better with David Laudate Dominumomnes Angeliejus Praise the Lord all yee Angels For so we should commit Gods honour to the care of Angels who we may be sure would alwaies be carefull of it whereas now leaving it indefinite while it is committed to none it may be omitted by all But is it not that David could goe no higher then Angels for hallowing of Gods Name In concreto but Christ teacheth us here to goe higher in Abstracto for creatures how eminent soever are yet but limited and limited as well in action as in essence where the hallowing of Gods Name is in it selfe unlimmitted therefore we justly abstract it from all matter of the instrument which necessarily inferreth a restraint and leave it indefinite which is capable of being infinite But is this petition seated onely on mount Gerizim to warrant David to say If any man seeke the Lord and love his salvation let him rejoyce alwaies and be glad and say continually The Lord be magnified and doth it not as well reach to mount Eball and warrant the Church to proclaime If any man with Goliah defie the armies of Israel and vilifie Gods power let him be Anathema For Hallowed he thy Name If any man with Rabsakeh seeke to withdraw the peoples hearts from trusting in the living God let him be Anathema for Hallowed be thy Name If any man with Iulian shall say in dâ—rision of Christ Vicisti Galilaee let him be Anathema for Hallowed be thy Name And let Anathemaes be still proclaimed against all the blasphemers of Gods Name till there be no more left that two Mountaines at last may meet Eball with Gerizim and Hell it selfe be forced with griefe to houle what with joy it cannot sing Hallowed be thy Name We have thought this petition most proper to be sayd of Angels but may we not appropriate it to our selves exclude the Angels from saying it at all Indeed as it is here placed perhaps we may For having called God Our Father and this petition comming so immediatly upon it we seem to pray that his Name of Father may be hallowed by us if we understand it so what have the Angels to do to say it They may say Holy holy holy Lord God of Sabbath and so hallow him in his Name of Lord as Servants but to hallow him in his Name of Father as Sons they cannot Not but that the Angels are the Children of God by creation and grace of holinesse but that they are not the Sons of God by regeneration and grace of â—option this dignity is only proper to men as being members of Christ who tooke our nature upon him and not that of Angels But seeing David hath brought into this Quier not onely the Angels in Heaven but the Heavens themselves not only the Trees and Cedars of the Mountaines but the Mountaines themselves not only beasts and creeping things of the earth but the earth it selfe Let not us so streighten the Name of God as that we leave out Angels who are our sweetest Quiristers nor yet other Creatures who are our loudest voyces seeing loudnesse also hath a place in this Musicke as David saith Sing yee loud unto the Lord all the earth least seeking to â—ncrease our own dignity by propriety of the song we detract from Gods glory by restraint of the fingers And enter not O my soule into the shame to thinke that where all other creatures doe directly sing it we onely doe but make suit to sing it and it is thought in us a good degree of doing it if we can but onely pray to doe it And indeed we have need to pray to doe it seeing praying to doe it is all in effect we can doe of it to any purpose For our hallowing can be but as our understanding is and our understanding can
my Father but I doe not duly pray if I say not Our Father Wee have not done with saying Our Father untill we have said Which art in Heaven that so his humility may bring us to his Majesty his love may lead us to his bounty for as before he abased himselfe in Name to exalt us so here he streightens himselfe in Place to enlarge us and to make us desirous of Heaven as of the only home for his children he restraineth himselfe to Heaven as to the onely mansion of his being But is not this word Heaven as strangely placed here amongst these words as Heaven it selfe is placed above in the height of the Firmament For what words of greater neerenesse then Father and Children yet what words of greater separation then Heaven and Earth who neerer to us then Our Father what further from us then to be in Heaven but least these words Our Father should breed too great a familiarity in us these words Which art in Heaven are justly inferred to make us keepe a distance And yet in truth it is such a distance as doth not so much divide us as that which is strange the very familiarity doth estrange us For as considering God in heaven we have just cause to be astonished with admiration at the greatnesse of his Maiesty So considering him our Father we have iuster cause to admire him with astonishment for the greatnesse of his love and so while familiarity where it findeth effects of defect breeds cause of contempt Here where it finds cause of admiration it breeds effects of Respect And may we not finde some other treasure wrapt up in these words Which art in Heaven For when we say Our Father It carries the mind in an ambiguity and if we apply it to God This is yet a transcendent and gives no period to our understanding but when we adde Which art in Heaven This both determines the ambiguity and limits the transcendency and so the mind hath something now in certaine whereupon to fixe it selfe which though it afford not a visible symbole to represent Gods person to our sight which the Israelites sought so grossely in their golden Calfe and many since doe seeke as vainely in their painted and carued Images yet it affords the visible place of Gods presence and this serves sufficiently both to elevate the mind and also to fixe the understanding for we no sooner have a thought of God but the mind hath presently recourse to Heaven as fixing it selfe upon the place where he is visible seeing upon the visibility of himselfe it cannot And is it not another cause why we say Which art in Heaven to make us know that God is no where to be spoken withall but in Heaven For if our thoughts when we pray stay groveling about the earth and our words rather fall from our mouthes then rise from our hearts hough God no doubt may heare such prayer by the extent of his Power yet he heares it not graciously by extending his grace for Earth is not the place where he gives Audience but he hath placed his Throne in Heaven where hee sits both in Maiesty and in mercâ— and though his mercy continually descend to us yet his Maiesty requires we should come thither to him For as to pray to any but God is Coram non Iudice so to pray any where but in Heaven is Coram non Tribunali Although therfore our feet be fastned to the earth and cannot ascend yet our hearts are at liberty and may and must indeed ascend if we will truely pray for this ascending of the soule in praying is the soule of praying which puts a life into our words thoughts and carries them thither where it is it selfe and as the brethren of Ioseph could finde no favour without bringing their brother Beniamin with them so our hearts are the Beniaâ—in wee must bring to God without which neither our words are gracious in his hearing nor our selves acceptable in his sight Wherefore O my soule when thou goest to pray put away from thee all carnall cogiâ—ations and raise thy selfe up by ascending into heaven Fixing thy selfe stedfastly upon the Throne of God and never once offer to open thy mouth untill thy heart be first fixed there that thou mayst present thy suit unto him pure freed as in earthen Vessels it can from Earthly mixture and then as thy heart hath ascended up to Heaven so the blessings of Heaven shall descend upon thee and either bring with them the things thou prayest for or greater for never any Heart did knocke at Heaven gate which had it not opened nor sought any thing in Heaven which it did not finde For though his Maiesty make his mercy to keepe state yet his mercy makes his Maiesty to becom gracious and he never denyed the suite of any that came so farre as Heaven to aske it But thou art not O Lord in Heaven onely who art in all places wholly and though no where as contained yet every where as present and though thou takest up no roome with thy being and power yet thou fillest all roomes with thy power and being But when we say Which art in Heaven we must not stay at the Heavens where we see with our eyes the two great Eyes of Heaven the Sunne and the Moone nor yet at the starry Heaven though that be the uttermost object of our sight but there are other Heavens which Salomon cals the Heavens of Heavens whose height is so great that it may rather be admired then can be conceaved yet are they not high enough to hold God but David is faine to goe higher and saith He is exalted above the Heavens and though the highest Heavens have their bounds yet this exaltation hath none but how high soever we conceave it is still higher then that we conceave And why then doe we say Which art in Heaven Not that he is no where else but that he is no where else in so great glory And is he not in as great glory on Earth seeing it is said as well of Earth as of Heaven Heaven and Earth are full of the maiesty of thy glory Nay is he not in hell also in great glory seeing David saith If I goâ— dowâ— into Hell thou art there also and God is no where without his glory but is glorified in the punishment of the damned as he is in the happinesse of the Angels We may therefore understand it that God is therefore said to bee in Heaven because hee is there visibly present and amongst his most glorious Creatures And this is a reason why not onely properly but properly onely God is said to be in heaven seeing in this manner he never was on earth nor can be for No man can see God and live much lesse can he be in this manner in Hell for how can the vision of God which is the cause of all happinesse bee had there where nothing is had but
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
us if it be not more admirable unworthinesse in us that we admire it not which is so admirable But it may be no question why we admire it not because without question we apprehend it not for if we did truely apprehend what it is to be the sonnes of a Father which is in heaven wee could not chuse but skorne all humane things as meane all earthly things as base and thinke it a shame for them who shall one dâ—y come to fit with him in his Throne to lie alwaies grovling about his Footstoole But the Angels apprehended it and therfore admired it and as holy as they were some of them could not chuse but envy it and from our rising tooke their fall Which fell out well for ouâ— experience for by the consideration of their falling we come to conceive a certainety to see plainly a probability of our own rising For why is it more sâ—range that heavy things should ascend then that light things should descend that men who are of Earthy mould should bee liftâ—d up into the highâ—st Heavens then that Angels who are of Heavenly substance were cast downe into the nethermost earth unlâ—sie we thinke that Gods love towards children is not so powerfull as his anger against servants or that his arme is not so strong in lifting up as in casting downe Wherefore O my soule if thou wonder how it will be possible for â—his heavy body of thine to be raysed out of the dust and to rise to so high a place as heaven thou mayst leave thy wondring if thou doe but consider how it was possible that the light substances of the Angels were cast downe into so lâ—w a place as hell For as God brought a grossenesse upon the lightnesse of their suâ—stances which made them descend so he will bring a lightnesse upon the grossenesse of our bodies which will make us ascend But it was after the fall of Angels that God said to man Earth thou art and to earth thou shalt returne but not a word spoken of his comming to heaven It is true for those words were spoken by God as a Iudge Our comming to Heaven is not spoken by him but as a Father and those words are reserved for his Son the Word it selfe to deliver to us and indeed the word delivered them to us in Deed when the word was made flesh for when the Sonne of God â—ook upon him our flesh then our flesh tooke notice of being made the sonnes of God and then the Kingdome of heaven was preached to all believers and this dignity of our Nature is a maine object of the divels envy for why else should the devill beare more malice to men then to all other creatures as we see apparantly he doth for he will never goe into swine if he can possibly ' get into men and when he doth goe it is but to hurt men that when hee cannot hurt them in their persons he will yet like lame malice doe them what hurt he can in their goods Thus the greatnesse of this dignity which wee cannot see in the light we may discerne in the darke for how can we chuse but know it to be exceeding great which nourisheth malice even in divels For certainely if the divels knew nothing of any such dignity ordained for men in the world to come they would never doe as they doe never trouble themselves so much to trouble men so much in this present life thereby to hinder them from the glory to come And are not some men beholding to the divell in this who seeking to hinder us from the glory to come in the life hereafter makes it manifest that there is a glory to come in a life hereafter from which we may be hindred Which if some men otherwise will not easily believe yet this way at least they can hardly deny And even this were enough to breed this faith in an Infidell that there shall be certainely a life after this seeing wee may bee sure the divell would never take such paines for nothing he is not so idle to be so busie for trifles and he would never be so violent in seeking to draw men into sinne if there were not some great matter to be gotten by their sinning And what can the divell get by the sinnes of men but onely the satisfying of his owne malice and how is his malice satisfied but in their miseries and what miseries have wicked men in this life who are rather the favourites of the world and as David saith They are not in trouble as other men neither are they plagued like other men There must therefore undoubtedly be another world where wicked men shall bee miserable and where the divels malice shall take effect For though the hurt of the divell be all taken in this life yet it is not fully felt till another life which if there were none It should bee skarce felt at all For as a man that is wounded in his heate feeles not the wound till he come to be cold so we skarce feele the wounds of the divell as long as the heat of life is in us but when we come to bee cold and are laid in the cold earth then begins the smart of his wounds and then we feele it when we seeme to bee past all feeling and if this were not so there should be none in the world more happy then the wicked there should bee none more miserable then the godly there should be none a verier foole then the divell we may therefore be as affured that there is a life to come after this as we are assured that the divell is no fâ—ole that godly men are not miserable that wicked men are not nor can be happy And though it bee no thanke to the divell that we learne this from him yet it will be worth thankes if we can learne it for who that is truely perswaded of a life after this where the godly shall be happy and the wicked miserable will not endeavour and with all earnestnesse endeavour to leade his life so that he may die the death of the righteous and not suffer the transitory things of this world which are but as a messe of Iacobs Potage to withdraw his minde from the respect of his Birth-right which is to sit with Christ at his Fathers Table But for all this are we indeed satisfied in our consciences that God is our Father and that we are his Children may we not be mistaken as the Iewes were who thought themselves sure enough that Abraham was their father yet Christ proves plainly they were deceived For if saith he yee were the children of Abraham yee would doe the workes of Abraham which because they did not doe they could be none of his children for all their boasting And doth not God say the same to us If I be your father where is my love and to love God in Gods owne exposition is to keepe his Commandements If therefore we
doe as God commands us we may be bold to call him Father but if wee keepe not his Commandements we may looke us out another father wee shall bee but Terrae filii at the best and never bee admitted into the number of Gods Children And were not this a miserable negligence to loose the honour of so divine a Parentage as to be Gods Children and to loose the hope of so gloâ—ious an Inheritance as to be heires with Christ onely for want of loving him Consider then O my soule the great cause St Paul had to bee so resolute and doe thou joyne with him in resolution that neither life nor death nor Angels nor Principalities nor things present nor things to come nor height nor deâ—th nor any other creâ—ture shall bee able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ. But O my soule if thou wilt indeed be resolute to doe it canst thou doe it Canst thou love God when thou listest at thy own pleasure It is a plaine Argument indeed of Gods love to us that he is our Father but it is no argument of our love to God that we be his Children seeing experience hath made it a Proverb That love doth descend but not ascend Gods love comes easily to us because it descends but how should our love come to God which against its nature must ascend St. Iohn indeed in saying We love God because God loved us first seemes to shew a reason for it but Christ gives the reason of it where he sayth No man can come unto me except the Father draw him St. Iohn shewes the motion of a motive but Christ gives the force of a cause and lesse would not serve for our love to God is very Iron and were never able to ascend if Gods love to us were not a most perfect Adamant But what say the children of Belial God saith to us If I be your Father where is my honour that is where is our honouring of him and may not we say to God If we be his children where is our loue that is where is his love to us For when men are constrained to eate their bread in the sweat of their browes where is the loving kindnesse of a Father Nay when men are faine to begge from doore to doore where appeare their childrens portions Nay when men lie in prisons ready to sterve with cold and hunger what likelihood is there of their being heires These things are often so indeed yet are such men never the further off from being the true Children of God For St. Paul laboured with his hands to get his living yet no man doubts but he was undoubtedly a deere childe of God And Lazarus lay begging at Dives gate among the Dogs yet he was approved to be a child of God by being received into Abrahams bosome What shall we say then Is the love of God a â—ree that beares no better fruite Or are these the Inheritances he provides for his Children But O my soule thou must remember what thou hast said Our Father which art in Heaven For we shall wrong both God and our selves if we expect our inheritance in a wrong place for where our Father is there must our inheritance be expected and seeing our Father is in heauen we must looke for an inheritance in heaven and not on earth And certainely when men are so hasty to receive their portions in this life It is a very presaging signe they have none to receive in the life that is to come For what did Abraham tell Dives was the cause he could not be receiâ—ed into his bosome but because he had received Bona sua his portion in his life time But was Abraham a fit man to tell him so who had received more goods then ever he had done yet he could come not onely to be in heaven himselfe but to be himselfe a heaven for others to be in We must therefore know that Abraham though he received more riches or more honours yet he received them not as Bona sua they were things he looked not much after nor set his heart upon them the goods he looked and longed after was Videre Diem Domini to see the day of Christ and he saw it and in that was all his joy And indeed seeing we are buâ—children children adopted in Christ and to be heires with him there is no reason we should looke for an Inheritance here where he himselfe had none for the sonne of man had not where to lay his head for that Inheritance Esau kept still though he sold his birthright Yet this makes some men be of opinion that he is then carelesse of his children in this life and lookes not after them but very injuriously For may we not thinke that as in the earth there are Hils and Dales high Mountaines and low Valeys which seeme to us to make a great inequality in the even roundnesse of the earth yet compared to the heavens to which it is but as a Centre they make all but evennesse so these fortunes of men Riches and Poverty Honour and Basenesse Health and Sicknesse they seeme to us to make a great inequality in mens estates yet to God who being Eternall reduceth all things to Eternity they appeare indifferent and we our selves also when we attaine to our Eternity in heaven shall thinke so too and shall wonder at our selves that ever we could be so simple to thinke otherwise In the meane time we can place our thoughts whereand how we list and why can we not make our thoughts to place us where how they list This indeed is an Angelicall cunning and if we could as by faith we may aspire unto it It would easily make an equality of all fortunes and turne a Dungeon into a Pallace a pallet of Netles into a bed of Roses And let not this be thought impossible for a Christian to doe in fayth when the Heathen could conceive it possible in the onely contemplation of vertue to say upon the Racke Quam suave est hoc And never slight it by saying that this at most were but imaginary for faith will take it in great skorne to bee matcht with imagination though even imagination if we give fayth to Philosophy can doe no small wonders but seeing the world is all as I may say for the pleasures of that part of the Noune which may be Seene Felt or Heard give us leave at least to be for the pleasures of the other part which may bee understood that if you say of our pleasures they are without sence we may say of theirs They are without understanding But what say we then to Moses his blessings Blessed shalt thou be in the City and blessed in the Field Blessed shall bee the fruit of thy body and the fruit of thy ground and the fruit of thy Cattell These are all Earthly and sensible blessings and were not these promised to the children of God No doubt
they were but as Moses himselfe had a veile over his face so Moses his words had a veile over their meaning and by this meanes Blindnesse came upon Israel For they tooke that for their Iourneys end which Moses intended but for a bayting place He allowed them liberall baytes at first to make them the more cheerefully goe on their Iourney but they like foolish Travellors that make a dwelling of their Inne tooke such pleasure in their baytes that they never once thought of going any further As therefore God sayd of the ceremonies hee appoynted to the Iewes that hee had given them Statutes that were not good not good indeed to them that understood them not nor could observe them so we may perhaps say of these baytes that God had given them blessings that were not good not good indeed to them that understand them not nor can tell how to use them But now the veile is layd aside the baytes cleane taken away and those blessings of Moses removed a fourme lower for they were to them the very face of the promise but are to us onely the backeparts they were to them as the first fruits but are to us as onely gleanings after the Vintage and therfore though David in the old Testament never saw the righteous forsaken nor their seed begging their bread yet Christ in the new Testament could tell us of one Lazarus who for all his being righteous was faine to lie begging his bread at Dives gate God in his goodnesse is willing to try alwaies to see if any way he can bring us to goodnesse He allowed liberall baytes at first to make them the more cheerefully goe on their journey That succeeded not he hath taken away those baytings now to maâ—e us the more intentive to our journeys end Those blessings were promised by the mouth of Moses a servant Our blessings are promised by the mouth of Christ a sonne They trusted to the blessings promised to the person of Abraham we trust to the blessings promised to the seed of Abraham as it is said And in thy seed shall all the Nations of the earth be blessed This is that seed by vertue whereof we stand here as Gods Children and have the honour to call him Father and by which we are borne againe to a new hope of recovering our old inheritance though that be long since removed up to heaven as appeares by the words of Christ to the Thiefe on the Crosse This day thou shalt bee with me in Paradise that wee can never hope to have a Paradise here on earth any more And now O my soule seeing thou dwellest in a house whose windowes are made to looke upward make use of those lights and afford not the Earth so much as a looke but stand gazing to see Christ Ascending into Heaven whither he is gone not onely to take possession himselfe but to provide a place for thee in that Inheritance and give not over gazing untill an Angell assure thee that this Iesus which is taken up from you shall so come as ye have seene him goe into heaven and till then possesse thy selfe in patience and let these meditations be thine ankers that if thou dyest in thy youth thou dost but goe the sooner to God that thou mayest bee the longer with him If thou die for hunger thou dost but goe fasting to God that thou mayst have the better stomacke to the heavenly Banquet if thou sterve for want of clothes thou dost but goe naked to God that thou mayest bee the readyer for putting on the Wedding Garment If thou die with torment thou dost but follow Christ to God that having followed him here the Sheepe before the Shearer thou mayst follow the Lambe wheresoever he goeth And seeing thou desirest to be a Lazarus in Abrahams bosome thou must first be contented to be a Lazarus at Dives gate and as thou tremblest to thinke of being a Dives in hell to want a cup of water to coole thy tongue so thou mayst tremble as much to be a Dives on earth to fare deliciously every day And as for the fawning pleasures of the world consider the fearefull judgements that are passed upon them Woe unto you rich men for ye shall howle and mourne Woe unto you great men for the mighty shall be mightily tormented Woe unto you that live in pleasures for how much yee receive in pleasures here so much shall be added to your torments hereafter Wherefore O my soule close up all with this Corollary that the forbearing thy portion in this world with Christ gives thee right in Christ to have a portion in heaven and that the enduring of miseries which cannot long endure is a way to passe to that felicity which shall never passe away A little hath beene sayd of infinite much that may be sayd concerning the Preface It followes now to speake of the Prayer it selfe which is digested into a structure and composition so absolute and yet so rare that whilst it stretcheth it selfe to all it is comprehended but of a few whilst the simplest in it may see their defects the wisest by it may amend their defects and if understanding be necessary to learn other lessons this Lesson is necessary to learne understanding If a man shall thinke of mending the Penning of this prayer he may as well thinke of mending the framing of the world which if he should goe about to make proofe of in particular he would in general make himselfe ridiculous For if he should adde any thing hee would make it superfluous if diminish defective if alter deformed and such a one would he prove that should presume upon mending these Petitions seeing there is nothing that concernes eyther the life present or the life to come nothing that concernes eyther Grace or Glory nothing that concernes eyther Antidote or Physicke for eyther soule or body but it is all here and all so fully and perfectly here that whatsoever the wit of man shall devise further to these ends will be but as branches out of these roots or as deductions out of these principles and may adde in bulke but not in weight And he should not erre that would affirme that Christ shewed himselfe as perfectly to be God by making this Prayer as by doing his miracles For to let passe the many causes of admiration in it that it is so compendious and yet so copious that it is so plaine and yet so intricate that it is so familiar and yet so sublime that it is of so few parts and yet so compleate all which are characters of Divinity who could have given warrant to the sonnes of men to call the God of heaven their Father but he only who is the Son of God and God himselfe we call God Almighty by his owne warrant to Abraham and we call him Iehovah by the same warrant to Moses but we cannot call him Father but onely by this warrant from Christ who
of our hearts as if we were now jovning with the Angels in singing their Halleluiah When we say Thy Kingdome come let us raise our thoughts as now offering to set our hands to the petition of the Saints in heaven When we say Thy will bee done Let us fixe our minds wholly as in the solemnity of dedicating our selves to God with all the faithfull upon earth When we say Give us this day our daily bread let us humble our selves as being in state of other creatures and are glad to joyne with them in their common suite When we say Forgive us our trespasses let us thinke our selves enrolled in the company of penitents and as the greatest sinners chosen spokes-men to present their supplication And when we say Lead us not into temptation let us acknowledge our selves in the number and weakenesse of little children and are glad to joyne with them in crying for helpe that the Angell of infants which alwaies beholds the face of God may be imployed by him to worke our deliverance And thus we shall not only goe on the right way in making our petitions but we shall have company also to bee affistants in preferring our petitions And doth not such orderly ranking of the petitions shew Christ to have beene a most skilfull Herauld in spirituall matters seeing they all take their places according to the worth and dignity of the speakers In the first place are the Angels that as at the fall of the first Adam Angels were set at the Entrance of Paradice to keep us out so at the comming of the second Adam Angels are set here at the entrance into Heaven to let us in As therefore this Petition is as the Porter to let in all the other petitions So holy Reverence must bee porter at our mouthes to let in thispetition For when it is said Hallowed be thy Name may it not justly be thought the prayer of Angels of whom it is said that they say and sing continually Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Sabbath not onely say it as their prayer but sing it as their Psaâ—me and chief Delight David did well in offring God to build a Temple to his Name but by whom was Gods Temple built Not by David a man of blood but bâ— Salomon a Prince of Peace so it is well done of us to say Hallowed bee thy Name but by whom doe wee say it must bee Hallowed Not by us Non vox hominem sonat for how should wee Hallow his Name who have prophaned his Image It is a worke for Angels fit only for them to Hallow his Name who have kept â—oly their owne Nature for without a nature of holynesse his Name can never bee truly hallowed And if wee understand it of our selves will it not proove a worke of supererogation seeing wee desire to doe more then is commanded for the Commandement is onely Not to take his Name in vaine and heere wee desire It may be hallowed Unlesse it bee that the commandements being Negative they get something by Christs resolving them into Affirmatives Or is it to shew how much the Law is improoved by the Gospell seeing it is no more in the Gospells phrase to hallow Gods Name then it was in the Lawes not to take it in vaine But what if God have no Name at all then indeed the Commandement will be easily kept but the Petition will bee hardly granted The Name is but a shadow of the Nature as therfore a Body which were Infinite could have no shadow the shadow not beginning but where the Body endeth so a Nature which is Incomprehensible can have no Name the Name being not possible to be given but where the Nature is comprehended But though God have no Name or no knowne Name to expresse him yet hee is not without Name to distinguish him And what is then his Name wee desire may bee Hallowed his Name of Essence or his Name in Relation his Name as it is in himselfe or his Name as it is to us Not his Name of Essence for how can we hallow that until we know it and how can we know it untill the riddle be expounded seeing we know him now but in Aenigmate but his Name in relation as it is to us his Name of Father that is it which seemes most fitly to be here intended For when we say Our Father doth not God by the Prophet Malachie seeme to interrupt us and say If I bee your Father where is my honour for to Hallow him as a Father and as an Heavenly Father Is to honour him to feare him to love him to obey him to reverence him and to adore him But what should be the cause that in the three latter petitions we seeme to be altogether for our selves as appeares by our saying Give us Forgive us Deliver us but in the three former there is no mention of Vs at all as though we were no parties to them Is it not that we are or ought to be more jealous of Gods honour then carefull of our owne benefits and therefore when we say Hallowed be thy Name we dare not say Of us least we should make God a Musicke of too few voices And when we say Thy Kingdome come we dare not say to us least we should assigne his Kingdome too small a Territory And when we say Thy will be done we dare not say by us least we should stint God in the number of his servants But we say Hallowed be thy Name and stoppe there that so no mouth may be stopped from hallowing it we say Thy Kingdome come but Name not whither that so it may be intended to come every whither we say Thy will be done in earth but tell not by whom in earth that so it may be done by all in earth By Hallowing Gods Name we meane not to make it holy for it is holynesse it selfe Nor to make it more holy for it is infinitenesse it selfe Nor to keepe it holy for it is eternity it selfe but to joyne with the heavens in declaring his glory and with the firmament in shewing his handy-worke as then onely hallowing his Name when we name him onely holy and therein consisting our worke of sanctifying him when in him we acknowledge our workes to be sanctifyed To hallow the place wherein it pleased God to stand Moses put off the â—hooes from his feet to hallow the day whereon it pleased him to rest the Iewes put off the workes of their hands and to hallow the Name which he vouchsafed to take we must put off from our tongues all unreverent discourses and from our lives all prophane conversation And as Gods Name is Vnguentum Effusum hath many dispersions in our understanding so our hallowing it must have Linguas dispertitas Cloven tongues to convay it to his hearing his Name of Father must be hallowed by love of Lord by obedience of judge by uprightnesse of almighty by feare and of everlasting by constancy But is there no
it then that his voyce was obeyed when there was nothing to obey it as when he said Let there be light and there was light But lastly if men be so set upon their profit that they will doe nothing without a fee Is not this fee enough for them that by it they are admitted into the Quier of Angells but much more that by it they attaine to their perfection for if every thing be then perfected when it attainâ—s its end then certainely are our tongues and indeed our soules perfected when they hallow Gods name for this is their end Wherefore O my soule let not offences belonging onely to the name of God be slighted as onely nominall but let them be accounted as indeed they are of all other the most reall and as it is the first petition in thy prayer so let it be the first care in thy heart that thou speake nothing by which his name may be prophaned that thou doe nothing by which it may be blasphemed For though God require a strict observance of all his Commandements yet he professeth not so punctually to hold the breakers guilty in any as in this and therefore when in two notorious crimes adultery and murther he spared David yet in this that through them his name was blasphemed he would not hold him guiltlesse but made him pay for it with the death of his deere Sonne And indeed if we marke this petition well we shall find a peculiar Majesty an extraordinary Preheminence in it above all the other For it is not onely the Primum Mobile from which all the other have their motions but it is the centre also to which all the other bend their motions For when we say Thy Kingdome come It is but to come that we may hallow Gods name when we say Thy will be done it is but for this that we may hallow Gods Name when we pray for daily bread it is but to strengthen us that we may hallow Gods name when we say Forgive us our trespasses it is but to clense us that we may hallow Gods name when we say Lead us not into temptation it is but to remove impediments that we may hallow Gods name O Lord our God how excellent is thy Name in all the world And where we have a triviall yet true saying amongst us A good beginning makes a good ending it can in nothing more lively be exemplified then in the marshalling of these petitions for he that makes his beginning at the hallowing of Gods name may be sure to make his ending in the deliverance from evill and though it be a blasphemous fable of the Iewes that Christ learned in the Temple the name of God by the vertue wherof he wrought all his Miracles yet from this blasphemy we may draw this verity that it is indeed the name of God by the transcendent power whereof all miracles are wrought O Lord our God how excellent is thy Name in all the world It was this name in which when Davids enemies came about him like Bees yet iâ— this name they were exstinct It was this name in which when divels possessed both soules and bodies of men yet in this name they were ejected It was this name for whose sake the lsrâ—lites were preserved in the wildernesse the three children in the fiery Furnace Daniel in the Lions Denne and Ionas in the Whales belly O Lord our God how excellent is thy Name in all the world It is this name at the sound whereof the Mountaines smoke the foundations of the earth are shaken the divels in hell tremble It is this name by vertue whereof the bodies of the dead are raised the soules of the Saints are glorified the happinesse of the Angels is eternised O Lord our God how excellent is thy Name in all the world that if wee were as Iames and â—ohn and had voices like Thunder yet we could never hallow this name loude enough If we were as Methusalem and had breathes like eternity yet we could never hallow this name long enough If we were as Salomon and had the tongues of Angels yet we could never hallow this name worthily enough O Lord our God how excellâ—nt is thy Name in all the world Wherefore O my soule doe thou by this name of God as David in the 119 Psalme doth by the Law of God whereof he seemes so jealous and so loath to leave it that the word is no sooner out of his mouth but he fnâ—heth it in againe and there is â—ot so short a sentence in all this long Psalme but the Law of God is a word in it And so doe thou by the name of God let it evermore be in thy mouth but ever more be in thy heart that thou make it not a common name but keepe it holy for if thou take it not in vaine to Gods dishonour thou shalt be sure not to take it in vaine to thy owne benefit for God will plentifully blesse it and the next newes thou shalt heare of will be the comming of his Kingdome And that wee may know Gods Name to bee a substance rather than a Word or a Word of substance wee shall finde it to bee hallowed or prophaned by Actions rather then by words or by words that make Actions as Abraham hallowed Gods Name when hee offred his sonne Isaac because hee beleeved that hee was faithfull that had promised but Moses hallowed it not at Meriba when he said to the people Now yee Rebels shall we bring you water out of this Rocke Not that Moses himselfe doubted but that hee spake unadvisedly with his lips and made the people doubt hee doubted and so whilst God honoured him by manifesting his new Name of Iehovah he forgot to honour God by magnifying his old Name of Saddai And if Moses for want of perfitnesse in this Petition were hindred from entring into the Terrestriall Canaan was it not to be a Type for us that wee for want of perfitnesse in it may bee hindred from entring into the Heavenly Canaan O then my Tongue make thee perfit in repeating it and O my heart make thee perfit in recording it and O my life bee thou perfit in acting it that when yee have done with saying Hallowed be thy name in Earth amongst men yee may be admitted to say Holy Holy Holy in heaven amongst Angells If Gods Name were to be hallowed with multiplicity of words there are men of Incessant Tongues like the Priests of Baal that stood bawling to their Idoll from morning till night that were likely to doe it Or if it were to bee hallowed with eloquence of words there are men of curious language that would bee as fit to doe it as the old Oratours were to make their Panegyricks to Princes Or if it were to be done with great and mighty words there are roaring men in the world might bee as able to hallow it as Goliah the Philistine was to blaspheme it
for the inchoation of the Kingdome of Grace but these are pâ—operly they that pray for the consummation of the Kingdom of glory when all things shal be made subject to the Father and God shall be all in all And it remaines onely for these to pray for this Kingdome seeing they are already lifted up above all other kingdomes having the kingdomes of the world in contempt the kingdome of satan in subiection and as for the Kingdome of Grace they have it already in perfection Though we have stiled this petition the prayer of the Saints departed as being the most eminent persons that can say it yet we doe not thereby exclude our selves but we enter common with them or rather we pray for a Kingâ—ome more then they doe They onely for the Kingdome of glory we for the Kingdome both of grace and glory yet may we justly call it theirs seeing they began it to us and continue it with us and enforce it for us But doe not the words of this petition crosse one another and is there not an opposition betweene them For Kingdome is a word of Majesty and comming is a word of inferiority at most of equality and so we seeme to pray to Gods disparagement we make a superiour inferiour at most but equall But is it not that we mean not here a descent but an extent of the Kingdome and a comming not of duty but of grace and so neither the Kingdome disdaineth the comming nor the comming disparageth the Kingdome but Kingdome and comming are magnified both in their uniting This petition at first sight seemes to flatter flesh and blood asking as they themselves would wish but Christ hath taken them downe from any such hope professing plainely that his Kingdome is not of this world And though it may be thought amâ—ition to aske so great a matter as a Kingdome yet it is in truth humility for untill we attaine to this Kingdome we cannot be wholly Gods true servants and it is reason the suite should be the greater because we are likely to tarry longest for it But is it not strange to see us come as we doe here In forma pauperis to aske a Kingdome yet so we must doe and so hath Christ proclaimed it Blessed are the poore in spirit for theirs is the kingdome of Heaven And yet if we marke it well as poore as we seeme to come we shall finde that Salomon in all his royalty was not cloathed as we are by this petition for by it we are cloathed here with sanctification that we may be cloathed hereafter with immortality Some seditious heads may here take occasion to thinke that to pray for this Kingdome is to pray against all earthly kingdomes and to disthrone Gods Lieutenants of their authority But know O world that this Kingdome though it take away our subjection to the world yet it taketh not away our subjection in the world though we be not of the world which St. Iames taxed for Enmity with God yet we are of the world which Augustus taxed for tribute to Caesar and this tribute must be paide as well from our hearts as from our purses for out of the duty we owe him that hath placed us in his service we learne to be contented to serve every one in his place When we say this petition we meane not that Gods Kingdome should so come to be here as that it should be no where else for this were but to remove it whilst we seeke to enlarge it and to make that finite which is infinite but we pray onely for the beames of the Sunne of righteousnesse not for the Sunne it selfe for the power and priviledges of the Kingdome not for the body that as Christ saith No man can come unto me except the Father draw him So we most properly understand the Kingdome to come to us when the Father drawes us and makes us come unto it and so in effect our petition is this that God by his Spirit would so rule over us that our spirits may wholly be ruled by him and that his Kingdome of grace may so come unto us that we may come at last to his Kingdome of Glory But what need we to pray for the comming of this Kingdome for seeing it is infinite it must needs be every where and being every where it must needs be here already But is it not that there is a difference between the being of this Kingdome and the comming It is indeed every where but it comes not every where It is in the wicked upon earth and it is in the damned in hell but it comes onely to the faithfull on earth or to the Saints in heaven for wher it onely is it is in power or justice but where it comes it is in love and bounty where it onely is it leaves us at sea and suffers us to suffer shipwracke but where it comes it brings us into the Haven and sets us safe on shoare This Petition hath but three words and each word may have its emphasis each emphasis its meditation For if we place the emphasis upon the last word the meditation may be this that the ambition is not in asking a Kingdome but that we must have it come to us as though we thought our selves too good to goe to it but alas poore lame soules wee cannot goe to it though we would never so fayne for the truth is we are in bondage to another Prince that unlesse this Kingdome come and free us our Fetters will not suffer us to stir a foote But is not this directly contrary to that which Christ saith Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the kingdome prepared for you for here we pray that the Kingdome may come to us and there we are invited to come to it Here we are the marke and the Kingdome is the commer there the Kingdome is the marke and we the commers This indeed may well seeme wonderfull in our eyes seeing nothing is more wonderfull in nature then the nature of this Kingdome is It comes to us as our Ransome We come to it as to our Triumph It comes to us as it came and sat upon the Apostles in fiery tongues we come to it as Elias went up in a fiery charriot It comes to us as the Kingdome of Grace we come to it as to the Kingdome of glory And if wee place the Emphasis upon the second word It may be seconded with this Meditation It is true we are in this world as in a warre and have many enemies to assault us but will no lesse ayde then a Kingdome serve us Have we not Forces of our owne which we may muster up and make resistance This indeed was Pelagius his dreame but all men that are awake finde it otherwise For seeing those Forces did not serve our first Parents who were strong and at liberty what hope is there for us who are weake and in bondage But might it not serve to require
the helpe of Abraham For Abraham was Gods Friend and men will doe much for their friends how much more will God This also hath been and is still the ignorant fancy of some men therefore ignorant because Abraham is ignorant of us and knowes us not and seeing while hee lived hee came short by Tenne in helping the Sodomites whom hee knew he is like to come much shorter now in helping of uswhom hee doth not know But would it not be sufficient to pray for the ayde of Angells as God promised Moses that his Angell should goe with him and wee may be sure that God knew well what Assistance would serve Of this Errour it seâ—ms by Saint Paul some Colossians were in danger but wee see Moses would not trust to that helpe neither but flatly refused it It seemes he took Gods offer but as a try all and unlesse God would goe himselfe hee thought it no boore for him to stirre And indeed who can thinke it reasonable for Sonnes to rely upon their Fathers Servants For wee fight not with flesh and blood but with principalities and Powers and seeing we have a Kingdome to assault us wee must likewise have a Kingdome to assist us Neither our owne Forces Nor Succour of Saints Nor ayde of Angells will stand us in stead God himselfe must goe forth with our Armies or wee shall never be able to overcome And if we place the emphasis upon the first word It may then raise our minds to this meditation There are many competitors for this Kingdome to rule over us but above all though the basest of all the bramble satan catcheth hold of us to get it God is the trne Olive tree but he cannot take it upon him unlesse he should leave his fatnesse Hee is the true Figge-tree but he cannot be King over us unlesse he should leave his sweetnesse and that fatnesse and that sweetnesse he left the Father when he gave his Sonne the Sonne when he gave his life and now let all the Trees of the wood rejoyce for Thou O Lord art wâ—rthy to receive all glory and honour and power and the Lord shall raigne for ever And what then shall we render for this inestimable favour in taking us to be his subjects O let us offer him not onely the tenths of our labours but the first fruits of our affections let us open not onely the doores of our lips but the gates of our hearts that this King of glory may come in And when thou vouchsafest O my Lord to come with thy high Majesty under my low roofe and to worke a miracle by having that greatnesse which the world containeth not contained in the little corner of my breast Vouchsafe also to send thy Grace for the Harbinger of thy Glory seeing there can no roome be dressed up against thy comming but onely by thy comming and no place can be reckoned fit for thee untill it be made fit by thee Possesse me wholly O my soveraigne raigne in my body by obedience to thy Lawes and in my soule by confidence in thy promises Frame my tongue to praise thee my knees to reverence thee my strength to serve thee my desires to cover thee and my heart to embrace thee that as thou hast formed me to thine Image so thou mayst frame mee to thy will and as thou hast made mee a vessell by the stamp of thy Creation to serve thee on earth so thou may est make me a vessell of honour by the priviledge of thy grace to serve thee in thy Kingdome In some the world Governes and he who is Prince of this world the divell and this government is a very â—yranny the people here are not Subjects but slaves they have fetters on all their faculties and if they â—oe not feele them it is because they are past feeling The avre of this place is onely Fogges and Mists which both blind their eyes and infect their spirits and makes it their Paradise to be wallowing in puddle He is no true Pâ—nce but an usurper and therfore rules all by force and falsehood He takes upon him to be their Pilot launcheth them out into the maine and then leaves them to stormes and temâ—ests and their Haven is to split against the Rockes So here is no being for thee O my soule thou hadst need to make haste hence and to seeke thee out some better harbour In some the flesh governes and they which be Ladies of the flesh Pride and Lust and this government is a very Anarchy Every base fancy hath an even sway with noble reason Wisdome here is not justified of her children they may speake the language of Canaan but they are all natives of Sodome their eyes are seeled up yet their flight is onely downe hill for they are travelling to the bottomles Pit So this O my soule is no place for thee neyther No resting for thee here seeing here is no rest but all in motion and all motion here is commotion In some the spirit governes and he who is the Father of spirits God himselfe and this government is a perfect Kingdome He hath Majesty for his Crowne Mercy for his seate and Iustice for his Scepter He hath wisedome for his Counsailour Almightinesse for his guard and Eternity for his date He hath heaven for his Pallace the earth for his Footstoole and hell for his prison He hath lawes to which nature assents and reason subscribes that doe not fetter us but free us for by them nature gets the wings of grace and transcends the earth Reason gets the eyes of fayth and ascends up to heaven He hath a yoke indeed but it is easie a burthen but it is light his reward is with him and his worke before him He is established in this soveraignty not by his subjects election of him but by his election of his subjects not as rayfing himselfe to a higher title but as humbling himselfe to a lower calling and as not receiving it from a Predecessor who is before all so never leaving it to a successour who is after all This is the place where my soule shall dwell here will I pitch my Tabernacle Onely O Lord let me be taken into the number of thy subiects and endue mee with the priviledges of thy Kingdome and I will freely and faithfully serve thee for ever Other Lords besides thee have heretofore ruled us but now we will remember thee onely and onely thy Name When we make this petition to God that his Kingdome may come we should doe well to remember a petition which God makes to us My sonne give me thy hâ—art For unlesse we give God our hearts whither can wee thinke this Kingdome should come For if it come to the eares as oftentimes it makes offer at the hearing of Gods Word it findes that onely a Thorough-fare which lies open on every side and no fit place to make a residence in and
therefore commonly goes away as it came and makes no stay there And if it come to the eyes as sometime it offers at the sight of Gods workes It findes them not able to stay long open but must have their windowes shut in so are apt to keepe it out or if they stand open they are apt to let in vanity which this Kingdome likes not and therefore cannot abide to abide there neyther but vanisheth away And indeed these are but Out-places this Kingdome loves to be within us as Christ saith The kingdome of God is within you and we have no place within us fit to make the Seate of a Kingdome but onely our heart and this indeed hath no back doore to let it out as the eare hath nor no percullis to keepe it out as the eye hath but it hath a large entrance and a boundlesse circuit and therefore most fit to give this Kingdome entertainement And yet as fit as it is God will not have it unlesse we give it him and he will not have it so neither unlesse we give it him all for it is against his Nature to have a Partner and he cannot abide to heare of moyities either he must have all or he hath nothing at all to be a piece for God and a piece for the world is to be all for the world to conclude God at all is to exclude him from all Wherefore O my soule mangle not thy heart in giving it to God but give it him all and thinke thy selfe happy that he will take it all for the more he possesseth it the freer he makes it the more hee dwelleth in it the fayrer hee builds it the more raigneth in it the richer he adornes it O my Lord God that thou wouldst come and dwell in my heaâ—ras the owner of it and reigne in my heart as the King of it I should not then envy the Pallaces of Princes nor the kingdomes of the earth seeing I should have within my selfe a Pallace and a Kingdome not onely to equall but farre to exceede them But what kinde of Kings will this Kingdome make us Is it as one saith Rex est qui metuit nihil and indeed there is not such a King to be found amongst all the Princes of the earth for how is it possible they should be without feare who have a sword hanging over their heads continually but by a thred yet such Kings shall we be made by the comming of this Kingdome For whereof should we be afraide Of enemies but they shall be all subdued under our feete Of poverty But we shall hunger and thirst no more Of nakednesse But the Sunne shall not burne us by day nor the Moone by night Of sorrow But all teares shall he wiped away from our eyes Of death but Mors ultra non dominabitur Yet all this will mâ—ke us but negative Kings and meere negation makes not happy for happinesse is a positive thing and puts us in a reall possession of all good things And such happinesse too shall we have by the comming of this Kingdome for wherein can wee thinke doth happinesse consist If in dainty fare we shall eate and drinke with Christ at his Fathers Table If in fine clothes we shall all be cloathed in long white robes If in curious Musicke we shall heare the Quier of Angels continually singing If in light Fulgebimus sicut sol If in knowledge we shall know as we are knowne If in dominion we shall judge the Angels If in joy our joy shall be full and none shall be able to take it from us If in glorious sights we shall see the blessed face of Gâ—d which is the glory of all sights the sight of all glory O happy Kingdâ—me O happy comming O happy we to whom it shall come that we can never be intentive enough in praying never earnest enough in longing that this Kingdome may come But doth not this petition seeme to cast an eye upon the Iewes seeing it is not the Kings but the Kingdomes comming that is here prayed for for their King it was well enough knowne was come knowne by the Wisemens question Where is the King of the Iewes that is borne Knowne by the peoples acclamation Hosanna Blessed is the King of Israel that commeth in the Name of the Lord. Knowne by Pilates superscription Iesus Nazaronus Rex Iudaeorum Thus their King they saw but his Kingdome they saw not for how could they see that which was spirituall with carnall eyes neyther indeed can they ever come to see this Kingdome unlesse this Kingdome come and visit them first And is not this then a fit petition for them also And if we give way to this fancie of exposition it will not goe much a stray from the former seeing the comming of this Kingdome to the Iewes is the immediate Fore-runner of the comming of this King to us that are Christians But it is time now to leave being Iewes and to pray for the comming not onely of the Kingdome but of the King himselfe that seeing in attire of humanity they knew him not and in estate of submission they honoured him not he would now come at length in the brightnesâ—e of his Deity and in the greatnesse of his Soverainety that the eyes which scorned his humility may bee dazeled at his glory and that they which refused the haven of his mercy may suffer shipwracke on the rocke of his justice And to this end we doe all of us set our hands and hearts to that supplication of thy Saints who groaning under the burden of their long deferred hope doe continually with sighes present thee this petition Come Lord â—esus come quickly And if O God thou hast Corne behind to reape which is not yet sowne and stubble behind to burne which is not yet sprung though with patience we will waite the season of thy pleasure yet with prayers we will importune the hastening of thy Harvest and though we be not worthy to open the Seales yet we cannot chuse but be tempering with the waxe that we long for no others comming but thine owne and reckon nothing long a comming but thy Kingdome It is proper to this petition that where all the other have their present dispatches and are put in possession of their suites this onely lives in expectation and is put off with a dilatory answer for God knowes how long yet is as well pleased with this expectation as the others are with their present possessions and therefore may justly be called the petition of hope but hope that makes not ashamed seeing it consists not in the uncertainnesse of the matter but onely of the time Next to the Saints in heaven are placed the Saints on earth for when it is sayd Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven is it not plainely the prayer of the faithfull living seeing Christ himselfe while hee lived on Earth made use of this
Petition for our example Father if it be possible let this Cup passe from mee yet not as I will but as thou wilt But may not this petition bee thought superfluous to pray for that which is and will bee done whether wee pray for it or no For God doth what soever he will both in Heaven and in earth and who hath resisted his Will But wee must consider that we pray not for God but to God for our selves that having undone our selves by doing our owne will wee may bee repaired by doing of his Will and not of his Will absolute but of his Will in relation Not when hee commands as when hee said Let there be Light but when hee gives Commandements as when hee said Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart Wee therefore pray that this Will of his may bee done of us by our obedient and cheerfull Acting it and done in us by our patient and thankfull suffering it that concerning the first we may doe as the Captaines said to Ieremie whether it be good or evâ—ll wee will obey the voice of the Lord and concerning the latter wee may say as Ely said It is the Lord let him doe to me as seemeth good in his Eyes But if wee understand it so Doe we not then free the Petition from being superfluous and charge it with being impossible For if we understand it of doing his Will actively how is it possible for Earth to doe it so well as Heaven and if of doing it passively how is that done in Heaven at all and if wee can find an answer for this shall wee not perhaps free it from being impossible by making it to bee either slight or improvident for if wee understand it of doing his will actively what great matter is it for Earth to compare with Heaven seeing all impiety began first in Heaven and if of doing his Will passively what doe we then by this Petition but call for Iustice to be done in Earth upon our selves as it was done in Heaven upon the Angels But O my soule consider wee say not Thy Will be done in Earth as it was but as it is in Heaven for it is true there was once an Apostasie in Heaven but it was but once They which exalted themselves were cast downe never to rise and the rest have continued in their uprightnesse never to fall for Christ hath merited as for us to bee purged from our sinnes so for them to be established in their holinesse and what he is to us in restoring hee is to them in confirming But shall wee make God so peremptory a Prince as that his Will must stand for a Law Doe wee well to attribute that stile to God which wee would scarce attribute to a just Prince Sic volo Sic Iubeo stat pro ratione voluntas Indeed where the Will may bee separated from reason this objection may be reasonable but not with God of whose Will it cannot bee so truly said that it is ruled by Reason as that it is the very rule of Reason nothing being otherwise reasonable but as it is conformable to his Will and therefore he gave reason to man that hee might bee capable to doe his Will which because hee hath not given to Beasts they are not all other things they can doe as well if not better then men They can make them Nests and houses and are better Builders They can hoord up and provide before hand and are better husbands They can prevent and circumvent and are better politicians They can extract the spirits of vegetables and are better Alchymists Onely doe the will of God they cannot and therefore how much a man applyes himselfe to doe the Will of God so much may hee bee said a reasonable Creature but if once hee leave to doe that hee is presently compared to the beasts that perish and yet hee is favoured in the comparison too for all things considered man is certainely farre the more unreasonable as appeares by Gods owne complaint The Oxe knoweth his Owner and the Asse his Masters â—ryb but Israel hath not knowne my People hath no understanding And though of the Will of God wee doe not alwayes know the reason yet wee alwaies know there is a reason in it unlesse perhaps we shall speake more properly that not reason is the Rule of Gods Will but either his Will is Rule to it selfe as hee saith I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy or at least some superiour Faculty farre above the capacity of our reason of which it is said Who hath knowne the minde of God or who hath been his Counsellour We are not therfore to stand upon termes with God and to examine or censure his Will by any rule of our reason which if Abraham had done he had never beene the Father of the faithfull but to make an absolute submission and humbly to say Thy Will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven But how can wee be sure at any time of doing the Will of God seeing God seemes oftentimes variable in his Will and continues not alwaies in one minde For was it not Gods Will that the â—sraelites should offer him sacrifices yet he tels them a while after they are an abomination to him Was it not Gods Will that Balaam should goe to Balâ—k yet when Balaam sadled his Asse went God sent his Angell to stop his Asse in the way and hindred his going Was it not Gods Will that Moses should number the People yet when David numbred the People God smote him for it with a heavie punishment And how then is it possible to doe his Will that is so variable and so often changeth O my soule take heede for in none of these nor ever in any is there any changeablenesse in God at all all the change is in our selves For God indeed appointed sacrifices to the Iewes that were but ceremonies but hee intended also the substance with them when they therefore offered not the sacrifices that were substantiall had not God just cause to refuse their sacrifices that were onely ceremoniall God indeed commanded Balaam to goe to Balak but when Balaam went with intent to curse Israel whom God intendâ—d hee should blesse had not God just cause to hinder his journey God indeed commanded Moses to number the people that notice might be taken of their great deliverance but when David numbred them to ground a confidence upon them had not God just cause though not to punish his right numbering yet to punish his wrong confidence For to doe the will of God consists not so much in the act as in the end of doing it otherwise we should be like Iehu who did the will of God indeed in destroying all the house of Ahab but he had his owne ends in it to establish the Kingdome to himselfe We must not therefore thinke of doing Gods will as Polititians mingling our owne ends with
Gods Will but we must doe it as Angels simply and purely we must doe it onely that we may doe it so doe his will that we may doe the intent of his will and thus if we doe the will of God we shall finde him alwaies one and the same and no variablenesse in him at all nor shadow of change We make a petiâ—ion here that Gods will may be done but should we not have made a petition first that it might bee knowne as David prayed That thy way may bee knowne upon earth for untill we know it how can we doe it how doe we now know it seeing it seemes to many to be yet sub Iudice and so great controversie and division about it as if the descending of the Holy Ghost in fiery and cloven tongues had beene of purpose to foreshew the fiery division that should after follow in the tongues of the Church But should wee not consider that all Gods Law is fu'filled in our love and while in doubtfull controversies wee contend what his will is of this wee bee sure that his will is not we should contend And doe we not finde it true that Nimium Altercando veritas amittitur the very heate of disputation makes our judgements as it were to warpe that though Davâ—d sayd well The zeale of Gods House had eaten him up yet wee cannot say well the zeale of Gods cause hath eaten up our understanding But let it bee granted that we are satisfied concerning the knowledge of his will seeing we have an Oracle for it Gods word is a Lanthorne to our feet and a light to our path yet what reason have we to pray that it may be done in earth as it is in heaven For what doe we know how it is done in heaven and so we pray we know not for what But doe we not know that there are none in heaven but Saints and Angels who are all ministring spirits and being spirits must needs serve God in spirit and Christ fetcheth this argument higher that God himselfe is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth If then wee worship God in spirit and truth wee doe his will in earth as it is in heaven It is not enough to believe Gods will as David sayd I have believed thy Commandements For the divels believe and tremble Nor to remember his will as he also sayd I will never forget thy precepts for such was hee of whom God complaines What hast thou to doe to declare mine Ordinances seeing thou hatest to be reformed Nor to approve his Will as David also sayd All thy Commandements are true and I know O God that thy Iudgements are right for this the Israelites did to Moses when they received the law All that the Lord hath commanded we will doe but yet did it not Nor to love his will as he also sayd O how I doe love thy Law for Peter was not without love to Christ even then when he denied him All these are good steppes but they goe not farre enough they are but as to looke our face in a Glasse and so be gonâ— There is no good to bee done with God without doing good and therefore David after these useth alwaies to adde It is my meditation continually and I have refrained my seete from every evill way that I might keepe thy Word and if the nature of our earthen vessels be such that it will not keepe this water of life untainted and in the native purenesse yet it shall be accepted of God if we goe forward and can truely say with David I have applied my heart to fulfill thy Statutes alwaies even unto the end and I desire to doe thy will O God For if unfainedly and seriously we apply our hearts to fulfill his lawes and desire to doe his will and doe it to our power this very applying shall bee counted a fulfilling this desire shall be reckoned for a deed and then we shall doe his will in earth as it is in heaven But whether doe wee make this petition in behalfe of the Will of God to have that enlarged or in behalfe of the earth to have that exalted for it seemes applyable to both sences But alasse what enlargement would it be to the Will of God which is now already done in heaven to have it also to bee done in earth For what is it to adde earth to heaven but to adde as it were a droppe to the Sea but it is a great exaltation to the earth to have the Will of God done in it as it is in heaven seeing to have power to doe the Will of God is the largest franchise that can bee granted of God and if it might bee fully enjoyed would make the earth an equall match with heaven But though it be now prayed for yet it cannot be expected till the time come of which St. Peter speakes We expect a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteoâ—nesse for then heaven and earth shall bee even matches and it will bee a new world and newes indeed to have righteousnesse dwell here where dwelleth nothing now but cruelty and oppression For alas poore earth Thou art condemned for man to thornes and thistles and in revenge thereof thou bringest forth men full of thistles and thornes that as thou skratchest and tearest them so they skratch and teare one another and there will be no help for this till the time come that the Creature also shall bee delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the Sonnes of God and then will be the full accomplishment of this petition By this petition wee know that Gods will is done in heaven and here wee pray it may bee done in earth but seeing the petition is chiefely referred to the honour of God why doe wee not pray it may bee done in hell also seeing hell is a large and spacious place as it is sayd Tophet is made deepe and large for by leaving this out we leave out a spacious circuit where his Will may be done and so abridge him in the extent of his command But is it not that wee therefore pray not his will may be done in hell because indeed there are no doers there but all sufferers they are all there in bonds and bound from action and if we should understand it of doing his will passively by suffering patiently that cannot be done there neyther seeing impatience is eyther one of their Torments or one of their tormentors We justly therefore name not that place in our prayer because there are no persons in it that are capable of our prayer And yet God hath a Will that is done even there enough for his honour Voluntas Beneplaciti Not that he is pleased with the damned but that he is pleased with their damnation but wee meddle not with this will and therefore meddle not with this place
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
beast Saul left Gods Will to doe his owne will in sparing Agag and the fatte of the sheepe and what was thâ— issue but the utter destruction of himselfe and all his issue But looke now upon those who have gone the other way and see how they have proved Abraham left his owne will to doe Gods Will in offring to sacrifice his onely sonne and was it not his making and made him the father of all the faithfull â—oseph left his owne will to doe Gods will in not embracing the embraces of his Mistris and was it not his making and made all Aegypt embrace him for their Master Daniel left his owne will to doe Gods Will in bowing his knee to God against the decree of the King of Persia and was it not his making and made all Persia bow their knees to him O wretch that I am I now see how unhappy I am that I have a will yet cannot but thinke my selfe happy for having a will For if I had not a will I could not love God and having a will I cannot love him as I should for my will is divided and cannot love him intirely my will is corrupt and cannot love him sincerely my will is wâ—vering and cannot love him constantly for I am not master of my will nor ever shall be nor ever can be unlesse thy Will O God come and helpe me to master it That it is not the making the Pâ—tition that makes us to be bondslâ—ves but it is our being bondslaves that makes us to make the petition as having no other way to recover our freedome but onely the vertue of this Petition Thy Will be done in 〈◊〉 as it is in heaven To doe the Will of God as it is done in Heaven is not onely to doe it fully for the matter but with delight for the manner and therefore David describing a godly man is not contented to say onely That he walked not in the counsaile of the 〈◊〉 but he addeth And his delight is in the Law of the Lord. For without this delight there is no doing it like the Angels who are therefore perhaps sayd continually to bee singing And to quicken us the more to this Angelicall perfection we may consider that the delight that is taken in God in the doing of his Will doth infinitly exceede the delight of all other objects Godlinesse is the perfecting of the soule and seeing every thing delights most in its owne perfection it must needs be that the chiefe delight of the soule is godlinesse And therefore where the minde is not sensible of this delight it shewes plainely that the soule is degenerated into a grosse corruption and stupidity For if we did but see a glimpse of this in the native purenesse it would plainely make appeare all worldly lustres to be but staines all earthly pleasures to be very paines O Lord God let it be the pleasure of thy Will that I may take pleasure in doing thy Will for unlesse it be thy pleasure it can never bee my will for though we may be good followers yet we are no good beginners and therefore though it please thee to say Turne unto me and I will turne unto you as though we should begin first yet we are faine to returne it backe and say Turne us O Lord and we shall be turned for we God knows are too unweldy to turne us of our selves It must be done by strong hand and none hath strength enough to doe it but thou O God who art the God of strength And if wee would strive as much with the Angels for holinesse as we doe with men for place and dignity we should finde God as ready to take our parts as he was to take our nature and by such a helpe of such a helper we should be able to make good our saying Thy Will be done in earth as it is in heaven We may know what it is to doe Gods Will in earth as it is in heaven by that which St. Iohn tels of the foure and twenty Elders That they cast downe their Crownes before the Throne of God saying Thou art worthy O God to receive glory and honour and power for so must we doe by our wills which are indeed our Crownes cast them downe and resigne them up to God but cast them down not cast them away resigne them but yet retaine them for without wills of our owne we can never doe Gods Will unwilling service is never acceptable as St. Paul sayth If I doe it willingly I have a reward and thus if wee can have wills of our owne and yet not doe our owne wills if wee can willingly renounce our owne wills take Gods Will in their roome and make it our owne will we shall then doe with our wills as the Elders did with their Crownes and then we shall doe Gods Will as it is done in heaven It is a hard matter oftentimes for flesh and blood to say this petition For could our first parents well say it when they were cast out of Paradise Nay did the Apostles who were something more then flesh and blood well say it when Christ told them of his departure from them yet see the weakenesse of our judgements the darkenesse of our understandings This casting out of Paradise was thorough Gods grace an occasion of attaining to a farre better Paradise for if they had tarried there still the Son of God had never come into the world this departing of Christ from them was a meanes of his comming neerer to them for if he had not departed the holy Ghost had not come And thus the two greatest seeming crosses that possibly could be proved the two greatest reall blessings that could be possible And what account then can be made of these petty crosses or of these petty blessings which happen daily to us in this world Surly in prosperities wee may well moderate our selves with this feare that they doe but prepare a way for us to greater crosses and in adversities we may well comfort our selves with this hope that they doe but prepare a way for us to greater blessings Let us therefore endeavour alwaies and doe our best that the best may happen but let us alwaies thinke that best whatsoever happens so we shall neyther clip the wings of hope for the future and wee shall give patience a firme ground to stand upon for the present and let us remember that as it hath beene sayd of old Periissemus nisi Periissemus so it hath beene observed of old Tolluntur in altum ut lapsu graviore ruant that if we give experience leave to speake the truth Shee will tell us There is not a weaker threatner nor a stronger flatterer then fortune is and therefore we can never have any just cause to hinder us from laying Thy Will be done in earth as it is in heaven It is a fearefull thing to make this a petition to God if we doe
not withall make it a rule to our selves that all the actions of our life may be squared by it And therefore O my soule if matter of profit be offred to thee lay it to this Rule whether it bee according to the Will of God or no for if it be not what great advantage soever it make shew of account it but losse If matter of honour bee offred unto thee Lay it to this Rule whether it be according to the Will of God or no for if it be not what great advancement soever it pretend account it but shame If matter of pleasure be offred unto thee Lay it to this Rule whether it be according to the Will of God or no for if it be not what pleasing suggestion soever it hath account it but misery It was conceived by Ahab that it would bee for his profit to buy Naboths Vineyard but when he would not lay it to this rule he payd for his purchase with his blood to Dogges It was pretended to Pharaoh that it would be for his honour to pursue the Israelites but when he would not lay it to this rule he perished himselfe and all his Host in the red Sea It was suggested to Salomon that it would be for his pleasure to entertaine the love of strange women but when he would not lay it to this rule God laid it to his charge both raysing up aduersaries against himselfe and renting the Kingdome from his Sonne to his servant We must first therefore endeavour to make it a rule to our selves and then we may safely make it a petition to God otherwise if we say to God Thy Will be done and intend not to doe it we shall but turne the petition from active into passive Gods Will into his anger and draw it downe to be done upon us in earth as it was done in heaven upon the Angels Many can say this petition devoutly enough so long as they understand it not but when they are told how Christ sayd it Not my will but thy Will and thereby come to know that to pray for doing of Gods Will is to pray against doing their owne wills against their unlawfull lusts against their covetous desires against their ambitious designes against their malicious practices and such like then it strikes cold to their hearts their tongues cleave to the roofe of their mouthes and they could wish the petition might never be made But he that understands it and yet stands to it he that speakes it more from his heart then with his tongue he that is resolv'd to say it because he sayth as he is resolv'd this man makes it a prayer for himselfe and an Hallelujah to God and shall reape the fruit of both in the due time to the other it proves but as the sacrifice of fooles and if it make a noyse it is but as the tinkling of a Cimball a Musicke at which God stoppes his Eares onely the Divell makes himselfe merry But doe we not by saying this petition seeme to forget both God and our selves For is not God most Iust are wee not most sinfull and what can bee the Will of a Iust God to heynous sinners but wrath and indignation and will we pray that the Viols of Gods wrath may be poured downe upon us It is true we come afterwards and say Forgive us our trespasses if this had beene sayd first and wee had first obtained a pardon of our sinnes we might then with some confidence have sayd Thy will be done but whil'st wee are in our sinnes and not so much as a pardon asked to come now with this petition and to put our selves boldly upon Gods Iustice what can it seeme to argue but great precipitation and inconsiderate rashnesse But is it not that this petition is also one of our Hallelujahs to God and a petition made by way of Hallelujah seemes of all other the most effectuall although what neede wee goe so high seeing wee have familiar reason enough beside For what danger can there be in saying Thy Will be done having sayd before Our Father which art in heaven for we come not now as strangers to a Iudge but as children to a father and that which is more to a mercifull father and that which is most of all to a most mercifull father and which is more then that most to a mercifull father who is Father of all mercy and of mercy to all and yet this is not all for may wee not observe that we pray indeed that Gods Will may be done in earth but how as it is in heaven And how is it done in heaven but in bounty and in mercy for even the Heavens and even the Angels themselves have need of Gods mercy as it is said His mercy is over all his workes And up-this Foundation of Gods mercy wee may build our assurance that Gods will is not then done when his creatures are undone but that as it was his pleasure at first to make us so it is his pleasure still to preserve us and as from his everlasting Will we all have our life so by his Will we should all have everlasting life When as yet we were not his Will was wee should be Now that we are his Will is we should be holy And if any man sinne his will is hee should repent and if a man repent his Will is he should be saved Let this Will O Lord be as thy last will which yet can come but as a streame from the Fountaine of thy first will for as it was meerely thy Will that at first made thee to make us so it is meerely thy Will that must make us to be holy that must make us to repent that must make us to bee saved These wils in God are as the chaine of his mercy whereof every linke is fastned to one another and all of them firmely fastned upon us unlesse by the violence of our sinnes the finfulnesse of our wils we doe wilfully breake them O God so frame our wils that they may be fit linkes to be fastned to this chaine of thy will that as one linke drawne on drawes on another so our spirits being guided by thy grace may be guids to our flesh and that our flesh as living by thee may live to thee knowing that though the way of thy Will may bee troublesome in the going yet the journey shall be comfortable in the ending and though it be the secret of thy Will that in doing it we shall meete with many crosses yet it is the purpose of thy Will that by doing it wee shall purchase many joyes and therefore can have no cause to make us afraid to say Thy Will bee done in earth as it is in heaven But is it not too great a boldnesse in this Petition that where all the other make suite for great yet possible things this onely makes a suite which is impossible for how can earth bring forth as good fruit as heaven how
can men performe as perfect duties as the Angels Indeed not in equality but in similitude Not to doe as well as they but to doe our best as well as they Not that our Vessels can bee as bright as theirs but be as cleane and not hold as much but be as full And even this cleannesse and even this fulnesse not of our selves For what cleannesse can there bee in dirt or what fulnesse in vessels that are full of holes and such we are all of us not onely ex humo but ex limo and Pleni rimarum quenching the spirit as fast as it is kindled all our cleannesse is in him to whom we say Purge me with Hisop and I shall bee cleane all our fulnesse from him of whom it is sayd Of his fulnesse wee have all received Hee onely that hath set us the taske can give us the power and by him wee may attaine to that of St. Paul I can doe all things in him that comforteth me for by the comfort of this Comforter it may be possible to make the petition possible Thy Will be done in earth as it is in heaven But if it be onely in similitude why doe we pray onely to be like the Angels and pray not rather to be like God himselfe as Christ would have us Be yee holy as your heavenly Father is holy Be yee perfect as he is perfect for now wee make a prayer that comes short of Christs precept Is it not that the perfectest patternes that can bee are in both places propounded to us and therefore here where it is matter of obedience the Angels are our patternes of whom Dâ—vid saith Praise the Lord all yee his Angels that doe his Commandement in obeying the voyce of his Word but this patterne God cannot be seeing obedience cannot be where there is no superiour but where it is matter of holinesse or perfection there God must be our patterne and therefore we justly forbeare to speake of Angels where we have a patterne to speake of in God himselfe O Lord God if I cannot bee like thee in holinesse yet let me bee like the Angels in obedience and If I can attaine to neyther let mee at least aspire to both and what I want in power and performance make me to supply with vowes and prayer The time was when Angels might have envyed man for his happinesse but now man hath just cause if any cause can be just to envy Angels for their happinesse for what happinesse can be greater then to be made patternes of holynesse and that by God to the Image of God by the Sonne of God to the Sonnes of God But O blessed Spirits we envy you not but admire you rather for why should we envy you for continuing holy who pitty us for not continuing and not onely pity us but doe your best to relieve us And how can we choose but admire you for patternes who so farre exceed the proportion of patternes Patternes are but examples but you are also Assistants Patternes doe but lie before us but you pitch your Tents round about us Patterns doe but light us to the likenesse but you delight to have us be like you And how then can wee envy you for being our betters who envy not us to become your equals O blessed Spirits we envy you not but admire you rather and willingly not onely accept you for our patternes but under Christ acknowledge you for our Guardians And here now seemes a fit â—lace to sit downe and wonder at the unspeakeable love and bounty of God expressed toward us in these three petitions For by the first we are assured of eternity by the second of a Kingdome by the third to bee like the Angels or if wee like it better to say By the first we are informed what we shall be as Angels By the second what wee shall have A Kingdome By the third what we shall doe The Will of God These are blessings worthy to come from a heavenly Father these are rewards which worthily become a bountifull Master And now let the Swine flesh and blood goe murmure against God that he is a hard Father and a bad Master and that there is no profit in serving him because he gives them not the mire of the world to wallow in as though he had no other way to expresse his favours but by cloddes of earth but doe thou O my soule meditate upon these petitions and in them upon these blessings and in these upon the infinite love and bounty of God and thinke how happy thou art to have such a Father how much thou art bound to love such a Master and thinke not much to love him with thy whole heart seeing he hath blessings to bestow upon thee which cannot enter into thy heart thinke not much to submit thy selfe wholly to his Will seeing his Will is to give thee beauty for ashes the Oyle of gladnesse for mourning that we shall ever finde it a most happy thing for us to say Thy Will be done in earth as it is in Heaven It is proper to this petition that where the other seeme to waite at Gods Throne this onely waites at his footestoole and where the other sing onely the high note Glory be to God on high this seemes to adde a Base saying In Earth as it is in Heaven And it may justly be called the petition of obedience seeing all the other have their ends in injoying this onely hath no end but in obeying Next to these as I may say of the higher House come in the commons and first takes place a generality as it were a corporation for when it is sayd Give us this day our daily bread is it not plainely the prayer of all living creatures whether living the life reasonable or the life sensitive or even the life onely vegetative For of unreasonable creatures it is said The Lions seeke their meate at God and the young Ravens call upon him and he feedeth them And of vegetables it is manifest that though the Corne give bread to us yet God gives bread to the Corne by his dewes from heaven And even the Angels though they have no bodies yet they have their bread too of which it is said Man did eate the bread of Angels and of all together it is sayd All things looke up to thee and thou givest them meate in due season thou openest thy hand and fillest with thy blessing every living creature But as these severall kinds of creatures may be conceived to have their severall waies in making use of this petition so man as the summary of them all partakes with all of them in all the waies of using it He partakes in using it with the vegetables by indigence of Nature Hee partakes in using it with the beasts by appetite of sence He partakes in using it with the Angels by acknowledgement of the Authour and thankesgiving for their preservation as may be thought
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
first parents there had not beene originall sinne to corrupt us But O my soule take heed remember the seed of the woman was not yet promised and thon mayst hereby see what God is to us withont Christ even a consuming fire and what he is thorough Christ a fire still but to comfort not to consume for he having payd the ransome of our sinnes it is now as just with God to forgive sins as it was before to punish sinners and we are now in the state St. Paul speaks off Forgiving one another even as God for Christ â—sus sake hath forgiven us So that God requires no more of us then what he hath performed to us Or may we not be bold to say He therefore requires it of us that he may be able to performe it to us and let it not bee taken as impiously spoken that God should not bee able to forgive us unlesse wee forgive others seeing there is a pious sence in which perhaps wee may bee bold to say He is not For is it not sayd of Christ that among his owne people he could doe no miracles he seemed not to want will but to want power He could not doe them yet we must conceive this want of power was not in respect of himselfe but in respect of them they wanted faith and were uncapable And as in them want of fayth seemed to take away power from him that is omnipotent so in us want of charity seemes to take away mercy from him that is all love For doth not Christ tell us of a King who forgave his servant many debts but when the servant would not forgive his fellow hee came upon him againe for the same debts notwithstanding his former forgivenesse Not that the King went backe from his mercy but that the servant went forward in his cruelty He wanted charity and was uncapable For Gods mercy indeed can never enter where mans cruelty keepes possession and it is impossible a pardon should be sealed to him in whom hardnesse of heart suffers not the seale to make impression But is there not a difference here betweene the condition and the petition For in the petition we pray to God to forgive our debts but in the condition we offer God to forgive our debtors and why is this difference Indeed in both must be understood both yet in each of them there seemes a speciall adressment to each of them For it followes with God that if hee forgive the sinne hee is presently withall reconciled to the sinner but it followes not with men for they oftentimes can be content to forgive the offence when yet they cannot finde in their hearts to bee friends with the offendour as it is the voyce of the world to say I will forgive him but I shall never forget him where by not forgetting they meane not loving and truly if they love not truly they forgive not But seeing our trespasses are of two sorts some committed against God and some committed against our neighbour It may bee here demanded in praying to God to forgive our trespasses what it is wee meane For if only the trespasses committed against God what shall then become of the trespasses committed against our neighbour and if in our prayer we meane them also it may then bee doubted what God hath to doe to forgive trespasses committed against others and not against himselfe Certainely in our prayer we meane both and therefore it remaines onely to resolve the doubt which none but prophane persons would offer to make Indeed if thou coulst finde any thing which were a trespasse against thy neighbour and were not also a trespasse against God thy doubt might bee thought something which now is nothing seeing there is no trespasse against thy neighbour which is not first and greatest a trespasse against God For if a man steale it is a trespasse against his neighbour but it is first a trespasse against God because God forbids it If a man commit a murder it is a trespasse against his neighbour but it is first a trespasse against God because God forbids it but this seemes not to remove the doubt For did not Cain commit a trespasse against Abel when hee murthered him yet God had not then forbidden murther Did not Rachel commit a trespasse against Lahan when shee stole his Idolls yet God had not then forbidden stealing Indeed these things were not yet forbidden by the pofitive lawes of God written in Tables of stone but they were notwithstanding forbidden by the naturall lawes of God written in the Tables of our hearts But this doth not yet remove the doubt neyther For seeing there is some trespasse committed against the neighbour it must needs belong to him to forgive his part and not to God to forgive all Surely the neighbours part in regard of Gods part is scarce worth reckoning and therefore David though he had taken from Vrias both his wife and his life two as great trespasses against a neighbour as could be yet hee sayth to God Tibi Tibi soli peccavi Against thee against thee onely have I sinned as if his trespasses against Vrias were not worth the speaking off Yet God is contented to allow the neighbour his part also and therefore Christ teacheth us If our neighbour have ought against us to goe first and be reconciled to him before wee come to offer at the Altar as if else hee might put in a caveat and stoppe our petition and so indeed hee may Wee must therefore use all earnest entreaties offer all possible satisfaction make all humble submission to procure our attonement but if all our endeavours cannot prevaile if our ability be so small that wee cannot satisfie or their hearts be so hardned that they will not bee satisfied it is then Gods prerogative to take the matter into his owne hands For vengeance is his and he will repay and The Lord is King sayth the Pfalme the earth may be glad and glad indeed we may be all that the Lord is King and will judge the earth for if men should bee our judges and our hope of forgivenesse should stand in the breasts of men alas poore wretches what man of us all should goe to Heaven for what care they how many goe to hell so they may bee revenged and have their wills which David knew well and therefore when after a great sinne God offered him his choyce of punishments Eyther famine or pestilence or to flee three daies before his enemies though hee seemed in a great straight yet he quickely resolved of his choyce Let me fall saith hee into the hands of God for his mercies are great and let me not fall into the hands of men And therefore Christ out of this prerogative of God sayd unto the thiefe upon the Crosse This day thou shalt bee with mee in Paradise hee stands not to examine his trespasses to his neighbour hee takes upon him to answere them himselfe and tells
the world to come or else will bee concluded for unperfect may wee not very justly justifie it even in this kinde also Let us therefore take a review For though at the first looking wee have discovered nothing yet if wee continue looking as the servant of Eliah did wee shall perhaps discerne a Cloude arrising from the sea of these petitions that will serue to signifie a showre of blessings immediately to follow And we need not stand long a looking for doe not the very first words afforde us a Cloude For when we say Our Father doth it not imply that wee are his children and if the Father alwaies be in Heaven shall the children alwaies be on Earth how then is it true that where hee is we shall be also and that which Christ sayth the sonne abideth in the House for ever For how shall hee abide there if hee never come there seeing therefore Heaven is Gods House and we as children must in our time bee in the house with him we must necessarily at last come to be in Heaven and so one of the blessings is found here which was complayed of to bee wanting in the prayer And when it is savd Hallowed bee thy Name shall not Gods Name eternally bee hallowed If then wee bee appoynted to doe a worke which is eternall must not we be needes eternall that are to doe it and so to our being in Heaven is added eternity another of the blessings complayned of to be missing Let us now come to Thy Kingdome come and will not this afforde us to see the Cloude more plainely For the Kingdome is but in relation to the subjects if therefore the Kingdome bee perfect the subjects must bee perfect also for without perfection of subjects It can never bee a perfect Kingdome and what perfection of subjects could there bee if their should be no other subjects but onely Angels For so there should be but one ranke of subjects which in a Kingdome were a great imperfection To make therefore some other rankes for perfecting of this Kingdome wee also shall bee taken in and then certainely taken in whole and imireâ— both hody and soule for else the Kingdome should rule over but pieces of subjects which in a perfect Kingdome must not bee If then wee bee taken in whole and intire then must our bodies be raysed and joyned to our soules againe and this is our resurrection another of the blessings complayned of to be missing And may we not continue looking still and come to discerne the cloude yet playner For when it is sayd Thy Will bee done in earth as it is in Heaven are not we to doe as much worke as the Angels and if wee doe as much worke may wee not expect as much blessing and they behold the face of God continually and therefore wee certainely if wee doe the Will of God shall doe so to and so wee have found even the greatest of the blessings which were complayned of to bee missing in this prayer And we have found it here where we least expected it Eor indeed these petitions will afford divers waies of drawing forth these blessings from them according as wee take our standing to discerne the Cloude But this which is done may serve sufficiently to cleere this prayer from all imputation of imperfection seeing we have all the blessings now that can be thought of worth the having Eternall life and that in Heaven and that both in body and soule and in them both to enjoy the blessed vision of God which is life everlasting in its exaltation And now if any man thinke that to fetch the resurrection of our bodies and the rest of these blessings is farre fetched and from the Clouds indeed Let him consider how farre it was fetching it from the words of God to Moses I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaack and the God of Iacob and yet when Christ fetched it so farre it was taken for a proofe neere hand and for a Cloude of witnesses And indeede there is a benefit to us by this abstruse expressing for being lesse obvious It is more speculative in the searching and more meditative in the finding and the more it is wrapped up to the sence the more it is dignified to the understanding And though these Petitions may serve sufficiently to afford these Blessings yet there is a Petition behinde which though it make not so great a shew of a Cloude yet may prove to afford as great a showre of blessings as all the former For when we are delivered from all evill then if death bee evill we are delivered from death and to be delivered from death is life everlasting When we are delivered from all evill then if corruption of the body bee evill wee are delivered from that corruption and to be deliverd from that corruption is the very resurrection When wee are delivered from all evill then if restraint from the sight of God bee evill wee are delivered from that restraint and to bee delivered from that restraint is to be admitted into his presence and to enjoy his blessed vision And now this prayer reacheth full as high as Iacobs ladder and so we have ladder enough to carry us to Heaven and prayer enough to obtaine the blessings of Heaven wee are come to the Consummatum est which is not onely a finishing but a perfecting a perfecting in it selfe in being made perfect and a perfecting of us in making us perfect Let us therefore pray this prayer and let us pray that we may pray it seeing it can never bee too much sayd which can never be enough done Wee have now gone over these petitions as they lie in the prayer Ordine recto but doe they not invite us also to a consideration of them as they lie Ordine Inverso and apply hither that of Christ the first shall be last and the last first For the first of these petitions in our praying will be the last of Gods accomplishing and the last will prove the first and they seeme to have a correspondence to Gods favours shewed to the Israelites in their progresse in the Wildernesse For when wee say Deliver us from evill Is it not the first blessing wee receive from God that we are delivered from the bondage wee were in to satan and this was figured by Gods first favour shewed to the Israelites in delivering them from the captivity of Aegypt after many temptations with signes and wonders The next petition is our desire to bee forgiven and to have our sinnes washed away in the blood of Christ and was not this also figured to the Israelites in the Passover a figure of the true Lambe of God which taketh away the sinnes of the World And these two petitions are immediate to one another as the two favours were intermingled to the Israelites For there could not bee a deliverance without a Passover to them because there cannot bee to us The third petition is for our daily
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