Syllable of this Prayer yea the very Preface of it Our Father is cloathed with Charity the second is equally conspicuous acknowledging our poverty in the fourth Petition our iniquity in the fifth our infirmity in the sixth c. We shall in the close of this Petition speak of the third and discover the zeal that ought to possesse the heart of the supplicant affixing this unto Thy Kingdom come yet ought it to be understood as appended unto Thy will be done Too much remissnesse and again over eager earnestnesse being equally offensive we shall discover the zeal we speak of the Arguments for it and Cautions concerning it Zeal being a hot impetus or warm affection heating the soul for practising duties governed by sound knowledge and right reason is included in the word Kingdom amplified by the Pronoun Thy and therefore vehement in our wishings and longings for its coming the very word Zeal denotes affections to be as fire that of the Pharisees earnestnesse to compass Sea and Land for a Prosylite was great no good zeal but if pitched upon the right object and mannaged with due circumstances as the love of God heeding the Word of God enflamed with a solicitous care for its advancement and attended with an innocent and holy hatred against its opposers as in David it is both good and great and in Paul it is both great and good It is composed of Love Fear and Anger in this Petition the love of God and the love of man the fear of his own weaknesse and the desire of the down-fall of Satans Dominion is clearly to be beheld It eyes chiefly the propagation of divine glory the Churches edification Satans destruction and the extirpation of all wicked Hereticks and sinners and ought to be in us not only at our prayers but in the whole course and practice of our lives being in every thing a zeal for Gods glory and our own and our Brothers good ought to be in us God hating dulnesse upon the one hand as well as rashnesse on the other Much of this Kingdom S. Paul possessed yet he reached forward unto those things that were before knowing only this that he made proficiency daily the world not yet being ended he pressed forward possessing the things he believed if not in re yet in spe not having them in possession though in reversion he endeavoured an intuition hating that Diagor an-like spirit now in man who declared he knew not whether there was a God or not and if there were was also ignorant of what nature he was With us dulnesse and carelessenesse of many in the affairs of God publisheth their uncertainty of the being and next of the quality of this Kingdom whereas he is only zealous who truly and soundly that is assuredly is acquainted with heavenly matters which in relation to this Kingdom every soul ought to be because of Safety Beauty Charity and our Dignity 1. Our safety for in his Kingdom there is no enemy Here every bramble-lust puts in for dominion over us excited thereunto by the old serpent whereby the spirits of the meek themselves are kept in a perpetual commotion to be liberat from which body of death and freed from that Law of sin consequences of the coming of this Kingdom the devout soul hath active considerations for its fruition and enjoyment Themistocles concluded that the knowledge of having a good neighbour might enhance the price of his house set to sale and the Countrey-fellow hath a Proverb we can live without our Friend but not without our Neighbour What a Countrey must that be where all are good Neighbours and not one evil among them Here we are not to trust in a Brother nor to put confidence in a Guide being sure either of guilt fear or danger every Adam having his Evah and she her serpent yea Iesus himself is not without a Herod who seeks his life But in that other Kingdom we have Christ that true Friend and Brother reigning over us the Forts of Satan our foe being battered and the dominion of Death our terrour being finished and the plotted-for place of Hell our torment being eternally secured from As Labienus at a treaty betwixt Cesar and Pompey cryed out so may the believer say of peace in this world Let us leave off speaking of peace or thinking of a truce untill we have Cesars head that is Satans head bruised and untill his dominion be overthrown 2. Our Stature is in his Kingdom that is our beauty What Zacheus among us by taking thought can add one cubit to his stature The Ark was a Cubit and half high shadowing that imperfection and â—railty attends our gifts and graces and as Children when we want who among us can do more then cry It is true that Noah was perfect but it was in his generation but in the Kingdom of God we shall be perfect men according to the stature of the fulnses of Christ. A Moralist required youth to have Temperance in the soul Silence upon their tongue and Modesty upon their face yet over and above a parent would have his Child have stature and shall we be zealous for Childrens comeliness and tepid in seeking our own perfection which can never be acquired but at the coming of this Kingdom and being with Enoch Candidats for Heaven and Students of Eternity ought we not to affect being Doctorat and set in the Chairs of everlasting bliss It was a shame for the Corinthians that after so much teaching as Paul gave them they remained still babes and not able to bear strong meat It is a note of our childishnesse in the affairs of God yea and somewhat worse that we do not in a holy emulation of the glorified Saints give all diligence if it be possible to attain the resurrection of the dead that is as perfect now as the glorified Saints are in Heaven and denotes causa excitandi studii nostri how we should be stirred up to aim at the same degree of perfection 3. Our Brethren are all in his Kingdom where is our charity Above us are all our Fathers Sons and about us are Adam's posterity the former edgeth our desire to be with them the latter fills us with fear and care for them that they also may be happy the first hath from our Father of the hidden Manna the new wine we have a portion of his bread i. e. the good Word of God but having brethren who hath not heard of the last and hath no prescience of the first and worshipping ignorantly an unknown God brings upon their souls swift destruction we are to have their names upon our heart when we stand before the Lord that unto them also might be given Repentance unto life The legal Priest who was of the sons of Aaron was to have fire alwayes burning upon the Altar before the Lord so the Evangelical also who
of pleasure to which our prayers ascending are compared to pillars of perfume and they refresh the soul to Musick and that delights the ear to Noah's Dove that brought the Olive branch to Moses Rod that procured water in time of thirst to the Cloudy Pillar that directed Israel to Canaan to Sampsons Iaw-bone that slew the Philistines to Iacobs Ladder by which we exhilerat the Angels and ascend to their God and our God and to Davids Harp by which we make the evil spirit depart from us The famine in Canaan made Iacob send to Egypt for corn and that gave him tidings of his sons great honour and it revived the spirit of the old man that Ioseph was alive and in him he had the good of all the Land of Egypt before him So hath the Christian through Christ in Heaven and Prayer must be sent as a Messenger to return some of the fruits thereof that we die not 3. The suitableness of it upon all parts if you eye the Christians Head the Believers Lord the Souls Bridegroom the Churches Spouse Gods Son Salvations Captain the World 's Messiah Prayer is the only path he travelled in and therefore the road we ought to observe and the main tract in which the Chariot-wheels of our zealous desires ought to run and the sole coin to be told down when we take up mercy For when our Lord choosed his Apostles he prayed when he left his Apostles he prayed it is fit therefore when we pitch upon an enterprise to pray and having perfected our labour it is decent to make our requests known unto God with thanksgiving If you eye Satan the Brethrens accuser the Fleshes tempter the Chruches adversary the Souls deceiver Mans ensnarer Prayer is so suited to all of these that it breaks his snares detects his fallacies scatters his forces answers his arguments and by confession of sin pleading guilty and sueing for mercy stops the mouth of that accuser and puts that invisible foe by this impenetrable piece of Armour of all Prayer to a silence to a retreat to a soyl And the truth is Satan hath many stratagems traps and devices to charm the sinner to a security in his killing embraces and to withdraw a heart-broken creature from his God but among all these an utter neglect of or a prejudice against Prayer hath done him many and most high atchievements But this belongs to the next Section SECT IV. TO give an account particularly of the obstructions Satan and Flesh lays at the root of a structifying vigorous soul impeding its buding or sprouting forth towards Heaven in a fervent desire were a task as easie as numbering the Stars or exactly to reckon the sand upon the Sea shore yet walk along the Garden of thine own heart Reader and these following will be conspicuous among many others 1. Desponding or doubting of Gods freeness Therefore let us have faith justice and judgment being the habitation of Gods Throne may and doth make some tremble to aproach And if this alone be considered Who will not fear that King of Saints But since it is that mercy and truth go before his face we doubt because we have little faith by which there is assurance of good and not evil in our access to his presence mercy going before him and truth which promiseth that mercy succeeding that may cause emulation in each petition to be its first partaker There going before not only because promised to former Ages but to assure us who are now existent that untill mercy be neglected and truth questioned the Generation to come and this present may have confidence not to be condemned in the Throne of Judgement The Lord being good to all and his tender mercies being over all his works made a holy Bishop so highly press the duty of repentance that he was as is recorded reprehended by Satan as vilifying grace yet that good man thus answered the charge O miserabilis O miserable creature If thou shalt once defist from tempting man and repent thee of all thy wicked deeds I should trusting in the mercy of the Lord promise mercy and forgiveness unto thee What ever O man be thy thoughts or doubts Know it is of the Lords mercy thou art not consumed Despair not therefore of his tender mercies but call and thou shalt not be destroyed imitate the Leper and thou shalt be confirmed He creyed and cry thou Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean In which words as in a glass thou mayst see the face of thy own prayer and beauty and deformity of thy affections Thou hast first his knowledge Lord next his patience If thou wilt next his faith thou canst his humility make clean 2. Ignorance of Gods condescendency therefore let us study Prouidence What dishonest shifts will not some brains sorge for obtaining a piece of bread upon the suppositions that their being mean makes them accounted as abjects Inferring that GOD sending the fruits of the Earth into another barn is a passing by them as unworthy of such morsels when yet God careth for the birds of the Air and they have from him their Harvest Seed-time and their Raiment Let such as so conclude suppose themselves to be as one of them they then shall learn that not a feather of their wing a hair of their head falls to the ground without his knowledge but being men they are better then many Sparrows Let not thy Age Poverty Family question his Providence for but for that how oft hadst thou been choaked in thy Drink stifled in thy Cradle Darkned in thy Eye overlaid by thy Nurse bruised in thy slips dismembred in thy Quarrels deformed in thy birth and damned in thy sin which put together Gods filling anothers house with good things argueth not his slighting of thine Nay hark thy great and immoderat desire to have such Trash possibly keeps them from thee Study therefore Providence and seek the Kingdom of Heavens righteousnesse and these things may be will be cast towards thee and if not be regardless of it they may be but burthensome and be content if thou hast thy food though not dainties and thy raiment though not gaudy Apparel with a Selah for a poor soul with a morsel of bread shall assoon arrive at Heaven though bare-foot as he who feasts with Belshazzer or rides in his Chariot with the Eunuch 3. Defect of Christian Vnity and oneness let us learn Amity Where strife and debate are intimates prayer and supplication will not lodge And it is to be feared in this divided Age that not only the horrid clamours of our Tavern-quarrels but our pretended religious cursings our inward sinful heart-turnings our zealous promoving of selfish opinions hath not only stocked the root of true holinesse that it cannot grow in some but hath grub'd it up in others and laid it above
God in this Prayer come now to be considered and when discovered it will appear so peculiar his due that in comparison of him we are to call no man Father on earth for one is our Father which is in heaven because all things and beings are of him He is called the Father of glory of light of mercy and he is so in respect of Christ whom from eternity he begat and also in respect of his creatures upon whom he hath impressed his image though in different colours sometimes the image of his foot-steps as in irrational or insensible Creatures and thus he is the Father of the Dew sometimes the image of his Knowledge Reason and Understanding and thus he is the Father of Men and Angels yea eye the plenitude of his power and he may justly be called both Father and Mother to all created beings their Father as begetting them by his omnipotency and their Mother as continually conserving nourshing and bringing them forth by his providence but because of holinesse and sanctity is he especially called the Father of Saints and blessed Spirits which in this Prayer is principally to be regarded It properly signifieth the natural parent of the male-kind some say when it speaks of a man it signifies a defender of children but when of God it denotes a preserver of all There are that will have it to be derived from their procuring Fathers getting or procuring children to themselves However it be men are called Fathers 1. By Nature 2. By Favour Our natural parents give us 1. a being 2. a well-being and both of these in a more excellent way are bestowed by God upon believers If you eye our being we have it principally from him having it neither wholly solely eternally essentially but by him have we an eye an ear a limb an hair but of his begetting a toe a nail but of his making It was he that kept warm in the womb our tender bodies and when ignorant of ourselves was he fashioning and joyning all our members which other fathers neither knew how to do nor could do Iohn the Baptist respected because rejoiced at the salutation of his Lords Mother for his sake who gave him life though otherwise he was ignorant of any life he had so Iacob fought and strove in the womb resolving even there to conquer whileas yet Rebekah thought of nothing less then government and dominion Compare him with earthly parents and you may perceive a wide and a vast difference for 1. We have not our being wholly from them grant that by them the principles for a body is begotten yet without him it will be no birth a lame birth or a dead birth he must give the Embrio the breath or life or then he hath not a living soul. I know that inter sanctos patres there are some that debate about the animation of the Insant yet that is pious O Anima mea O my soul if thou would have God to love thee behold thy nativity for by the Trinity was thou made in the likeness of God a gift which he gave no other creature c. As he gave the red earth a spirit at first and called it Adam so is it still it being the soul that makes us men i. e. to rule and reign in our selves and over our selves when this is well all is well and when this languisheth all fadeth so that our all depends upon it and yet all our earthly fathers wit cannot procure it for us Adam did naturally beget and Evah bare a Cain yet the man is acknowledged to be from the Lord and untill we know that natural causes can of themselves produce more excellent effects than themselves are we must hold that not the body begets but that God infuseth the soul and in respect of that is absolute Father and is called a Potter in regard of the body also so little have we from our parents 2. Neither have we our being solely from them Did not the Sun give heat the Air breath water refresh and meat nourish we should for all that other Fathers can do be stifled in the womb where blood was appointed by him to be our food and the same decreed to become milk for our meat the flax ordered to procure linnen for our clouts the sheep wool for our coats the hills wood for our cradles and the valleys corn for our bellies and the earth veins of silver for our dowries without which even Iobs daughters might live as the Muses unfortunatly single 3. Neither have we our being ever by them The mother for a time may play with her smiling spradling infant and Isaac sport with his fair Rebekah yet both at last shall say of the same delightful objects Bury my dead out of my sight and then the Father in Heaven keeps them better then the truff unto which the father on earth commits them No sooner doth the babies soul take its farewel of flesh then Angels secures it from devils seats it in Paradise by Gods command the earth as a second womb retaining the more gross part until the birth of the resurrection by another sentence neither of which can be performed by the most indulgent parent There are that will have death have his name from division yet it cannot separate us from this Father in Heaven others from parting as cutting man in two parts yet no part of us is out of our Lords protection though both parts be out of our sorrowful parents care and tuition It is the thought of an Ancient that it gets its name from biting that being brought in by sin when man was bitten by the old Serpent yet this Father knocks out his teeth that death feeds not upon us Some will have it named from its bitterness but this Father so composeth this Dose that we are not killed by death Some fetcheth it from having our arrears payed us our life being a warfare death payeth and dischargeth all that is owing us and so to be dead is to be exonerated from further duty yet it doth not this for we stand continually before the face of this heavenly Father out of the danger of hells assaults and resting in peace ac securus diem resurrectionis expecting an assured resurrection being every way guarded and protected of God and continually praising of him and dwelling in his house for ever 4. Neither have we our being always with them Our Fathers may love us yet cannot help us they may be capable to help us yet at a great distance from us we may be exposed to the dangers of plague pestilence and Famine and they afford no relief it is only he in Heaven that can do good and deliver us out of danger Seek no place therefore was a full rule but the God of and in all places thy self being a Temple unto him and where thou stands there is thy
liberality made him the poor mans Father and yet what could rich I should say poor Iob do had he not all his plenty out of this Fathers store-house yea if he had wanted Gods leather he had gone bare-foot and were the least of us not confident of his goodnesse in providing for us bread we should go with small comfort with Ioseph to our homes at noon 2. For Cares He who provides relieves educateth or teacheth Orphans or the poor or desolate is gratified with the name Father as Elijah was by Elisha and thus Kings become Fathers to the Church and Paul to the Saints yet God being all in all caring for all ruling in all being King of kings turning mens hearts according to his pleasure Killing and keeping alive conform to the determinat counsel of his own just will deserves the appellation in a far sublimer sense 3. For Sageness An old wise Counsellour will be named Father and so much the more deservedly when in judgement he alwayes proves successful the hairy head is to receive from all a grave and reverend respect this Lord and Father more then all who being old as Eternity is called the Ancient of dayes and his hair said to be like pure Wool that is white soft and fine All this considered in him as being our own Father not our step-father we are to glory with that great Apostle the God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Iesus and having predestinated us unto the adoption of Children by Jesus Christ unto himself and in magnifying for improvement we are to exercise 1. Thankfulnesse 2. Obedience And 3. Observations upon his Providences Our Father c. HAving seen the Person we pray unto the next thing in this holy Preface that commands our observation is the manner we pray after where Presumption is first check'd lest any say My Father as also Atheism lest any say Thy Father both which are equally abominable and deviating from this rule enjoyning to say Our Father A holy man in an iron age was affray'd to speak of the necessity dignity utility of brotherly-love yet love shame and duty with a desire to have his hearers unite extorted from him an Oration a treatise upon that subject Making the same Apology for my self knowing that Prayers are to be made for all men and hindred by nothing more then by meum tuum mine and thine whereas ours ought to be the Christians Motto God ever requiring as piety to himself charity to man Let us see the necessity of this charity 2. The hinderances of it in our dayes 3. The obligations that lye upon us to remove those hinderances Not to speak of the devils or damned who for ever are excluded the verge of all prayer there is a common charity we owe all by nature as they are men and a special charity we are to carry unto all for grace as they are good men The last is mainly here understood yet the other not to be excluded for as we are to do good unto all so we are to pray for all but especialy for those of the houshold of faith God being unto them a Father in Christ whereby they are Christian-brothers one to another and ought to appear with and pray for each other upon many considerations as our sympathy Gods universality the enlargement of our own glory the Saints exemplary piety and from our own extravagancy and misery 1. From our sympathy and similitude in nature by generation Not only are we of one blood root and sprung originally from the stock of one Father even Adam which among Barbarians will be a perswasive motive to union but we have one Lord one hope and why therefore not one Prayer and one Psalm and one heart to rejoyce with them that rejoyce and weep with them that weep Abraham no sooner knew of Lots captivity then he armed his servants and fighting the pillagers redeemed the prisoners and also brought again his brother Lot so called as being of the same stock with him though in line but his Nephew If our father Abraham â—ought may not we pray for a Sodomite for a friend because a brother may be and certainly is concerned in him Christ and his Church are but one body and thou with thy brother are as living stones in the building if he be shaken remember thy self for a hole in the wall may prove fatal to more than one but principally to him who is heedless that is prayerless Poverty is want of means sickness is want of health and in the first as well as in the latter are we to confess our faults one to another and pray one for another and our Father being equally concerned in all of us we ought the more fervently to interest our selves in each other there being this difference betwixt our faith and love that our faith is closshanded and we believe for our selves but our charity is open-handed open-eyed and all for others Corpus quidem nostrum our bodies are confined to one place but our souls by the wings of charity must flee all the world over that though in the greatnesse of this journey we be bodily at a vast distance yet by piety and love we may be present having fellowship and communion Iesus pitied a multitude wanting bread and gave it them a Widow when her son was dead and said Noli flere weep not and to him who was dead said Arise to perswade our otherwise flinty souls to some sparkles of compassion when struck upon by the steel of our brothers sad countenance and pressing necessities and if this prevail not Behold the man is not our Fathers image in his eye and that will enforce us if we be sons to relieve him with our substance If thy brother be under any temptation he ought to have thy commendamus that the Fathers wrath wax not hot assuring thy self if when thy brother is under the rod thou come with tales to edge the indignation by aggravating his offences Thy unbrotherly carriage in the sight of so indulgent a parent will take his hand from his already humbled son and the remainder of wrath to thy greater astonishment shall be laid on thy back as a punishment for so unseasonable address Therefore Christian think upon Remember us O Lord the children of Edom and fear to insult Think upon the Devil in the case of Iob and fear to accuse and of Doeg in the case of David and boast not of mischief for hatred and envy makes a man to dwell in darknesse but love and amity clears the eye and makes him behold God for so much only are we in his congregation and â—avour by how much we are towards his people our enemy in favour and affection It is recorded of Hannibal that his father beholding his morosity took him at nine years of
his said I not unto thee that if thou wouldst believe thou shouldst see the salvation of God In all conflicts we have seven grounds for consolation 1. The mercy bounty and love of God 2. The mediation of Jesus Christ. 3. The sealing of the Spirit for the day of redemption 4. The Covenant of grace by which we are adopted as sons 5. The seals of that Covenant in the Sacraments 6. The gifts of the Spirit to persevere 7. The example of those Saints whose iniquity hath been pardoned whose souls have been delivered as David Paul Zacheus Manasseh and the converted theif All which in spight of those numerous Troups which assault and oppress man in the contemplation of his own misery affords auxiliaries upon the only expence of a hearty Miserere mei Lord have mercy upon me sufficient to set the soul free from all disturbance and settle it against all shakings whatsoever 5. His Veracity to the doubtful is another letter of His Name and equally clear to that Motto engraven upon Aarons mitre HOLINESS TO THE LORD He hath many Names in Scripture yea and sirnames too as the mighty God the jealous God but his truth is one of those immutable things wherein we have strong consolation both in our life and death comparing his veracity with the transient and fading because airy promises or undertakings of men which are in our greatest extremity as volatile as are the passions and humours of the undertakers hence the Philosopher Pithagoras being questioned when men were likest the gods replyed when they spake truth that having but one face and one way said another like unto God without change or revocation He hath highly glorified this attribute 1. In the execution of those things denounced against sin and sinners which should make us fear his Name 2. In the Salvation of his Elect by his Sons condescendency At last the seed of the woman bruised the head of the serpent Let us accordingly rejoyce in his Name for the idols of the heathen are vain but our God is a God of truth 3. In the Preservation of all things made by his ordinary providence therefore presume not upon his Name hallow it but tempt it not our Saviour would not tempt the Lord by casting himself down from the Pinacle of the Temple there being a pair of Stairs for descension for he is said to tempt qui â—ine ratione who without necessity will cast himself upon or in an apparent hazard when otherwise it may be avoided So abstruse is the effence of Almighty God and so diffused is his power that the only one God in Scripture and with all people hath received different names to expresse his Nature by and beautified those names I might say sanctified and hallowed them Praeclaris Elogiis with singular and eminent Attributes from his existence he is called Iehovah from his being with us Emmanuel from his great authority the Lord of hosts from his dreadfulness a consuming fire from his goodnesse both we and the Germains calls him God or Godt and from his kindnesse he is ordinarily termed Father from the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that from his care over us as children in feeding begetting Say not of his Law then it is vain for it is his Name and every article thereof is good and necessary composed neither by Art nor mans device slight it not for its plainnesse simplicity which made the wise and learned Philosophers of the world disesteem it as not flaunting though yet it be majestically high for by its light our steps MUST be ordered by its food our souls nourished by its vertue our diseases removed by its edge our enemies subdued by its drawing our wounds cured and by its instruction heaven MUST be acquired Buy therefore Bibles Animae Pharmaca the souls Apothecaries shop there being their proper receipts not only against all diseases but antidots against all damnages and medecines to prevent all losses which the Spirit in its quickest intuition can behold it self capable to come under Creatures are but creatures and as to Salvation but meer consonants wherefore in comparison of the Gospel all creatures are to be abandoned If punishing with a vengeance those who deride its authority and sitting in the seat of the scornful give suffrage against its dignity The last words of a prophane courtier in this kingdom once were apagite away with these idle things concerning Christ I never believed there was a God a devil or hell and for which I am now damned and turned over to the devil to be eternally plunged according to my merit in the lowest hell and so died the Gospel being in readiness to revenge all disobedience either in life or at death Much better died Sanctus Dacianus Deacon of the Church of Vienna who in the midst of exquisite torments from persecuting heathens being demanded what he was Replyed I am a Christian this is my Name my Country my Family my Religion and besides Christian I am nothing and untill all things be accounted as dung in comparison of the excellency of the knowledge of Iesus Christ the Name by which we must be saved we shall never spell our own Salvation Abuse not his creatures his name is seen in them the basest of them if there be any base is wonderful and as a straw can puzle the wisest for know as false Doctrine so a profane life dishonours the name of God and affronts the Majesty of our Saviour eat not with the Glutton for delight sit not down with the Drunkard for good fellowship for bitterness proves the issue of unholy friendship Respect the Sacraments for his Name is also beheld in them by the one are we baptized in his Name and by the other nourished in the application of him in them both to our selves let them be Sacraments that is industriously prepare for them Sacra mente holy appetites making neither the Table of the Lord polluted by a meer customary coming nor the waters of the Sanctuary despicable by a careless beholding but sanctifie our selves in religious meditation upon the nature end and use of these sacred Mysteries that our Christianity may be fertile and evidenced to have a higher rise then education Our Baptism hath a more noble end then by a name to distinguish us among men for he that is baptized hath put on Christ that is de jure we are to be accounted the Sons of God or that we are covered and protected as with cloaths by Jesus Christ his Spirit giving us an inward garment in renovation an outward in conversation and in both by a conformity to his holiness or that by baptism all our sins as our bodies and imperfections by cloaths are covered by Christ our works affections our selves are changed into Christ which more discovers our monstrous baseness if for any reward much lesse for any lust we so
move for the promoving of that transcendent honour dueto his Name by all the earth 3. That he would remove suddenly the impediments of his glory Though give us this day are in words only affixed to our daily bread yet without errour they may be appended to this Petition and then it is this day Hallowed be thy Name Lord said Elijah let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel Father saith the Petitioner let all atheism prophanenesse idolatry be removed that all the world may say this day The Lord he is God the Lord he is God That all idols with Dagon may fall down before his everlasting Gospel and all people may attend and incline their ear unto the words of his mouth this Petition is put up and offered in the Imperative Mood by way of command a holy zeal animating the breast of the conforming supplicant daringly yet humbly charging yet praying his Father to look after the dignity of his own Name How suddenly was the head of vapouring Goliah separated from his body and frighted Israel shouting for joy after little David had gone out in the Name of the Lord And that God would arise girding his sword upon his thigh to be feared by all that contend against him ought in earnest to be the matter rather of our prayers then those curious quircks and home-spun I may say hell-spun questions and political debates which are too frequently the materials of our popular and domestiâ—k supplications the former tending to quietnesse and peace the latter only to strife and debate within our houses and among our Churches 4. That we might improve all his providences for this his glory Are we advanced to any degree of honour hath God assigned us a larger portion of this worlds goods for the splendor of our retinue and numerousness of our Family are we respected by the admiring Vulgar then let us not sacrifice to our own net but acknowledge that all this store cometh of his hand and all his own Timotheus that Dux or Imperator Fortunatus was so fortunat in his Warrs that Cities were painted yielding to him he sleeping Yet somewhere it is observed that proudly saying in a full and great Assembly at Athens Haec ego feci non Fortuna this I did not Fortune and again in this Fortune had no share attributing Conquests only to himself and not to that ages fancied gods It was by all observed he never prospered but lost all the glory he had gotten And such at last shall be his fate who gives not God but himself the praise of his rich possessions Contrary are we brought so low that our harvest is blasted honour despised children buried and all pleasant things removed out of sight let our devotion keep its wonted vigour and surmise neither Planet stricking nor Wizards bewitching but Gods holy Providence in his wise Counsel hath been the contriver of all our losses and suffer not only with the wise Heathens patiently but sucking good from them as Asclepiades who being asked what disadvantage he had by blindness ut uno puero said he ambulem comitatior I can talk more chearfully to any one Lycurgus not only forgave the wild Alcander for rashly beating out his eyes but by vertuous discourse reclaimed him Poor Epictetus was amicus diis for all his poverty still at friendship with the gods I say suffer not only with these but study to know with Eli it is the Lord and next with Iob to say blessed be his Name preferring a Lame-leg a hungry belly with Gods countenance beyond the covered tables or dainties of the wicked Iubet me fortuna Fortune calls upon me to study Philosophy and wisdom cry'd a Philosopher hearing of a great lose at Sea God calls upon me say thou in the greatest strait to know him the world and the mutability of all things except himself cry thou blessed be his Name though brought into the lowest degree of misery were it a dung-hill or a bush of thorns it being easie to adore him upon the pinacle of prosperity over a rich Carpet or leaning upon a Velvet Cushion This is sure qui non sanctificat Deum he that glorifies not God shall never be glorified of God and therefore the beauty of our possessions the industry of our hands the pregnancy of our wit the patience in our suffering the prevalency of our interest being considered say however Not unto us not unto us O Lord but to thy Name give we praise And whether we eat or drink which are works of necessity or what ever we do which may relate to pleasure at conveniency Let us do all to his glory for our actions must concur with our wishes in this matter that as we exalt his Name by the one we may not blasphem it with the other Further this duty is to be performed specially according to his grace and that not in respect to its nature or as it is in the fountain that is in God but as it doth gratiam recompensare benefactoribus as it eyes our grateful returns to him and so Hallowed be thy Name implyes Thankfulness to him Knowledge of him Affection towards him all our abilities to be laid out for him 1. Thankfulness in what his power hath wrought by referring all unto him To batter down that wall of ingratitude which this age hath raised we touch again this point or rather explain the former we Belshazzerâ— like drinking and ranting but the God in whose hand our breath is not glorified at all for our peace freedom and honour c. A godly Lady-martyr professed that the bloud of her Saviour had made her fair and beautiful and not her servants industry by care or art not the servants vigilance but the Masters pounds gained ten pounds moe Shall we have health wealth peace Princes as at the first and God receive no tribute of praise since we professe sanctity which in the Heathens sense was nothing but ascribing to the immortal gods their due praise and thanks Are not many healed but where are the nine i. e. the many that examining their unfitnesse for mercy attends at Gods Altar with their Hallelujahs for his breaking the Spear assunder and burning the Chariots in the fire It is Fabled that one finding a Serpent frozen or starved almost to death in a vehement eold he warmed it at his own fire the Serpent boasting afterward that it was not his fire that animated him the matter came to be judged and thus determined that the Serpent should be left in periculo in the same state danger and condition wherein at first it was found We have reason to apprehend that being delivered from our civil yet uncivil war and our vitious lives testifying no grateful resentment as it flowed from God that he shall cause this generation to be brought back into that howling wildernesse of barbarous and cruel
habituated By God is an iniquity to be punished The Gentiles forbearing to name the Magician Demogargon lest the earth should tremble will be a witness against us for our abusing his Name against his Law who hangs it upon nothing without dread yea with delight A golden mouthed Patriarch or Bishop beholding swearing to be the sin of his people assured them in a Sermon that he had preached often against that sin and would do it again this day and to morrow and the third day and untill he saw them mend their manners and forsake that vice but would it not puzle an Angel to declaim against the predominant vice of this perverse generation it being overgrown as with a scab with iniquity of all sorts by pretenders to Religion and mockers of all Piety But as touching this scandalous custome ought not that Law non-assumes thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain for he will not hold him guiltless that taketh his Name in vain to be to all Christians more then a thousand Sermons to perswade against that custome A perjured wretch hearing a Sermon against the sin of swearing or â—orswearing said his hand was nothing the shorter that he had sorsworn with statim and immediately by divine vengeance it was burned and cut from him And say we not of a good man Os tuum ablue wash your mouth and then speak of him and yet the hallowed Name and that Majestativum Nomen as one calls it that Majestick Name and that Venerandum Nomen that reverent Name of the Lord our God at which the devils tremble shall be scoffingly and impiously abused by us and then come home and it may be say Amen to hallowed be thy Name without suggesting danger The rule according to a learned person to know sinful swearing by is from the initiatory letters of FATVM IDONEA F signifying Iuramentum falsum a swearing against the truth A Appetitum Iurandi a desire of swearing T Trufatorium to swear in base words or cheatingly U Vsum useing or accustoming ones self to this M. Malitiosum to swear malitiously And in Idonea I Imports Irreverenter to swear irreverently and without fear D Dolose â—raudulently O Otiose idly N Negligenter negligently if oaths come out before a man beware A Alte if with a loud clamorous or uncivil noice all which is comprised in this distich Si male Iurandi species sit cura noscendi Sit primas Fatum per Idonea notificatum If thou takes care to shun the sin of swearing Of Fatum and Idones be observing For in these Christs rule of swear not all is to be noted and by them qualified Those whose tongues can hardly spell God are become so accustomed to hear of him that their ears are good only for this tune of By God or By Iesus and can in their very play sport with it which last is aggravated and becomes a greater sin then simply to name God For 1. God hath magnified that Name 2. There is no other Name given whereby we can be saved 3. It holds forth the Divine Nature and the second Person in the Humane Nature 4. The Name God shews him to be the Creator only but Jesus both Creator and Redeemer A Monitor therefore to whisper into our debauch'd Thou shalt not take the Name of God in vain or Above all things my Brethren swear not would do well and that they would as gently receive the admonition as an aged person did that of a childs were to be wished The story is this A man of years being heard to swear was accosted by a young child who with bended knee said ne posthac jurato swear no more by God for it is not a light sin the person blushing called back the child demanded its name and its parents but getting neither glorified God and said non tu puer es thou art not a boy but an Angel of God sent to give me this wholsome counsel and know thou that hereafter I shall be careful that an oath no more fall from me O that God whose Name hath done great marvels would multiply such Angels amongst us and make their ministry as effectual Soror venerabilis Courteous Reader will you have me tell you how to avoid perjury swear not for the custome of swearing brings on the use of forswearing and pray that the Spirit of God whose Temple is thy body may put in thy mouth the seal of moderation Amen Verily or of a truth was a wholsome document of a good man 2. Indirectly by not giving occasion to prophane his Name There is a fitness equality or proportion to be kept betwixt our prayers and our practice for as Davids harp made some to magnifie the Lord so his adultery made others blaspheme the God of Israel to pray hallowed be thy Name and to live carelesse of procuring it is not only to no purpose for thy good but accelerates a curse from his hand For as one of Philosophy so I say of Gospellizing It is not populare artificium an Artifice to delude the Vulgar neither consists it in words but in things and doing good first and then speaking of good for it s said of Jesus he began to do and then to teach so ought it to be by all that profess his Name Hallowed by they Name that is Celebre â—it let it be magnified in us in our hearts by believing in our affections by loving in our mouth by praising and in our lives by well-doing that thy Name Father be not disgraced by our wicked courses thy Name the knowledge of thy Name may be confirmed by our true living it being better not to call upon God at all then to pray in our Closet and follow the youth to the strange woman Doeg to his tale-bearing Cain to his envy Rabsheka to his railing Gehazi to his lying His Name is alwayes holy our desire here is that it may be kept holy by us and in us for the adding of more glory to his Name is not here understood but the accounting estimating respecting and inlarging the knowledge to all of that holiness which from eternity he possessed that in us and by us he may be hallowed which was done when we were baptized in his Name being from Christ called Christians and Christned Audi Deo hear therefore the Apostle the Name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you therefore let us amend our lives or put an end to our Profession that our selves and not our Religion our selves and not our God be not traduced by our multiplied abominatiâ—ns which are so much the more scandalous and dangerous hat from the faults of one Christian the Gentile doth judge totam Christianorum Gentem all Christians which must infinitly influence upon Gods dishonour when the whole body of Christianity is universally leprous as it is with us this day so that
in the Word and Sacraments and releasings of the Church in a far more consolatory way then can be attained of worshipping of Saints or going on Pilgrimages c. As appeared in Gentleman of this same Age who being vexed with the Palâ—ie and entering his Ladies Chamber heard a young Child reading to her Mother by providence these words in the Gospel And Iesus said to the sick of the Palsie Son be of good chear thy sins be forgiven these which furnished the soul of the diseased with abundance of consolation and blessed God who out of the mouths of babes and sucklings ordained praise to himself in this particular of forgiving all sin 2. Consider his singularity besides him no God It is a note of authority to give and of subjection to receive names and the first act of Fathers power is in giving his Son a name but had not God named himself we had yet been ignorant both of his Name and of his Sons His Name is God because he is one the sooner therefore may he be hallowed the multiplicity of Saints and Spirits not only cusing irksomnesse but creating fear left in pleasing seven we might offend the eight for ommitting him and my intense prayers to Peter or Paul might cause my guardian Angel to take snuff when more remiss in his service or office Praise him therefore and only pray to him he being Lord above with Nehemiah and as to Hezekiah he will let thee know he inclines his ear to hear and opens his eyes to see all those that afflict thy soul and ask thy self consult Scripture and experience 1. Doth he not bring down all that are high Where are the Worthies of this world Achitophels policy or Cesars sorce Let men talk no more exceeding proudly for like Oreb and Zeeb like Pharaoh and Senacherib they perish before him Vain boasters who have spoke great words how suddenly have they been dejected and cast down How in a movement have they been removed and in a groan confessed that the glory of man was nothing It is recorded that after Senacheribs Army was destroyed by an Angel he had these words engraven upon his standing Picture Let him that looketh upon me learn to fear God Iulian Uncle to the Apostate after many oâ—trages committed against the Church was in horrible anguish advised by his Wife to praise and proclaim Christ his Saviour who had shown himself powerful in plaguing him and had done it in mercy to bring him to repentance which pious advice had some influence upon him before he died and how he hath cast abroad the rage of his wrath and beheld every one that was proud to abase him every sinner shall at last and most sick persons do and condemned Malefactors bring in plentiful evidences 2. Doth he not exalt all that are low Is Moses cast out by the law of Pharaoh though we read of none that was drowned yet he singularly was preserved by Pharaohs Daughter David appointed by his Father to keep sheep as fit neither for Court nor Camp is designed to be King of Israel no soundness is in Iobs flesh yet a sacrifice shall redintegrat both his health and fortune Ruth accounting her self not like one of Boaz hand-maids as born without the Covenant got a full reward of the God of Iocab yea a royal one in becoming Grand-mother to king David and in the Magnificat is it not said My soul doth magnifie the Lord for he hath regarded the low estate of his hand-maid Humble your selves therefore and say to the King and Queen humble your selves and all shall be exalted in due time and those who are qualified with this vertue of prasing God though here they have no house they shall have a heaven and though weak they shall have strength and though no honour it shall be reported that they pleased God When Cyrus prospered he became the more holy and more frequently caused sing praises and offered sacrifice to the gods so ought we to the God of heaven For 3. Doth he not defy all that are supposed He calls in derision of all reputed gods to whom will ye liken me and puts two things unto them to try his excellency 1. Prediction to know what is to come 2. Execution of either good or evil Which if they cannot do it follows that they are not gods and he alone is to be feard because he can creat peace and make war and knoweth all that is past what is present and what shall be hereafter To glorifie the Name of God it but to publish the miracles with a thankfull heart which he hath performed for his Church upon his enemies Which Thulis an Egyptian King knew who swelling in the pride of his own magnified greatness would needs inquire at the gods whether any King were greater or richer then himself and had this response from a Priest of Serapis The greatest is God next is the Word the Spirit with them being one in nature and eternal in power But thou O mortal haste thee out of this place and seek where to shut up thy life Immediatly after which he was slain by his own servants and so shall all the enemies of our Father perish that men may know he whose Name is Iehovah is the most high over all earth 3. Consider his infinite glory and there is none to be reputed God but he Solomon was in all his glory inferiour to a Lilly the glory of that flower being in it self and from it self yet as his was so the Lillies beauty is but a ray of his ineffable splendour and all comes from him Herod's silver doublet which is recorded to have been that which the Scripture calls his royal apparel was but poor armour though glittering in the Sun against the assault of base and contemptible worms It was as we read told him by Aâ—gurs he should see an Owl five dayes before he died which appearing as the people were admiring his eloquence and shouting he was a god he cryed Behold your god dieth It is said after his death that the Word of God grew and multiplied and until the false imagination of deluded souls be indeed slaughtered by the sword of the Spirit or detected by the light of the Word of God which is his Name his Name doth not multiply by the accession of believers to a belief of the truth For though there be many that profess his Name yet it is to be fearred there be few hath chosen it the most falling upon it by chance having found it in their native Countrey which also causeth it to be by chance but honoured their chief design being either the advancement of them selves or their faction Yet there are a few unto whom God is doing as he hath alwayes done viz. making known the unity that is the glory of his Name in the Doctrine of his Son and as they repute none
not that they on earth are idle for all his works praise him put Angels for the host of Heaven and Saints for the work of his hands on earth and then we may infer our duty to bless the Lord because he only preserveth us King Iames knew this who is of happy memory were it but for this that knowing a Prince that feareth not and loveth not the Divine Majesty nothing in his Government can succeed well with him therefore my son said he to his Prince first of all things learn to know and love God Which darkly was performed by Numa Pompilius who knowing that God hated sloathful services commanded the Romanes though Heathen to wait and attend upon prayer rebus omnibus post-positis all other affairs being first laid aside Iupiter and Iuno conceited Deities were so called by their worshippers from the help and aid they gave to things but our God doth more then juvare help because vitam salutem tribuit he giveth life health and happinesse and therefore ought more affectionatly to be implored and only to be adored An Army of Infidels rushing into the Dominions of the famous Christian Emperour Theodosius were worsted rather by his prayers then Arms for first a thunder-bolt from Heaven slew Rugas their Captain next a plague thinned their Army and the remnant were consumed by fire from the Element After which Proclus Bishop of Constantinople expounded a portion of Ezekiels Prophesie wherein God was exalted and the Patriarch applauded for his applying of it sanctifying God before their eyes he having magnified himself in the eyes of many Nations If you eye service he only can reward Should one intreat the Virgin Mary or St. Barbara against his wifes barrenness it may be doubted if ever he should have a Son or had Peter when sinking followed the Doctrine of his pretended successour and cryed Abraham or Ieremiah save me or I perish I am prone to conjecture he had been drenched by this one instance be excited in life or death to pay the tribute of Prayer and Praise to him solely who hath not only an eye to see and an ear to hear us but by precepts hath commanded us to adresse our selves to him for comfort in the life he hath given us in the death before us and in the hopes of that Heaven he hath proposed to us If you eye justice he only doth merit Are not the Cattle upon a thousand hills his Are we not the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hands Are we not in spight of our hellish adversaries preserved by the artifice and methods of his providence The good we have is it not from him the peace health we enjoy is it not of him the Gospel we read did not he teach it us and the soul we live by did not he give it us What a mad project and unjust proceeding must that therefore be to fancy that some other then he ought to have the sacrifice of our souls the fruits of our lips That distinction of the Romish Schoolman is not so concluding as perhaps he thought it viz. that God is only to be repaired unto for grace or glory not the Saints they being only desired to assist us or to pray for us for the Scripture in things relating betwixt God and man hath given no ground for such distinction it denying any Mediator except Christ who also invites us to come directly to him for rest and ease and to him our selves without sending another And as when he trode the Wine-presse he was alone and none with him so in the application of its benefits we have no example of imploying Man or Angel to plead for us at his hand now glorified Besides how can we call on him or her in whom we have not believed and Rome with us professing to believe in God the Father Almighty c. ought with us also to expunge their Saints Litanies from their service Not to affront Gabriel or Paul or Peter or the Virgin Mary whose faith whose vertues whose example is this day in the greatest part of the Christian world commemorat and taught for her eternal renown in which we oppose her receiving prayers or in this sense giving glory to her name It was justice that extorted from a poor serving man that excellent decision of that ridiculous question started by the Romish Friers in this Kingdom whether the Lords Prayer might be said to Saints and after much talk hot debates absurd distinctions the Servant concluded when he had asked his Master to whom should it be said meaning the Lords Prayer but to God and let the Saints have said he Credos and Ave Marias enough for it might suffice them and too good for them But he spoke more knowingly and of this Kingdom likewise who said Let us remember that the Pronoun Thy is possessive and pointeth out the Name to whom glory and honour do most chiefly and of due belong For though there be many names yet there is not any name to which honour and glory both of debt and duty belongs but only to the Name of God 1. Because by him is named all the family in Heaven or Earth 2. Because by his sufferings and victorious triumphs he hath obtained a name far above all others 3. There is no other name by which we can be saved The Son gave it us to put up to our Father not to Peter or Brother much lesse to the Virgin Mary our Sister And therefore to the King eternal immortal invisible the only wise God be honour and glory for ever and ever Amen And so much for the matter of this Petition Hallowed be thy Name NOw we are brought unto the order of this Petition unto which for brevities sake we shall annex the method of the whole Prayer and to avoid confusion hint withall at the exactness required in our accesses unto God All our actions ought to have God for the ultimat design or end and so should our prayers to which purpose they either are to eye his glory as in Hallowed be thy Name or enjoyment of his glory in thy Kingdom come unto which something is directly and principally necessary as Thy will be done or necessary and instrumentally as give us our dayly bread or necessary and accidentally as the removing of hinderances either directly excluding out of Heaven as forgive us our sins or impeding us in our way towards it as lead us not into temptation or irksomness in our life travelling towards it as Deliver us from evil There are who shew the order thus all Petitions respecting either the good things of Heaven or Earth are here ordained by our Saviour to be thus sought after such as relate to Heaven are first to be demanded and are contained in the three first Petitions and the first of them being Hallowed be thy Name regards his glory and the other
c. Davids acquitting God that he might be justified when he spake was but an acknowledgment of his unthankfulness for his gifts received in sining against his Law and unmindfull of all the good things he possessed Yea Daniel denyeth not but confesseth that to us that is to all belongeth shame and confusion of face because we have sinned bringing the sins of the people to himself because he was one of them aggrageing the guilt The acknowledging of our sin is so indispensible that he who confesseth not is never said to forsake them and he who trusts to pardon without this shall see his sin spread before him by the hand of God in blacker colours then his tongue eye or heart can behold or conceive and therefore spread them before the Lord in thy closet or else he will discover them in the face of the Sun It is a sad story which we read as but lately done of a dying man being Bedrid and hungry cryed for meat but at sight thereof so loathed it that he was earnest for its removal out of his fight his hunger growing loathed it as before it was removed and called for a third time and again removed at last he opened his mouth and confessed Gods justice in this dealing having never craved a blessing upon his meat when he sat down nor gave God thanks when he rose up Let them heed this that rising from meat thinks of â—othing but of sleep or it may be worse viz chambering and waâ—tonness 4. Praise him in bearing and exercising patience under evils imposed Troubles are touch-stones to try the mettal of a Christian and let hypocrisie keep never so closs it shall in some act or other be discovered They tryed a Iob and found him good gold they tryed a David and found him gold likewise but something dusted now and then he was tripping they searched a Daniel and made him more servent in prayer to put a soul under crosses is Dei mos Gods custome Virtutum flos the blossome of goodness Fidei cos the whet-stone of faith Coeli dos Heavens dowry whoso weds himself to Christ must look on crosses as a part of his portion and must not only glorifie in prosperity the Name of God but in adversity also declareing ourselves still to be under the regiment of his providence It is an argument of Gods love an argument of thy faith a medicament against thy sin and an incitement of thee unto thy prayers which ought to enforce thee to restrain thy passion in the most calamitous estate who in the tryal of thy patience in thankfulness supplants thy corruptions and provides for the future strengthning of thy gifts as a winters storm doth the young Ash Beech Elme or Oak tree I see not said the moralist boldly a more pleasant sight for God to behold upon earth if he would turn his eye toward it then to behold a Cato standing upright that is not dejected with our publick calamities sure I am to see a Iob upon the Dung-hill or a Solomon worshipping upon the Throne or Daniel depending in the Den gives far more exceeding satisfaction Inarius an old Bishop of Chalcedon becoming blind through age was mocked by Iulian and bid pray to the Galilean meaning Christ for the restoring of his eyes smartly answered gratias ago Deo I bless my Lord God for depriving me of sight that I might not see thy ungodly face extracting from his own infirmity matter of glory and praise to the eternal God in the face of a blasphemer 5. Praise him for that illumination thy soul hath obtained Reads thou upon his Sons cross Come unto me hears thou in the Sacrament this is the cup of the remission of thy sin knows thou in thy journeys his Angels have a charge over thee finds thou his Spirit saying thy sins are forgiven thee And shall there be no Halelujah of praise no Hosanna to him that cometh in the Name of the Lord Knoweth thou not thy self to be a sinful man a child of wrath a denyer of Jesus then call that the voice of the cock may awake thee and that tears as Peter may wash thee The cock hath crowed in the Scriptures and our Jesus hath already wept for us and Peter hath sent us two Epistles to strengthen us he himself being converted that we be not led away with the errour of the wicked but grow in grace and knowledge Have we abilities to pray be thankful for by that we journey unto God Have we instruction by the Gospel or behold we the edification of the Church the members thereof bearing much fruit Herein is your Father glorified rejoice and if you live in peace or keep a pure soul if you speak the truth in your heart and keep guile from your tongue become not tepid in Religion be not starters from the faith nor workers of iniquity nor captivated by errour for men beholding these things shall glorifie your Father which is in Heaven It is a good observe that this word Hallow is used because holiness is the highest title of honour and glory that can belong to any though to the most high God for the Seraphims being to give God the greatest mark of renown cry Holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts It was the honour of Ierusalem to be a holy city the glory of the third heaven to be a holy place and when Christ Jesus shall present his Church unto himself he will present it holy As we pray so we ought to practise and the holiness that God giveth unto us is that we be not deceived or become fornicators or idolaters or adulterers or effeminat or thieves or covetous or drunkards or extortioners but be washed and sanctified which we daily ought to pray for in the Name of our Lord Jesus that holy thing that holy child whose Name we pray may be glorified in you and ye in him for in this we differ from bruits and for this we have a spirit and a tongue viz. even to acknowledge the Lord for all his gifts according to the grace of God and his holy Govenant and the Lord Jesus Christ So shall he in the Hebrew be hallowed that is Halal be praised and the old English word healed secured protected or restored iniquity making God as it were sick and distempered in himself and damnified by others in his renown and glory And so much for this first Petition CHAP. III. Thy Kingdom come THE Holy Ghost in Scripture makes mention of a threesold Kingdom 1. That of God 2. Of Christ. 3. Of Heaven and all here may be truly understood it not being taught us as if God reigned not but that his reigning and domination might be manifested to all and hastned to us which is properly our inheritance being by the former Petition made holy and in the Preface adopted sons of glory There is mention
likewise of a kingdom of men in contradistinction to which we pray Let thy Kingdom come there is a kingdom of darkness is the king therof is the angel of the bottomless pit for confusion of which we pray THY Kingdom come It is that Kingdom which the blood of Christ hath purchased the faith of the Saints expected and that which in the parable of the sheep on the right hand we are invited to enter into and possess It is Regnum Coeleste the Kingdom of Heaven in all its steps advantages and degrees In this as in the former Petition we shall search into the matter and next into the order thereof with the application of both to the rule So pray ye In the matter there occurs to be treated upon 1. The extension of the Kingdome 2. The steps methods whereby that Kingdom comes 3. The zeal that is supposed to be in the Petitioner to have that Kingdom come God hath a twofold Kingdom in the world and its inhabitants one general reaching to the birds even in their falling to the hairs of mens head and their numbering and to the devils in their chaining and this is called the Kingdom of his providence Whence it hath been questioned though upon poor ground whether here we pray for the coming or continuing of this Kingdom of providence For since the soul and body are preserved in their united harmony by his favourable concurrence he acting all creatures for the preservation of our life by their subsisting which by some is attributed to Chance to Fortune to the Moon to the Sun and to any other creature which the ignorance of the true God shall lay before an idolater Christianity being but thin-sowen and Christ not so universally believed upon but that a great part of the world is idolaters and unbelievers Quinsay the greatest City in the whole earth was of late known to have had in it but one Church of Christians in the rest Gentilism sacrificing to the very Devil that he might not hurt Which considered what should hinder our earnest sueing for a more clear manifestation of his infinit authority that all Altars and all hearts may offer up holy sacrifice to that only true God by whom they only live and in whom they shall and may be eternally made happy It was not or but darkly known that the most high ruled in the Kingdoms of men and gave it to whomsoever he will but yet so that he himself governed it by the wisdom of his power and protected it by the wisdom of his government 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thy Kingdom the word importing that Kings are inviolable and not to be hurt or grieved which God is by the idolatrous and superstitious rites of Gentiles and Jews or that Kings are the foundation or upholder of the people which God also is all things being upheld by him and to that purpose is a King a word from the Saxon word Cyning or Cunning which importeth to know and understand and ability to act as we proverbially say a canny man one that can do and act with dexterity and skill in which God is transcendently eminent King-like providing and taking care for all making grass to grow for the Oxe and herb for the service of man Sent he not hail and fire mingled with hail very grievous upon all the Land of Egypt and a pestilence in the dayes of David upon the twelve Tribes It s thy Kingdom implying his Majesty Splendor Tranquility and Honour and may we not desire that by the greatness of his power he would command the air to be healthful and the fire not to be hurtful and that it be known to be his act to all the world as an effect of his unlimited Soveraignty Besides this he is said to have a Kingdom by and in which he rules his Saints and Church in special and relating to his Church triumphant is called a Kingdom of glory relating to his Church militant is called a Kingdom of grace that of grace going along in that of providence and going forward to that of glory we shall speak of them both mutually beginning with that of providence and grace For a safe and prosperous success of our undertakings and affairs for the subjugating of our foes for destroying the power of darkness that we may have no treacherous heart with Iudas nor a covetous with Ahab nor an ambitious with Absolom and that the Kingdoms of the earth may become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ and that such who know him may give him no rest untill he make Ierusalem that is his Church a praise in the whole earth we pray for in Thy Kingdom come At this time regnavit Diabolus the Devil reignes Sin reigns Death reigns and by them mankind hath been taken captive hence we beg that Satan may perish Sin may cease Death may die and that Captivity may be taken captive that we being freed from these may reign quietly honourably and securely under him If he suffer Turks or Tyrants to afflict his Church we call for strength and aid by his providence for grace and power by his Spirit and in both saying before Ephraim Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength why before these three but because these Tribes both mar ched and pirched nearest the Ark a type of his presence and in Thy Kingdome come his rising as a Giant out of sleep in the sight of his Church and march forward to subjugat those 〈◊〉 by his mustered forces that is the ordered Army of his creatures or peovidences or graces of faith love and real that Ephraim and Manasseh without fear may worship the Lord in Benjamin that is in his Ierusalem that is in all holy places The work of Gods hand and his providence about it may lead us to admire but leas◠we should stand in the world as Mary at the grave looking to behold what we cannot find we call for his Kingdom to free us of that sordid vassalage which our parents sin temptation and unbelief have brought upon us to the beholding those invisible riches above pursuing in our thoughts their duration fixation and consolation The world here follows us so closs and grips us so hard that we are put back in our pursuit of those more desirable treasures above so that it is called a striving to apply our thoughts thereto so much as in a wish which imports among many things this one that there must be great pressing and fearing to be over-pressed we pray Thy Kingdom come Anaxagoras affirmed the cause of his birth and coming into the world was to behold the Heavens and the Sun from which the curiosity of some hath picked such a mystery as I am prone to conjecture was never in his thoughts for by Heaven they would give out he understood the power of God which is attributed to the Father and by the Sun
they will have to be signified the brightness of misdom which is Iesus Christ and by heat which is from the Sun they would have love understood which is the Holy Ghost to detect the vanity of such conceits as issuing from Anaxagoras were a vain dispute but certain it is that man was made and the Christian is taught to have his eyes his desires his affections where Christ is at the right hand of God and was begotten and born of the Spirit to love admire and behold the Son Therefore Schools and Colledges where Arts and Principles of knowledge are taught ought to be recommended to the eare of providence that from them by means of Professors and Benefactors as from a Nursery may be removed such plants as may in the garden of God which is his Church refresh his people with their shade and fruit for it was esteemed the saddest persecution when Iulian the Apostat Emperour to impede the Kingdom of the Gospel ordered that no Galilean so he termed believers should be trained up in letters or learning alledging that heathens were killed with their own feathers meaning the pungency of Christian Doctors Arguments That the knowledge of God being spread the longing after Heaven may be discerned that the things present being accounted as nothing there may be earnestness for those which are to come a principle arising from a conscience purged from sin and a soul purified from the earth as St. Pauls was when he groaned to be cloathed upon resteth in the bosome of this Petition Moreover the subjection of all souls unto his will Law and Goverment is intreated for here in Thy Kingdom come the petitioner as the mother of Siserah is panting and asking why is his Chariot so long in coming that deliverance from this present evil world might be hastned that all whether high or low rich or poor old and young might rejoyce together blessing the Lord in the beauty of holinesse For 1 They live in fear of themselves and therefore cry Thy Kingdom come Iob was not in trouble yet he feared they know they cannot think one good thought nor do one good act upon certainty of sins lying at the door and of temptations being within the house distrusting of the strength of age and experimentally apprehending a disease surmising through despondency some cross to attaque them and lastly beholding the severity of God upon them which fall more grace knowledge and a more clear sense of their own salvation is frequently in their mouth that no temptation may surprize them or cause them deviat from truth and holiness Sometimes Curiosity again Vanity too oft Obscenity will affault and the thoughts of the soul here heat the heart there blow it and anone disturb it and by and by scatter and again confound it then rack it and afterwards binds it consequently defile it and corrupt it from which the coming of this Kingdom doth secure it by giving them the gifts of sobriety and of a sound mind purity of speech and sincerity of grace which they would alwayes possesse but that Satan by his frequent and sudden temptations doth hinder them In the croud of cares and fears arising from wars tumults and as they say from wives children and families from sin and natural srailty a soul though strong may be broken crushed and wounded by which that precept recorded to have been given by the Guardian Pastor or Angel among many to that holy ancient Hermes St. Pauls Disciple is good viz. to believe and fear in regard the last without sthe first creats gulfs of despondency issuing from the turbulent sea of perplexity entanglements and doubts for the Spirits overwhelming his nuncius iniquitatis or evil genius like Iobs messengers interrupting mans beloved retirements for Halcyon and serene tranquility in heavenly meditation more frequently with corrodeing and mournful intelligence tending to bitterness and wo then his nuncius aequitatis or good Angel cometh like Ioabs informers Ahimaaz-like with accustomed good tidings nourishing the soul or ravishing the ear with the melodious report of benevolent providence whence it is that even the great judgment-day for the elects sake is hastned and the Kingdom of God every wsy desired 2. They live in love of others and therefore cry Thy Kingdom come With St. Paul they have a desire and their prayer to God is that all Israel may be saved by letting the sound of the everlasting Gospel be heard unto all that dwell upon the earth and to every Nation Tongue and people that Israel and Iudah that is Iew and Gentile may become one and unite in the hand of him who is the arm of the Lord revealed For if we love the Lord we shall obey his Law and love man for this is to enjoy good and to be thought worthy of infinit good things this is the crown of vertue the foundation of Religion and the Kingdom of God there being great and precious promises of the enlarging of the Kingdom of Christ by the accession thereto of the multitude of the Gentiles by revealing the Doctrine of saith the light whereof detecting the unprofitableness of those various modes and forms of worship used by Infidels the not doing whereof indicats one almost that is scarce half a Christian that in its full latitude oblidging us to lay aside passion and self and signifie to the world our desire of Gods removing the dark cloud of atheism or errour and bring all to that due way of worshipping the Father in his Christ by discovering to all the beauty and order of his Kingdom Let us reason a little on Gods behalf and beholding the equity and justice of this duty set our selves to its performance Contemplat upon Gods authority over us and we shall learn submission reflect upon our cumbersome lusts our rigid adversaries our rueful passions our woful calamities our oppressing Task-masters our seducing Teachers our eager disputes our multiplied opinions our divided interests and our probably irreconciliable divisions to pass by the subtilty of the Devil in all we shall be forced not only to pray Thy Kingdom come but with hatred and sorrow acknowledge that other lords besides thee have had dominion over us to save us therefore and to confound them Let thy Kingdom come Our creation possession and future expectation makes discernable the infinit distance betwixt those powers whom we obey and God whom we ought to obey who not only hath authority over us but exerciseth the same in so gentle ample and so affectionat manner that reason should induce us to forsake those intricat labyrinths inconsolat services and filthy undertakings in which and wherein our lusts and hellish masters have and do so deeply engage us and make us swear allegiance devouting our selves unto the Crown of Heaven the Laws whereof being comfortable just good and holy A crook-back was not under the Law to approach to offer bread before the
full of saith and fear of God dare not open his mouth to sin against him which alone constitutes true wisdom and with these being replenished with hope and charity and and all other vertues Iesus Christ may reign in him and in all other that the Lord Iesus Christ being known of all to be the only begotten Son of the Father and whom they shall visibly perceive coming from Heaven to judge quick and dead and upon that score ought to be known feared obeyed and worshipped of all by addressing to his Kingdom in their belief of the Gospel and swearing allegiance to his Crown in receiving the Sacraments thereof 2. For the Saints felicity eternal Labouring in the earth causeth weariness and makes the work-man eye the Sun to behold its hight there being no cloath capable to dry the eyes of the penitent save the Robe of glory It is here intreated for that tears not only in themselves but in their causes and occasions may for ever be removed from them and never admitted where they are to the interruption of their joy Alexander hearing Anaxagoras evincing the existency of many worlds wept because he had conquered scarce one The believer from the principles of eternal wisdom hath collected the being of a world where shall be no night neither properly nor metaphorically understood the want of which considering his present habitation causeth him with Mary weep yet looking up with a phosphere redde diem Come Lord Iesus come quickly All the possessions Abraham enjoyed were but poor in his eye so long as Childless give any of his faithful sons an extract of earthly pleasures they are contemned because heavenless and St. Paul's Cupio dissolvi I desire to depart senseth this Petition Though this Pronoun THY give the property of this Kingdom unto God yet as the bread we eat is His first and next by saith Ours so is this Kingdom the truth of God having engaged it self in a promise to us that we shall possess it both as his and our inheritance The other Petitions admitt of no demurr no delay and are therefore in our faithful arguing attended with a desire of dispatch for his will must be done now and this day we must have our daily bread but this alone hath the continuation of days in the Court of Conscience and therefore may be called a Petition of hope living in hope yet such an one that maketh not ashamed in regard it is for a Kingdom which will come though for a while it may tarry 3. For our Fathers Kingdom universal When the end cometh Christ shall deliver up the Kingdom unto God that is the Kingdom of his Mediator-ship at which the Kingdom of Grace shall end the Son himself as man becoming subject to the Father that God may be all in all then Heavens Gates shall be shut there being no more to enter and Hell shut Devils rambling being no more to be tolerat the harvest being then gathered and no more seed to be sowen the elect glorified there being no more to be called but God ruling having brought into subjection all that either denyed him or defyed him where begins his Kingdom of Glory For that time wherein God is enjoyed without Ordinances and praised without adversaries sin and death being abolished and an immediat union with God acquired is this Petition offered that the supream dominion of the great God may be hastned and a final close put to all things by folding up of the sheets of time where ends the Kingdom of Providence The changes and mutations the framings as we may call them which attend the Kingdom of Grace have caused it to be called Regnum lapidis the Kingdom of a stone the fixedness perpetuity of the Kingdom of glory is called Regnum montis the Kingdom of the Mountain the other being but as a stone hewen or hewing for that immovable and eternal Kingdom therefore its approaches this Petition is numbred among our dayly prayers Yet for a caution it may be added that this is necessary to be heeded viz. that their cause had need to be good who long for and presse after the coming of the Iudge Remember thy faults therefore implore a pardon be circumspect in thy way purifying thy soul by faith abiding in hope dwelling in love and then call Thy Kingdom come and the Lord will hasten his word to perform it for his own glory to thy comfort Thy Kingdom come WE are now to examine the steps and methods by which this Kingdom comes for coming denots a progressive and an advancing motion our Father having authority over it as the Centurion if he say go it goeth if come it cometh Prepare ye therefore the way of the Lord and make his paths straight In our endeavouring to clear first its motion next uses from that motion Man being in Scripture interpretatively every creature we shall not speak much of his Kingdom of providence wherein his regiment over the creatures is manifested but eying especially that of his Grace and Glory which his goodness is pleased to represent in this prayer with its face and favour towards us c. The coming and compleating of his authority by grace ought to be prayed for upon many considerations its regiment being as yet imperfect impeded and ost obnubiâ—ated It s regiment is imperfect The tallest Christian is but of a low stature and the wisest studieth most to increase in wisdom the utmost that St. Paul could reach unto was with his mind to serve the Law of God his flesh still observing that of sin and every good man being two men and divided in himself ought to endeavour more and more freedom from that law of death There is no Wheat without its Chass nor Rose without its Thorne nor saith without its doubt nor heart without its lust yea the Moon wants not her Spots nor the Sun its Eclipses unto which the Church is compared when in her greatest beauty nor army even with banners without its own care and fear unto which she is also likened when she is most terrible It s regiment is also impeded There are enemies in the coasts possessing strong sorts hindering grace in her noble atchievments Schisms Divisions Heresie Idolatry Scandals Prophanness hinder the marches of the King of Saints as craggy rocks do the passage of Kings of the Nations Saying depart from us that is turn from us which includes a removing of him intended by them that they may remain free This people hath a revolting heart saith the Prophet they are revolted they are gone They say go the other sayes depart both being against his approaches and dominion Pardon the application if we take the wings of the morning and flee to the uttermost parts of the earth Satans power sins law lusts dominion is resisting Christs nearer communion with his Church There shall be sound Pride in Armour
entailed upon it The Law must not be meditated only upon in our Thoughts but in our Conversation in our Exercises and in our Life if we would be blessed for the doing of which God must prepare the will and that preparation ought to be requested of God Abraham must leave his Countrey and the Abraham must sacrifice his Son the devout must go to the house of the God of Iacob and be taught his wayes and all must go to the house of Prayer and with David say Teach me to do thy will I say Must yet their going is to be out of Love rather then Necessity for it is good obedience to do our Lords will for fear of hell or staining our profession but it is better to obey our Master out of respect and veneration Zeno held him good who knew what he ought to do but he was the best who gave obedience to the things he was advised justly to do but God accounts him neither good nor best good nor knowing who will not pray Thy will be done that is let thy Precepts be obeyed 2. It respects our chastisements and then thy will be done eyes our patience Transeat calixâ—iste Father if it be thy will let this cup pass from me was a prayer of God the Son and shall his corrections be grumbled at by man the servant Our Father hath rods of several sorts and in feeling the sharpest we ought to be dumb because he doth it Patience is a vertue common to us with God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ he bearing with our evils endures both the evil and the good we degenerat if we endure not hardship as good Souldiers and put our so be it to his fiat and our Amen to his Intentions saying with Pauls followers the will of the Lord be done Thime is a most bitter and dry herb yet not only the Apothecary by his Art can draw a wholesome oyl out of it but the Bees also by nature do extract from thence sweet honey affliction is bitter to the taste of men yet out of it may be drawn an oyl for a wounded conscience and honey to delight the spiritual taste oyl out of the nature of afflictions which are chastenings and honey out of their cause which is Gods love Yea from the initiatory letters of the word Virgâ— a Rod one draws five arguments for its laying on and to the sincere and devout soul they are so many arguments for its bearing The 1. is Verecundiae excitatio for causing shamefulness The 2. is Ignaviae profligatio for removing flugishness The 3. is Rationis informatio to inform our Judgment The 4. is Gratiae gloriae conciliatio to conciliat us to grace and glory The last Amoris virtutum procreatio to stir up in us a love of vertue and therefore even in relation to troubles say Thy will be done How oft had that blessed English Martyr Bradford fiat voluntas Domini in his mouth before his burning once it was Gods good will be done another time it was Oh Lord into thy hands I commit it meaning his life Come what will only sanctifie thy Name in me c. And another time it was I shall shortly be burned in Smithfield it is said the will of the Lord be done And in an exhortatory Letter he said speaking of Christ pledge him in his cup of the Cross and you shall pledge him in the cup of his Glory c. For to suffer is not enough being bound in a holy willingness to take the cup that is yeeld to his chastisements making that our act by patience which may be Satans in malice and wicked mens by wrath or revenge yea if by holy Hallelujahs we discover the freedom of our soul in receiving what for righteousnesse the ungodly world lays upon us his will is thereby singularly accomplished 3. It respects our selfishness and then thy will be done eyes our submissiveness When God was beating upon and working against Pharaoh as a Rock in the Sea he stood fixed and would not let Israel go through haghtiness and perversness of mind and will but as Abraham in the case of Sacrificing his Son remieted nothing to the suffrage of his will or wisdom of any so must we indispensibly depend upon the wisdom and will of God without offering to dispute the reasonableness of the command being with him undoubtedly perswaded the prescripts of God are just because he wills them and wills them because just so that for our patient suffering we ought to have no other mandat then his providence working and unto this though cross to us we ought to say Welcome be the will of God Those who murmared were destroyed of the destroyer and in the Gospel-sense it is good measure to suffer patiently sed cumulus est but it is heaped and running over when in servency of spirit denying our selves we embrace the cross and obey the providence left not enduting but stubbornly maligning what from men may be imposed or reported we be destroyed of the destroyer by Gods smiting us in the Ministry of Angels into a desperat sense of our hainous solly In this as we are taught let us practise and not our own but let his will be done being instructed in this Petition to renounce and quit that will which is our own and if the Holy Ghost will have the right-hand-blessing fall by Israels benediction upon the head of Ephraim the younger Ioseah must be thankful yea more Manâ—sseh though the elder must rejoice 4. It respects our dulness and then they will be done eyes our readiness And may be interpreted Let our loins be girded that is let us be prepared always for the work of God and the time past of our life sufficing us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles walking in lussciviousness lusts excess of wine c. in which being dead our aim was the advancing and answering the command of such noysome lusts whereof being now ashamed we pray the removal and for obtaining life and spiritual heat to shake off those encumbrances as Revellings Banquettings and abominable Inolatries yeelding to the directions of the Holy Spirit with an acceptable alacrity saying unto temptations of that sort touching the soul not how shall I wash it but with the Spouse though in a better sense How shall I again defile it Though the will of God ad longum â—at large be shown unto the Church in the Old and New Testament and ought therefore to be there studied after in its bulk yet there are specialities which chiefly as most necessary because most comprehensive are more remarkably to be noticed and in a religious quest singularly to be heeded For though all the Scriptures of God are true and to be received yet this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Iesus Christ came into
To these we might add a third viz Gods goodnesse to the body At the giving of the Law he gave man six dayes to work for its upholding and at the ordering of prayer you see he allowes one Petition for the same end the Ravens brought Elisha bread and flesh to eat and the brook did afford him water in a drought here lest natural strength should sail and the body languish by immoderat fasting we are advised to pray for all these in this one word bread notwithstanding our attendance about Heavenly doctrine To these three might be added a fourth that is our charity to all in the body We say not Me but Vs and Our bread which phrase is as wide as the sea and as large as the earth and commands us to pray for bread to all in the flesh or in the Lord our glory and honour not consisting in our wealth strength youth beauty nor in nothing of the worlds product but he that gloryeth let him glory in this that he knoweth and seeketh after God and releaseth his poor servants laying up in them a good foundation against the time to come For charity is omnium Artium quaestuosissima the most enriching trade delivering us from the power of death providing us oyl for our lamps fitting us for the great wedding and building for us everlasting habitations And in this case the words of Pius the second Pope may be applied to an officious Chambersain hindering true information of affairs Knowest thou not I have the Papacy for others rather then for my self Let the Reader put in Wealth Riches Power Honour in place of Papacy and he may learn his duty Prepare your appetites for receiving as God shall direct us to distribute this bread in our old method by shewing first the matter and next the order of this Petition the former we lay before you in four pieces 1. The thing asked that is bread 2. The manner it is askad by and that is imperative give us 3. What kind of bread we ask and that is our own our bread 4. The time wherein we ask this our own bread which is this day If there remain any fragments we shall gather them together putting them in the basket of the word dayly which shewes the extension how long we would have this bread given us which is dayly or day by day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bread so called from its fitnesse for us it being fit as a staff for an old man or from its perfectnesse as having all other things under the crust thereof so eminently that it is conceived the Roman word Panis is from the Greek word Pan as if it had every thing in it or all things understood by it it may be deduced from the word Pascendo as if it alone sed men or were his proper because chief food Our Saxon Ancestors called it Brood the Germains now Brot whence probably comes now the word Bread and all from the Greek Brotus that is Meat in a most emphatick sense all meats yea the least of meats being generally unwholesome if not loathsome without bread so that bread by interpretation is all things necessary for the being or well-being of man and a sufficiency of them in that which is most necessary and most excellent which is BREAD and here dayly to be demanded and having it to conclude we have sufficiency of food Ordo petitionum cogit me saith a great Cardinal the method of the Prayer enforceth me by bread to understand not that of the body but of the soul as the Gospel and the Sacraments c. to which sense many of the Ancients do adhere and many Romish Interpreters but he erred not that undestood it de utroque of them both But to the Cardinals ordo I oppose a Jesuites existimatio existimamus nihilominus for all that saith he we conclude that here we are to understand corporal or bodily bread It is observed that where bread hath a mystical signification there is added some word to discover its mytaphysick sense as the bread of God bread from Heaven bread of life c. which insorceth a spiritual sense but as it stands here there is no circumstance insringing its literal interpretation all things divine or spiritual being couched in the other Petitions thy Kingdom come and thy will be done and yet in a remote sense soul-bread may be an orthodox glasse relating to Christ and the blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist but in its proximat signification we shall understand it vulgarly for the ordinary staff of life with the consent of reformed Interpreters Take then Reader thy bill and for bread and in bread and with bread write down meat drink raiment strong house wholsome air upright friends good neighbours honest servants dutiful children and a vertuous wife understand also prudent Magistrates wise Counsellours a fruitful Soyl and a peaceable Countrey for all these are good and profitable to men for these the best of men have prayed and these also hath God promised to his people The Pilgrim may have bread in his Budget yet perish on the top of Snowy Mountains the Mariner his Bisket and his Bottle yet be swallowed up by insulting waves the diseased may have the learned'st Medicinal receipts yet be Bedrid None of which things being congruously reducible to the other Petitions they relating immediatly to God ought in equity if not in necessity to be brought to this Petition as their proper continent All of them being necessary for life comfortable for life helpers to a godly life and enjoyed and prayed for by the godly in this life 1. Necessary for life This is so natural a truth that though the Scripture shew'd not famine to be a Judgment we were able by the light of Nature to read punishment in the looks of the very bruit Bread is called the staff of life and that is sometimes broke implying by its breaking either the want of all corn provision or withdrawing from the grain its natural strength and vigour whereby it having nourishment men â—aint for it is bread that strengthens mans heart Consult man in his highest attainments and the miseries in which he is envalp'd maketh his condition deplorable and to individuat the same in prayer would make devotion and his other affairs incompatible wherefore by an holy Synecdoche we here have part for the whole God our Father knowing how to apply our sense of desiring bread to the present or soreseen exigence we are or shall be under The Sea-man senseth it calm winds the eye of providence discerns a necessity of baiting a leak The Traveller means it good accommodation the Father graciously adds liberation from Robbers one may want sleep in a soft and another cannot get it in a hard bed thus mans calamities cumulat themselves and multiplied against him he is taught to encounter all prevent all to pray against all
both soul-bread and corporall bread unto us it is still his but ours that is which is designed for us So is Christ ours that is necessary for us So is Christ ours that is that which is fitted for us and suitable to our condition So is Christ lastly ours that is such as thou useth to give us that is Christ daily offered in the Gospel Give us our daily bread is Feed us Lord continually with that bread came down from Heaven that Word that was made flesh the food both of Angels and Men that was made known in breaking of bread that is in revealing the great mystery of thy two Natures and give it us day by day that our faith languish not our souls weary not and that wee faint not before wee reach our home Yea give it us daily for thy day O Lord hath no night nor shaddow of darkness 4. Against verbosity To stretch out a prayer by enumerating particulars possibly ridiculous is against this form the word being so narrow and short that it passeth in the twinkling of an eye yet so immensly broad that only our lives shall measure it for though day or daily be in it yet this day hath no night and if it have it is by intepretation rest in sleep security of goods freedom from sinful dreams visions terrours or what ever can interrupt our sweet and natural repose It considers the man and allows him bread raiment and rest the Souldier and allocats to him fair and good quarter provides approved Armour competent Ammunition with a strong line of Circumvallation It beholds the Prince and gives him Majesty and Honour with competency of wisdom to his Officers and Counsellours Prudence and Faithfulness and to his Throne Honourable succession from his own loynes the express prayer of the primitive Church and in a word like a well drawn Picture it takes inspection upon all that enter the chamber of this world giving milk to babes meat to the strong a book to the Scholler a goad to the driver skill to the Pilot and all to each of those in all things wherein their earthly â—elicity doth competently subsist or which it any way respects Absit ergo Avoid therefore in prayer much talking or wording contrary to this manner for long speaking and true praying are different have thou Reader servency and love and thy prayer if not so designed or wished for as we have said before cannot be short groans and tears sincerity and repentance being infinitly more efficacious then breathing and bawling I say bawling for because of that and some other vices which we have heard to fall from the mouths of many in prayer if demanded what we liked best we might reply with Theocritus when interrogat by an inept Poet which of his works most pleased him smartly answered the works thou hast omitted And the truth is some delighted to be in publick so particular that the service was tedious which yet was the least fault and the expression base their language scurril smelling of Kitchin-stuff or fat of the Pot to the reproach of the blessed Ordinances of Prayer and Fasting and causing them to beget Devils in many to my own knowledge but casting out very few c. What a Father said of Constantius may be said of such and therefore let not their sin be imitated that under pretence of honouring the Gospel they disgraced it and slew Religion under the notion of healing it Leaving themselves without all excuse and became the most guilty amongst sinners in resusing this prayer both as to its words and meaning the brevity thirof being one of three things wherein our Saviour shewed his wisdom in its composing unto which with the other two viz of adoring only God secretly expressed in Father of Modesty in our asking throughout the whole prayer he hath asfixed this command Pray after this manner Which precept brought to dayly bread orders that in prayer we learn duties of opennesse submissivenesse diligence and contentednesse 1. Oppennesse It was and is strange to hear how some will torture their invention for abstruse words to expresse themselves in prayer beyond the rule of all ordinary Grammar whereas in prayer every word ought to be as plain as bread give me said one to a Garagantum-talker the lives of the Ancients but our own countrey-mens words God says the same to thee in all prayer and commands the rejectment of words obsolete that men may speak to be understood not gazed at and pray to edifie not stupifie their hearers in these words Pray after this manner 2. Submissivenesse Bread we ask but how much or of what kind we determine not Non carnes non pisces we ask no flesh no fish nor any superfluous thing but food convenient if we have therefore bread though course cloathing though plain convenient for our station apposite for our degree we ought to acquiesce in the providence having no warrant to ask more neither is it fit for all to wear silk nor for every Israelite to wear a crown with David or guide an army with Ioab but every one to move within his own sphear keeping his calling for purchasing dayly bread 3. Diligence Give us our bread shews there is a store within doors procured by prayer and work from the hand of God which we are not sloathfully to lavish but prudently to manage for his honour whose it is even while it is between our teeth Yea is it not one character of a good man to watch the house lest the thief break in and not to be a prey to the â—â—athen but to dwell safely is a blessing from the Lord yet hark keep it not too closs from the poor and indigent remembâ—ing that the Mannaâ— did stink when too greedily gathered though it fell from Heaven Expell therefore avarice as an enemy to thy family and be not diligent over much lest thou come to rags avoid covetousnesse love righteousnesse be beneficent the consequences whereof is here liberty and hereafter glory 4. Contendednesse Bread we ask and pass forward to other necessaries as pardon of sin freedom from temptation c. Being in all affairs to study the retention of these two eminent vertues innocency and patience with which we shall never want The crums refused to Lazarus was bread and the rich mans sumptuous fare was but bread Daniels pulse and water was bread and the Kings royal fare was but bread the husks of the swine was bread to the Prodigal and his Fathers feast and satted calf was but bread so that contendednesse is in all conditions to be exercised lest in the multitude of temptations leannesse befall our souls Certainly the skillfull gluttony of our times our great and daily sacrifices to the belly offered up with as much alienation of mind from the decency that our natures professions and Religion ought to be adorned with as were the profligat
we are thankful It is ours when sanctified unto us by the Word of God and Prayer and not only our bread but our board our bed are not ours untill they be blessed in the Name of the Lord as Boaz did his Reapers in the Harvest Field Hence may be defended that pious practice of blessing the table before and after meat a duty among many others thrust from the houses of some impiously a practice put to attend too base services in the Chambers and Halls of others ridiculously yet used Apostolically is a soveraign sawce to help concoction and prevent crudities in the Conscience and belchings arising from an oppressed soul. To leave such whose hateful acts in this kind denominant them either Swine arising from sleep and eats and from eating goes to sleep again or which is more troublesome Rats their whole time being consumed in running up and down the world making a hideous noise tearing cloaths and eating victuals I say to leave them condemned by the old Jews our blessed Saviour our Religious primitive Predecessors let others do it with the sign of the Crosse let us blesse our meat as did our Saviour with lifted up eyes and a Father we thank thee remembring that it is his bread by gift and ours only by acceptance and only then received when we are blessed 1. By owning him the giver of all our bread 2. In receiving it soberly not as wanton children crumbling it down for it is bread 3. In dividing it charitably for there are at thy door who want bread 4. In admiring his wisdom in fitting thee with bread As meat it is nomen officii and imports similitude to the eater otherwise it is not meat hence it is said that mans bread is a Hawks poyson 5. In not binding our affections to earthly bread Of all Petitions relating unto man this is first and immediately before that for remitting sin shewing saith one it is the first sinners care fâ—â— yet following all those which relates to Heaven it being the least that Saints regard It is said of a holy man that he saw four sorts of men glorified in Heaven one was the obedient man another was the self-denied man and the fourth was the thankful whether this sight was seen or not I dispute not but this from the Scriptures may be seen that the thankful man shall be glorified An Hosaunah in the Hall or Temple for the bread sent us a moderat use and eating of the bread before us it being just to say of it as the Apostle orders of wine a little for we are to eat for our infirmity and not for our lust and walking to the glory of God in and by the strength of our bread and sending a portion to the hungry of the bread left us in regard our Lord Iesus Christ must not be put away without a quantum for if we be not nigards our Lord will not be far from us yea so near us that we shall know him in the naked in the blind in the hungry or in the crying man and of their sadness thou art bound to say as did Socrates of Aristarchus melancholy What aileth thee make this trouble known to us thy friends it may be we can relieve thee All this being thus done maketh all thy other enjoyments as well as thy bread thy OWN Yet further and for caution Our bread it must be not anothers our Prayer being limited to our own portion as well in our affection as in the Petition Take heed and beware of covetousnesse by expounding our bread to be that upon our Table when by oppression stealth or plunder it hath been taken by force or fraud from another Knowing that good men with Socrates hold him the richest who is most contented with his own just gotten goods and purchased bread though sruall which is implied in the word bread in which he is rich in the judgment of the same Philosopher who hath a competency for himself and a modicum left for others implied in the word our bread another mans bread being one of those many things whereby this world this life is accounted miserable comfortlesse despicable and angust Liberius being banished under Constantius from his Episcopal Chair of Rome when offered money for supplying his necessaries by Eusebius the Eunuch Tu Ecclesias orbis terrae expilasti c. thou lives by robbing of the Churches of Christ and dost thou think I though condemned shall prove thy Beadsman Say the like to thine own soul when rape becometh thy husbandry and work to eat thy own bread Give us this day our daily bread THis day denoting the time wherein this Petition is offered and the term unto which it is limited is this hour cum Deo to be opened and for our entry know that though day and night be set opposite in Genesis yet not in Matthew day in the Hebrew hath its name from stirr and business or motion and flying in the Greek from its light and shining and in it we must labour for our bread that we may have food for our bellies the English Saxon expressing it Dag as is thought from Dego to live as if in nights darkness our spirits being lock'd vitality may be questioned this is clear that meat for our bellies cloaths for our backs bed for our bodies drink for our throats whether day or night are even pleasant to think upon and in the light as the light delectable to behold Let us see the import of the word day and its influence on Prayer as it respects the rule so pray ye In the light of DAY we by this Sun of Righteousnesse can clearly read these four following particulars 1. Contentednesse with our enjoyments though little we ask not store for years months or weeks neither are our bellies as insatiable as the grave but satisfied if we have for it this day that is in the Proverbs Language from hand to mouth so that at first dash that improbitatis metropolin that elementa malorum that fountain of wickednesse that ground-stone of all evil covetousnesse either in desiring more then enough or retaining what is left of enough is here dam'd up and removed We may be cold hungry and sick yet we are still to be content with the cloaths meat or portion God gives he best knowing what when or how much is best for us and most for our good Here are saith one six words eying the Roman tongue all speaking in grosse content Let us be more particular then he and shew how in the English here are seven words including that vertue particularly GIVE by this we shew our content to be begging VS by this we shew our content to be sharing THIS DAY by this we shew content with our living and if he please with our removing OVR by this we shew content to be working DAYLY by this we shew content upon his providence to be depending
with the blood tears and sighs of the widows orphans wherewith the other delicats receive a hough-gough he shall rejoyce in his penury and say of their plenty let me not eat of their dainties The Lacedemonians regarded not wealth pleasure delicates nor abundance but made it their care to have strong sound bodies which Portion is evidently seen to be entailed to that Family where scantnesse is at board and the reason is known to the Scripturist the Lord preserving the stranger he relieving the father lesse and widow though not so well to the heathen who yet knew but I know not what way that goodnesse and poverty were sisters I have seen the Scelet of a famous Queen and really it appeared not so lovely as the bones and sculls in ordinary Charnel-houses on such as adorn the Frontispiece of common Graves so that even of bones we might answer with him who being asked why the poor had generally more thriving children then the rich answered The rich was at their own keeping the poor at Gods that is trusts more to it riches oft causing forgetfulnesse of God Hence one speaking of them whose prayers God principally heareth mentioneth the Penitent the faithful the afflicted but maketh the prayer of the poor to begin his roll Demonax the Philosopher never travelled with Coyn but when hungry step'd in at the first open door and got supply yet dying in his hundred year was honourably buried upon the publick charge And if this be thought stale or antick let the Water Poet be reflected upon who travelled from London to Edinburgh and from that to many places and from that to London again entertaind with the best drank of the best and eat most times of the best yet never spent penny borrowed never penny and begged never a penny and chearfully wrot his travels for his own mirth the Readers wonder and this Kingdoms fame and particularly this Cities honour neither dare I exclude Gods glory the Poet having religious aâ—imad versions We never read that either Christ of his Apostles begged yet they had no lands our Saviour made no Testament yet got both a Tomb and a Winding-sheet Remember poor man that seven loaves did seed many thousands bread multiplying bread either upon the table the Apostles hands or in the eaters mouth Pray for a blessing thy piece of bâ—ead thy quarter loaf may be commanded to 〈◊〉 in thy mouth thy stomack and in thy bowels for strengthening of thy body a higher degree then they who have their coâ—â—â—y â—iands their flately chynes yea if thou want it say My â—on God will provide us one and depend It was a strange yet true prodigy and wonder of love that in a great death in England Anno Dom 1555. there grew about Orford in Suffolk upon hard and solid Rocks where grasse or earth was never seen to grow without tillage or sowing a rich crop of Pease and there was in August gathered above one hundred quarters saith my Author that is two hundred bolls and in blossoming remained as many more growing immediately still from the hard Rock Meditate upon this in the night season and consider the widows oly enlarged untill her debt was payed and Hagars empty bottle was at last filled for the keeping alive her Son Once more observe Conveniency of food ought to be all our prayer our daily bread nec amplius vult he will have us to ask that but no more such as follow us to abate the edge of hunger in our travelling through this vale of Bacha and the sufficiency not to be required for it self but propter salutem corporis for the health of the body which possessing in praying for daily bread the continuance of it is desired but if it be wanting the obtaining of it is sued for in Give us this day our daily bread It is well said of an holy man that semper Dives est Christiana paupert as the poor Christian hath greater and larger possessions then the rich having more good things about him having God and in him a sufficiency yea an overflowing of all delectable things for if a Cup of cold water be rewarded and the widows mite be praised there shall be always some to shew mercy to such who have been merciful to others From all which we inferr this threesold duty 1. Look backward upon your life and praise him Noah builded an Altar after his deliverance from the stood and David composed a Psalm alter victory we have out-lived the sword the pestilence and famine and shall there be no song of triumph have we purchased our daily bread by a da nobis our prayers and shall there be no tuum est Regnum no Hosannah to our Father which art in Heaven for praise 2. Look forward supposing life and depend upon him Should the poorest of us all cast up our yearly expences they would amount to a pretty sum He is hearty at fourscore years and it may be never had so many farthings free together if his bounty hath flowed untill now trust his beneficence and distrust not though thy strength fail Let the worst be suggested and blessed are the religious poor for they only possesse their souls under arrest or confiscation in the keeping of which they cannot want their bread an omnipotent and invisible arm affording out of an immense Treasury sufficient to keep his servants soul alive Young Cyrus at a richly furnished Table begged liberty to do what he pleased gave one to this and another dish to that man and to a third another for teaching him to ride c. as thinking it against health to seed upon variety if God a greater King then Cyrus give this rich quâ—ntum to one and that to another and give the strength health sound sleep and a cheery heart with thy pittance thou hast enough yea abundance 3. Look present on passing life and be content The richest of us all can have but a belly-full and what they have more is not theirs if the poors bowels be not empty they may be said to be both rich alike The multitude had their fare but we read not that they got the fragments and without them having sufficient for the day we ought to be grateful Bread being a help to life not the end of life pleads at our hands industry for its acquisition It was poverty after high prodigality that made Aristotle both wise and samous and pinches ought to make us importunatly presse God for bread for food and raiment as the very words of this Prayer imports curbing our mouths girthing our bellies composing all disputes about what shall we eat in commanding us to call and allowing us but to call for our daily bread this day The matter of this Petition being discuss'd the order is to be next viewed and it is easie to behold that the Petitions relating to the Kingdom
will he is a spectator and beholder as in that case of the Babylonish Ambassadors and Hezekiah whereas he withheld Abraham from sacrificing Isaac by a contrary precept leaving the other to himself for discovery of himself This is excellently figured under that parable of King Iames of a Nurse having a child but beginning to go who may be said justly to make the child fall if she leave it alone knowing it hath no strength without help for self-supportance so God Almightly as before is said is said to lead us into when he leaves us in temptation and though he can say little or nothing that cometh after that King yet for the case in hand it may be said though the Nurse may be shent yet God is not to be blamed for his relinquishing For 1. He is not oblidged to hold us up 2. We oft conceit our selves to be strong 3. We had once strength and he is not bound to repair broken sinews 4. He can cure us and make us better And 5. Such as falls blame themselves never God Iudas an Achab go not without their own heart charging themselves with the production of sin And it may be attested also from reason that God is not the Author of sin there being no evil work without the precedency of an evil will which floweth not from him as is apparent from the nature of God the Law of God the nature of sin and the bitternesse of the death of Christ. The nature of God being once known darknesse may be thought to flow from the Sun as soon as clearly as sin can be suggested to originat from him when the root of all sweetnesse shall be embittered and the Suns darknesse in his Eclipse be defended as proceeding from its self then and not before can sin in reason be thought to proceed from God he tempting no man that is to evil The Sun-beams light on a Carrion and also on a flower that the one is sweet the other not proceeds not from the Planets influence but from the delicacy or rottennesse of the thing scented The Musician stricketh on an ill-tuned instrument that it soundeth indeed he is cause but that it soundeth ill emergeth from the vitiosity of the instrument yea what though our shallow judgments sathom not the Abysse of Gods innocency rather let us charge our selves of ignorance then him of injustice for to use the words of our Royal Expositor and a Father in so high a point it is fit for every man sapere ad sobrietatem to be wise unto sobriety Respect the expresse will of God or his Scriptures and their aim scope design energy and end is to bind curb and destroy sin It was in mans redemption said to mankind sin no more and the Apostles praying preaching amounted to this dearly beloved abstain from fleshly lusts Behold also the nature of sin and it is a departing from God it is called a work of darknesse and by it the flesh striveth against the Spirit evidencing that the wise God gave no consent to its being for who would appoint a power to check and restrict himself and though none of these might yet the bloudinesse of the death of Iesus the strong cryes he put up the bloody sweat he suffered the shamefull and painfull death he under-went for the expiating its guilt the destroying of its work cleareth his detestation thereof to all which add that in the highest accusations of an awakened conscience the sinner roareth against himself for yeelding not God for leading him into temptation Once more consider there is in sin two things First the Act and next the Deformity or obliquity in that Act. The strength by which the Murtherer puts forth his hand is from God but that he doth it to kill is from another efficient The rider causeth his horse to go but if he halt it proceds from some debility in the beasts nerves Iudas eyes saw the money which was from God his fingers told the money from him also but the sin for which he had it he chargeth solely and wholely upon himself Gods giving up the Gentiles to vile affections to a reprobat mind implyeth not his Agency therein but the Retaining of his grace and leaving them to themselves being otherwise not bound to do as was the Nurse in the above-mentioned similitude And the same serves to answer if the Lord be said to be the cause of the defection of the ten Tribes from the house of David with this addition that when it is said to be of him it is understood of the disposing the proper causes thereof for the punishment of Rehoboam and fulfilling the Prophecy made against Solomon quoniam qui providenter atque omnipotenter he in his wisdom being able to rule all things whether good or evil for his own purpose The cause of Iudas selling Christ was Covetousnesse Pilats crucifying him was for Fear all was of God that is the ordering of these things for production of the great end of mans redemption Fore note his permitting sin is not otiosa a bare looking on to behold it and no more neither is it Tyrannica as to command its actions or approve its workings neither is it libera as if sin were not under his providence and had liberty to run and come where and how far it pleased his permission being determinativa determinative he appointing how far it shall go and further then his Law neithe Iews nor Pilat nor Iudas nor sin nor the Devil can go Iesus may be put to death but who can hinder his assuming life again it being so determined by God A Hermite oft deluded by the Devil being taught and having heard many things from him supposing he had been an Angel of light was at last advised by his Familiar to slay his son who abode in the Cell with him for procuring to himself equality of glory and dignity with Abraham for which glory delirus iste senex dementatus the deluded old man attempted the act of murther but the boy by flight and nimblenesse escaped for and with his life Here was temptation yeelded unto but the sin of the temptation as to its term viz. as it ended or designed the boyes life God frustrated and bound it up that sin could not do it It was for this viz. lest God should be concluded the Author of sin that some of late read or said these words Suffer us not to be led into temptation in stead of lead us not To detect which solly at large were to be like them who said it But this may be said that these indeed were wise and holy in their own conceit that thought the Gospel wanted their pertinency or the Lords Prayer their correction as if Jesus did not know how to teach apposite devotion without their directory why was not Moses refined and that ordinary expression expunged God hardened the heart of Pharaoh but
below stairs when compared to us and our Congregations in the higher rooms 2. More hope for us The people of old did ordinarily draw near God by vertue of their Covenant-relation with confidence yet to us there was a better hope brought in by which we draw nigh to God that is a better Law by which its observers hopes for a better inheritance then an earthly Canaan which both makes us draw near to God and by the same hope God draws nigh to us Bias being questioned what was sweetest to men replyed hope And the knowing Christian will with Iob keep his soul alive while other comforts are fledg'd and gone with this that his Father is in Heaven his Redeemer liveth there The Romanes conjectured good or ill success from the very Preface which ushered-in the debates of their publick affairs which made Severus Augustus speaking to his Army resolve upon a fortunat Proem yet fortune prompted him to a sad prologue Heliogabulus the Emperour being killed c. which was interpreted an ill Omen predicting his own slaughter which Fate verified he being afterward murthered by his own Army But in this Prayer we have a sure ground sor determining the enjoyment of future good whether spiritual for attaining glory in the approach of his Kingdom or temporal for procuring our food by daily bread from the very entry of this form commanding us to say Father which is what one saith all Gospel-precepts are nothing less then laying the foundation of our hope a Pillar for the strengthning of our faith meat for the nourishment of our heart a guide to direct us in journey a garrison wherein we are secure untill we receive eternal glory 3. More honour given to God by us This old name Iehovah shews how he enjoys himself but Father demonstrates he hath begotten us which should draw the more respect by how much our Redemption is more honourable then our Creation the first of which makes the Angels more curious and prying they desiring to look into to the depth of it the rise the cause of it for though they rejoiced at the world because of its beauty yet they wondred that in the world there should be a Mercy-seat so great is the mystery As his redeemed sons we have a precept to command him concerning the work of his hands and therefore the more he is to be reverenc'd for his large proffer and we engaged to stand the more in aw because of his gracious condescendency 2. This tearm Father is a fastning and a more binding style and so suits best with grace The elder Brother did keep at home and served because he was a Son and the younger after a prodigal wasting of his portion returned because he had a Father Our Lord directs us to use this word as every way tying us to oblidged duty to keep at home when in his favour and to return home to prevent his anger It binds us in respect of Christ of Obedience Chastisement Resignment 1. In respect of Christ our Brother He is only the natural and eternal Son of God by whom we have only power to be called Gods Sons and in that regard it is necessary to cleave to him more fast as Ruth to Naomi for death there could and did make a separation but if we would be happy we must die in Christ and afterward rise with him This made the Church call Make haste my beloved and be like a Roe or a young Hart upon the mountains of spices so called from the hight of devotion and the fragnancy of works and conversation that by both I may be carried unto thee meaning Christ and by thee to the Heavens which are mountains because of their highness and mountains of spices because of their sweetness Jesus sitting as Mediator praying for us as oft as he hears us pray Our Father knowing his merits must be our shield and buckler untill we be past Gun-shot 2. In respect of obedience in our whole nature The all-wise God took this course to keep his people from apostacy and commanded them to say My Father and they again doubted not to come after backsliding because he was the Lord their God whence floweth the precepts of imitation that as obedient children we do not fashion our selves according to former lusts but in speech eyes in heart to be perfect as he is perfect that is in sanctity mercy and pity having a double of the Law and exact copy of his will written in our hearts for facilitating our studies 3. In respect of chastisement for our misdemeanour Some dogs when beat and servants when reproved will run from their Masters and howl but an ingenuous child when corrected will draw towards his Father and cry It was prettily said of a little one when chastised Mother kiss me and whip me again yet possibly the same infant would have strugled and have sought if but frowned upon by a stranger To roar against or complain of God holds forth no sign of son-ship since correction is a character and consequent thereof and therefore to be patiently undergone Even earthly parents chastising it may be out of spleen passion for their pleasure will be endured by their children or at least much of it since they are also flesh and not to be provoked how much more ought that Father to be tolerat whose commands in his Prophets Law and in his Gospel command what is just holy and good never smiting for transgressing thereof but for our profit that we might be partaker of his holiness and glory which should never be inherited were we left to our wantonness wickedness or folly This last made the covetous Emperour Mauricius endure the beholding and slaughter of his Queen and five sons by that Rebel and Usurper Phocas himself also after them to be likewise murthered with a Iustus es Domine Righteous art thou O Lord and upright are thy Iudgments submitting himself unto and patiently bearing the severity of that sad and sharp providence This Argument may be yet sharpened at the Philistines sorge sor so necessary is it sometimes to be brought under the smart of perplexing dispensations that Zeno being questioned by one of his pupils why he never corrected him smartly replyed Quia non credo because I do not believe Insinuating their want of any hope or sign of goodness in him created his impunity And if you eye God he hath reason to fear his Son-ship and conclude bastardy who is exempted from or doth not patiently endure the Cross. 4. In respect of resignment to the will of the Creator Children leave the nature kind proportion colour of food dyet and apparel to their parents and eat the portion that is carved for them with content and thanks And though perversness in babies should cause them walk cross to this rule yet let us take out of the Lords
hands the presented morsel of whatsoever kind Knowing that like an indulgent parent if we receive this or that contentedly from him he may give us choice and liking in all other matters and study like a father to please us being obedient in cloaths or money He that peruseth Solomons Dream with the Response thereof may understand the meaning of this rule Christ prayed to his Father for deliverance from the bitter Cup and though S. Matthew shews he drank it yet S. Paul relates he was heard in what he asked but how he submitted to his Fathers will and Angels comâ—orted and strengthned him so against fear that with a daring Majesty he faced those murtherers with an I am he Behold the Handmaid of the Lord said Mary Be it unto me according to thy word Let us be ready for service and we shall be crowned with the reward In all things let it be according to his Will with us and it shall be his will to do great things for us and as Holy is his Name so holy and just are all his purposes and then are we holy when we know it 4. Father is a more comprehensive stile and so fitter for our weakness As every word in this Prayer hath an ample sense and each Petition of an enlarged nature so this word Father though short in Letters yet of so huge bulk in sense as would puzle Angels to expound When we pray for daily bread we also intreat an easy bed good rest for wholesome meat at home and kind friends without a fair way when we travel for a good horse when we ride sound Ship when we sail and for seemly cloaths when we visit our acquaintance so that the word bread is of a copious nature and this word Father not short of it in signification comprehending Creation Regeneration Preservation Discrimination 1. Our Creation Each son of man is a son of Adam who was the son of God so that our radical being was from him and stamped at first by the hand of his power being Earth with Life Reason and Religion which not only as brethren binds us in affection to one another but as children units our tongues to express this word Pater Father all of us being created by him I have somewhere read that in a firait Lady Elizabeth afterward Queen of England cryed Lord look upon the wounds of thy hands and be merciful to the works of thy own hands 2. Our Regeneration Christ having taught us now under the fall to call Our Father minds us not only that he did make but hath also re-made us At first indeed in Adam we had great possessions and our service altogether praise but by his not paying the contracted fore-quit-rent of exact obedience forefeited his priviledges and we as heirs of his body lost our inheritance and being filii diaboli sons of the devil we are born again and become a-new filii Dei In evidence whereof the eternal Son of the same Father teacheth us confidently in Prayer to call his Father and God our God and Father Iesus the Mediator of the new Covenant having procured peace in Heaven for a re-admission into our heavenly Paradise hath given us power to become the sons of God in our consciences and by the the testimony of the Spirit knowing he came from the bosome of the Father shewing the good Fathers good pleasure of our addressing our selves to him though we have back-slidden with love confidence and joy in our Father Thy Kingdom come c. This to the reprobate cannot be affirmed God in this last sense being no more his Father or they his children spiritually then David the son of Goliah when he sought against him or Pipes and Organs the off-spring of Iubal because he made them 3. Our preservation We can speak and call for help hope look and rejoice in the very expectation of our Fathers succour yea benefactors are called Fathers and where there is a personal agreement to perform all offices of love the recipient from respect may use the appellation Father He gave us milk and life and cloaths appointed for us the weeks of the harvest numbreth our hairs preserveth our bones It s true his Angels have charge over us yet as a Father he hath his eyes upon us though those Angels as servants have a command to lead us sor our greater security Our good things he giveth us as his glory and kingdom evil things he puts far from us as our necessities and debts all desirable things he hath promised us and we believe him because the Kingdom and Power and Glory is his of all which we are to have a share being his off-spring 4. Our Discrimination It is a compellation differencing us from Heathens who know not God the Father from Jews and Turks who believe not in the Son and from all who fight against him as an enemy Tremell that famous Jew and Translator of the Syriack-Bible being at his death asked concerning his faith answered Vivat Christus pereat Barrabas Let Christ live and â—arrabas be crucified Distinguishing himselâ— by this from his blood-thirsty fore-Fathers and numbering himself among those whose confidence was in Jesus which Our Father also doth he adopting us only in his Son 4. Father is a more aluring stile and so more conformable to prayer In our Petitions we are to exercise the Graces of Hope Faith and Charity unto which this title brings in singular supports on Gods part upon mans account 1. On Gods part For we in Prayer can lay hold upon his affection Though we be as grashoppers and unworthy to be admitted to glory yet worthy is the Lamb his Son our Saviour who hath procured it for us in whom his providence saith of us to all his creatures what David said of Absalom to all his Commanders Deal gently with the young man with the old man with the sick person and tender infant for my sake though the Prodigal had spent his All yet because he confides in his Father and returns bemoans and repents he is arrayed with honourable raiment entertained with delicious sare and honoured with melodious musick to chear his heart to beautifie his countenance and attract respect from beholders 2. On our part for we in this life ought to have filial conversation This Prayer is not for dogs and therefore taught only to Sons which we are when we obey reverence and walk in our Fathers footsteps The debauch'dnesse of Angustus Daughters made him call them not children but imposthums boils of his body Shall not God much more reprove reproach them who give out they are begotten of him when the seed of the Serpent remaineth in them and the poyson thereof spreading to the infection of others contrary to duty nature and profession because they confess our Father Our Father THe eminent and transcendent acts by which the Name of Father is assumed by
is of the sons of Abraham ought to have alwayes burning upon the Altar of his heart the fire of holy charity and that to be blown up by the example of the Fathers and Testimony of holy Scripture unto which if we look and take heed the zeal for their own salvation and their brethrens glory that all might fear and declare the work of God and wisely consider of his doing is their chief care according to this rule The Multitude of sinners the fewness of Saints in the throng of professours ought to be seriously reflected upon that faith might bring our brethren in the flesh to Sons of the Spirit that living by the Laws of the Kingdom of God the Scriptures they might be accounted as the subjects of it faithful and worthy to possess the inheritance that fadeth not away the harvest therefore being great pray to the Lord thereof that the idolatrous and prophane which like the Syrians fill the countrey may be listed under the Standart of Jesus and united to Israel which are but as a few Kids that the seekers of the Lords face may be many nay may be all for which provoke one another to love and to good works It was an odd saying of Remigius yet a sad one because true that though the Church hitherto endure they being baptized that were her persecutors yet the Devil is not baptized and plagueth the Church not now or not only by the fury of Pagans but by the harshness ill-will and cruelty of Christians which to put an end unto let each man say as one said Et tu Domine Iesus Lord Jesus where is thy wonted kindness and O Father where is the sounding of thy bowels and remember we have but two commands from God one to love God the other man yet these two are but one love shewing without the one we want the other and by not doing the one we forfeit our interest in the other said a wise man Our zeal ought to extend to the utmost confines of the world for a bringing in of many sons and daughters unto this Kingdom in order to which we are to become Orators for a blessing upon Kings Princes c. That by their power upon Parents that by their authority upon Preachers that by their gravity upon Masters that by their industry the Word of the Lord may run and be glorified and that affectionatly and with ardor of mind Remissness sleepiness and dulness in prayer being one cause publickly declared from heaven in a vision of the eight persecution of the Church under Valerianus 4. His glory is in his Kingdom there is our dignity There is an earnest of the Spirit in the believers soul assuring him of glory and an earnest is part of the bargain so that in his conscience he hath a holy assurance that when ever the Kingdom of God shall appear he shall be crowned in it Here we behold the invisible God by that which is also invisible Munda scil mente vel corde a clean heart and a right spirit which argueth our distance and is at best but a comfortable ignorance but let this Kingdom be revealed and the soul being evacuat of all imperfections freed of all contagious principles or objects shall behold it self in its spiritual beauty to be the off-spring of God and as a Son behold his Fathers naked face in his ineffable glory Have we not made his dominion our choice his Son unto whom this Kingdom is given our joy and shall we not with endeared regard crave that its beautifull and powerfull manifestation be no longer retarded by the hypocrisie of some the intemperance of another the uncleaness of a third the blasâ—hemies of many the malicious quarrellings of most and the false slandrings of idle busie-bodies but as the people gathers to Shiloh the Souldiers to their Colours the Birds to the Carcass so ought we in our several capacities urge fervently the gatherings of all to the Lord of Hosts that it might be no longer with Christians as it was with the Manicheans with whom there was nothing rational nothing certain nothing blamlesse all being doubtful scandalous abominable and absurd That being truly and properly a Kingdom where a King will have such to be his subjects and they will have such an one to be their King and for this the whole creation cryeth with us adveniat Thy Kingdom come The Stars in their courses the Saints in their sufferings cry out how long O Lord holy and true because holy in himself and true in his promise therefore say the Saints judge and avenge our blood which expression being doubled shews desiderium vindicandi a desire of this Kingdom which the Ox at the Plough the Horse on the road the Elements in their motions yea the whole creation in its subjection groans for to be redeemed by it from that vanity under which they are in bondage Have we made his dominion our choice and not fight yea fight for suppressing diverting of all those forces Art can contrive Magick fancy Sacriledge Minister the Devil in the multitude of sinners can suggest or sin in the bloodiness of its aims can muster which if we do not let us be self-condemned as unworthy of its enjoyment when it shall be revealed The Romans at their first entry into Britain were much terrified by the valour and to them by the strange way of the British fighting which being perceived by the Standart-bearer of the tenth Legion he cast himself out of the Ship and assaulted his foes crying aloud Fight my companions except you will betray the Roman Eagle into the hands of the enemy for mine own part I will be faithful to the Common-wealth of Rome and to Cesar my General at which shame and courage animating all the Standart was followed a victory obtained and Britain subdued Let this exhilerat this Age whose remissness I might say whose perversness suffers the glory of the Cross of Christ and the government of Jesus to be betrayed to the hands of sin and sinners the zeal of his house being so far from consuming us or from eating of us up that we suffer both it and our selves to be swallowed up by hell and destruction I mean strife and division Consider what this Kingdom produceth which we may call its In-land Commodity and our zeal shall become importunat that consisting in peace righteousnesse joy in the Holy Ghost the two former are the leaves of the door that admits us into the latter for we have first righteousness by our faith freeing us of sin and then peace hushing all our passions then cometh joy by our here expecting and afterward enjoying our reward which three we glimmeringly enjoy in the Kingdom of grace below but shall receive them in their Meridian lustre in that Kingdom of glory above having righteousness without sin iniquity being taken away peace without disturbance