things so in suppressing of sin to call for divine aid and to flee to that rock of reâ—uge impregnable against all assaults saying Deliver me O Lord from mine enemies for I flee unto thee It desires that God may so reign in us that sin and death may cease to reign over us being weakned in their strength blasted in their beauty and confounded in their force 2. Against darkness of nature Happinesse being the scope and design of all rational beings Religion shews to be only in God which yet to obtain mans weaknesse and infirmity holds difficult if not impossible except God himself take us by the hand and lead us to its enjoyment we being as dead men uncapable of acting or if capable blind as the Sodomites wearying our selves in a fruitlesse groping or if neither of these yet as the nighted Levite in Gibeah we sit down ready to embrace the felicity any one shall offer and alace are there not many who say who will shew us any good Our Saviours nativity was by the Philosophers mocked neither did Philosophy agree to the doctrine of his rising from the dead this earthly mind of ours like the Kingdom of the beast being so darkned we beg in Thy Kingdom come for the light of the holy Gospel i. e. for the spirit and gift of understanding for though the truth be shining upon us and about us yet as blind men we behold it not untill the rayes of the Spirit of light and truth by sound and saving Knowledge virtuat our understanding to behold and next to approve the things of God either as to the simple knowing the nature thereof or reall observing the laws thereof for without practice knowledge is but more damning For as he is not called an Artificer who hath no skill in the trade so nor he a Christian in whom the exercise of Christianity is not beheld Christian being a name of Justice Goodness Integrity Patience Chastity Prudence Humility Humanity Innocency and Godliness all comprehended in that precept walk as Children of light The Kingdom of God coming in the spiritual efficacy thereof and shining in upon man discovers the thinness blackness of all his other actions the reasonableness of all Evangelick duties and the wayes of extracting comforts from them Whereas the want thereof either secureth the sinner upon conjectures that all is well or damns him by leaving him to the glimmering light of his own natural Conscience which filling him with fear and horrour causeth him do many good things and with Herod hear Iohn Baptist gladly All which to prevent by a knowledge tending to eternal life both in work and reward we say Thy Kingdom come that is the sapâ—ence the knowledge of thy Son in opposition to that blindness Satan the god of this world hath cast upon us and to that natural ambition he as king over the children of pride hath infused in us disdaining to become subjects to the most high God choosing rather vassalage to him yea to be one with him the devil and wicked men making up one body and from him as being the head are the members sometimes designed Iudas as he was a traitor is called a devil and all sinners are either his associats or his sons and one way or other related to him and industrious for him 3. Against the prevalency of Satan That God may be seen to rule in his Saints by their peaceable conformity to his Law without the reach of that Serpents sting that Dragons tail that Lyons claw for their so doing the sting being pulled out the tail broken and the claw paired which in the Scripture-language is a chaining him up having no chair of estate as in the heart of Iudas nor my repose as once in the bosome of David nor mint office in the heart of any as once in Annanias nor magazine in any mans soul as he had in Ahabs breast for the slaughter of any as he had in Herod and in summe Regnum Diaboli est omne malum the devils kingdom is where ever evil is and therefore that Gods Kingdom which is where ever good is may come for the subduing of all that is naught is to be earnestly pressed Though we have all come short of the glory of God yet to limite Satan and deliver us adds much to the glory of his Kingdom especially since God hath begun to bind him those countries wherein he hath so long and probably for ever intended to play Rex as in the America Islands the inhabitants whereof as a learned man conjectures being drawn from the north places of the world after the Gospel begun to shine among these barbarous Nations their God Vitzililiputzli or Vitzliputzli the Image of which Idol they carried in a Cosser of Reeds supported by four principal Priests unto whom also he gave directions and in apish imitation of the Israelits cloud so this devil signed their advance or stay being still in the midst of their Camp and having alwayes a Tabernacle erected for his worship where they rested which at last was at the place where Mexico now stands so called from their chief Captain Mexi whom they followed But God found them out and affronted the devil in his own territories where he was worshipped untill of late so eminently that the King of Callicut eat not his meat untill it was offered unto the devil by the name Deumo as being the great Gods Viceroy and the government of all the lower world for conveniency and ease deputed unto him and the fragmeâ—ts given to Crows which for that were accounted holy c. Let my Reader pardon me if for Gods glory the words of that Covenant be inserted taken by the Indian inhabitants of new England after great pains given by English Divines by interpretation the engagement is this We are the sons of Adam we and our forefathers have a long time been lost in our sins but now the mercy of the Lord beginneth to find us out again therefore the grace of Christ helping us we do give our selves and our children unto God to be his people he shall rule us in all our affairs not only in our Religion and affairs of the Church these we desire as soon as we can if God will but also in all our works and affairs in this world God shall rule over us Is. 33. 22. The Lord is our Iudge the Lord is our Law-giver the Lord is our King he will save us the wisdom which God hath taught us in his Book that shall guide us and direct us in the way O Iehovah teach us wisdom to find out thy wisdom in the Scriptures let the grace of Christ help us because Christ is the wisdom of God send thy Spirit into our hearts and let it teach us Lord take us to be thy people and let us take thee to be our God And by their getting Psalms translated in
the Indian tongue they have learned to speak of Iehovah and avoid many sins and hates and avoids Pawwows that is Witches and Charmers c. Now to pray for a farther binding up of Satan in the conversion of more Indians all Turks Iews were an acceptable work in it self and our duty as Christians that all the worlds inhabitants may cry out with that poor dying Indian Iehovah Aninumah that is O Lord give me Iesus Christ which is equivalent to Thy Kingdom come and that each professor might repell all temptations as one of them did when tempted to Pawwow for a sick person saying I must not break my Covenant and sin against God But now to return to the old world again where Satan also hath his seat which lyeth in wickedness he having in it universal dominion demonstrated by the vanity impiety of its inhabitants for though his kingdom be not natural but malicious his goverment not defensive but persecution bending his power to the damnation of his subjects yet in the opinion of a Father is he a great King strengthning his Kingdom with vices walling it with abominations building castles in it with attrocious acts and furnishing them with Armour of enforced filthiness The Collectors of his Revenue are oppressors of the poor his Officers are seducers deceivers of the simple and honest his Lord cheif Justice is perversnesse In his Court and about his Chamber you have Cuning Rooks by hook and by crook purchasers cheating Merchants covetous Preachers protracting Doctors conscience-hiring Hucksters for his Advocat he hath a Iack of both sides Lawyer He hath also about him forgers of lies contrivers of mischief receivers of bribe reproachers of men because effeminat as woman and for a Page he hath Amictus discoloribus saith my Author a Peacock-tail'd gallant But when the Kingdom of God shall come It shall discover that the world like men brings good wine at the first and afterward that which is worse for sin is Voluptatum est Tormentum the end of our eating is infirmity the end of our living is death and the end of death to all that crucifie not the world is eternity of misery the thoughts of which are suffciently valid to wash the paint from the world to cure the itch of the flesh and to fight or animat us against the tyranny of the devil and then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be within us 4. Against the delay of the Saints reward The vision being for an appointed time must be waited for yet as the hireling for the shadow the watch-man for the morning the weather-beaten Pilot for the Haven the sick for his recovery the weary Traveller for his Inn so doth a Saint long for the end of all designs their enjoyment of God in Christ Their modesty keeps them from saying Arise let us go hence yet the soul of man being easily seduced their zeal inflamed with the thoughts of what they shall possess vigorously enforceth them with a holy seriousness to call Adveniat Regnum tuum Thy Kingdom come That is Lord say to the North give up and to the South restore the dead bodies of thy Saints given them in charge that they and we the time appointed of the Father being come may be caught up to meet the Lord in the air to remain for ever with him The soul being stamped with the image of God betrothed by the faith of God endowed by the Spirit of God redeemed by the blood of God capable of the blessedness of God having nothing to do with flesh longs for the perfect vision and full fruition of the holy place of the holy face of God that mortality might be swallowed up of life The soul is Christs Spouse and conform to her condition hath a threefold marriage The 1. is In her Iustification by faith at which she is feasted by the ablution of sin the attainment of grace the reforming of nature but this is attended through the souls default with many jarrs The 2. is Her Regeneration or Sanctification by hope at which she receives divine consolation heavenly communion and a taste of the glory to come but this is also mixed with fears and doubtings and therefore the third is wished for which is her glorification by charity at which she is entertained with eternal incorruption true glory and the perpetual vision of God and this being the more excellent affectu pio sensu profundo she groans most ardently for it As we pray against these things so there are other matters we pray for such as the Churches soveraignty the Saints felicity and our Fathers universal and sole authority 1. The Churches soveraignty in general The Church is the continent wherein Christ reigns and in it his Palace and his Temple stands which two are oft clouded by foggs arising from open hatred against them or pretended friendship to them casting stumbling blocks in the way of others by disloyal practices as the idolatry of Rome offends the Jew and the heat of the Calvinists and Lutherans in their often debates becometh scandal again to the Papist To clear the air is this Petition put up that all may behold the mountain of the Lords house and the Sun of Righteousness shining thereon that is Christ Jesus before whom the Jews had only Lamp-light by the Law and the Prophets which also shined upon them untill the Baptist who was a burning and a shining light but after that he rose whose Name was the East whose Star arose in the East like a Sun enlightning the world directing to the knowledge of that Triune God all may say of Gospel-rules this is the way let us walk in it that Sanctity Innocency Purity and Piety may lodge in the breast of all and malice and mischief excluded from all The vision of the conversion of the Gentiles to the saith of Christ and to the Churches of the Saints is expressed by the similitude of doves flying to their windows thereby shewing the swiftness zealousness harmlessness and unity doves generally going in flocks that shall be in those Converts and the multiplication and addition of whom unto the saith notwithstanding of the diversity of opinions as natural as variety of feathers or faces is contained in this Thy Kingdom come That all beholding the King in his beauty his Sacraments in their dignity all his Ordinances in their purity may have their souls so influenced as to have all one heart not being dismembered by faction or passion which rather shews men to be inhabitants of several Provinces then fellow-subjects having one Language and united in one Kingdom The Petition therefore importing the accomplishing of that which St. Paul gave once a charge for viz. that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified that is be opened and expounded before learned and unlearned that though we behold one unskilful in knowledge or expression yet being
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
for thee â—â—on being a Giant in these matters or if that offend a Gamaliel in things Divine or to peruse them with judgment and brotherly-Kindnesse which is done when thou forgives us our trespasses that is correct the Printers faults with thy Pen for he Errs and the Authors with thy love for he also is a Man Farewel The Author to his Pater Noster AWake my drowsie Sheets arise you Sons of Day Accost with peace run you to the High-way Plead not for Faction Strife Debate but rather Entice to Concord Peace that all my say OUR Father Unmask this Gypsie Earth that doating Man May loath her Blacknesse and in loathing scan Her Comforts shortnesse see her paths un-even Next love respects the things which are in HEAVEN Th'exchange-bells rings to Truck for Trade they run Pride here Lust there Attempts to overcome He walks as Herod Centers in Vulgar Fame Teach them Hosan ' to sing in Hallowed be THY NAME Sad Rueful Projects Harrasseth the Mind Of plodding Earthlings God and Christ pretend Them boldly check be pressing nor be dumb They Seek their own Forgets THY KINGDOM come Some Talk but Do not Some Do neither well Unfold the Cheat endure their Anger Fell The Edger Disputant at last wants Breath And then perswade him to THY WILL be done in Earth The Crooked and Vntoward Rules men take 〈◊〉 Measures by For Glories Crown forsake Move not for Pin-sleev'd Faith be driven By neither side But do As it is DONE in Heaven A narrow Heart 's a plague an idle Hand 's accurs'd A doubting Prayer's unheard a Nabal's Heart shall burst Ply you your Plough I 'l say to it God speed That 's move to Work Then pray GIVE us our daily BREAD Much God bestow's what Man receives is lent him And what Man cancells God scores out at Reckoning Review the Bill Pardon ere you be Call'd for Teaching FORGIVE our debts as we FORGIVE our debtor Destroying Grins hath Hells black Master found T' ensnare poor foolish Man But Grace hath Bound His fiercer Hands And to avoid Seduction Religious Care doth sense LEAD'S not into TEMPTATION Sin lyes at Door our Eyes are Bent upon It Our Hearts respect It yet our Death is in It Nor Power have we t'ward Hands Tongues or Devil Despond not though Pray But DELIVER us from evil As Subjects besecure if Foyl'd yet Conflict on While Trump of Glory sounds For THINE is the KINGDOM Fear not to Prosper watch the Praying Hour Lift up your Eyes when saint Receive THE POWER Of Conquering Triumph promis'd the Heavenly Livâ—â— The Humble Saint That is The GLORY for ever That â—nowledge of your Rules prove no Mans Baine â—erswade the World with me to Say AMEN PATER NOSTER OUR FATHER OR The Lords Prayer explained c. MATTH VI. IX After this manner therefore pray ye Our Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy Name Thy kingdom come Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debters And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever Amen AS the Sacrifices in the Jewish Temple did in general signifie Christ and the Christians duty so those called the daily ones in the opinion of Divines did intimate the indispensible duty of prayer and praise in which a believer is to be daily because continually exercised every morning and every evening one Lamb at the least was to be offered and the time of that Sacrifice under and in the Gospel is called the hour of prayer which Peter and Iohn and Cornelius observed and about that time also was the vail of the Temple rent a symbole of the abolishment of all Jewish rites and of that future confidence which all Nations might have in their immediat access unto God in which the believers delight and the penitents comfort hath since stood which made our Saviours Disciples desire to be instructed in that duty by their Master and are advised not to go to Ierusalem but look upward where ever they be and say Our Father c. And what he said to them in private he said here publickly to the multitude After this manner pray ye Our Father which art in heaven c. Purposing to enter upon a discovery of some of those grand truths folded up in the Lords Prayer It may prove advantagious to imitate men in the opening of a curious Cabinet first view the carved out-out-work and then the particular excellencies of each single Drawer and therefore it is proper to speak of Prayer in general which shall open our understandings the more prosperously to apprehend the fecundity and special rarities locked up in the Lords Prayer in particular In pursuing of which design we shall in these following Sections consider 1. what Prayer is and its being 2. Its effects and concomitants 3. Its obstacles and hinderances 4. It s duty and necessity 5. It s root and tryal SECT I. THe object or person prayed unto altering the nature of a prayer hath induced the learned to frame a distinction betwixt a civil and a religious one the first being that by which in courtesie something from our neighbour is demanded as Abrahams servant of Rebekah saying Let me I pray thee drink a little water of thy pitcher whereas the latter is the devout intreaty of a religious soul for attaining of grace and mercy from God in his heavenly designs and undertakings which from Authors hath received several definitions It is called a Religious Invocation of God by which we ask necessary good things for soul or body and deprecats the contrary judgments thus Abraham prayed for Sodom Moses for Israels sin and David against Sauls punishment It is said to be a religious exercise proper to rational creatures by which they reverence God as their Superiour and owns him to be the fountain of all their good therefore it is truly said of an Ancient that in many things men differs from the Angels as in Nature Wisdom Knowledge yet in calling upon God and speaking to him in duty there is no diversity at all so that Prayer separats us from bruits and unites us to the holy Angels It is known that Christ is said to pray yet it is also to be understood that he doth it according to his Humane Nature in which respect he hath a superiour and though the Spirit be said to pray yet it is by a Trope because he helps us to pray and aids men in uttering their desires But when the Beasts and Fowls are said to cry unto God it is not to be imagined they pray but in a very improper as well as in a large sense that duty being peculiar to Angels and men and the man who doth it not seems not to be reasonable being in that particular more ignorant
all ages that some will have it numerus or ationis making deliverance from evil a distinct Petition from that against temptation approved by Chemnitius and King Iames as shall be seen in due place they shewing good reason for this enumeration of seven Petitions In the first whereof we beg admission into his Temple in Hallowed be thy Name In the second to his Palace in Thy Kingdom come In the third to his Council in Thy will be done In the fourth to his Granary Give us our daily bread In the fifth to his Treasury Forgive us our debts In the sixth to his Armory Lead us not into temptation In the seventh to his Garden or Arbory Deliver us from evil Unto all which if we pray truly all Prayer may be congruously reduced in evidence whereof receive a Fathers judgment with very small alteration If any beg Let the people praise thee O God let all the people praise thee saith he not Hallowed by thy Name If any call Turn us again O Lord God of Hosts and cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved saith he not Thy Kingdom come If any supplicat Order my steps according to thy Word desireth he not Thy will be done If any demand give me neither poverty nor riches saith he not Give us our daily bread If any utter O Lord my God if I have rewarded evil to him that was at peace with me yea I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy is not this to be constructed Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debters Implores any Send out thy light and thy truth let them lead me is not that Lead us not into temptation And doth any request Deliver me from mine enemies my God is it not Deliver us from evil Hence therefore this Prayer is not only as a rule to pray by but as a form to pray in supplying what ever is deficient in the supplications of mortals whose arm at longest cannot fathom the length of that request put up for the belly give us bread much lesse commensâ—trat the extension of that put up for God Hallowed be thy Name Yet as we can we shall search 1. into the matter of this Petition hallowing of the Name of God 2. The order of it for it is reckoned among the first three and is become their Captain therefore more honourable Name hath its name in the Greek from the help or aid it gives to know things or persons by and with the Latines Nomina were notamina marks tokens signs to difference things by when men were â—ewest there were names and they increasing sirnames were added still to distinguish one from another neither do we find any Nation so barbarous but had names the savages of Mount Altas in Barbary excepted who were reported to be both namelesse and dreamlesse Names begun with the Creation the eldest daughter of which being Light was called Day And who can shew the improbability of their duration when time shall be no more Moses was termed Moses when Peter saw him in the Mount and who is that will earnestly deny that Enos shall not be called Enos even in glory The old Pollanders gave names to their children at the first cutting of their hair but the most Christian Nations have followed the Iews and given names about the eighth day yea the old Romanes gave it to their Femals the same day but to their Males on the ninth All gave them for discrimination to difference a Cain from an Abel Samaria from Ierusalem some had it because of some property as Esau from his being hairy Some from an atchievment Iacob was called Israel for his prevailing with God Others gave names from a desire of continuating their own names upon earth and because it is a kind of judgement to want a name as did Davids adulterous infant and the rich Churle in the Gospel for this they intended to call Iohn Zacharias after the name of his Father some give them in imitation of some vertue as Iob or David as a spur for the bearer to follow the vertues of those Saints Hence it is thought Iacobs sons were never named Iacobites but Israelites to animate the whole race for strugling with God untill they got a blessing Lastly Names have been imposed from some sudden emergency as Isaac from Sarahs or Abrahams laughter or from future foreseeing as was Cain Abel or from some profession as at this day the Mahometan from Mahomet and the Christian from professing Christ. Most of these wayes have God taken to himself and recevied names from others yea we may say firnames he is often called the Lord Jehovah God and frequently the God of all consolation the Lord God of our Fathers the Saviour of Israel who blotteth out transgressions for his own Names sake which is to be hallowed In order to which let us descant upon 1. What may be understood by his Name 2. How that Name is to be hallowed 3. Why the speciality of that Name is expressed all other names being secluded as is implyed in that Pronoun Thy Name By name in general understand his ineffable and invisible essence and nature which he held out in his Name I AM and his Name Iehovah is so peculiarly his that it was never and is never to be communicated to any creature not that the letters of his Name Iehovah is to be adored with the superstitious Jews as those of Iesus are with the idolatrous Papists but his nature expressed in and by those letters including both the Spirit and the Son for all that the Father hath being his cur non nomina why should not the Name Iehovah be likewise and consequently he get his respect By name understand also his wonderfull and inseparable properties as Wisdom Omnipotency as also his beautiful and admirable acts and workings all which are called upon to praise that is occasion or perswade others to glorifie the Lord such as his work of Creation Redemption his wonders miracles for preservation of and for his Church add to these his comfortable and inalterable writings which he hath so exalted above all His Name that when many of his works shall change and wax old as a garment his promises to his servants shall endure for ever The doctrine whereof is not to be blasphemed for by that his Name is spoken against Let none hence conclude that it ought from this to have been Hallowed be thy Names that objection being long ago answered for Nomen Divinum the Name of God is here expressed in the singular to remove the occasion of idolatry or conceit of many gods Thy Name having respect to the Father mentioned in the preface in which also the whole Trinity is included yet not expressed in the plurality of persons for the reason aforesaid Nomina sanctae immaculatae Trinitatis the names of the
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
potest perditus what can the damned wretch do All which should make us eye Heaven there being an Advocat and a Cautioner that cares for us both for debts contracted and sin we shall be tempted unto or may fall in represented in the parable of the good Samaritan who promised to repay what was to be disbursed for the cure of the wounded Traveller the very inclinations and tendencies toward sin being by his mediation oft impeded and to the penitent by the same forgiven Forgive us our debts that is above in Court or then there is no faith remission of sin is one Article of our Creed and we believe it to be done above in the Signet-office of the great King first and then passing the Seals of the Sacraments in the Church we lock it up in the Charter-chest or Archives of our own conscience or then there is no joy by applying the fiducial certainty of our sealed pardon through the Spirits testimony within us giving so clear light that the soul sayeth O Lord by these things men live and in all these things is the life of my spirit thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back Yet because of those gloomy foggs which may arise from the lower ground or doubting part of the soul dimming our sight of such a delectable prospect as serene and heavenly love so bountiful is God that in legible Characters of our own writing he leading our hand we may have the certainty of his pardon and his seal affixed unto it in our own bosome and by the prospect or spectacle of our sincerity in pardoning the petty debts or trespasses against us we do clearly observe they are blotted out which we have done against him for thus it is written Forgive us as we forgive or for we forgive others giving us thereby Potestas veniae a power to pardon and cloathing us with authority as it were to absolve our selves Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debters THE necessity of the â—ondition of pardoning offences done against Vs if we would have such forgiven done by us against God is next to be considered for we doing the one God assureth us he shall do the other making our measure of charity the Standart of his bounty and the power of limiting or enlarging it is in our own hands as we forgive so that si duri if we be hard-hearted harsh or but half-way charitable or through pac'd charitable God is still â—tinted by our prayer to our tallies to our crossings As we forgive our debters is not added here as a reason forgivenesse in him being an act of mercy and his forgivenesse in Scripture is proposed as a rule to us It is here only certa conditione contingens a certain condition on our part without which God will not seal the counter-part And though the particle be illative in Luke for we forgive yet it amounts not to a formal reason but beggs the happy conclusion of forgivenesse from one that is naturelly good because man genuinely morose can yet forgive his brother Neither is it added as a measure our forgivenesse being finit whereas his must be inâ—nit neither is it to be understood properly as if we were to forgive pecuniary or money-matters for then the shortest cut to Christianity were to contract debt and infallible assurance a concomitant to not craving which were a whip of knotted cords once more to drive buyers and sellers from the Temple It is added as an auxiliary band to help our weaknesse being one of the clearest promises a writing in Text-hand of holy writ the easiest to be read in all Scripture nothing being clearer then Forgive and you shall be forgiven which in the darkest night of grossest ignorance is fairly legible It points also at the verity and quality of our forgivenesse and intimats our desire to be that God would as heartily and speedily forgive us as we do others a duty necessary to be done upon many accounts meditat upon these â—ew 1. From the iteration of it for it is pressed and doubled This relating to forgivenesse is the only Petition our Saviour takes a review of after he hath closed this prayer enâ—orcing afresh the duties of amity and concord under the penalty of divine displeasure therefore as Pharaohs dream this is doubled shewing the necessity of our forgiving or the certainty that he will not As at the creation there was a survey of all works and in that were found to be good so here there is a reflection upon all the parts of prayer and this petition urged and repeated chiefly because of wickednesse and surlinesse it is said by such as are conversanâ— about children that they are longest in learning and pronouncing this part of prayer and is it not evident that morally men can hardly yea not without great difficulty learn it and therefore here pressed again and again And sure where God sets up candles it is for some work when he calls us to double our guards it is to prevent some dangerous surprise This prayâ—â— knocking down the surious bulls of enruged lust thirsting after revenge in brawny yea horny madnesse commands us in slanders in injuries to remember Stephens charity Davids sasting and our Lords to his Father call for mercy and fight against evil suggestions oppose sinful desires and crucifie the lusts of the flesh that the soul of man may live quietly at home Teleclus a King in Laconia being complained unto by his Brother concerning the peoples disrespect of him though a Prince causa est inquit Rex it is because said the King thou canst not put up an injury and if stinging men complain to God or man for neglect intending revenge wise men as God will advise to forgivenesse upon which honour shall attend him at the long run 2. From the opposite vice which is condemned and judged morosity doggednesse snarling and scowling is already condemned in the reverâ—ing of that Decreet given by the Lord in the Parable of the Talents where the cruel Creditor that had no mercy on his debter â—ound no compassion but more severe condemnation from his justly incensed Master Should God challenge to a duell or combat all who give him the lie there should be no man to tell truth Should he in thunder-bolts smite him upon the cheek-bone who flouts and jeers at his preceptive will the fairest face would be bruised Should he kick the ranting Belshazzers ouâ— of the world or spurn a churlish Nabal when calumniat for his laws of temperance and bounty where would there be men c. But since the Cow of the wicked calveth and casteth not her Calf and the Sun shines and the rain falls upon their houses and fields he is more then blind who perceiveth not Gods abhorrency of rendring