notice that according to Diodati the Forgiveness of Trespasses for which you Pray cannot be understood of the general remission of Sins in respect of the everlasting Judgment which has no other cause or ground before God but Christ's satisfaction and intercession but of the pardon of particular faults of Believers in regard of punishments in this life It was a rule of the Wise Men among the Jews That our pardoning of those who have injur'd us is rewarded by God with hearing our Prayers for Forgiveness And to this purpose are the words of Siracides Ecclus 28.1 2 c. He that revengeth shall find vengeance from the Lord and he will surely keep his sins in remembrance Forgive thy Neighbour the hurt he hath done unto thee so shall thy Sins also be forgiven when thou prayest One man beareth hatred against another and doth he seek pardon from the Lord He sheweth no mercy to a man which is like himself and doth he ask forgiveness of his own Sins If he that is but Flesh and Blood nourish hatred who will entreat for pardon of his Sins But you are not to conclude from hence that Pardon from God depends only on your pardoning of others or that it is merited by it but that it is most reasonable that you who request forgiveness of your Offences against God should forgive the Offences of your Brethren whose Offences are less in number and value and not committed perhaps without your provocation Take heed therefore lest by your Malice and want of Charity to others you bring not God's wrath and indignation on your self Deliverance from the power of Sin and all temptations to commit it is the next thing respecting your Soul that you are to seek for at the hands of your Creator Now of your self you are unable to withstand those multitudes of temptations which daily assault you so that you have need continually to have recourse to the Divine assistance and to implore God either wholly to remove all temptations or so to restrain their power and malice that they do not overcome you The former is not to be hop'd and so not to be pray'd for For the World the Flesh and the Devil will never give over soliciting alluring and tempting you to Sin Satan as his name signifies is to the Tempter who being miserable by Sin labours to make all like himself And that he spares none was seen in his hardiness to set upon our Saviour whom he would have tempted to the most horrid iniquity the worship of himself And as this shews that none can escape his temptations so it likewise shews that it is no Sin to be tempted but that all the fault lies in yielding to the temptation and this arises from that great Impostor your own Heart which is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked It ought then to be your earnest and incessant supplication to him who can restrain the powers of darkness and infatuate the mischievous devices of Hell and all its Agents that he would keep you from all evil circumstances and dangerous occasions leading to Sin that he would suppress in you all inclinations to evil and not leave you to your self nor to be tempted and carried away of your own lusts and enticed That he would not unchain and let loose the infernal foes to assail and over-master you by their accursed seducements but that you may resist unto Blood and be crown'd with conquest over them But if your Heavenly Father for great purposes leads you into any signal trials and temptations then do you resign your self to his absolute pleasure humbly beseeching his paternal tenderness to limit and controul the Tempter and to restrain your consent And tho' it ought to be your great grief to be at any time enticed to offend God yet it cannot be any great discomfort so long as God is pleas'd to relieve you from doing the evil to which you are tempted and together with the temptation to make you a way to escape The Jews have a Form which they call the short Prayer which is an Epitome or Abridgment of their longer Prayers and it was a rule among them That he who had a promptness in Prayer was to pray the eighteen Prayers but he who wanted this promptness was to use the short Prayer which was a Recollection out of the other and is as follows OUR Father which art in Heaven be gracious unto us O Lord our God hallowed be thy Name and let the remembrance of thee be Glorified in Heaven above and upon earth here below Let thy Kingdom reign over us now and for ever Remit and forgive unto all whatsoever they have done against us And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil thing For thine is the Kingdom and thou shalt reign in Glory or Power for ever and ever vid. Mr. John Gregory Pag. 168. CHAP. XVI Prayer to be made in the plural number Amen AND both this Summary and the larger Prayer were used by the Jews in the daies of our Saviour who out of them collected the Form which he taught his Disciples and which is now used by all Christians But when our Lord gave this Prayer he did not null or make void the other Prayers used by the Jews nor did he intend that his Followers should use his Prayer and none other but he gave it as an absolute perfect Form by which our imperfect Prayers are to be regulated and to be an abstract of all we are to Pray for So that if any thing be wanting in our Prayers it is to be supplied by adding unto them the Lord's Prayer Which Christ I say gave not to extinguish but to regulate our Prayers and to be added unto them and to render them perfect and consummate For it contains the heads of all things that you can either want or desire to have And our Lord in his Heavenly Wisdom so order'd the composure of his Prayer that it might differ as little as possible from the Jewish Form and that it might likewise be fit to be said by all And I think there is none of what Religion soever who own God to be the Father or Maker of Heaven and Earth who may not pertinently make use of the Lords Prayer and desire every thing that therein is set down It is observable that the Jews appointed all their Prayers to be said in the Plural Number tho' he that said them was alone by himself and they did it for this reason That it might never seem as tho' a man were cut off from the congregation And they have this commendable Canon viz. He that prays ought always when he prays to joyn with the Church Which Canon they do not strictly understand only of Prayers said in the Synagogue but wheresoever they are made in the world And when a Jew is most alone he is to say Prayers in the plural and not in the singular number In which number our Saviour also has taught us
unsatiable and inordinate Love of the World must possess your Soul when you lift it up to God For you can never perform aright the great Duty of Prayer unless your Heart be Penitent and your Affections Pure The Holiness of your Person makes the Prayer Holy and the savour of your Sacrifice sweet in God's Nostrils But if any wilful Sin lyes at the Door it stops the passage of Prayer and hinders it from being graciously heard Put away then the evil of your Doings and remove your inward Impurity and be wholly Consecrated to God's Service And then shall your Prayer be set forth in his sight as the incense and the lifting up of your hands shall be as the Evening sacrifice Psal 141.1.2 For though you should outwardly appear never so Pure and so carry your self that no Spot can be seen upon the Surface of your Actions Yet if you regard iniquity in your heart the Lord will not hear you Psal 66.18 So that in short your Preparation to Prayer consists in your Repentance for all the Sins whereof upon the most diligent Scrutiny you find your self to be Guilty for every Sin whereof you do not Repent will hinder the Power and Efficacy of your Prayer And it will be with you as it was with Joshua whose Prayer for Israel God utterly refus'd Because they had taken of the thing which was devoted unto him and which had brought a curse upon them Josh 7.10.11 CHAP. VIII Graces necessary to Prayer AND when you have thus swept the House and cast all the Filth and Rubbish out of Doors your next business is to see it Decently Furnish'd For you are not only to Cleanse your Heart from noysom Lusts and Passions but get it Replenish't with such Graces and Vertues Qualities and Dispositions as are requir'd to Prayer Now Faith is the first of these Graces and the Foundation of all the rest Of the use of Faith in Prayer Worship you have heard is that Great Duty which you owe to God and by which in an especial manner you acknowledg his Godhead And this Worship you are to perform both in Soul and Body For both are his and in both he will be Glorified and Worshipt Now Prayer is the Soul's part of this Worship and is to be made in Faith or otherwise it will not please God He that comes or prays to God must believe that he is and that he is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him Which Text implies That you are not only to acknowledge the Essence of God which is done by the Infernal Fiends but also to believe that he will give what you duly beg of him and bountifully recompence your diligence in the Search and Performance of his Will And believing this you can find nothing fit to Tempt you to neglect God's Service And altho' your Sincerity and Faithfulness therein should cost you dear yet you are assured that whatsoever Pains or Expences you bestow in his Service it will be abundantly rewarded by your Gracious Master And your Belief of this is the Ground of your Entrance on God's Worship and Perseverance in it And as you may best shew your Faith by your observance of Prayer so you may be thought to have little or no Faith if you are seldom or never at your Devotion But if once your come stedfastly to believe the Power Wisdom Justice and Goodness of the Almighty you can want no motives to Pray to him There is no Promise annext to any Prayer but what is made in Faith and for this you have the Authority of our Great Master who told his Disciples That they should receive all things whatsoever they ask'd in Prayer if they believ'd Matth. 21 22. Not that Christ by those words gave you Toleration to ask whatsoever shall come in your fancy for Prayer must be regulated by Faith and Faith must not go beyond the bounds of the Word But our Lord forbids you to trust and confide in your Self and to rely on your own Strength and Abilities for the getting of what you want he would have you by Prayer to apply your self to God the Father in the Name of God the Son and firmly to believe that what you beg in Christ's Name will be granted you according to his Word in S. Mark 11.24 I say unto you what things soever ye desire when ye Pray believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them Believing in this place has respect to the Promise Christ made to all who call upon God in his Name And it signifies your being throughly perswaded that God will grant the thing you beg of him in the Name of Christ through whom alone your Prayers are Effectual and Prevailing If any of you lack wisdom let himask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him but let him ask in faith nothing wavering Jam. 1.5 6. If any man pray let him pray with Confidence to be heard and with a Mind resolv'd to stick fast to God and stedfastly to adhere to the Doctrine and Practice to Christianity And doing thus he has no reason to be Doubtful of the Divine Care and Protection The Prayer of Faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up and if he have committed sins they shall be forgiven him Jam. 5.15 Here are Display'd two wonderful Effects of those Prayers which proceed from Faith in Christ First they prevail with God for the Recovery and Restoring of the Sick to his former Health unless God has purpos'd to dispose of it otherwise for the Good of the Infirm and his own Glory Next they shall prevail for the Pardon of the Sins for which he is chastised of God with Sickness if upon his Recovery he amend his Life But still in granting your Prayers God has respect to his own Glory and your Benefit And when the Granting what you Pray for is Inconsistent with either of these he mercifully withholds his Hand from giving it And seeing this Faith whereof we now speak is the Gift of God humbly beseech him to pour this most Excellent Gift into your Heart and to work in you such a Faith as may be as an Hand to receive all his Favours Be careful not to acquiesce in a dead ineffectual effectual Faith but in such a Faith as shews its self in good Works and which inables you to overcome the World and to conform to his Will in whom you believe To the end that you may Pray aright take care when you enter upon this Service to entertain your Mind with the serious Thoughts of God's Excellencies and Perfections That his Mercy is over all his Works and endureth for ever That he is Faithful and without all Variableness or shadow of Change That his Promises are Yea and Amen That he is nigh to all that call upon him faithfully and that he will one way or other fulfil the Desires of them that Fear him With these and the
like considerations you may vigorate and enliven your Devotions with an Active Faith and draw near and fall low at his Footstool in full Assurance that his Ear is open and his Hand stretcht out to give you the things you long for or some thing else which in his Infinite Wisdom he knows to be better for you You are not alway to believe you shall certainly receive every particular thing you Pray for you cannot with any just confidence expect what God hath no where promis'd And tho' he has absolutely promis'd you all things pertaining to Eternal Life and Godliness yet as to the things appertaining to this present Life he has limited his promise of them so that he will give or withhold them as he sees them Necessary Profitable or Convenient for you Seeing then that all the Promises of God are not of equal Extent and seeing your Faith can go no farther than the Promises you cannot firmly believe that you shall have every particular thing granted you because you cannot certainly tell whether this or that will be Beneficial or Proper for you For whatever you may imagine or conceive in your own Thoughts it is God alone that knows that Infallibly and therefore you cannot be assur'd that God will bestow it on you CHAP. IX Charity requir'd in Prayer AND as you are to pray in Faith so likewise in Charity This is a diffusive Grace ready to do good and extend it self to all It takes the whole Race of Mankind into your Litany and obliges you to pray according to our Saviour's Form which teaches you to beg all the same Blessings for others that you beg for you self All your business in this Life next to serving God is to do all the Good you can to your self and others And seeing by reason of the narrow and weak condition of your Nature it is not in your Power to do all that is needful you must therefore apply your self to him from whom cometh every good and perfect Gift praying that he out of his own infinite and inexhaustible Treasures would supply the Wants of all Men. And seeing every one is in some Want or other every one must have a share in your Prayers The forgiveness of your Trespasses is that which above all things you have absolute need to desire of God for without this all other Blessings would be insignificant But you have no reason to expect God should forgive you your Trespasses unless you forgive Men their Trespasses In the Petition you make for Pardon of your own Sins you solicit your own Ruine if you pardon not others their Sins For in saying Forgive us our Trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us you pray God would never pardon you if you do not pardon others How can you rationally desire Forgiveness from God when you deny it to your Neighbour The great Man in the Gospel who forgave his Servant a considerable Sum when he desir'd it charg'd the same anew upon him when he refused to forgive his Fellow-servant a small Debt Matth. 18.23 His doing this so far provok'd his Lords indignation against him that he gave him up to the Tormentors And thus will God deal with you if you deal thus with your Fellow-Christians who can never so far trespass against you as you do against God Who will assuredly handle you as you do them If you forgive not men their trespasses your heavenly father will not forgive you yours Matth. 6.15 And as the Goodness of God can in nothing be more Evident and Illustrious than in readily Forgiving those who beg his Pardon So there is not any thing in which his Justice can be more Equal than in dealing Severely with those who deal Severely with their Brethren It 's observable that our Saviour took hold of frequent occasions to inculcate the Necessity of Mutual Charity and that he made it the Badge whereby his Followers were to be distinguished from men of all other Religions And to the end you might continually remember it he inserted it into the Prayer which you are to use daily Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us And with what Face can you look up to the Father of Mercies with this Petition in your Mouth if you want Compassion and Charity How can you hope to prevail with your Crys and Importunities on God as long as you have no Bowels your self towards your Neighbour Remember it is the Rule of Gods Proceedings That he shall have Judgment without Mercy who has shew'd no Mercy Jam. 2.13 And tho' Prayer be the best Sacrifice and the best Gift you can bring to God's Altar yet it will not be accepted at your hands if your Heart be malicious when you come to offer it There were many things which under the Law would render the best of Sacrifices rather Offensive to Almighty God than be of any Avail to him that offer'd them and in like manner there is nothing which more effectually at once destroys the whole design of what is the True and Proper Christian Sacrifice than Uncharitableness If therefore you have any Pique or Uncharitable Variance with your Neighbour do all that in you lies to be reconcil'd to him before you present God with your Supplications For Christ taught you this when he bad him who brought his Gift to the Priest to be offer'd in Atonement for his Sins that if he remember'd he had injur'd any man he should leave his offering unpresented and repair to the person he had wrong'd and to use Means to make him Friends with him and then to come and compleat his intended Atonement Every wilful Sin is a Cloud interposing betwixt you and Heaven and hinders the Ascension of your Prayers but no cloud is so thick as Uncharitableness This darkens the whole Heaven of Religious Exercises rendering them void of all Efficacy and Advantage for Whatsoever you do without Charity profiteth nothing 1 Cor. 13.3 God has made of one Blood and Redeem'd by one Ransom all Nations of Men so that you are not to harden your Bowels against any that partake with you of the same Common Nature and Redemption And therefore if you want Tenderness of Heart you are humbly to importune the Father of Compassions to give it you that you may be deeply affected with the Miseries and Calamities of all Men and imploy your Abilities for their Succour and Relief Beg the Holy Spirit of Love to dwell in your Heart and to cast out thence Malice Hatred and Uncharitableness and to beget in you that Pious Generous Temper of Mind which seeks not only to please your self but also your Neighbour for his Good to Edification And seeing that all your doings without Charity are nothing worth beseech God to pour into your Heart that most excellent Gift of Charity without which whosoever liveth is counted dead before him What was it that provok'd God to animadvert so severely upon Corah and his Accomplices when they
a direful Sentence upon his obstinate Enemies sending them to be Tormented with the Devil and his Angels even for the Coming of this Kingdom you are also to pray saying with the Holy ones under the Altar Come Lord Jesus come quickly CHAP. XV. A farther Account of the Things to be Pray'd for AND having Pray'd God thus to rule in your heart by Grace that you may be fit for his coming in Glory to Crown his Servants and Torment his Enemies you are to Pray again that God would enable you to do both his secret and revealed Will and that you may patiently and contentedly submit to the former and readily and chearfully perform the latter as far as it is set down in his Holy Word Now Obedience to God's Law and Submission to his Providence are both requir'd to the doing of his Will For you are not only to observe what he enjoyns or prohibits but also to submit to whatever happens to you according to his Good Will and Pleasure whether it be Misery or Happiness And he who taught you to do thus did illustrate it with his own Example when with an admirable Resignation he Pray'd Not mine O Father but thy Will be done Now the manner of your Doing God's Will is taken from the Pattern of the Holy Angels who are God's ministring Spirits executing his Commandments with readiness fidelity and perseverance flying upon his errand with the wings of Love and Zeal But seeing you find perhaps in your self a reluctancy to do thus and that your Duty herein is often delay'd through Idleness or interrupted through Vanity so that your Obedience moves heavily and is clogg'd with fears and broken off by temptations you are to supplicate the Father of all Mercies that he would bestow upon you that Zeal and Affection for his Service wherewith the Holy Angels are Inspired to the intent that you may as they do his Will with Fervency and Chearfulness And that following the Examples of their Obedience whilst you are on Earth you may be joyn'd with them and your blessed Brethren in Glory to sing eternal Praises in Heaven And as our Lord in the three first Petitions of his Prayer compris'd all things respecting God and his Glory for which you are to Pray So in the next three Petitions he has sum'd up whatsoever you have need to desire respecting your own or your Neighbours Wants and Necessities And you may observe that the things relating to God's Glory are by our Saviour's Prescription first to be solicited and if this be rightly done you can scarce miss of the rest For all other things shall be given to them Who first seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousness Matth. 6.33 And seeing God's Glory is of greater moment than yours or any man's Wants therefore you are to Pray for the first And yet seeing you are neither all Flesh nor all Spirit but a compound of both and that both have Needs to be supplyed you are to Pray for the relief of both And first you are to beg a supply for your Bodily Necessities all which our Lord comprehended under the name of Bread Which Word signifies outward comforts And in Praying God to give you this you declare your sole dependance to be on him for this present life and for all things that support it And the begging them of God declares likewise your abhorrence of all unjust and indirect ways to obtain them Next by the adjunct Daily added to Bread you evidence your contentedness with present necessaries and your purpose to Pray continually for them Which likewise declares your trust in God and that you cast your Cares upon him acknowledging that all you have or expect are from his bounteous Hand and sanctified by his Blessing And this Petition for Daily Bread was no doubt taken from that Prayer of the Jews which was thus The necessities of thy People Israel are many and their knowledge small so that they know not how to disclose their Necessities let it be thy good Pleasure to give to every man what sufficeth for food c. And the Petition for Daily Bread is by some thus paraphras'd Provide for us to morrows Bread and give it us to day that we be not solicitous for to morrow for sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof All things needful for this present life come from God and the Petition for Daily Bread shews that you are not to desire them all at once but that he would distribute them by little and little according as you need them That by this means you may never be destitute of nor desist in Praying for them For if you should possess them in too great abundance and as it were in a heap you might be in danger to rest contented within your self and forget to call upon the Lord Prov. 30.8 9. Christ in this Petition for Daily Bread seems to have reflected upon the sending of the Manna and as that was daily gather'd so this might be daily begg'd and given Some of the Fathers have Allegoriz'd this Petition and understood it of Christ the Bread of Life and the partaking of him in the Blessed Eucharist which does nourish the Soul unto Life Eternal as material Bread does the temporal Life of the Body And tho' I could wish that in this sense the Request for Daily Bread were both understood and practis'd and that now as in the Primitive Times the Sacrament of Christ's Death were daily celebrated yet I think the Petition is best interpreted of all manner of Food that is necessary for the preservation of human Life and of whatever is requir'd to support Man's frail Nature which could not be particularly express'd in so short a Form But if you look not farther than to your Bodily needs even to that of your Soul the supply of the first may prove a Misery and not a Happiness if the other be neglected Now the first thing you are to beg for your Soul is the forgiveness of your Sins and that God would not exact their penalty but that for the sake of the satisfaction Christ made to his Divine Justice he would mercifully acquit you from their Guilt and Punishment And to the end that you may not forfeit God's Pardon to you by Denying yours to your Brethren you are humbly to beseech the Almighty to give you those bowels of Compassion towards others when they trespass against you which you stand in need of when you trespass against them and if you who through the corruption of Humane Nature are prone to revenge can through God's Grace forgive others you need not doubt but your Heavenly Father whose Goodness is infinite will forgive you For it is certainly true That if you forgive Men you shall be forgiven of God Not that you are to give Law to God or to ground your Prayers on the merits of your own Works but that you subscribe to God's order to Pardon if you purpose to be Pardon'd And here take