How good and how pleasant a thing it is for brethren to joyn together in prayer God hearkens and heares and a booke of remembrance shall be written for them that speak often one to another as those converts doe Zech. 8.2 Come let us goe speedily to pray before the Lord I will goe also One soul well tuned in prayer maâ—es good musick in Gods ears Mâ— Cobbet of Prayer but he delights much saith a reverend Author I say most in prayers in consort when two or three when two or three thousand gather together and agree to ask any thing in the name of Christ The Church on earth is never so like the Church in heaven as when the four living Creatures and the four and twenty Elders i e. when Pastors and People having Harps in their hands that is being prepared to praise God and golden vials full of Odours or Incense that is being prepared to pray unto him when all these meet together thus to worship the Lamb Rev. 5.8 Let Christians say it is good for us to be here it is best for us to be here How amiable are thy Tabernacles O Lord of Hosts this is none other than the Suburbs of Heaven than the gate than a corner of Heaven than a Heaven upon Earth Pray therefore all manner of prayer but especially in publique with the Assemblies of Gods people I shall adde but one thing more in this particular and that is to beseech you not to diminish ought of this service not to clip Gods Tribute-mony or to offer an imperfect Sacrifice unto God but at all times but especially on the Lords day let us come together at the beginning and tarry till the end of publique Prayers God will not allow the Prince of his people to absent himself or to delay his coming to publique Worship or to depart untill the Conclusion Ezek. 46.10 And now if there be any here who shall say in their hearts Wee have high thoughts of Prayer and a good minde to the duty but alas we are not able to compose a Prayer of our selves we cannot goe to prayer except some lead us by the hand we know not what to say as we ought except some put words in our mouths To these the second Observation may give satisfaction which speaketh on this wise saying II. It is lawfull to pray with or by a Set forme of Prayer Prayer is an offering up of our desires to God for things agreeable to his will in the name of Christ with confession of our sins and thankful acknowledgement of his mercies This is the definition of Prayer given by the late Reverend Assembly in their shorter Catechisme And in this we have contained all the Essentials of Prayer and all this may be done whether we make use of a written or printed book or rehearse a Prayer out of our memory D. W. Gâ—ft of Prayer that invisible book or whether we may by immediate and sudden suggestion or according to the sudden conceptions and dictates of our own hearts I say therefore that it is neither absolutely necessary in it self nor utterly unlawfull to use a Set form of Prayer Confident I am that Prayer with or by a Form is better than no prayer at all and that if all those persons amongst us who are not able to pray by immediate suggestion or sudden conception or who cannot by study premeditation compose such a Prayer as they dare offer up to God especially before others if these would make use of some Forms of wholsome desires framed by others and if being Masters of Families they would morning and evening ingage themselves to seek God with their families in this way God might and should have honour thereby and they receive blessing from God This lawfulnesse of Set Formes may be evinced by holy Scriptures by the practise of the Church of God Jewish and Christian The Apostle Paul in his first Epistle to Timothy ch 2.1 makes four sorts or parts of Prayer Supplications Prayers Intercessions and giving of Thanks and we have patternes or ground for Set Formes of all these in the Scriptures For the first sort of Prayer wherein we desire the averting of evils both of sinne and punishment we have ground to do this in or by a prescribed form of words for so God injoyned in the case of an uncertain murder Deut. 21.7 8. that the Elders of the city that is next to the slain man should wash their hands over an Heifer which was to be beheaded in the valley and that they or the Priests in their name and roome should answer and say Our hands have not shed this blood neither have our eyes seene it Be mercifull O Lord unto thy people Israel whom thou hast redeemed and lay not innocent blood unto thy people of Israels charge Again the Prophet Hosea exhorting Israel to return unto the Lord chap. 14. beginning saith Take with you words and turn to the Lord say unto him take away all iniquity and receive us graciously so will we render the calves of our lips c. from which two texts I think it more reasonable to inferre or conclude that they might without sin say those very words which were put into their mouths than to say they should sinne if they should pray in that very form of words 2. We have in the Scripture formes of Prayer or petitions for the obtaining of good things A Forme used by Moses one who had abundance of spirit at the setting forward of the Ark and at the resting of the Ark Numb 10.35 36. And another Form prescribed to Aaron and his Sons in blessing the people Numb 6.23 24 25 26. And we have a Form of Prayer also injoyned to him that paid his third yeare tithes Deut. 26 13 14 15. 3. A ground for a forme of Intercession and that too upon a publique Fast day we have in Joel chap. 2.17 Let the Ministers of the Lord weep between the Porch and the Altar and let them say Spare the people O Lord and give not thy heritage to reproach that the Heathen should rule over them wherefore should they say among the people where is now their God I doe not believe that these were all the words they did or might say unto God on a day of Humiliation but I think I have more reason hence to gather that they might lawfully have used this form of words in their Prayers that day than any man hath to conclude the contrary 4. A ground for Set forms of Praise or Thanksgiving we have in those many admirable formes of praise composed by David Asaph and other holy men and sung at the Tabernacle and Temple and that too in the times of Hezekiah's reformation 2 Chron. 29.30 and left upon record in the book of Psalmes Mr. Mede calls the booke of Psalmes the Jewish Liturgy and truly therein we have Formes of all these four sorts of Prayer There are Prayers for averting evill for obtaining of good
A Treatise CONCERNING PRAYER Containing particularly AN APOLOGY For the use of the LORDS PRAYER By THOMAS HODGES B.D. Rector of the Church of Souldern LONDON Printed by John Grismond 1656. TO The very much Honoured John Crew Esq SIR YOu may perhaps wonder that the ensuing Treatise being for the maine the substance of a Sermon lately preached in your eares at Brackley should now be presented to the eye of the world And again that it should come forth after this manner fronted with your name And the rather at both because you will finde your selfe surprised without the least fore knowledge or fore-thought of either My answer for the first of these shall be this That it containes an Apology for the use of the Lords Prayer and consequently a justification of my own and many of my deare Brethrens practise conformable to the Directory for publique Prayer compiled by the Reverend Fathers of the late Assembly and authoriZed to be observed by Ordinance of Parliament whereof you were a Member I would not have it said No Leiturgie no Lords Prayer that since the Church of England hath laid aside the former as unnecessary or inconvenient she hath cast out the latter as unlawfull And my desires and endeavours are that as in the Marian times times of Idolatry superstition some were martyr'd upon occasion of their saying the Lords Prayer in English now in these dayes of reformation the Lords Prayer it selfe may not be made a Martyr and they suffer in their names and reputations that dare to use or rehearse it at all as a Prayer Now as for the present addresse to you give me leave Sir to say for say it I must that when I consider how many yeares you have been an eminent Patron of Preaching and Prayers in these parts of the Nation and withall that you were an Auditor of the Sermon that your own house is an house of prayer that God hath remarkably endued and blessed you with an understanding Head an honest Heart a fixed and stable Soule and so qualified you to be a fit judge of Truth I must confesse looking about I doe no where see such another excellent Theophilus under whose name and patronage I may with so much reason and boldness commit the following Treatise to the Presse I am not without some hope that it may meet with the better entertainment in the world because it comes forth with the priviledge of your name so that if the obscurity of the Author should hazard to darken the present Truth the lustre of your name may be a meanes to scatter that cloud and to cleare up that truth to the otherwise blere-ey'd i. e. prejudic'd Reader And now Sir not despairing of your pardon for ingaging you thus far let me beg your patience a little farther viz. whilst by way of supplement to the Sermon I premise in this Epistle a few words concerning this six finger'd Monster of errour about the Doctrine of Prayer herein handled Sir there are three paire of Errours if I may so speak contrary to this Truth and each paire consisting of two extreames the one contrary to the other The first pair this That we ought to do nothing at all but pray and that we ought not to pray at all the first an error of some in the Primitive times the latter a fancy of these last daies The second paire this That 't is absolutely necessary alwaies when we pray to use a form and that 't is utterly unlawfull at any time when we pray to pray with or by a form the former the opinion of some chiefly raised by Prelacy when at its height the latter originally the conceit of others cast down and kept under by the Hierarchy The third paire this That the often bare repetition of the Lords Prayer merits pardon of sin and heaven and that the once rehearsing it for a Prayer is a sin and so deserves Hell the former the tenet of some Papists and fancy of ignorant Protestants the latter the error of some reall enemies both to Popery and Formality Sir these are the several errors to the followers and patrons of which may I have your leave and patronage to speak a few words To the poore Euchite if any such there be in these daies who will doe nothing else but pray I say and that justly Wherefore is this losse who hath required these things at your hands Go to Paradise and there learn of Adam by Gods own direction and command to keep and dresse the Garden as well as to sanctifie or keep holy the Sabbath day As for those who are guilty of the second error viz. who will not pray at all I have preached to them the following Sermon here shall tell them I pray for them because they pray not for themselves and that I think it more necessary to write The Lord have mercy on their doores in whose houses Prayer is not than where the Plague is Those of the third rank who will allow of no prayer except with or by a form supposing they will not decline the judgement and practise of the Ancients without weighty reasons I referre to * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Just Mart. Apol. 2. Justin Martyr and Tertullian and if their testimony will not amount to this that it was their judgement Sine monitore quia de pectore oramus Tert. Apol. cap. 30. and the practise of Christians in their time to pray according to their ability without any Booke or Prompter and so without any set form yet let them shew us how to construe their sayings so as to reconcile them to their opinion And again I beg of them to heare King James who in his advice to Prince Henry counsels him to pray as his heart moves him pro re natâ and not bee as the ignorant ones who pray nothing but out of a book I would desire men of this perswasion to consider that they make the way to the throne of grace onely in a beaten path or road and narrower than God and the holy Scriptures have made it and that probably this their inordinate Zeale for set Formes and their intemperate heat against conceived Prayers gave the first occasion of throwing out all Liturgies out of the Church When they who are allowed crutches or staves to help their weaknesse make use of them to fight withall and to break the heads of those who offer to goe without them then 't is thought no injustice or imprudence to take them away When once the Liturgie that Sheepherds staff would pretend to be like that rod of Aaron when it devoured the rods of the Egyptian Magitians that is would become a Serpent and devour all other prayers in the Church as if they had not been the product of the holy Spirit but a delusion then it was thought high time to remove it Those in the fourth place who decry all forms as utterly unlawfull are reasoned withall in the following Discourse It shall suffice
according to the Directory So here it doth not follow that we may not use the words of either of the Evangelists but on the contrary that we may indifferently use the words of either and so may pray either in the form of words recorded by the Evangelist Matthew or else according to this form in the text We think it not unlawfull but expedient in the celebration of the Lords Supper to retain the words of some of the Evangelists or of the Apostle Paul 1 Cor. 11. upon that occasion And so I see no sufficient reason but we may and that it is expedient to use Christs owne words either at his first or second delivery of it either as recorded by one or the other Evangelist And lastly who knowes but Jesus Christ speaking Syriack the language then commonly used by the Jewes might expresse himselfe in the same Syriack words at both times and yet the Evangelists render the same diversly in another tongue keeping still the same sense as the same Greek words may be truly translated and yet rendred in English in severall or diverse words but all to the same sense Obj. But it is our duty to pray in the Spirit in the holy Ghost and so as the holy Spirit immediately moves us or suggests to us for matter and words and method and so we are not to be tied to any form of prayer Possibly this was and might be used for a time namely till Christ was glorified and the holy Ghost given as Johns form might last till Jesus Christ gave a new one so this form of prayer might be of use untill the coming down of the holy Ghost to teach Christians to pray of themselves without this or any other form Ans To this Objection I say three things 1. That we are now to pray in the holy Ghost in a right sense but not in the sense and manner above alleadged And so to say no more did those before Christs coming 2. That we may truly pray in the Spirit according to our duty although we use the Lords Prayer 3. The coming of the holy Ghost hath not taken away the Lords Prayer but that notwithstanding it may be used in the prayers of the Church and her Members until Christ come again Of the first All Christians 't is true must pray in the Spirit as all Ministers of Christ are to preach in the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit and in words which the holy Ghost teacheth and yet this hinders not but we may and must study and premeditate for our Sermons not alway expecting extraordinary supplies from the holy Ghost so as that it should be given us always in that houre what to preach and it should not be we that preach or speak but the holy Ghost in us The holy Ghost hath made known to us the minde of God in the Scriptures we are to study them and the matters contained in them and to preach the Word of God Scripture-truthes plainly and affectionately as those who have found favour to be taught of God to have our understandings opened to understand the Scriptures to have our wills bowed to Gods revealed will and our affections warmed with love to the truth and zeale for it and as those who have in themselves experimented those things which they declare unto others Besides Ministers may and ought to read the holy Scriptures and in so doing although for the present they are tied unto words yet this doth in no wise quench the Spirit the Scriptures themselves being dictated by the Spirit so when we pray we are to pray in the Spirit that is for such things and in such a manner as the holy Ghost teacheth in the Scriptures of truth we are to pray in faith to come to God in Christs name merits mediation trusting to be heard and answered for Christs sake with earnestnesse and importunity and so with such sighs and groans which are unutterable which cannot sufficiently be expressed in words 2. As Believers before Christ particularly Moses and Aaron had the Spirit and his help and assistance in prayer so far as was requisite notwithstanding they sometimes used prescribed forms of Gods own inditing appointing And as Iesus Christ himself prayed in the spirit when he prayed in the words of David Psal 22.1 My God my God why hast thou forsaken me So those that are Christs may pray also in the spirit in the using the prayer of Christ that being a Prayer for matter method words composed by him who had the Spirit without measure recorded in the very form of a Prayer and with this preface When ye pray say c. by the holy Ghost that is by the Evangelist moved and assisted infallibly by the holy Ghost If that place be urged 1 Cor. 14.15 I will pray with the spirit and with understanding also I answer it followes I will sing with the Spirit and with understanding also So that if the former part could possibly with any good reason be expounded so as to debarre us from the use of the Lords prayer the latter will exclude Davids and all Scripture-Psalmes too out of the Church But the sense and meaning of that place is of another importance as appeares by the context and that may seem to be this I will not make use of the extraordinary gift of the Spirit inabling me to speak in an unknown or strange language either in praying to or praising of God in the Church where it is not understood by the unlearned and therefore cannot be to edification My own spirit or I may indeed pray according to the inward man and make use outwardly of the gift of Tongues that gift of the holy Ghost in praying but I make no use of my understanding to the benefit of others I resolve therefore so to pray and so to sing as I may be understood by others even as if I had no such gift of Tongues as a man would pray that hath not that gift of tongues which is an extraordinary gift of the Spirit 3. I come to my third Proposition and that is to prove that the coming of the holy Ghost doth not take away the use of the Lords Prayer as a Prayer And were it so as is presumed in the Objection that it was given onely for that time untill the coming of the holy Ghost and that it was out of date in the day of Pentecost even this Evangelical form of prayer like the legall observations I say were it so then the use of the Lords Prayer should cease both as a pattern and as a form of prayer it should neither be any more since Pentecost a Directory or Liturgy But the truth is that the promise of the holy Ghost to teach Christians to pray and the gift of the holy Ghost so promised doth not necessarily take away all helps or directions from Christ or from the Scriptures of the Prophets so that they should thenceforth be void and of none effect to all intents and
purposes about or concerning Prayer If the promise of the teaching of the holy Ghost if those Scriptures Ye have an anointing that teacheth you all things and when he comes he shall lead you into all truth doth not discharge us from the use of mens teaching us and preaching unto us and from our own reading the holy Scriptures the doctrine of the Prophets of our Saviour Christ of his Apostles no more doth the other promise of the spirit of Prayer take away all use of Scripture-prayers especially of our Lords Prayer The promise of baptizing with the holy Ghost when it was fulfilled did not make void or take away Baptisme of water no more doth the promise of the holy Ghost to help us to pray and in prayer take away the use of the Lords Prayer It was the work of the holy Ghost to teach and to help Christians to offer up this Prayer and all other their prayers in the name merits and mediation of Jesus Christ to stir up in them good and holy desires agreeable to the requests or petitions continued in this prayer and to descend to many particular desires and petitions and to expresse those desires in proper words and significant expressions all which desires were summarily comprehended in the Petitions and words or expressions of the Lords prayer I say this was the office and work of the holy Ghost which doth in no wise take away all lawfull use of the Lords prayer as a prayer For surely the holy Spirit will not therefore refuse to assist us when we pray this prayer because it is a prayer made by Jesus Christ and registred in the holy Scriptures written by those who were full of and moved by the holy Ghost in that work Nor doe I believe that God the holy Ghost who is the God of Order and not of Confusion will suggest or infuse into us such desires as shall necessarily turn us out of the Lords prayer whilest we are using it in a right manner It is not probable that the holy Spirit will turn us out of the road wherein the Sonne appointed us to goe to the Father And I pray what desires are there that are holy just and good such are all the desires of which the holy Ghost is authour but are comprehended in this prayer Doubtlesse as the Spirit of the Prophets in the Apostles dayes was subject to the Prophets so t is no disparagement to the spirit of prayer which Christians have in these dayes to be regulated by the spirit of prayer which was in Christ and so consequently by that forme which he hath left us Must the whole congregation be tyed up to the forme of the speaker whether Minister or other in prayer and may he in no wise be guided by Christs Prayer Beloved brethren whilst ye so judge are ye not partiall in your selves and to your selves If it be asked what 's the reason that when we have been praying a long time either according to a premeditated forme or a conceived prayer or in a mixt way betwixt both for the things contained in the Lord prayer we yet conclude our prayers with the Lords prayer Is not this a vaine repetition Answ For as much as when we have prayed our best we may have failed in something our prayer may have been defective imperfect It is not therefore vaine but to purpose and very reasonable to rehearse that prayer wherein is nothing defective nothing superfluous nothing out of its due place and order Nor is this an Innovation it was the practice of the antient Church Quam totâ—m pâ—titionem fere omnis Ecclesia Dominica oratione concludit if we will believe Austin in his 59. Epistle q. 5. where he tells that the Church did generally conclude their prayers and blessings at the consecration and distribution of the Elements at the Lords Supper with the Lords Prayer And it hath been observed that they who wholly omit or disuse the Lords Prayer as a prayer doe seldome follow the Lord Christ fully in it as a patterne namely in this particular they seldome plead with God for forgivenesse of sinnes with this argument as or because we forgive those who trespasse against us and doe not alwaies pray against Temptation If they seek to justifie their not using the Lords Prayer and their not imitating it in the former of these particulars lest they should occasion many to pray against themselves because they cannot finde in their hearts to forgive their brethren To this we reply that all our prayers ought to be according to this modell or pattern themselves being Judges To the Lords Prayer bring we all our prayers if they are not according to this rule it is because as to that thing wherein they are irregular or not conforme hereto the true spirit of prayer is not in them 2. If we will not heare Gods Commandement to forgive our brethren how should we expect God should heare our prayers for forgivenesse we must both pray and practise according to Gods will if we would have our wills done if we would have God fulfill our desires 3. The crookedness of mens hearts and waies can be no right rule for Gods Minister in publick prayer but the Word of God and prayer of our Lord Christ 4. The using of this prayer may be instead of a Sermon to such malitious ones to minde them of and move them to forgivenesse However I doubt not but some of the Israelites might be guilty of some of those sins against which the curse was denounced by the Priests on Mount Ebal and to which the Congregation said Amen Obj. Papists and profane ignorant Protestants make an ill use of this good prayer make a kind of Idoll of it and therefore we should lay it aside after the example of Hezekiah who demolished the brazen Serpent when it was abused to Idolatry 2 King 18.4 Answ Some mens abuse of naturall things must not hinder or prejudice others in their right to use them lawfully much lesse must mans abuse annull or make void Gods Institutions Our Saviour sanctifyed the Sabbath although the Jewes were superstitious in their manner of observation of it We must not lay aside the first part of the Gospell written by the holy Evangelist John because it hath been abused in charmes c. And we may still use the words of Christ This is my body in celebration of the Lords Supper notwithstanding that Papists thereupon ground Transubstantiation and Artolatry or worship of the bread believing it to be the body of Christ corporally and not only Sacramentally As the Apostle Paul to Timothy 1 Epist Chap. 1.8 saith of the law of God The law is good if a man use it lawfully So say I of the prayer of our Lord The Prayer is good if a man use it lawfully If the meer abuse of things should take away all lawfull use of them we should soon be deprived of the benefit both of Gods creatures and of his ordinances
from the Lord that in this and all other things I may be found faithfull If as often as Gods people meet together to worship God publiquely and especially upon the Lords day this prayer also might be offered up to God being a Sacrifice and Incense which our high Priest hath consecrated to God and his Father and to our God and our Father I should think it might be a good supplement of the defects and some emendation of the errors in our prayers Especially in such dayes of division as ours are wherein good men are split into so many several parties and opinions in matters of Church and State that whilst some holy men in their hearts say Amen to some prayers put up in their name by the Ministers others as holy as they in their hearts say God forbid or that be far from us This is a publique Prayer and no private Christian but ought to say Amen unto it However we are divided in more particular Requests wee ought all to concenter and agree in these generall neessary things herein prayed for Forasmuch therefore as when we come together in the Church to pray there are too too often divisions amongst us though we are together in one place yet not with one heart and because the promise is especially to two or three that agree together to ask any thing and to pray with divided hearts this is in a sense not to pray this is not to seek the Lord in due order to reforme in some measure at least these abuses in prayer I should recommend to all the Churches of Christ and to every Christian in them this one prayer the Lords prayer to which Christians of all Nations Tongues and Languages may agree to say Amen For I have received of the Lord that which I delivered unto you how that the Lord Jesus the same time when he was by one of his Disciples in effect asked this question how we should pray saying Lord teach us to pray as John also taught his Disciples he said When ye pray say c.. Obj. Are these things so why then do you not justifie prescribed and imposed Liturgies or forms of Prayer Answ I shall not so far lanch forth into that controversie now as either to commend or condemne them yet this I say that this was made by an infallible Spirit And againe concerning this our Saviour Christ hath said that which he never said concerning any other After this manner pray ye or when ye pray say Our Father c. I shall conclude all with some use of the Doctrine 1. And first As the Angel said to Joseph concerning the blessed Virgin Mary whilst he thought of putting her away privily Feare not Joseph thou son of David to take unto thee Mary thy espoused wife for that is conceived in her is of the holy Ghost So say I to all those just ones who have had thoughts of putting away this prayer privily feare not to take unto you this prayer which you have loved and as it were espoused for that which is conceived in it is of the holy Ghost But be not ye as the Papists are who think to make satisfaction to God and merit at his hand by the often repetition of their Pater Noster c. although without faith without understanding without holy affections And againe doe not ye slight other prayers made according to this modell or patterne by them who have the spirit or gift of prayer and above all things my brethren beware of blaspheming the spirit of prayer or praying by the Spirit accounting and calling it vaine babling 2. And you who have the gift of prayer so that ye have no need that any one teach you so that ye can goe without crutches and swimme without bladders I meane pray without using formes made by other men yet be not ye therefore lifted up or puffed up And againe be circumspect and never presume to utter any thing before the Lord in publique which will not hold weight if weighed in the balance of the Sanctuary So speak to God as considering that men also heare you And if ever you should have any thing amisse in your prayers either for matter or for manner of expression lay not this at the doore of the Spirit but rather father it thy selfe own it though with sorrow as a brat of thy owne naughty heart or extravagant fancy And farther having such a golden talent as the gift of prayer labour to improve for thy Masters and the Churches and thy owne advantage And if yee would be mighty in prayer be much in the study of the Scriptures in prayer and meditation The best way to the throne of Grace lyes by the Oracles of God And neglect not to eye and follow the cloud of Incense that is the prayers of Saints in Scripture which ascend to heaven when you would goe to God in prayer And you who have the gift of prayer pray for the Grace also and that more earnestly because one dramme of Grace is worth many talents of Gifts 3. You who have not the gift of Prayer so as to compose a Prayer but have need that some one teach you To the Lords prayer to the prayers of David Hezekiah Daniel the Apostle Paul c. in Scripture and to other formes of prayer framed by other men according to Scripture-patternes and after this manner pray ye c. As to formes of prayer composed by men of a fallible spirit use them as learners to swim use bladders so as they may be able at length to swimme without them use to goe to prayer with them as children use first to go by a bench or forme so that after a while you may as they go without them use them not as old men use staves or crutches never likely to lay them aside 4. As for those who pray not alone and with their families if they be Masters of families pretending they know not how to pray this Doctrine renders them in excusable they must needes become silent before God What can they say for themselves If they say they cannot go behold God allows them crutches to help their weaknesse Brethren if you have but a good will to come to draw nigh to God in prayer behold Jesus Christ stretches out his hand to direct you he hath left you this prayer as legs to go withall to his Father you may be welcome to God and Christ If you come but born upon the shoulders of prayers made by others if you cannot come alone of your selves goe therefore to others to teach you to pray as this Disciple did to Christ and let all Ministers Parents and Masters imitate our Lord Jesus Christ in the text and his forerunner teaching their people children servants to pray as John and Christ taught their Disciples 5. Last of all let us that use the Lords prayer ordinarily make it the patterne of our practise as well as of our prayers Let us doe as we say as we pray Let us endeavour that Gods name may be hallowed or glorified by us and others that the Kingdome of sin which is indeed the Devils Kingdome may be thrown down to the ground down to the nethermost Hell that our Lord Jesus by his good Word and holy Spirit may set up his throne in our hearts and in the world farre above the thrones of all the Kings of the earth the Prince of the aire and all the powers of darknesse Endeavour we our selves and perswade we and help we others to do the will of God on earth readily cheerfully constantly as the Saints and Angels doe it in heaven And we that every day pray for daily Bread let us take some honest calling and course to get it Operantibus dabitur your labour shall not be in vaine And content we our selves so with daily Bread with the portion for the day as to take or admit no carking or distracting thoughts for to morrow Let us who pray God to forgive us our offences against him as we forgive our brethren their offences against us let us be sure that we do not play the Hypocrites or dally with God lest our prayer be turned into sin lest our prayer to God prove like the petition of Adonijah for Abishag the Shunamite to be his wife lest it cost us our lives lest God answer and say you have spokn this against your owne lives against your owne soules you will not forgive your brethren Mites and therefore I will never forgive you Millions of talents Let not us who pray to God not to lead us into temptation goe presently and tempt the very Devill the Tempter to tempt us by throwing our selves upon occasions of sinning Whilest we pray deliver us from evill from all evill of sinne and punishment and particularly from that evill one the Devill see that we run not headlong into any sin as a horse rusheth into the battaile knowing that in so doing we cast our selves into the Lions den yea into the mouth of the roaring Lion Devill and as much as in us lieth into hell it selfe that lake that burneth with fire and brimstone And let us that fill our mouthes with Arguments to plead and wrestle with God as Princes in prayer from his Kingdome Power and Glory i. e. his ability to help us Let us with our very hearts and lives as well as with our lips praise him with the song of Moses Rev. 15.3 4. and of the Lamb ascribing to him alwayes the Kingdome the Power and Glory for ever and ever Thus sealing up our Prayer with a reall AMEN FINIS Adde this after the Title Qu. How is the Lords Prayer to be used Ans The Lords Prayer is not onely for direction as a pattern according to which we are to make other Prayers Mat. 6.9 with Luke 11.2 but may also be used as a Prayer so that it be done with understanding faith reverence and other graces necessary to the right performance of the duty of Prayer ERRATA PAge 47. line 17. instead of those words Do not open your doores to be a randevouz for Devils a habitation for Ziim and Iim and every unclean spirit read thus Do not open your doores to be a randevouz for Devils to be made like falne Babylon Revel 18.2 the habitation of Devils and the hold of every foule Spirit and a cage of every uncleane and hatefull Bird.