the second person with Stephen Lord Iesus receive my spirit For both is here understood and Prayer ought jointly to be put up to them as they are one and severaly to all the Persons as they are three provided that in naming of one as here we exclude not the Son nor Spirit as Stephen not the Spirit nor the Father though the Son be solely invoked It was the Trinity that said Let us make man and from the Trinity did sin cause man to fall and by Prayer to the Trinity must man be remitted of his sin delivered from evil and instructed to avoid temptation It is given as a rule that where the Word Father is simply used without any other word restricting it to any of the other Persons as here there is none the whole Deity is thereby signified ex gr The fowls of the Air sow not yet your heavenly father feedeth them In Father all the Trinity is understood but in these words The Father loveth the Son the second Person is distinctly spoken of and distinguished from the first as also the first from the second But to reach the depth of the word Father in this profound sense were to puzle our souls with inscrutable Mysteries and with Simonides to drench our brains in unprofitable questions For he being asked by Hiero the King what God was desired one days liberty to answer the question but that being too short he demanded two but these not being sufficient he intreated for four in regard the more he pondered his soul was the more darkned touching the nature of a Deity neither do we read that ever he answered the question though eight days was allowed him his head questionless being filled with doubts and niceties studying the solution We shall therefore taking a prospect of this word of this cloud Father from its darkest side as it relates to Prayer and then we may see clearly â—avour on Godsâ—part and duty upon ours The favour is to be seen in Priviledges Justification and in our Adoption 1. Our Christian-priviledges above the Iew. Many and lofty were the Titles and Names by which God made himself known under the Law as the Lord God of gods the God of Abraham and the Almighty God but it is Our Father quia noster esse cepit he now becoming our God having left off to be theirs His Name to them was I AM denoting Eternity and Immutability to be in himself But Our Father shews plainly our interest in him and his to us he is not now under the Gospel called the God of Abraham at a distance but having spoken to us by his Son to keep us with him for ever sweetens our service under the notion of fatherly attendance the other having rebelled against him They indeed while with him had much of his praise but to which of them at any time said he When ye pray say Our Father They prayed indeed but in comparison of us they did it as servants we doing it as sons having received that spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father But of this afterward 2. Our Iustification by the blood of Christ. Our sins made us lose our interest we had in him by our wandring as the lost sheep and by our lavishing as the Prodigal we became like our old father the Devil and by consequence were afar off but now made nigh by the blood of Christ who made our peace animating us with confidence to pray After this manner having by faith received the power to become the Sons of God For nec peccator neither can a sinful people or a sinful man be attoned or made a son or sons except there preceed a remission of sin which is accompanied by the gift of Son-ship For whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin and he who would receive the kiss of the Father must return and confess with the Publicane and he shall not only have bread enough but his sin shall be forgiven him 3 Our Adoption by the regeneration of the Spirit Regeneration implyes a two-fold birth First we are born children of wrath and so are children of the Devil yet not by nature but imitation because the lusts of that father we will do by which we have no plea to Heaven And unless as regenerated a man be born again of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God He comprehends all Ages Sexes and conditions and except he be born again shews a new Father and a new nature Of water understand that Baptism is an entry into a new life which is administred in the Name of the Father upon our bodies denoting that even our flesh is capable of Heavens glory and of the Spirit this is that wherein all blessedness consists for as the Spirit of man must be prop'd or buttress'd by the Spirit of God or it can never be elevated so as to enter the Kingdom of God so must the Spirit of God uphold the faith of the believer by bearing witness to it of the souls being born of God or then we cannot call after this manner without mocking our Father which is in Heaven A Father he is in respect of Christ and because of him he is a Father in respect of us like our elder Brother and elder brethren Let us seek after the things of Heaven that it may be known we pray by the spirit of Adoption having re-purchased the title of Sons Acknowledging by Father an absolution of offences a freedom from judgement Justification Sanctification and the Adoption of Sons a fellowship with Christ the gifts of the Spirit an inheritance incorruptible that fadeth not away eternal in the Heavens Whereby it may be attested of our Father what a dying man said of the Epistles and Gospels when desired by some to deliver a rule for the right ordering of their lives held up them with an ecce omnia hic here are all things necessary for attaining of a good and blessed life he meant they living after the rules there taught so shall it be with us if we practise according to the form prescribed here For this Preface holdeth out also duty on our part and we learn by it to pray with confidence awfulness and plainness 1. With confidence but not with presumption God hath come low to embrace us as sons he hath given us freedom to touch his Scepter yet ought not man to be saucy for the one nor play as a child with the other Let not the pride of thy countenance keep thee O man from God that is from calling upon him because he is thy Father nor permit the sin of thy soul to perswade thee to run from him because he is in Heaven Do this and live come boldly to the Throne of grace that you may obtain mercy It is a Throne therefore denotes Majesty to stop presumption with the
hands the presented morsel of whatsoever kind Knowing that like an indulgent parent if we receive this or that contentedly from him he may give us choice and liking in all other matters and study like a father to please us being obedient in cloaths or money He that peruseth Solomons Dream with the Response thereof may understand the meaning of this rule Christ prayed to his Father for deliverance from the bitter Cup and though S. Matthew shews he drank it yet S. Paul relates he was heard in what he asked but how he submitted to his Fathers will and Angels comâ—orted and strengthned him so against fear that with a daring Majesty he faced those murtherers with an I am he Behold the Handmaid of the Lord said Mary Be it unto me according to thy word Let us be ready for service and we shall be crowned with the reward In all things let it be according to his Will with us and it shall be his will to do great things for us and as Holy is his Name so holy and just are all his purposes and then are we holy when we know it 4. Father is a more comprehensive stile and so fitter for our weakness As every word in this Prayer hath an ample sense and each Petition of an enlarged nature so this word Father though short in Letters yet of so huge bulk in sense as would puzle Angels to expound When we pray for daily bread we also intreat an easy bed good rest for wholesome meat at home and kind friends without a fair way when we travel for a good horse when we ride sound Ship when we sail and for seemly cloaths when we visit our acquaintance so that the word bread is of a copious nature and this word Father not short of it in signification comprehending Creation Regeneration Preservation Discrimination 1. Our Creation Each son of man is a son of Adam who was the son of God so that our radical being was from him and stamped at first by the hand of his power being Earth with Life Reason and Religion which not only as brethren binds us in affection to one another but as children units our tongues to express this word Pater Father all of us being created by him I have somewhere read that in a firait Lady Elizabeth afterward Queen of England cryed Lord look upon the wounds of thy hands and be merciful to the works of thy own hands 2. Our Regeneration Christ having taught us now under the fall to call Our Father minds us not only that he did make but hath also re-made us At first indeed in Adam we had great possessions and our service altogether praise but by his not paying the contracted fore-quit-rent of exact obedience forefeited his priviledges and we as heirs of his body lost our inheritance and being filii diaboli sons of the devil we are born again and become a-new filii Dei In evidence whereof the eternal Son of the same Father teacheth us confidently in Prayer to call his Father and God our God and Father Iesus the Mediator of the new Covenant having procured peace in Heaven for a re-admission into our heavenly Paradise hath given us power to become the sons of God in our consciences and by the the testimony of the Spirit knowing he came from the bosome of the Father shewing the good Fathers good pleasure of our addressing our selves to him though we have back-slidden with love confidence and joy in our Father Thy Kingdom come c. This to the reprobate cannot be affirmed God in this last sense being no more his Father or they his children spiritually then David the son of Goliah when he sought against him or Pipes and Organs the off-spring of Iubal because he made them 3. Our preservation We can speak and call for help hope look and rejoice in the very expectation of our Fathers succour yea benefactors are called Fathers and where there is a personal agreement to perform all offices of love the recipient from respect may use the appellation Father He gave us milk and life and cloaths appointed for us the weeks of the harvest numbreth our hairs preserveth our bones It s true his Angels have charge over us yet as a Father he hath his eyes upon us though those Angels as servants have a command to lead us sor our greater security Our good things he giveth us as his glory and kingdom evil things he puts far from us as our necessities and debts all desirable things he hath promised us and we believe him because the Kingdom and Power and Glory is his of all which we are to have a share being his off-spring 4. Our Discrimination It is a compellation differencing us from Heathens who know not God the Father from Jews and Turks who believe not in the Son and from all who fight against him as an enemy Tremell that famous Jew and Translator of the Syriack-Bible being at his death asked concerning his faith answered Vivat Christus pereat Barrabas Let Christ live and â—arrabas be crucified Distinguishing himselâ— by this from his blood-thirsty fore-Fathers and numbering himself among those whose confidence was in Jesus which Our Father also doth he adopting us only in his Son 4. Father is a more aluring stile and so more conformable to prayer In our Petitions we are to exercise the Graces of Hope Faith and Charity unto which this title brings in singular supports on Gods part upon mans account 1. On Gods part For we in Prayer can lay hold upon his affection Though we be as grashoppers and unworthy to be admitted to glory yet worthy is the Lamb his Son our Saviour who hath procured it for us in whom his providence saith of us to all his creatures what David said of Absalom to all his Commanders Deal gently with the young man with the old man with the sick person and tender infant for my sake though the Prodigal had spent his All yet because he confides in his Father and returns bemoans and repents he is arrayed with honourable raiment entertained with delicious sare and honoured with melodious musick to chear his heart to beautifie his countenance and attract respect from beholders 2. On our part for we in this life ought to have filial conversation This Prayer is not for dogs and therefore taught only to Sons which we are when we obey reverence and walk in our Fathers footsteps The debauch'dnesse of Angustus Daughters made him call them not children but imposthums boils of his body Shall not God much more reprove reproach them who give out they are begotten of him when the seed of the Serpent remaineth in them and the poyson thereof spreading to the infection of others contrary to duty nature and profession because they confess our Father Our Father THe eminent and transcendent acts by which the Name of Father is assumed by
likewise of a kingdom of men in contradistinction to which we pray Let thy Kingdom come there is a kingdom of darkness is the king therof is the angel of the bottomless pit for confusion of which we pray THY Kingdom come It is that Kingdom which the blood of Christ hath purchased the faith of the Saints expected and that which in the parable of the sheep on the right hand we are invited to enter into and possess It is Regnum Coeleste the Kingdom of Heaven in all its steps advantages and degrees In this as in the former Petition we shall search into the matter and next into the order thereof with the application of both to the rule So pray ye In the matter there occurs to be treated upon 1. The extension of the Kingdome 2. The steps methods whereby that Kingdom comes 3. The zeal that is supposed to be in the Petitioner to have that Kingdom come God hath a twofold Kingdom in the world and its inhabitants one general reaching to the birds even in their falling to the hairs of mens head and their numbering and to the devils in their chaining and this is called the Kingdom of his providence Whence it hath been questioned though upon poor ground whether here we pray for the coming or continuing of this Kingdom of providence For since the soul and body are preserved in their united harmony by his favourable concurrence he acting all creatures for the preservation of our life by their subsisting which by some is attributed to Chance to Fortune to the Moon to the Sun and to any other creature which the ignorance of the true God shall lay before an idolater Christianity being but thin-sowen and Christ not so universally believed upon but that a great part of the world is idolaters and unbelievers Quinsay the greatest City in the whole earth was of late known to have had in it but one Church of Christians in the rest Gentilism sacrificing to the very Devil that he might not hurt Which considered what should hinder our earnest sueing for a more clear manifestation of his infinit authority that all Altars and all hearts may offer up holy sacrifice to that only true God by whom they only live and in whom they shall and may be eternally made happy It was not or but darkly known that the most high ruled in the Kingdoms of men and gave it to whomsoever he will but yet so that he himself governed it by the wisdom of his power and protected it by the wisdom of his government 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thy Kingdom the word importing that Kings are inviolable and not to be hurt or grieved which God is by the idolatrous and superstitious rites of Gentiles and Jews or that Kings are the foundation or upholder of the people which God also is all things being upheld by him and to that purpose is a King a word from the Saxon word Cyning or Cunning which importeth to know and understand and ability to act as we proverbially say a canny man one that can do and act with dexterity and skill in which God is transcendently eminent King-like providing and taking care for all making grass to grow for the Oxe and herb for the service of man Sent he not hail and fire mingled with hail very grievous upon all the Land of Egypt and a pestilence in the dayes of David upon the twelve Tribes It s thy Kingdom implying his Majesty Splendor Tranquility and Honour and may we not desire that by the greatness of his power he would command the air to be healthful and the fire not to be hurtful and that it be known to be his act to all the world as an effect of his unlimited Soveraignty Besides this he is said to have a Kingdom by and in which he rules his Saints and Church in special and relating to his Church triumphant is called a Kingdom of glory relating to his Church militant is called a Kingdom of grace that of grace going along in that of providence and going forward to that of glory we shall speak of them both mutually beginning with that of providence and grace For a safe and prosperous success of our undertakings and affairs for the subjugating of our foes for destroying the power of darkness that we may have no treacherous heart with Iudas nor a covetous with Ahab nor an ambitious with Absolom and that the Kingdoms of the earth may become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ and that such who know him may give him no rest untill he make Ierusalem that is his Church a praise in the whole earth we pray for in Thy Kingdom come At this time regnavit Diabolus the Devil reignes Sin reigns Death reigns and by them mankind hath been taken captive hence we beg that Satan may perish Sin may cease Death may die and that Captivity may be taken captive that we being freed from these may reign quietly honourably and securely under him If he suffer Turks or Tyrants to afflict his Church we call for strength and aid by his providence for grace and power by his Spirit and in both saying before Ephraim Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength why before these three but because these Tribes both mar ched and pirched nearest the Ark a type of his presence and in Thy Kingdome come his rising as a Giant out of sleep in the sight of his Church and march forward to subjugat those 〈◊〉 by his mustered forces that is the ordered Army of his creatures or peovidences or graces of faith love and real that Ephraim and Manasseh without fear may worship the Lord in Benjamin that is in his Ierusalem that is in all holy places The work of Gods hand and his providence about it may lead us to admire but leas◠we should stand in the world as Mary at the grave looking to behold what we cannot find we call for his Kingdom to free us of that sordid vassalage which our parents sin temptation and unbelief have brought upon us to the beholding those invisible riches above pursuing in our thoughts their duration fixation and consolation The world here follows us so closs and grips us so hard that we are put back in our pursuit of those more desirable treasures above so that it is called a striving to apply our thoughts thereto so much as in a wish which imports among many things this one that there must be great pressing and fearing to be over-pressed we pray Thy Kingdom come Anaxagoras affirmed the cause of his birth and coming into the world was to behold the Heavens and the Sun from which the curiosity of some hath picked such a mystery as I am prone to conjecture was never in his thoughts for by Heaven they would give out he understood the power of God which is attributed to the Father and by the Sun
they will have to be signified the brightness of misdom which is Iesus Christ and by heat which is from the Sun they would have love understood which is the Holy Ghost to detect the vanity of such conceits as issuing from Anaxagoras were a vain dispute but certain it is that man was made and the Christian is taught to have his eyes his desires his affections where Christ is at the right hand of God and was begotten and born of the Spirit to love admire and behold the Son Therefore Schools and Colledges where Arts and Principles of knowledge are taught ought to be recommended to the eare of providence that from them by means of Professors and Benefactors as from a Nursery may be removed such plants as may in the garden of God which is his Church refresh his people with their shade and fruit for it was esteemed the saddest persecution when Iulian the Apostat Emperour to impede the Kingdom of the Gospel ordered that no Galilean so he termed believers should be trained up in letters or learning alledging that heathens were killed with their own feathers meaning the pungency of Christian Doctors Arguments That the knowledge of God being spread the longing after Heaven may be discerned that the things present being accounted as nothing there may be earnestness for those which are to come a principle arising from a conscience purged from sin and a soul purified from the earth as St. Pauls was when he groaned to be cloathed upon resteth in the bosome of this Petition Moreover the subjection of all souls unto his will Law and Goverment is intreated for here in Thy Kingdom come the petitioner as the mother of Siserah is panting and asking why is his Chariot so long in coming that deliverance from this present evil world might be hastned that all whether high or low rich or poor old and young might rejoyce together blessing the Lord in the beauty of holinesse For 1 They live in fear of themselves and therefore cry Thy Kingdom come Iob was not in trouble yet he feared they know they cannot think one good thought nor do one good act upon certainty of sins lying at the door and of temptations being within the house distrusting of the strength of age and experimentally apprehending a disease surmising through despondency some cross to attaque them and lastly beholding the severity of God upon them which fall more grace knowledge and a more clear sense of their own salvation is frequently in their mouth that no temptation may surprize them or cause them deviat from truth and holiness Sometimes Curiosity again Vanity too oft Obscenity will affault and the thoughts of the soul here heat the heart there blow it and anone disturb it and by and by scatter and again confound it then rack it and afterwards binds it consequently defile it and corrupt it from which the coming of this Kingdom doth secure it by giving them the gifts of sobriety and of a sound mind purity of speech and sincerity of grace which they would alwayes possesse but that Satan by his frequent and sudden temptations doth hinder them In the croud of cares and fears arising from wars tumults and as they say from wives children and families from sin and natural srailty a soul though strong may be broken crushed and wounded by which that precept recorded to have been given by the Guardian Pastor or Angel among many to that holy ancient Hermes St. Pauls Disciple is good viz. to believe and fear in regard the last without sthe first creats gulfs of despondency issuing from the turbulent sea of perplexity entanglements and doubts for the Spirits overwhelming his nuncius iniquitatis or evil genius like Iobs messengers interrupting mans beloved retirements for Halcyon and serene tranquility in heavenly meditation more frequently with corrodeing and mournful intelligence tending to bitterness and wo then his nuncius aequitatis or good Angel cometh like Ioabs informers Ahimaaz-like with accustomed good tidings nourishing the soul or ravishing the ear with the melodious report of benevolent providence whence it is that even the great judgment-day for the elects sake is hastned and the Kingdom of God every wsy desired 2. They live in love of others and therefore cry Thy Kingdom come With St. Paul they have a desire and their prayer to God is that all Israel may be saved by letting the sound of the everlasting Gospel be heard unto all that dwell upon the earth and to every Nation Tongue and people that Israel and Iudah that is Iew and Gentile may become one and unite in the hand of him who is the arm of the Lord revealed For if we love the Lord we shall obey his Law and love man for this is to enjoy good and to be thought worthy of infinit good things this is the crown of vertue the foundation of Religion and the Kingdom of God there being great and precious promises of the enlarging of the Kingdom of Christ by the accession thereto of the multitude of the Gentiles by revealing the Doctrine of saith the light whereof detecting the unprofitableness of those various modes and forms of worship used by Infidels the not doing whereof indicats one almost that is scarce half a Christian that in its full latitude oblidging us to lay aside passion and self and signifie to the world our desire of Gods removing the dark cloud of atheism or errour and bring all to that due way of worshipping the Father in his Christ by discovering to all the beauty and order of his Kingdom Let us reason a little on Gods behalf and beholding the equity and justice of this duty set our selves to its performance Contemplat upon Gods authority over us and we shall learn submission reflect upon our cumbersome lusts our rigid adversaries our rueful passions our woful calamities our oppressing Task-masters our seducing Teachers our eager disputes our multiplied opinions our divided interests and our probably irreconciliable divisions to pass by the subtilty of the Devil in all we shall be forced not only to pray Thy Kingdom come but with hatred and sorrow acknowledge that other lords besides thee have had dominion over us to save us therefore and to confound them Let thy Kingdom come Our creation possession and future expectation makes discernable the infinit distance betwixt those powers whom we obey and God whom we ought to obey who not only hath authority over us but exerciseth the same in so gentle ample and so affectionat manner that reason should induce us to forsake those intricat labyrinths inconsolat services and filthy undertakings in which and wherein our lusts and hellish masters have and do so deeply engage us and make us swear allegiance devouting our selves unto the Crown of Heaven the Laws whereof being comfortable just good and holy A crook-back was not under the Law to approach to offer bread before the
Lord and therefore let us stand upright and not flectere ad ima as bowed down behold the things of this carnal and perishing world lest we be accounted unfit to approach unto or enter in the Kingdom of God Exoneremus ergo let us therefore cleanse our hearts from the contagion of unclean cogitations and fit our selves for a daily offering up unto Christ prayer and praise as Priests separated by the Spirit for that good work and office and particularly to offer bread I mean the remembrance of the whole Tribes the whole earth for their good It was Sauls question whether the promise or hopes of fields or vineyards made his Guards not inform him of Davids supposed conspiracy and consederacy with Ionathan and truly the largeness excellency the Vineyards and fields the riches and the glory of the Kingdoms of grace and providence ought to provoke us to be earnest for the advancement of the Kingdom of God the protection we have from Angels the heat we receive from the Sun the light we have from the Heavens the prospect we have from the Hills the Flowers we behold from the Valleys the Commodities we have from the Sea the comforts we draw from the Beasts the spiritual consolations we receive from the Gospel shew the advantages we have by his Government and therefore ought to endeavour the removing and fight for the departing of Saul's the sense is easie and the coming of David's Kingdom in pressing for the enlargement of the Kingdom of grace under our Lord Jesus Christ. For though in the Kingdom of his providence we possess such a lot or portion as his wisdom or power giveth and judgeth convenient for us yet remembring that these things we enjoy common with the Swine in the field and the Raven of the air the Fort-royal of our affections are not to be possessed much less commanded by the desire of enlarging temporalities being given but as apt means to uphold our otherwise frail Tabernacle but collecting all our strength animat our zeal for a studious striving for and earnest thirsting after the beautifying confirming enlarging and adorning of our inward man by grace against the approaching of the Kingdom of glory This Age hath many who slight this Prayer in their practice as well as neglect it in their religious exercise they desire the coming of his Kingdom limiting their thoughts to that of Providence desiring the hastning and advancement of those good things they desire to possess yet not contented with their portion by stealing cheating robbing they snatch it impudently out of his hands being impatient that he brings it not unto them and grumbleth that he makes not speed whereas Thy Kingdom come implyes modesty and our waiting upon Gods leasure Let pilfring sinners therefore know that not a snatching but a mannerly receiving is contained in this Petition Hasten not therefore to be rich Eye his Kingdom of Grace we have those so pure in their own eyes so holy in their own conceits that they behold no urgent cause for its more evident appearing Let such know that not sufficiency but a daily exuberancy is contained in this Petition Say not therefore I have enough It is obvious that many concludes the coming of this Kingdom to consist in such tenets or opinions they have imbibed from the Rabbies of some saction to them beloved Let such know that not the following of mens opinions but the knowledge and owning of Gods heavenly dominion is contained in this Petition the great Officers therein under himself being Magistrats and Ministers c. both which are prayed for in Thy Kingdom come Thy Kingdom come THe Kingdoms of Grace and Glory as they are united in this Petition are now to be explicated and first of Grace whereby Christ reigns in the soul which by having the Gospel is nigh unto us and next that of Glory prepared for us before the foundation of the world yet these are not so much two as one differing only as the light conveyed by the window differs from that immediatly flowing from the Sun In the Kingdom of Grace Christ is compared to a Roe standing behind the wall looking forth at the window shewing himself through the lattess the wall is our flesh the window is his Law the lattess is his Prophets but in the Kingdom of Glory the wall is pellucide the window and lattess both removed and the immediat beams i. e. glory of the Father by the Saints viewed and respected By Grace here he hath Servants Kings and Teachers in his Temple and Throne but there in glory there is no teaching because no ignorance no King because no offence and Kingdom implying government and that under a King Christ is King and Head of his Church and God the Father as Jesus is man is the head of Christ Hence we pray Our Father which art in Heaven Thy Kingdom come In which Petition there is something we pray against and something we pray for the latter is for the Churches and our guidance into the Holy of Holies the former is for subjugating Gods and our enemies and all pernicious lusts obstructing our glory to come We pray against the dominion of sin the darkness of nature the prevalency of Satan and the delay of the Saints reward 1. The dominion of sin that its head which is as a Serpents may be bruised and its reign which is tyrannical may be ended all lust being base and ignoble and ineffably cruel domineering more over the soul and making it suffer more from it quam corpus c. then the body doth from diseases for it reigns and brings into eternal death at last fascinating in the mean time and bewitching mens hearts so that but few are sensible of that danger which these Ammonites will bring upon them if longer tolerated and those few again have their souls so entangled that though they have no love to embrace yet they want power to extricate themselves out of sins snare or force to drive it from exercising dominion over them Therefore calls for help against that strong man that by the power of grace and strength of faith and ardency of zeal all from the Spirit of God he may be bound as a rebel against heaven and an usurper over man in forcing obedience to his lusts and rigidly exacting what was never his due viz. love and subjection Thy Kingdom come as it eyes the Church imports that it might be manifest among men and that it might be known to the ignorant but eying Grace it respects the extinguishing of all vice by the power of God that neither devil nor world nor carnal lust nor any sin might have dominion over us but God alone For if we study good works and shine in vertue lust and iniquity shall never overcome us nor the power of hell suppress us restat ergo we ought therefore as in all
Covetousness in Buff Oppression watching Lust posting Fury thâ—â—tning Malice contiriving and Policy uniting to suppress the Gospel and though it get ground in the conversion of some to the saith of Jesus yet what Hanibal said of the Roman General Marcellus may the Church say of them and the devil their Captain that neither conquered nor conquering will they be quiet yea her case must be sad since the very liâ—e of her peace consists in fighting against these restless adversaries and where overcome yet so desperate is their wrath they with the Gadarens beseech Christ to depart It s regiment is likewise often obnubilated Grace now and then is put to the flight by an army of lusts The Church is said to be a Woman cloathed with the Sun the Moon under her feet that she is a Woman betokeneth her weakness her fruitfulness cloathed with the Sun her protection by and obedience to Jesus Christ the Moon under her feet signifyeth her contempt of all earthly because mutable enjoyments yet for all this pompous equippage she is forced to go to the wilderness for shelter against the Dragons rage and fury The feeling the beholding the hearing of these things will cause sorrow and what consolation is that offered by an Ancient comforting a Christian in sad times It was Pia tristitia beata miseria a blessed melancholy and a pleasant misery to behold the sins of others and weep and to another Plangenda sunt haec non miranda these things are to be be 〈◊〉 for not wondred at yet adds that prayer ought to be made I shall not say that after the fall God appointed our flesh our sinful lusts to rule overus for our punishment as he appointed thorns to arise out of the earth for mans vexation but since the fall lusts and corruption overshadow grace within us to that hight that Peter will curse David fall and Iacob lie to his Father and these weeds are permitted to abide in all until the Kingdom of God come with power which made David call but thou O Lord how long that is in the new Testament-stile Thy Kingdom come The Gospel in its progress is compared by our Saviour to leaven and that workes gradually regeneration to a new birth and man is perfected by degrees the Church to a builing and that advanceth by rule and measure and Wisdom is said to have hewn out her seven pillars which implies addition the new man hath not his proportion by years but by degrees and comes to perfection by distinct gifts and graces he first learns as a child to read the good examples of others then advancing forward he comes to live according to divine Law then he is so in love with Christ that marrying himself to him he would not sin though there were no Law against it growing now strong he can endure and stand out against the worlds troubles and vexations and then growing rich in the abundance of the things of the Kingdom of God he leads a peaceable and contented life then he comes to forget that is not to heed transitory things being wholly intent as aged in grace upon life eternal and now there remains but one step more that is the Kingdom of glory which advanceth towards us by the grace of faith illumination of the soul Discipline of the Church and by finishing the number of the Elect. 1. By the hearing of faith This eyes all the Kingdoms we have spoken of for as by faith we believe that Jesus came to save sinners so we believe by â—aith that the world was created and yet preserved the Father Almighty hitherto working and darkly hinted at in the conclusion of this Prayer For thine is the Kingdom power and glory All that we know of Hell his prison of Earth his Foot-stool of the Clouds his Chariots of Man his Image of Angels his Hosts of Heaven his Pallace of Christ his Son is by the doctrine of Faith for untill it come we are not savingly sensible of the Kingdom of God And the doctrine of the Worlds Creation Mans fall and Christs coming are recorded to have been the Principles of Religion taught in Adams Temple Oratory or place of worship where God dwelt from whose face Cain departed all which shew that it is necessary to believe as firmly that God the Father Almighty made the Heaven and Earth as it is to believe in Iesus Christ his only Son our Lord. The grace of faith is said to be the Kingdom of God within that Kingdom being spiritual and reigning in the hearts of the faithfull while they are in the Kingdom of providence and by which they are nourished and protected untill they arrive at the Kingdom of God in glory where they shall reign as Kings and Priests unto God for ever 2. By the enlightning of the mind This peculiarly eyes his Kingdom of grace As Moses face shined when he was with God under the Law so now God shines in the hearts of his friends under the Gospel he saith now not Let there be light but is himself a light unto his people The Gospel puts a Key in the Converts hand to intuat and behold the mysteries in Christ crucified which others cannot see and also a Lamp to know how far and in what kind for what use and for what end they appertain to him As at the Creation there was a fiat lux Let there be light so in Conversion there is a scias fu thy sins are forgiven thee which is that unction of the Spirit by which all things are known as the Eunuch knew and believed that Jesus Christ was the Son of God and by which also their Conversation is in Heaven having security by God and joy in him for which cause also it is the highest stone in Wisdoms seven Pillars upholding the house that is the Conscience or Soul of man The first whereof being good Will next a sanctified Memory the third a clean Heart the fourth a free Soul the fifth a right Spirit the sixth a devout Mind but the last and highest is an enlightned Understanding By the discipline of the Church Admonitions Reproofs Censures are as military weapons used by the Church for the upholding of this Kingdom of Grace yea a delivery over unto Satan by excommunication which if justly duly and compassionatly done is and hath been found instrumental for the stirring up the authority and power of Grace in the soul of some obdured shame and fear being very efficacious motives where other means are less effectual to perswade a soul to cry Peccavi Father I have sinned as did the incestuous Corinthian One Sigbert King of the East Saxons keeping society and familiarity with a Count or Earl whom holy Cedd had excommunicated for unlawful marriage once by accident met with Cedd as he journeyed to the Counts house and being smitten with shame and fear alighted from his horse and craved
Syllable of this Prayer yea the very Preface of it Our Father is cloathed with Charity the second is equally conspicuous acknowledging our poverty in the fourth Petition our iniquity in the fifth our infirmity in the sixth c. We shall in the close of this Petition speak of the third and discover the zeal that ought to possesse the heart of the supplicant affixing this unto Thy Kingdom come yet ought it to be understood as appended unto Thy will be done Too much remissnesse and again over eager earnestnesse being equally offensive we shall discover the zeal we speak of the Arguments for it and Cautions concerning it Zeal being a hot impetus or warm affection heating the soul for practising duties governed by sound knowledge and right reason is included in the word Kingdom amplified by the Pronoun Thy and therefore vehement in our wishings and longings for its coming the very word Zeal denotes affections to be as fire that of the Pharisees earnestnesse to compass Sea and Land for a Prosylite was great no good zeal but if pitched upon the right object and mannaged with due circumstances as the love of God heeding the Word of God enflamed with a solicitous care for its advancement and attended with an innocent and holy hatred against its opposers as in David it is both good and great and in Paul it is both great and good It is composed of Love Fear and Anger in this Petition the love of God and the love of man the fear of his own weaknesse and the desire of the down-fall of Satans Dominion is clearly to be beheld It eyes chiefly the propagation of divine glory the Churches edification Satans destruction and the extirpation of all wicked Hereticks and sinners and ought to be in us not only at our prayers but in the whole course and practice of our lives being in every thing a zeal for Gods glory and our own and our Brothers good ought to be in us God hating dulnesse upon the one hand as well as rashnesse on the other Much of this Kingdom S. Paul possessed yet he reached forward unto those things that were before knowing only this that he made proficiency daily the world not yet being ended he pressed forward possessing the things he believed if not in re yet in spe not having them in possession though in reversion he endeavoured an intuition hating that Diagor an-like spirit now in man who declared he knew not whether there was a God or not and if there were was also ignorant of what nature he was With us dulnesse and carelessenesse of many in the affairs of God publisheth their uncertainty of the being and next of the quality of this Kingdom whereas he is only zealous who truly and soundly that is assuredly is acquainted with heavenly matters which in relation to this Kingdom every soul ought to be because of Safety Beauty Charity and our Dignity 1. Our safety for in his Kingdom there is no enemy Here every bramble-lust puts in for dominion over us excited thereunto by the old serpent whereby the spirits of the meek themselves are kept in a perpetual commotion to be liberat from which body of death and freed from that Law of sin consequences of the coming of this Kingdom the devout soul hath active considerations for its fruition and enjoyment Themistocles concluded that the knowledge of having a good neighbour might enhance the price of his house set to sale and the Countrey-fellow hath a Proverb we can live without our Friend but not without our Neighbour What a Countrey must that be where all are good Neighbours and not one evil among them Here we are not to trust in a Brother nor to put confidence in a Guide being sure either of guilt fear or danger every Adam having his Evah and she her serpent yea Iesus himself is not without a Herod who seeks his life But in that other Kingdom we have Christ that true Friend and Brother reigning over us the Forts of Satan our foe being battered and the dominion of Death our terrour being finished and the plotted-for place of Hell our torment being eternally secured from As Labienus at a treaty betwixt Cesar and Pompey cryed out so may the believer say of peace in this world Let us leave off speaking of peace or thinking of a truce untill we have Cesars head that is Satans head bruised and untill his dominion be overthrown 2. Our Stature is in his Kingdom that is our beauty What Zacheus among us by taking thought can add one cubit to his stature The Ark was a Cubit and half high shadowing that imperfection and â—railty attends our gifts and graces and as Children when we want who among us can do more then cry It is true that Noah was perfect but it was in his generation but in the Kingdom of God we shall be perfect men according to the stature of the fulnses of Christ. A Moralist required youth to have Temperance in the soul Silence upon their tongue and Modesty upon their face yet over and above a parent would have his Child have stature and shall we be zealous for Childrens comeliness and tepid in seeking our own perfection which can never be acquired but at the coming of this Kingdom and being with Enoch Candidats for Heaven and Students of Eternity ought we not to affect being Doctorat and set in the Chairs of everlasting bliss It was a shame for the Corinthians that after so much teaching as Paul gave them they remained still babes and not able to bear strong meat It is a note of our childishnesse in the affairs of God yea and somewhat worse that we do not in a holy emulation of the glorified Saints give all diligence if it be possible to attain the resurrection of the dead that is as perfect now as the glorified Saints are in Heaven and denotes causa excitandi studii nostri how we should be stirred up to aim at the same degree of perfection 3. Our Brethren are all in his Kingdom where is our charity Above us are all our Fathers Sons and about us are Adam's posterity the former edgeth our desire to be with them the latter fills us with fear and care for them that they also may be happy the first hath from our Father of the hidden Manna the new wine we have a portion of his bread i. e. the good Word of God but having brethren who hath not heard of the last and hath no prescience of the first and worshipping ignorantly an unknown God brings upon their souls swift destruction we are to have their names upon our heart when we stand before the Lord that unto them also might be given Repentance unto life The legal Priest who was of the sons of Aaron was to have fire alwayes burning upon the Altar before the Lord so the Evangelical also who
is of the sons of Abraham ought to have alwayes burning upon the Altar of his heart the fire of holy charity and that to be blown up by the example of the Fathers and Testimony of holy Scripture unto which if we look and take heed the zeal for their own salvation and their brethrens glory that all might fear and declare the work of God and wisely consider of his doing is their chief care according to this rule The Multitude of sinners the fewness of Saints in the throng of professours ought to be seriously reflected upon that faith might bring our brethren in the flesh to Sons of the Spirit that living by the Laws of the Kingdom of God the Scriptures they might be accounted as the subjects of it faithful and worthy to possess the inheritance that fadeth not away the harvest therefore being great pray to the Lord thereof that the idolatrous and prophane which like the Syrians fill the countrey may be listed under the Standart of Jesus and united to Israel which are but as a few Kids that the seekers of the Lords face may be many nay may be all for which provoke one another to love and to good works It was an odd saying of Remigius yet a sad one because true that though the Church hitherto endure they being baptized that were her persecutors yet the Devil is not baptized and plagueth the Church not now or not only by the fury of Pagans but by the harshness ill-will and cruelty of Christians which to put an end unto let each man say as one said Et tu Domine Iesus Lord Jesus where is thy wonted kindness and O Father where is the sounding of thy bowels and remember we have but two commands from God one to love God the other man yet these two are but one love shewing without the one we want the other and by not doing the one we forfeit our interest in the other said a wise man Our zeal ought to extend to the utmost confines of the world for a bringing in of many sons and daughters unto this Kingdom in order to which we are to become Orators for a blessing upon Kings Princes c. That by their power upon Parents that by their authority upon Preachers that by their gravity upon Masters that by their industry the Word of the Lord may run and be glorified and that affectionatly and with ardor of mind Remissness sleepiness and dulness in prayer being one cause publickly declared from heaven in a vision of the eight persecution of the Church under Valerianus 4. His glory is in his Kingdom there is our dignity There is an earnest of the Spirit in the believers soul assuring him of glory and an earnest is part of the bargain so that in his conscience he hath a holy assurance that when ever the Kingdom of God shall appear he shall be crowned in it Here we behold the invisible God by that which is also invisible Munda scil mente vel corde a clean heart and a right spirit which argueth our distance and is at best but a comfortable ignorance but let this Kingdom be revealed and the soul being evacuat of all imperfections freed of all contagious principles or objects shall behold it self in its spiritual beauty to be the off-spring of God and as a Son behold his Fathers naked face in his ineffable glory Have we not made his dominion our choice his Son unto whom this Kingdom is given our joy and shall we not with endeared regard crave that its beautifull and powerfull manifestation be no longer retarded by the hypocrisie of some the intemperance of another the uncleaness of a third the blasâ—hemies of many the malicious quarrellings of most and the false slandrings of idle busie-bodies but as the people gathers to Shiloh the Souldiers to their Colours the Birds to the Carcass so ought we in our several capacities urge fervently the gatherings of all to the Lord of Hosts that it might be no longer with Christians as it was with the Manicheans with whom there was nothing rational nothing certain nothing blamlesse all being doubtful scandalous abominable and absurd That being truly and properly a Kingdom where a King will have such to be his subjects and they will have such an one to be their King and for this the whole creation cryeth with us adveniat Thy Kingdom come The Stars in their courses the Saints in their sufferings cry out how long O Lord holy and true because holy in himself and true in his promise therefore say the Saints judge and avenge our blood which expression being doubled shews desiderium vindicandi a desire of this Kingdom which the Ox at the Plough the Horse on the road the Elements in their motions yea the whole creation in its subjection groans for to be redeemed by it from that vanity under which they are in bondage Have we made his dominion our choice and not fight yea fight for suppressing diverting of all those forces Art can contrive Magick fancy Sacriledge Minister the Devil in the multitude of sinners can suggest or sin in the bloodiness of its aims can muster which if we do not let us be self-condemned as unworthy of its enjoyment when it shall be revealed The Romans at their first entry into Britain were much terrified by the valour and to them by the strange way of the British fighting which being perceived by the Standart-bearer of the tenth Legion he cast himself out of the Ship and assaulted his foes crying aloud Fight my companions except you will betray the Roman Eagle into the hands of the enemy for mine own part I will be faithful to the Common-wealth of Rome and to Cesar my General at which shame and courage animating all the Standart was followed a victory obtained and Britain subdued Let this exhilerat this Age whose remissness I might say whose perversness suffers the glory of the Cross of Christ and the government of Jesus to be betrayed to the hands of sin and sinners the zeal of his house being so far from consuming us or from eating of us up that we suffer both it and our selves to be swallowed up by hell and destruction I mean strife and division Consider what this Kingdom produceth which we may call its In-land Commodity and our zeal shall become importunat that consisting in peace righteousnesse joy in the Holy Ghost the two former are the leaves of the door that admits us into the latter for we have first righteousness by our faith freeing us of sin and then peace hushing all our passions then cometh joy by our here expecting and afterward enjoying our reward which three we glimmeringly enjoy in the Kingdom of grace below but shall receive them in their Meridian lustre in that Kingdom of glory above having righteousness without sin iniquity being taken away peace without disturbance
his Dog or as a Physitian beholding faciem Hypocraticam on his patient a deadly countenance orders him to be pleased in all things there being no hopes of recovery so riches may be given even to fatnesse untill the man have collops of fat upon his flanks yet wanting Gods presence they have no blessing which prayer procureth yea importuneth Behold Davids Throne Endors Air Nabals Mutton Ehuds Parlour Araunahs Barn and Tyres Ships if they want God are unhappy where contrarily Iacobs stone Iobs Dung hill Ieremiahs Pit Daniels Den Pauls Prison Silas Stocks having God are comfortable retirements It is a good observe of our Royal Interpreter that though we abound in all kinds of flesh or sowl yet cheap or dear years are so accounted from the abundance or scarcety of Corn that being called victual à victu because we feed upon it as if all other dishes were but as sawce to this and yet even that without our Fathers favour and good liking is but a killing portion Holy Augustin opening the miracle of the Loaves calleth the five loaves the old Law or the five Books of Moses and the two fishes either the Doctrine of the Prophets and the Baptist or both the Old and New Testaments the grasse upon which the multitude sat signifies the slighting of all things earthly It is to be wondered that our Saviours giving of thanks was not heeded yet that may be included in the two Testaments for without an allegory it is a character of the blessed man that be meditates in the Law of God the blessed consequence whereof is that what soever he doth shall prosper 2. That poverty ought to provoke prayer The young Ravens when forsaken either through the negligence sorgetfulnesse or foolishnesse of the old because of their whitenesse cry unto God for food and hath it whether by creating vermine for them out of their own dung I know not but it is sure they receive meat and shall man despond the needy man conceit himself forsaken For in this sense this is the poor mans prayer The Monkish vow of poverty is against the Law of Nature though they should keep it and also of Religion both allowing us with Ionathan to taste honey lest we faint and with Isaac to dig wells to procure water and seing to eat grasse like the Oxe is not our bread but our curse we may and ought with Abel to plow against hunger and here to pray for a dayes sufficiency of bread Besides Oeconomick there is a Politick or natural poverty as blindnesse lamenesse sicknesse madnesse against all which intensnesse in Prayer is necessary But particularly to keep more closs to our Text against poverty and want or scarcety of bread For 1. It is to the best of men a great temptation to evil Agur praying against it urgeth two arguments 1. Least he should steal an ordinary effect of want 2. Lest he should take the Name of God in vain an effect of theft in the Jewish Law for in want of clear probation the suspected purged himself by oath and was acquitted from restitution Therefore as in want of bread our Saviour was tempted to distrust so in Agur it might occasion perjury and theft as in the Levit it did arrogancy and idolatry so every way is it to be prayed against 2. It is oft trod upon by men and this breeds ill blood The former note produced ill thoughts against Gods Law this eyes ungodly speeches against man When David is become like an Owl it may cause much mischief to whoot at him as is evident in his design against Nabal and when Daniel the Prince is called Daniel of the captivity upbraiding him with his thraldome he is a Daniel who can sustain the affront and bridle his tongue not answering the taunt Quid enim paupertas for what is poverty but a certain deformed leannesse or plenty but a certain fâ—â—nesse and how hard is it for the fat not to point at and shame the poor and the lean again since a worm will wriggle when trod upon to envy malign and to his power bite the very nose from the face of him whom Parasites or Smell-feasts call beautifull Yet noli flere weep not poor man if God hath given thee this gift for poverty is his donation he will if it be imbraced give many blessings A father a mother will dandle most their blind their lame their diseased child The three Children fed on Pulse and drank Water yet were not sindged in the fiery furnace when those who it may be did eat of the Kings meat were immediatly consumed Grata paupertas patient poverty is so acceptable to God that chooseth rather to be at course fare then to countenance Herods i. e. the oppressours bloody banquet And his company shall make thy quarter-loaf of the nature of the Tarentines feast Quod jejunium appellabant for they when besiedged were by the Rhegians supported and supplied by food which by publick Edict was spared in fasting each tenth day and this succour was so happy as to cause the Romanes raise their siedge in grateful memory whereof the Tarentines kept a feast which they called a Fast and such a feast doth the holy poor continually celebrat having fellowship with the Father and the Son which Son our Iesus undertaking to deliver man abhorred not a poor Virgins womb choosing not the belly of a rich great or full sed Queen and when born slighted the Pallice the Downy Bed the fine Linnen of Egypt and imbraced the Manger yea in life had poor Fisher-men his attendants and after his ascension appointed them not grandees to be his Ambassadours to reconcile the greatest to their God who are commanded to be poor in spirit so highly doth the contempt of this world please him True riches being neither Gold Silver nor pâ—eciouâ— Jewels but Vertue and the peace of a good Conscience which rich men often wanting occasioned this Provech viz The rich is either a wicked man or a wicked mans heir Thou art not yet so poor as thou was born being then in greater indigency then ever poveity it self can redact thee unto yet then God supplied thee with food convenient which did make firm thy flesh though slubbry and consolidat thy bones though brittle and see we not the poor to have generally sounder bodies comlier faces fairer children then the rich accommodat thy self therefore to thy necessity as the Philosopher advised and be wise knowing there is a providence in all things and a blessing for the true observer Heliogabulus caused mens flesh to be sacrificed upon his altars to his heathen gods and the beholding of the treats of some might make the poor man conjecture his own samished table to be a curse unto his house but if he reflect upon the lives of them who by oppression gripping and crushing is put out to make up these culinary offerings