him without more a doe This day thou shalt bee with me in Paradise Wherefore O my soule observe here first what thou promisest God to observe Forgive them that trespasse against thee I doe here therefore forgive all the world If any man have done me wrong if any man have intended me evill I doe freely and fully from my heart forgive him And then observe what Christ teacheth thee to observe seeke all meanes to be reconciled to thy neighbour I doe here therefore desire forgivenesse of all the world if I have done wrong to any man if I owe any thing to any man which I am not able to pay I am infinitely grieved and heartily sorry and humbly from my heart entreate him to forgive me And when thou hast done this thou hast yet a City of refuge to flie unto God and to him confesse thy sinnes and desire forgivenesse I doe here therefore prostrate my selfe before thee O God I confesse and acknowledge the heynousnesse of my sinnes and I most humbly from my heart entreate thee to forgive me This done O my soule thou mayst rise from the earth and take comfort and mayst be bold to say The Lord is my helper I will not feare what man shall doe unto mee For thou mayst be sure that God will use eyther hisauthority to the world to make it forgive thee or his prerogative over the world and forgive thee himselfe But is it not strange this petition should come in so late which one would thinke should have beene the first For how can we expect a donative before a pardon that any thing should be given us unlesse our sinnes be first forgiven us Is it not that the foure first petition are very ancient and were sayd of our first parents even in Paradise and in them we alter nothing but the tunes for they were to them songs but are to us supplications They were to them Himns but to us are Dirges but the two latter are wholly new and come but now in and therefore take their place as they come For they are indeed the meere reparations of our first Parents ruines and had both of them beene altogether needlesse if they had not both of them beene altogether gracelesse And yet there appeares another reason For wee have asked to hallow Gods Name and that his Kingdome may come and that his Will may bee done and that he would give us bread to eate and now it seemes by our asking for temporall things which is the last care of a Christian man that Christ would have made an end of the Prayer heere if it had beene possible but it would not be For our hallowing Gods Name is but imperfect his Kingdome comes to us but in part his Will though it bee done as it is in Heaven yet it is done in earthen Vessels and therefore after all this there is no remedy we must needs come to this at last and aske forgivenesse or else all that went before will not serve the turne for which this Prayer is intended And may it not be another reason why this petition comes in so late and is placed amongst the last to shew that Repentance comes never too late so it come at last and therefore Christ makes this one of our last petitions as washing the Disciples feete was one of his last acts the very embleme of this petition Yet wee may observe how dangerous a thing this late repentance is for though Peter no doubt had often sayd with David Wash mee thorowly from my sinnes yet when it grew so late before Christ came to wash him indeed hee would have put it off if Christ had not put him on with an extraordinary motion But may we not seeme here to be at a stand For here are many petitions but wee can see none of asking for faith as Christ prayed for Peter That his faith might not faile and the Apostles prayed O Lord increase our faith and is it not strange that in this principall prayer we should not pray for that which is the principall that all our petitions should be for workes and none of them for fayth Is it for some such reason as Moses had who describing the creation of the world and the making of all creatures yet speaketh nothing of the making of Angels though of all creatures the principall Or is it that Christ makes this a Prayer not a Catechisme and a prayer for the Faithfull not for Infidels for He that comes to God must believe that God is and that hee is a rewarder of them that seeke him Or is it that wee cannot pray for fayth but it must bee needs eyther without cause or without effect and so be eyther needlesse or fruitlesse For if we have favth already it is needlesse to aske it and if we have it not it is in vaine to aske it seeing what we aske not in fayth St. Iames tels us we shall not obtaine and if we aske it in fayth wee then have faith to aske it before wee aske it But will it not bee better not to looke out reasons why wee doe not aske it but rather to shew reasons that we doe aske it and aske it we doe indeed not verbally but really For doe we not pray for fayth when we pray for the hallowing of that which cannot be hallowed but by the tongue of fayth the Name of God Doe we not pray for fayth when wee pray for the comming of that which cannot come but upon the feete of fayth the Kingdome of God Doe wee not pray for fayth when we pray for the doing of that which cannot bee done but by the strength of fayth the Will of God Doe we not pray for fayth when we pray for the having of that which cannot bee had but by the hand of fayth forgivenesse of our finnes Certainely seeing we pray for the causes and the effects for the roote and the fruits of fayth it is not the want of naming fayth that can bee a reason to make us doubt that we pray not for fayth no more then the want of naming Christ in this prayer is any reason to prove that wee pray not here in the Name of Christ. It is proper to this petition that where all the other are absolute this onely is conditionall and where the other are onely contemplative this is both contemplative and active for it is to be done as well as to be layd And where all the other petitions looke God in the face and expect to receive something at his hands this only with the Publicane presumes not to looke up to Heaven neyther aspires to taste of Gods bounty but onely of his mercy And yet as dejected as it seemes it hath greater spirits at least speakes greater words then all the rest for where the other doe but onely sue for grace to be enabled to doe good workes this undertakes to doe good workes at its owne perill and where the other expect Gods
of providing any thing before hand that we must never looke further then for the present Is this the meaning of Christs speech where hee sayth Take no care for the morrow that when we rise in the morning wee should be to seeke of meate for our dinner This perhaps may bee feared to bee taken by some but such taking is mistaking for wee may observe Christ saith not Take no care for meate to eate but Take no care what yee shall eate Abraham could feast three Angels with a Calfe and a Cake and all the meates of Nature serve not our turnes unlesse we feed upon Art This is that which Christ forbids our affecting curiosity not our providing for necessity for if hee should doe this hee should deny that wisedome to us which Salomon commends in Ants who provide in the Summer against the Winter and should cast upon us an affected carelesnesse so farre from faith that it is worse then Infidelity as St. Paul saith He that provides not for his Family is worse then an Infidell The restraint therefore of care enjoyned us by Christ is from curiosities not from necessities from superfluities not from sufficiencies from the licorish longing after this or that meate not from the naturall desire of some meate from faring like Dives deliciously not from faring soberly like Abraham Or is it that when Christ sayth Take no care what you shall eate he meanes by care our chiefest care as that which possesseth and takes up our whole heart and indeed the word used by Christ imports as much for the smaller cares stand I may say without doores in our minde it is the chiefest care that takes up all the roome within and this care must be kept for the Kingdome of God which as St. Paul sayth is not meate and drinke so there is a care which we take and a care with which we are taken and we must not bee taken with care what wee shall eate and yet we must take care what wee shall eate for it seemes not so much the care as the degree of care that is forbidden us and care in a low degree is in Christs account of no degree and such care we may take for what we shall eate and yet observe Christs counsaile to take no care what we shall eate But why pray wee for our daily bread as though we would have but one kinde of meate continually to feede upon For if there bee change how is it daily and who would not soone bee weary of such a diet Is it that howsoever there bee variety or change of meates yet bread is alwaies one and is onely wee may iustly say of the Quorum of meates for though man lives not by bread onely yet onely bread is necessary for man to live by Or is it that comming here a begging to God wee are put into the right language of beggars who commonly aske a farthing when yet they hope for a better almes Or is it to make us sensible of our estate that have not so much as a bit of bread but what it pleaseth God in mercy to bestow upon us But when wee say Give us our bread doe we â—ot speake as though we thought God meant to keepe our bread from us and put us to asking for that which is our owne already But is it not that wee call it ours indeed but yet not ours till God give it And therefore wee give Gods Giving the first place Or doe wee therefore call it ours because we earne it with our labour but therefore Gods gift because it is hee that blesseth our labours Or therefore our bread because a convenient nourishment for our bodies but therefore Gods gift because he gives it the vertue of nourishing Or therefore our bread because a competent proportion for us but therefore Gods gift because it is hee that gives our portion to us and though Christ here set the words together for us and make them easie to be sayd yet wee shall finde them apt to flie asunder againe and not easie to be practised For let our hand swarve but a little and wee shall eyther lay too much upon Gods giving and too little upon our bread or too much upon our bread or too little upon Gods giving For if we depend so upon Gods giving that wee neglect our owne Endeavours we shall but tempt God and put him to worke miracles when there is no cause Or if wee depend so upon our owne endeavours that wee depend not withall and above all upon Gods giving wee shall then tempt him more and commit Idolatry by sacrificing to our nets We must therefore weigh the words well and give each ingredient its just quantity or we shall never make a composition that will bee profitable or an exposition that will be reasonable But why should Christ tie us to asking onely for bread and not allow us to aske a larger Donative as Riches and Honours seeing it is all one to God to give us Quailes or Manna and he can make Gold and Silver as common as Stones in the street as well to us as he did to Salomon No doubt he can doe it and no doubt he would doe it if it were for our good that hee should doe it We may therefore know that certainly Riches and Honours are not of that worth the world esteemes them They adde indeed to our wings but they adde much more to our unweldinesse and weight they enlarge the sailes of our Shippe but they encrease much more the labours and burthen And in adding to our wings we are payd but with Feathers where in adding to our weight there is layd a Taxe upon our substance in adding to our sayles wee doe but gaine breath where in adding to our labours we trie our very spirits Besides It is an ill quality that Riches Honours have they are better Assequentibus then Assecutis more pleasing in their chase then in their purchase They are too great for our bodies and too little for our minds They are more then we can use and yet lesse then we would have and so are faulty in both the extreames both in being superfluous and in being defective They are not so good as health for you cannot buy health with all your money and as little are you able to keepe it and every sicknesse takes away both their use and rellish And therefore the poorest man that is hath oftentimes a richer Iewell then all the other riches of the world for having life and health hee hath those things for saving whereof the richest wares in a tempest are throwne over-boord And if we observe it wee shall finde that these Iewels of life and health are oftner lost by having more then bread then by having lesse oftner by surfeiting then by starving They therefore which have this Diamond of life and this Pearle of health though they have withall but the Flint of bread may justly bee accounted of greater
it is strucken downeward the higher it rebounds upward so the lower thy prayers take their rising from thy heart the higher they ascend up into the eares of God Stoope therefore O my soule and bee sure to bee humble and so thou mayst be sure to command faile â—ot to be lowly and so thou shalt not faile to be exalted be content to be strucken the harder downeward and so thou shalt make the higher bound upward into Heaven But will not this be a dry diet to have onely bread and no drinke to it Did it not even choake the Bethulians and almost wither the Israelites in the Wildernesse Or why should we thinke to have drinke without asking more then bread Is it for that wee sinned first in eating and therefore are punished with begging for bread to eate Or is it that Christ keeps within his compasse and teacheth us to aske for bread from heaven who was himselfe the bread that came downe from heaven Or is it as Christ sayd of the poore that water we have alwaies with us but bread wee have not alwaies such indeed may bee the mazes of thoughts when they wander in darknesse but by the light of the first cause wee shall see the true cause that Christ who is himselfe verbum Abbreviatum makes this prayer for us in a kinde of Hierogliphicks where one character stands for many things and if Moses comprehended all Elementar matter as fire ayre water under the one word of earth why may not Christ comprehend all temporall things under the one word of bread and indeed in this sence oftentimes the Scriptures use it as when wee read in Ezekiel that one of the sinnes of Sodome was fulnesse of bread wee must not thinke that their excesse was onely in eating of dry bread but that they exceeded in the superfluity of all meates and drinkes adding thirst to drunkennesse and making themselves Artificiall stomackes with devises of gluttony But why then should hee use so many words even five whole petitions in expressing spirituall Graces Is â—t not that temporall things like foule cloathes or ragges may well enough bee wrapped up in one bundle together but spirituall graces as things more precious require more roome and being to make us without spot are themselves to bee made up without wrinkle Yet may it perhaps not bee without mistery also that Christ teacheth us here to aske onely for bread as he promiseth us in heaven to give us onely drinke to shew that this life and the next are both but one meale and that we cannot drinke with him in his Fathers Kingdome unlesse wee first eate him here the bread which came downe from heaven But doth not this petition seeme to be out of his right place and doth it not come in before his time seeing Forgivenesse of trespasses is a more excellent gift then giving of bread and in all reason that which is first in excellency should also be first in order Yet we shall finde reason for this ordering of these petitions and the lawes of true Heraldry no way transgressed For as Rachel sayd to Iacob Give me children or else I die so wee much more justly say to God Give us bread or else we die So that as Nature is before Grace and life before a happy life It must needs be reasonable that asking for bread which nature cals for to supply the defects of life should goe before Forgiving of trespasses which Grace cals for to supply the defects of a hapy life and as there is this reason in respect of our selves so their is a stronger reason in respect of God for nothing can more admirably set forth the admirable goodnesse of Gods Nature then the very scituation of these petitions For by this bounty is placed before his mercy and it comes to passe that the Sunne shines upon the good and the bad and the raine fals upon the just and unjust And even for us it is a most happy marshalling of the petitions for if God should never give us any thing but when he hath nothing to forgive us he should never give us seeing our life is a perpetuall encrease of our debts and while wee aske him to Forgive us even in that we commit somthing that needs forgivenes It is proper to this petition that it is not proper to any one sort of creatures but is common to all and therefore though it stand in a valley yet it hath the largest prospect And it may be called the petition of providence for where all the other are intentive to the care of another life this onely is appoynted to make provision for the present life Here now would bee competition for place betweene the two that follow but that Repentance is in wonderfull grace with God and hath the Angels also for speciall friends and therefore hath precedence For when we say Forgive us our trespases is it not plainely the prayer of penitent sinners who are alwaies confessing their sinnes and professing their amendment imploring Forgivenesse and deploring their owne weakenesse all which and onely which are the parts of this petition And therefore this petition if wee did well should not bee spoken with words but with sighes for what can come from a broken heart but sighes and untill the heart bee broken this petition will never bee truely sound And least our owne sighes should not bee sufficient the Spirit it selfe makes request for us with sighes that cannot be expressed which though it bee true of all the other petitions yet most properly of this For if sorrow griefe feare shame all of them great and all of them together deserve sighing they are all here met or are all heere to meete in this Petition There is a word which though it be no part of the petition yet because it brings the petition in it is not it selfe to be left out namely the conjunction And which in all the former petitions was never used because indeed there was no use of it For they went all singly by themselves as chiefly referred to the honour of God who is Actus simplicissimus and chiefely fitted for the mouthes of Angels who are substantiae simplices but now that we are come to the Petitions for the onely use of men now there is use of this conjunction for all blessings in this world are tied as it were by linkes together are not good but in conjunction therefore this conjunction And is now here used that as the first use of it that ever was was to joyne the bodies themselves of heaven earth together so the use of it here is to joyne the blessings of heaven earth together for as an earth without a heaven would have made but a miserable world so these earthly blessings without the heavenly will make but a miserable man And therefore wee have no sooner sayd Give us this day our daily bread but it presently followes And forgive us our