AN EXPOSITION ON THE Lord's Prayer WITH A Catechistical Explication Thereof by way of QVESTION and ANSWER For the Instructing of YOUTH To which is added some SERMONS On Providence and the Excellent Advantages of Reading and Studying the Holy Scriptures By EZEKIEL HOPKINS late Lord Bishop of London-Derry LONDON Printed for Nathanael Ranew at the Kings-Arms and Edward Mory at the Three Bibles in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1692. EZEKIEL HOPKINS EPISCOPUS DERENSIS Printed for Nathanael Ranew Imprimatur Guil. Lancaster R. P. D. Henrico Ep. Lond. Ã Sacris Domesticis April 7. 1692. THE PREFACE TO THE READER Christian Reader THe following Discourses upon that Excellent and Divine Prayer of our Blessed Saviour contain so much of Practical Divinity necessary to be known by all Christians and are so Solidly and Judiciously handled that they need no Epistle Recommendatory unto the World having the Stamp of the Divine Authority upon the Truths contained in them But if any shall curiously enquire whether this Reverend and Learned Prelate designed and finished them for the Press I may truly return the same Answer that is given in Print by the present Bishop of Cork and Ross to the same Question in his Epistle to the Reader before this Author's Exposition on the Ten Commandments namely That they were Transcribed by himself and by him deposited in the hands of a Minister whom he could intrust to be made Publick after his Decease whose Epistle should have been prefixed hereunto but that he is far distant in another Nation and the Press cannot tarry so long for it the Book being just finished And as a further Confirmation that his Lordship intended it should be made Publick appears by his so often quoting this his Discourse on the Lord's Prayer in his Treatise on the Commandments which could not be seen or read by others but by the Printing of it Vpon which many Persons have been very desirous and inquisitive after it Vnto this large and general Exposition on the Lord's Prayer there is added a brief and short Catechistical Explication thereof by way of Question and Answer made use of by his Lordship for the instructing of the younger and more ignorant Christians in the Knowledge and Vnderstanding of those Divine and Heavenly Truths contained in this most Excellent Prayer And for a Conclusion of all there are added several Sermons Preached by this Learned Prelate upon the Providence of God and on the Excellency and Usefulness of Reading and Studying the Holy Scriptures All which have been diligently and carefully perused by several Persons of the Author's Acquaintance both of the Clergy and others with very good Acceptance and Satisfaction and the whole is now with Approbation exposed unto publick view And that the present Publication of them may tend much to the promoting of the Honour and Glory of God and the Edification of many Souls in Grace and Holiness is the hearty Prayer of the Publisher Farewell The Vanity of the World with other Sermons in Octavo Discourses and Sermons on several Scriptures in Octavo An Exposition on the Ten Commandments with other Sermons in Quarto All Written by Ezekiel Hopkins late Lord Bishop of London-Derry and Sold by Nathanael Ranew A Practical EXPOSITION ON THE LORD'S PRAYER Matth. VI. 9 10. c. After this manner therefore Pray ye Our Father which art in Heaven Hallowed be thy Name Thy Kingdom come Thy Will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven Give us this Day our daily Bread And forgive us our Debts as we forgive our Debtors And lead us not into Temptation But deliver us from Evil For thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever Amen HAving often seriously considered with my self of the great use that is made of this most excellent Form of Prayer composed by our Blessed Lord and Saviour himself as also of the great Benefit and Advantage that might accrue unto all those that with understanding make a due use of it in their daily Devotions I thought it might be very necessary for your Instruction and greatly conducible unto your Salvation to lay before your consideration as brief and succinct an Exposition thereof as the large extent and various copiousness of the matter contained therein will permit The Blessed Apostle St. Paul in 1 Cor. 14.15 tells us That he would pray with the Spirit and he would pray with Vnderstanding also And indeed when we pray to pray with Understanding what we pray is one great requisite to make our Prayers Spiritual and through the prevailing Intercession of Jesus Christ to become acceptable unto God the Father But to mutter over a road of Words only as the Papists are taught and as multitudes of many ignorant Persons among us do also without understanding what they signifie or being duly affected with those Wants and Necessities which we beg of God the Supplies of is not to offer up a Prayer unto the Almighty but only to make a Charm Now because there is no Form of Prayer that ever we have heard or read of that is deservedly so much in use as this of our Lord's is I shall endeavour in some Discourses thereupon to unfold to you those Voluminous Requests which we offer up unto God when we thus pray as our Saviour here teacheth us wherein as I doubt not but as I may greatly instruct the Ignorance of many so possibly I may bring very much to the remembrance of those who have attained to great understanding in Religion those things which may provoke their Zeal and excite their Affections and both these Undertakings through the Blessing of God upon it may be very usefully profitable to enable them to pray with Understanding and with the Spirit also when they approach the Throne of Grace to present their Petitions unto the Great God as by the Intercession so in the Words of his dear Son In this Chapter which contains in it a great part of our Saviour's Sermon on the Mount our Lord lays before his Hearers several Directions concerning two necessary Duties in a Christian's Practice and they are Alms-giving and Prayer the former a Duty relating more immediately unto Men the latter a Duty in a more especial manner respecting God himself in both which he not only cautions us against but strictly forbids all Ostentation and Vain-Glory Therefore says he when thou dost thine Alms do not sound a Trumpet before thee for this is the Practice of Hypocrites that they may have Glory of Men verse 2. And when thou prayest be not as the Hypocrites for they love to pray in the Synagogues and Corners of the Streets that they may be seen of Men verse 5. Thus must we not do in either of these Cases For as we must not give Alms that we may be seen of Men so neither must we pray that we may be heard and observed of Men For what can be more absurd and ridiculous as well as wicked and impious than to be begging Applause from some when we
makes to God ought to be ratified with an Amen sent from our very hearts which if we sincerely and affectionately perform we have abundant assurance that what is confirmed by so many suffrages on Earth shall likewise be confirmed by our Father which is in Heaven And how beautiful how becoming would this be when the whole Church shall thus conspire together in their Requests St. Jerome tells us It was the custom in his days to close up every Prayer with such an unanimous consent that their Amens rung and echoed in the Church and sounded like the fall of Waters or the noise of Thunder This would be a Testimony of our hearty consent to the things we Pray for And if any two that shall agree upon Earth touching any thing that they shall ask they shall have it granted them as our Saviour hath promised Matth. 18.19 then certainly the joynt Prayers of a whole multitude of Christians must needs have a kind of Omnipotency in them and be able to do any thing with God And thus I have with God's Assistance given you a brief Exposition of this most excellent Prayer of our Saviour The Lord Sanctifie it unto you and make it a means to help you to Pray with more understanding with stronger Faith and with greater Fervency The End of the Larger Exposition A Catechistical EXPOSITION OF THE Lord's Prayer By way of QUESTION and ANSWER By the Right Reverend Father in God EZEKIEL Lord Bishop of Derry by which he examined the Youth each Lord's-Day during the whole Time he preached upon the Lord's Prayer Quest IS the Lords Prayer a Form of Prayer or onely a Pattern for Prayer Answ It is both That it is to be used as a Form appears Luke 11.2 When ye pray say Our Father which art in Heaven c. That it is a Pattern Matt. 6.9 After this Manner therefore pray ye Our Father which art in Heaven c. Q. What are the Parts of this Prayer A. They are Four 1. The Preface or Introduction 2. The Petitions and Requests 3. The Doxology or Praise-giving 4. The Conclusion and Ratification Q. What is the Preface to this Prayer A. Our Father which art in Heaven Q. What observe you from it A. That in the Beginning of our Prayers we ought seriously to consider and reverently to express the glorious Attributes of God as an excellent Means to compose us into an Holy Fear of his Divine Majesty Q. How many are the Petitions contained in this Prayer A. Six Whereof the three first respect God's Glory and the three last our own Good Q. What learn you from this Order and Method A. That we ought first to seek God's Glory before any Interests and Concerns of our own Q. How are those Petitions divided which immediately concern the Glory of God A. In the first of them we pray that God may be glorified in the other two for the Means whereby he is glorified Q. How divide you those Petitions which concern our own good A. One relates to our Temporal the other two to our Spiritual good Q. What observe you from placing the Petition for our Temporal good in the Midst of this Prayer A. That we are onely to bait at the World in our Passage to Heaven and onely refresh our selves with our daily Bread in our Way and Journey thither Q. What are the Petitions which relate to our Spiritual good A. They are two One whereby we beg the Pardon of our Sins the other whereby we beg Deliverance from them Q. What ascribe you to God in the Doxology A. Four of his most glorious Attributes 1. First His Sovereignty Thine is the Kingdom 2. Secondly His Omnipotence And the Power 3. Thirdly His Excellency And the Glory 4. Fourthly The Eternity and Unchangeableness of all these They are Thine for ever Q. What signifies that Particle Amen at the End of this Prayer A. It signifies two Things So be it Which notes our Desire for the obtaining of what we ask So it shall be Which notes our Assurance of being heard Q. What is the Preface to the Lord's Prayer A. Our Father which art in Heaven Q. What doth this teach us A. That in our Entrance into Prayer we should seriously consider both the Mercy of God as he is our Father and likewise his Majesty as he is in Heaven That the one may beget in us Filial Boldness and the other awfull Reverence and by the mixture of both we may be kept from Despair and Presumption Q. In what Respects may God be stiled Father A. In three especially 1. First in respect of the Eternal Generation of his Son And so this Title is proper onely to the first Person of the Trinity 2. In respect of Creation and Providence and so he is the Father of all Mal. 2.10 Have we not all one Father Hath not one God created us 3. In respect of Regeneration and Adoption And so he is the onely Father of the Faithfull John 1.12.13 But as many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God even to them that believed on his Name Which were born not of Blood nor of the VVill of Flesh nor of the VVill of Man but of God Rom. 8.15 16. For ye have not received the Spirit of Bondage again to Fear But ye have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father The Spirit it self beareth witness with our Spirit that we are the Children of God Q. In what Respects do we call God Father in this Prayer A. In the two last As he hath created us and doth preserve us and as he hath regenerated and adopted us Q. When ye stile God the Father do ye mean onely God the Father the first Person of the Trinity A. No. For God the first Person is eminently called the Father not in respect of us but in respect of Christ In respect of us the whole Trinity both Father Son and Holy Ghost is our Father which is in Heaven Isaiah 9.6 For unto us a Child is born unto us a Son is given and the Government shall be upon his Shoulder and his Name shall be called Wonderfull Counsellour The Mighty God The Everlasting Father The Prince of Peace John 3.5 Jesus answered Verily verily I say unto thee Except a Man be born of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Q. What is implied in this Particle Our Our Father A. That God is the Father of all Men He is the Father of the VVicked by Creation and Providence but especially of the Godly by Regeneration and Adoption Q. Is it proper in our secret Prayers to say Our Father A. It is For so we find Dan. 9.17 Now therefore O our God hear the Prayer of thy Servant and his Supplications and cause thy Face to shine upon thy Sanctuary that is desolate for the Lord's Sake Q. What learn we by stiling God our Father A. First to esteem one another as Brethren
Blood the Forgiveness of Sins according to the Riches of his Grace 6. The Glory is God's and therefore he will deliver us from the Assaults of our Enemies for it is his Honour to protect his own Subjects Q. What observe you from that Particle For ever A. That God and his Attributes are Eternal Q. What is Eternity A. Eternity is a Duration that hath neither Beginning nor End nor Succession of Parts or it is the compleat Possession of an endless Life all at once Q. What collect you hence A. Two things 1. The Duration of God is not to be measured by Days or Years and that he waxeth not elder neither hath continued longer this Day than from the beginning of Time 2. That in strict propriety of Speech God onely is and that it is onely allowable for want of Expressions to say that he either was or shall be and therefore he calls his Name I am Exod. 3.14 I am hath sent me unto you Q. How prove you that God is Eternal A. Both by Scripture and Reason Q. What Scriptures prove the Eternity of God A. Several especially Psalm 102.25 26 27. Thou art the same and thy Years shall have no End Psal 90.2 From everlasting to everlasting thou art God 1 Tim. 1.17 To the King eternal immortal be Honour and Glory Q. How do you demonstrate the Eternity of God by Reason A. There must of necessity be a first Cause of all things But that which is the first Cause of all things cannot be made by any and therefore is from everlasting Neither can it cease to be because it is not dependent on any and therefore must be to Everlasting Q. What Duties doth the serious Consideration of God's Eternity oblige us to A. 1. To venerate and adore so great and inconceivable an Attribute 2. To leave the Care of all future Events whether concerning our own private or the publick Interests to his Eternal Wisdom and Providence who for ever lives to mind them 3. To give unto him the same Honour Respect and Service as his Saints have done in former Generations Q What encouragement hath our Faith to expect the Mercies we pray for from the Consideration of God's Eternity A. That because he is the same God who in all Ages hath heard the Prayers of those who trust in him therefore we may be assured that if we have the same Dispositions and Affections with the Saints of Old we shall obtain the same Mercies and Favours Heb. 1.12 But thou art the same and thy years shall not fail Q. What signifies that Particle Amen which is the End and Close of the Lord's Prayer A. As in the beginning of a Speech it is Assertory and signifies so it is so in the end of it it is Precatory and signifies so be it which denotes our earnest Desires to have our Prayers heard and our Petitions granted Q. What learn you from hence that our Saviour hath taught us to conclude our Prayers with Amen A. I learn two things 1. That we ought to pray with understanding and therefore not in an unknown Tongue for who can say Amen to what he understands not 1 Cor. 14.16 How shall he that occupieth the Room of the unlearned say Amen at the giving of thanks seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest 2. That all our Prayers ought to be presented to God with fervent zeal and affection 1 Thes 5.17 Pray without ceasing Q. What is Prayer A. Prayer is an humble representation of our wants and desires to God through the assistance of the Holy Ghost in the Name of Christ for things according to his Will with reference to his Glory Q. What is it to pray by the Spirit or by the assistance of the Holy Ghost A. To pray by the Spirit is to present our requests to God with holy and fervent affections excited in us by the Holy Ghost Rom. 8.26 But the Spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered Q. May those have the Spirit of Prayer who have not the Gift of Prayer A. Yes they may and on the contrary some may have the Gift of Prayer who pray not by the Spirit for they who use prescribed and set Forms of Prayer pray by the Spirit when their Petitions are accompanied with fervent affections stirred in them by the Holy Ghost and again some who are most fluent in conceived Prayer may pray onely from the strength of their natural parts and endowments Q. But doth not the use of Forms damp and quench the Spirit of Prayer A. Forms indeed are too often used formally and so is any other kind of Prayer yet it is the truest Test and the highest Excellency of praying by the Spirit when we are fervent in putting up these requests to God where neither Novelty Variety nor Copiousness of Expressions can be suspected to move our affections but onely the genuine Importance of the matter which we pray for though in prescribed words Q. To whom must our Prayers be directed A. To God onely and not to Saints or Angels Q. How ought we to conceive of God when we pray to him A. As an infinitely glorious wise powerfull and gracious Being whose presence is every where whose providence and goodness is over all things and thus we pray at once to each Person of the ever blessed Trinity Q. May we not particularly address our Prayers to some one Person of the Trinity A. We may especially in those Cases wherein their particular Offices and Dispensations are more immediately concerned Q. What things ought we to pray for A. Onely such as are according to the Will of God 1 John 5.14 That if we ask any thing according to his Will he heareth us Q. What are those things which are according to the Will of God A. Chiefly spiritual Blessings 1 Thes 4.3 For this is the Will of God even our sanctification that we should abstain from Fornication And for these we ought to pray absolutely and importunately Q. May we not also pray for Temporal Mercies A. We may but as these are promised onely conditionally so we ought to pray that God would be pleased to bestow them upon us if it may stand with his Will and Glory and our good and benefit Q. How must we direct our Prayers to God A. 1. In the Name of Christ trusting onely in his Merits and Mediations for acceptance and answer John 15.16 That whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my Name he may give it you 2. In Faith and Persuasion of being heard James 1.6 But let him ask in Faith nothing wavering Mark 11.24 What things soever ye desire when ye pray believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them 3. With Fervency and Affection James 5.16 The effectual fervent Prayer of a righteous Man availeth much Q. What ends ought we to propound to our selves in begging Blessings at God's hands A. Chiefly the Glory of God sincerely purposing to improve those Blessings which
and centre of it it being encompassed round about with Petitions for Heavenly and Spiritual Blessings And this may intimate to us that we are only to bait at the World in our Passage and Journey to Heaven that we ought to begin with Spirituals and end with Spirituals but only to take up and refresh our selves a little with our daily Bread in our way Thirdly In the Doxology or Praise there are Four things contained First God's Sovereignty Thine is the Kingdom Secondly God's Omnipotency And the Power Thirdly God's Excellency And the Glory Fourthly The Eternity and Unchangableness of them and of all God's other Attributes noted to us in that Expression For ever Fourthly and Lastly Here is the ratifying Particle Amen added as a Seal to the whole Prayer and it importeth a desire to have that confirmed or granted which we have prayed for And thus Benaiah when he had received Instructions from David concerning the establishing of Solomon in the Kingdom answereth thereto Amen and explains it 1 Kings 1.36 The Lord God of my Lord the King say so too So that when we add this Word Amen at the end and close of our Prayers it is as much as if we had said the Lord God say so too or the Lord grant these Requests For the proper signification of Amen is so be it or so it is or so it shall be the former notes our Desires the latter our confidence and assurance of being heard Now of all these Four parts of which this Prayer is composed I shall speak in their order First therefore Let us consider the Preface in these Words Our Father which art in Heaven And here God is described by two of his most eminent Attributes his Grace and Glory his Goodness and his Greatness by the one in that he is stiled Our Father by the other in that he is said to be in Heaven And both these are most sweetly tempered together to beget in us a Holy Mixture of Filial Boldness and aweful Reverence which are so necessary to the sanctifying of God's Name in all our Addresses to him We are commanded to come to the Throne of Grace with boldness Heb. 4.16 and yet to serve God acceptably with reverence and with fear Heb. 12.28 Yea and indeed the very calling of it a Throne of Grace intimates both these Affections at once It is a Throne and therefore requires Awe and Reverence but it is a Throne of Grace too and therefore permits holy Freedom and Confidence And so we find all along in the Prayers of the Saints how they mix the consideration of God's Mercy and his Majesty together in the very Prefaces and Preparations to their Prayers So Neh. 1.5 Lord God of Heaven the great and terrible God that keepeth Covenant and Mercy for them that love him So Dan. 9.4 O Lord the great and dreadful God keeping Covenant and Mercy for them that love him Now this excellent mixture of aweful and encouraging Attributes will keep us from both the Extreams of Despair on the one Hand and of Presumption on the other He is our Father and this may correct the despairing Fear which might otherwise seize us upon the consideration of his Majesty and Glory And he is likewise infinitely Glorious a God whose Throne is in the highest Heavens and the Earth his Foot-stool And this may correct the presumptuous irreverence which else the consideration of God as our Father might perhaps embolden us unto Now here I shall first speak of the Relation of God unto us as a Father and then of the Place of his Glory and Residence in Heaven and of both but briefly for I must not dwell upon every particular First To begin with the Relation of God to us as a Father Now God is a Father Three ways First God is a Father by Eternal Generation Secondly By Temporal Creation and Providence Thirdly By Spiritual Regeneration and Adoption First God is a Father by Eternal Generation having by an inconceivable and ineffable way begotten his Son God Co-equal Co-eternal with himself and therefore called The only begotten Son of God Joh. 3.16 Thus God is a Father only to our Lord Jesus Christ according to his Divine Nature And whensoever this Title Father is given to God with relation to the Eternal Sonship of our Lord Jesus Christ it denotes only the First Person in the ever Blessed Trinity who is therefore chiefly and especially called the Father Secondly God is a Father by Temporal Creation as he gives a Being and Existence to his Creatures creating those whom he made Rational after his own Image and Similitude And therefore God is said to be a Father of Spirits Heb. 12.9 And the Angels are called the Sons of God Job 1.6 There was a day when the Sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord. And so Adam upon the account of his Creation is called the Son of God Luke 3.38 where the Evangelist runs up the Genealogy of Mankind till it terminates in God Who was the Son of Adam who was the Son of God Thirdly God is said to be a Father by Spiritual Regeneration and Adoption and so all true Believers are said to be the Sons of God and to be born of God John 1.12 13. To as many as received him to them gave he Power to become the Sons of God even to as many as believed on his Name which were born not of the will of Man but of God So Rom. 8.17 we are said to receive the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father For the Spirit it self witnesseth with our Spirits that we are the Children of God Now in these two last Significations this Expression Our Father which art in Heaven is to be understood and so they denote not any one particular Person of the Blessed Trinity but it is a relative Attribute belonging equally to all the Three Persons God is the Father of all Men by Creation and Providence and he is especially the Father of the Faithful by Regeneration and Adoption Now as these Actions of Creation Regeneration and Adoption are common to the whole Trinity so likewise is the Title of Father God the first Person in the Blessed Trinity is indeed Eminently called the Father but not in respect of us but in respect of Christ his only begotten Son from all Eternity In respect of us the whole Trinity is our Father which is in Heaven both Father Son and Holy Ghost and in praying to our Father we pray to them all joyntly for Christ the Second Person in the Trinity is expresly called the Father Isa 9.6 Vnto us a Child is born unto us a Son is given and his Name shall be called Wonderful Councellor the Mighty God the Everlasting Father And we are said to be born of the Spirit John 3.5 Except a Man be born of Water and of the Spirit Now that God should be pleased to take this into his Glorious Style even to be called Our Father it may
teach us First To admire his Infinite Condescension and our own unspeakable Privilege and Dignity 1 John 3.1 Behold what manner of Love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God Indeed for God to be a Father by Creation and Providence though it be a Mercy yet is no Privilege for in that Sence he is Parens Rerum the common Parent of all things yea the Father of Devils themselves and of those Wretches who are as wicked and shall be as miserable as Devils But that God should be thy Father by Regeneration and Adoption that he should make thee his Son through his only begotten Son that he should rake up such dirt and filth as thou art and lay it in his Bosom that he should take Aliens and Strangers near unto himself and Adopt Enemies and Rebels into his Family Register their Names in the Book of Life make them Heirs of Glory Co-heirs with Jesus Christ his Eternal Son as the Apostle admiringly recounts it Rom. 8.17 This is both Mercy and Miracle together Secondly It should teach us to walk worthy of this High and Honourable Relation into which we are taken and to demean our selves as Children ought to do in all Holy Obedience to his Commands with Fear and Reverence to his Authority and an Humble Submission to his Will This God Challengeth at our hands as being our Father Mal. 1.6 If I be a Father where is mine Honour and 1 Pet. 1.17 If we call on the Father pass the time of your sojourning here in fear And likewise by giving thee leave to Style him by this Name of Father he puts thee in remembrance that thou shouldst endeavour by a Holy Life and Conversation to be like thy Father and so approve it to thine own Conscience and to all others that thou art indeed a Child a Son of God Thirdly Is God thy Father this then may give us abundance of assurance that we shall receive at his hands what we ask if it be good for us and if it be not we have no reason to complain that we are not heard unless he should turn our Prayers into Curses And this very Consideration seems to be the reason why our Saviour chooseth this among all God's Titles and Attributes to prefix before this Prayer and indeed it is the most proper Name by which we can Style God in our Prayers unto him for this Name of Father emboldens Faith and is as a Pledge and Pawn before hand that our requests shall be heard and granted and therefore our Saviour for the Confirmation of our Faith argues very strongly from this very Title of Father Matth. 7.9 10 11. What Man is there of you whom if his Son ask him for Bread will he give him a Stone or if he ask a Fish will he give him a Serpent If ye then being evil know how to give good things when your Children ask them how much more shall my Father give good things to them that ask him Indeed it is a most encouraging Argument for if the Bowels of an Earthly Parent who yet many times is humorous and whose tenderest Mercies are but Cruelties in respect of God If his Compassions will not suffer his Children to be defeated in their reasonable and necessary requests how much less will God who is Love and Goodness it self and who hath inspired all Parental Affections into other Fathers suffer his Children to return ashamed when they beg of him those things which are most agreeable to his Will and to their Wants What dost thou then O Christian complaining of thy Wants and sighing under thy Burthens Is not God thy Father Go and boldly lay open thy Case unto him his Bowels will certainly rowl and yern towards thee Is it Spiritual Blessings thou wantest spread thy requests before him for as he is thy Father so he is the God of all Grace and will give unto thee of his fullness for God loves that his Children should be like him Or is it Temporal Mercies thou wantest why he is thy Father and he is the Father of Mercies and the God of all Comfort And why shouldst thou go so dejected and disconsolate who hast a Father so able and so willing to relieve and supply thee only beware that thou askest not Stones for Bread nor Scorpions for Fish and then ask what thou wilt for thy good and thou shalt receive it Fourthly Is God thy Father This then may encourage us against Despair under the sense of our manifold sins against God and departures from him For he will certainly receive us upon our repentance and returning to him This very apprehension was that which wrought upon the Prodigal Luke 15.8 I will arise and go to my Father The Consideration of our own guilt and vileness without the Consideration of God's infinite Mercy tends only to widen the breach between him and us for those that are altogether hopeless will sin the more implacably and bitterly against God like those the Prophet mentions Jerem. 2.25 That said there was no hope and therefore they would persist in their wickedness But now to consider that God is our Father and that though we have cast off the Duty and Obedience of Children yet upon our Submission he will bid us welcom and instate us again in his Favour this to the ingenious Spirit of a Christian is a sweet and powerful motive to reduce him from his wandering and straying for it will work both upon his shame and upon his hope Upon his shame that ever he should offend so Gracious a Father and upon his hope that those offences shall be forgiven him through that very Mercy that he hath abused Thus we read Jerem. 3.4 5. Wilt thou not henceforth cry unto me My Father thou art the Guide of my youth Will he reserve his Anger for ever will he keep it unto the end Noting that when we plead with God under the winning Name of Father his Anger cannot long last but his Bowels of Mercy will at last overcome the sentiments of his Wrath and Justice And thus much concerning the endearing Title of Father which our Saviour directs us to use in our Prayers unto God Secondly The next thing observable is the Particle Our Our Father which notes to us that God is not only the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ but he is the Father of all Men. He is the Father of all by Creation and Providence And therefore we have the Interrogation Mal. 2.10 Have we not all one Father Hath not one God Created us But he is especially the Father of the Faithful by Regeneration and Adoption who are born not of Blood nor of the Will of the Flesh nor of the Will of Man but of God John 1.13 This therefore should teach us First To esteem one another as Brethren Outward respects the Grandeur and Earthly Priviledges and Advantages of the World make no disparity in God's Love to us or in our Relation to
into the filth and pollution of it for the future Of the Pardon of Sin I have already largely treated in the foregoing Petition The Deliverance from Evil which we here pray for is by preventing it for the future And whereas we are taught by our Saviour to beg this of God our Heavenly Father we may observe that it is only the Almighty Power of God that can keep us from Sin and that will appear if we consider either our Enemies or our selves First Consider the mighty Advantages that our great Enemy the Devil hath against us As he is a Spirit he is both powerful and subtile and both these are whetted by his great Malice against us long experience also for above five thousand years hath made him very politick in dealing with Souls and carrying on his own designs and interest He knows our temper our passions and our inclinations and can chuse and cull out those Objects which shall infallibly strike and affect us he waits those Mollia tempora fandi those easie hours of whispering his suggestions to us when we are most facile and compliant when we are most easily wrought upon and made soft to his hands by some foregoing circumstances And if after all this he despairs to prevail upon us as a Devil he can quickly shift his shape and transform himself into an Angel of Light and engage our very Consciences unto evil he can disguise his Temptations into impulses of the Holy Spirit perswade us that what he prompts us to is our Duty head his fiery Darts with Scripture Sentences wrap up his Poison in the leaves of the Bible and wound our Souls by our Consciences and certainly this Devil of Light is now gone abroad into the World with all that Power of Deceivableness he can and we cannot but with sad and bleeding Hearts observe his too general prevalency and success And besides all this he is continually present with us follows us up and down where ever we go and is always at our Elbow to prompt us to Evil and at our Right Hand to oppose us in that which is Good Hell hath Emissaries enough to afford every Man a Friend for his Attendant and these critically observe every glance of thine Eyes every flash of thy Passions and are presently ready to apply suitable Temptations unto thee and to strike thee in that part of thy Soul which is softest and most yielding And as the Syrians that were sent by Benhadad to the King of Israel to intercede for him watched every Word that should fall from his Mouth that they might lay hold of it to obtain farther Favour from him So these Spies of Hell do watch every kind Word and every kind look of thine towards Sin and want no skill to improve them to obtain yet greater matters from thee Now if God did not appear to deliver us from these subtle Wiles and Methods of the Devil how soon would he make Fools of the wisest and most experienced Christians Secondly Consider the mighty Dis-advantages that we lie under to oppose the Temptations of the Devil which though they be many and great yet I shall name but two which may be found even in the best of Men. First Our inadvertency and heedlessness through which we are often surprized into Sin and captivated by the cunning craftiness of our Enemies which lie in wait to deceive How seldom is it that we stand upon our Guard or if we do that we are compleatly armed Sometimes our Shield sometimes our Helmets sometimes our Sword of the Spirit is wanting How seldom is it that we attend all the Motions of the Enemy Indeed a Christian should look round about him for he is every where beset and encompassed about with Enemies and whilst he is vigilant to ward one part the Devil falsifies his thrust and wounds him in another but if he cannot wound on the Right Hand by Presumption he will try what he can do on the Left by Despair if he cannot prevail by his Temptations to cause us to neglect and cast off Holy Duties he will Tempt us to Pride our selves in the well performing of them if he cannot make us fall he will Tempt us to be high-minded because we stand and so make our very standing the occasion of our woful downfall and because we are apt to think our selves better than others he will Tempt us to be supercilious Despisers and Contemners of others Now O Christian it is a very hard matter and thou wilt find it so thus to turn thee about to every Assault and that Man had need to have his Spiritual Senses well exercised that shall be able dextrously to do it Now when so great circumspection is scarce sufficient for our security how can they possibly escape without fearful Wounds and Gashes in their Consciences who are supinely negligent of their Souls and mind not which way their Thoughts their Passions their Affections encline and so give the Devil a Handle to turn their Souls by which way he will Certainly if we do not buckle our Spiritual Armour close to us but suffer the joynts of it by our heedlessness to lie open the Devil may easily wound us wheresoever and in whatsoever part he pleaseth And truly if through this inadvertency and want of circumspection Adam in the State of Innocency and the State of Uprightness fell when the Devil had no immediate access or admission into the inward Faculties and Powers of his Soul yet if Satan who was but a young unpractised and unexperienced Devil could prevail with him by his Wiles to ruine himself and to betray the great Trust which God had deposited in his Hands for all his Posterity How much greater may we think is his Advantage over us into whom he may insinuate himself and his Temptations and when we are busie about other things strike and wound us at unawares Secondly Besides this inadvertency the Devil hath another grand Advantage to lead us into Evil and that is because we are naturally prone and enclined of our selves to those very Sins to which he Tempts us It is very hard for that place to escape that hath Enemies without and Traytors within So stands the case with us we are not only beleaguer'd but betrayed there are in our Hearts multitudes of Lusts that hold intelligence with the Devil and espouse his Cause yea there is no one Sin how vile and profligate soever but it may find Partisans in our base and wicked Hearts wherein are the Seeds and Principles of all Impieties and therefore as things of a like Nature presently concorporate as we see one drop of Water diffuseth it self and runs into another so Temptations to Sin meeting with a sinful Nature are presently entertained and as it were embodyed together for whilst we pursue what Satan Tempts us unto we do but pursue what our own Natural Lusts and Corruptions inclin'd unto before waiting only for an opportunity of being called forth into Act. And therefore
for ever The Kingdom is thine for ever The Power is thine for ever The Glory is thine for ever For so this Particle for ever is to be distributed unto each of the foregoing Attributes Now in ascribing unto God these Attributes we may consider the Eminency and the Propriety of them The Eminency of them in the Particle The The Kingdom The Power The Glory denoting to us the highest and the chiefest of all these For his Kingdom is that which ruleth over all His Power that which no Created Power can controul His Glory such as stains all other Excellencies and makes all their Light and Lustre to be only the Shadow of God The propriety of this Attribute in this Particle Thine though others may have Kingdoms and Power and Glory yet these in their Eminency belong only unto God they are thine and thine only Originally Infinitely and Unchangeably Now all these Attributes of God are annexed to the Petitions of this Prayer by the illative Particle For For thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory And this carries in it the strength and force of a Reason both why we pray unto God and likewise why God should grant us those things that we pray for First We pray unto God for his is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory for ever and therefore he alone is able to relieve and supply us Secondly We plead for the obtaining of those good things which we ask of him therefore grant them unto us For thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory for ever This adds strong Consolation and Assurance to our Faith that we shall be heard in these requests that we present to God For First His is the Kingdom and we are his Subjects and therefore we may depend upon him as our King for help and protection Secondly His is the Power and therefore he is able to supply and help us and to do abundantly for us above what we can ask or think Thirdly His is the Glory and therefore since what we ask is for his Honour and Praise we may firmly believe our requests shall be granted unto us And Fourthly All these are his for ever and therefore we may rest assured that at no time our Prayers shall be in vain But as it is the same unchangable God who in former Ages hath done great things for and given great things unto his Servants who have called upon him so he still retains the same Power and the same Compassion his Ear is not heavy nor his Arm shortned nor his Bowels withered and therefore we may with assurance expect that he will supply our wants and grant our desires since the Treasures of his Mercy are for ever unexhausted Thus every word is a forcible Reason both to oblige us to Address our selves unto God and likewise to move him to bestow upon us those good things which we thus ask at his hands And from hence by the way we may observe two things First That in our Prayers we ought to plead with God by weighty and enforcing Reasons Secondly That the most forcible Reasons in Prayer are to be taken from the Attributes of God First That in our Prayers we ought to plead with God by weighty and enforcing Reasons Thus God bids us to Take unto our selves words and to turn unto him Hosea 14.2 And thus if we look into Scripture those Prayers of the Saints which are there Recorded we shall find them Disputes if I may so call them as well as Requests and so many Reasons urged in them as if by dint of Arguments they would constrain God to yield to their desires So in Moses's Prayer Exod. 32.11 Wherefore doth thy Wrath wax hot against thy People which thou hast brought forth out of the Land of Aegypt with great Power wherefore should the Aegyptians say for mischief did he bring them out to slay them in the Mountains and to consume them from the Face of the Earth Turn thee from thy fierce Wrath and repent of this Evil against thy People Remember Abraham Isaac and Jacob thy Servants to whom thou swarest by thine own self and saidst unto them I will multiply your Seed as the Stars of Heaven and all this Land that I have spoken of will I give unto your Seed and they shall inherit it for ever And so Joshua pleads with God Josh 7.8 O Lord what shall I say when Israel turneth their backs before their Enemies for the Canaanites and all the Inhabitants of the Land shall hear of it and shall environ us round and cut off our Name from the Earth and what wilt thou do unto thy great Name And so Jehoshaphat 2 Chron. 20.6 O Lord God of our Fathers art not thou God in Heaven and rulest thou not over all the Kingdoms of the Heathens and in thy Hand is there not Power and Might so that none is able to withstand thee And so in the following verses he pleads with God by such powerful Arguments as if he would extort Mercy and Deliverance from him Now although it be true that all the Arguments we can urge and all the Reasons that we can alledge cannot alter the purposes and determinations of God as to any Event that he hath ordained yet there is this two-fold use and necessity of pleading them First Because by considering the Reasons we have to pray for such Mercies our desires will be the more earnest and fervent for the obtaining of them It will put Spirits and Life into our Petitions when we can represent to God the necessity of our asking which to his Mercy will prove a strong motive for his granting Secondly Because Reasons in Prayer do mightily conduce to the strengthning of our Faith and gives us great encouragement to believe that we shall certainly obtain what we have so much reason to ask Now Faith and Assurance of obtaining our Request is a great Condition to the Acceptation of our Prayers And therefore the Apostle commands us to lift up Holy Hands as without Wrath so also without doubting 1 Tim. 2.8 and again Jam. 1.7 Let him ask in Faith nothing wavering for let not that Man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. Now when we can humbly represent unto God both the great necessity that we stand in of those Mercies that we beg and likewise the equity which ariseth either from his Promises past or his Name and Attributes proclaimed that we should receive them What abundant Strength and Confidence may this add to our Faith and make us come to God with an humble expectation that he would either Answer our Prayers or our Reasons And therefore if thou wouldst be sure to have thy Prayers answered pray chiefly for such things for which thou canst produce such Reasons as cannot be answered And therefore Secondly The most forcible Reasons and Arguments in Prayer are to be taken from the Attributes of God These must needs be powerful when they are himself And if
by our Prayers we shall receive in his Service and to his Praise Psal 50.15 And call upon me in the Day of Trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me Q. What directions have we concerning the Seasons and Frequency of praying A. The Scripture commands us to pray without ceasing 1 Thes 5.17 Pray without ceasing To pray always and not to faint Luke 18.1 And he spake a Parable to this end that Men ought always to pray and not to faint To pray always with all Prayer and Supplication Ephes 6.18 Praying always with all Prayer and Supplication in the Spirit Q. Must we therefore be always so actually ingaged in this Duty as to do nothing but pray A. No For therefore we pray that we may obtain Grace from God to perform other Duties of Religion and a Christian Life neither ought the Duties of our particular Callings to be neglected by us for we justle out one Duty by another besides the sinfull Omission of what we should perform that which we do perform becomes unacceptable because unseasonable and so we commit two Sins in doing one Duty Q. What then is it to pray without ceasing A. Prayer may be said to be without ceasing four ways 1. When we observe a constant Course of a Prayer at fixt and appointed Times Thus Gen. 8. ult God promised that Winter and Summer Day and Night should not cease And so the daily Sacrifice is called a continual burnt-offering Exod. 29.42 And yet it was offered onely Morning and Evening 2. When we are frequent and importunate in our Prayers so Acts 12.5 The Church is said to make Prayers for Peter without ceasing And our Saviour spake the Parable of the importunate Widow to this end That men ought always to pray and not to faint Luke 18.1 3. When we frequently dart up short mental Prayers and Ejaculations unto God which we may and ought to do whatsoever else we are employed about Neh. 2.4 So I prayed to the God of Heaven 4. When we keep our hearts in a praying Frame and Temper so that they are on all Occasions fit and ready to pour out themselves before God in Prayer and thus we habitually pray always Q. What must we observe to maintain and cherish such a praying Spirit A. Two things especially 1. That we ingulf not our selves too deeply in the Businesses and Pleasures of this Life for these will dark and deaden the heart to Prayer 2. That we fall not into the Commission of any known and presumptuous Sin For guilt will fill us with slavish Fear and Shame and both will drive us from God Q. What are the kinds of Prayer A. Three 1. Publick As we are Members of the Church 2. Private As we stand engaged in Family Relation And 3. Secret As we are particular Christians Q. Who is to send up publick Prayers A. The Minister and all the Congregation joining with him And these Prayers though they must needs be more general yet with all are more effectual than any other Matt. 18.19 Again I say unto you that if two of you shall agree on Earth as touching any thing that they shall ask it shall be done for them of my Father which is in Heaven Q. Who is to make private or family Prayers A. Every Master and Governour of a Family And this he is not to do seldomer than every Morning and Evening In the Morning Prayer is the Key that opens the Treasury of God's Mercies In the Evening it is the Key that shuts us up under his Protection and Safe-guard TWO SERMONS Preached by the same AUTHOR A Discourse upon Providenec Matth. x. 29 30. Are not two Sparrows sold for a Farthing and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father But the very Hairs of your Head are all numbred THe Mystery of God's Providence next to that of Man's Redemption is the most Sublime and Inscrutable 'T is easie in both to run our selves off our Reason For as Reason confesseth it self at a loss when it attempts a search into those Eternal decrees of electing Sinners to Salvation and designing Christ to save them so must it likewise when it attempts to trace out all those entangled Mazes and Labyrinths wherein the Divine Providence walks We may sooner tire reason in such a pursuit than satisfie it unless it be some kind of satisfaction when we have driven it to a Non-plus to relieve our selves with an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O the depth of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his Judgments and his ways past finding out This knowledge therefore being too wonderful for us I shall not presume to conduct you into that secret Place that pavillion of Clouds and surrounding Darkness where God sits holding the Rudder of the World and steering it through all the Floatings of Casualty and Contingency to his own foreordained ends where he grasps and turns the great Engine of Nature in his hands fastening one Pin and loosing another moving and removing the several Wheels of it and framing the whole according to the Eternal Idea of his own understanding Let us content us to consider so much of God's Providence as may affect us with comfort in reflecting on that particular care which he takes of us rather than with wonder and astonishment by too bold a prying into those hidden methods whereby he exerciseth it Our Saviour Christ in this Chapter giving Commission to his Apostles and sending them forth to preach the Gospel obviates an Objection they might make concerning the great danger that would certainly attend such an undertaking To send them upon such an hated employment would be no other than to thrust them upon the Rage and Malice of the World to send them forth as Sheep into the midst of Wolves who would doubtless worry and devour them sure we are to have our Message derided our Persons injured and that holy name of thine on which we summon them to believe Blasphemed and Reviled and tho our word may prove a word of life to some few of the Hearers yet to us who are the Preachers of it it will prove no other than Death A vile and wretched world the whilest when the Gospel of Peace and Reconciliation shall thus stir up Enmity and Persecution against the Embassadours who are appointed to Proclaim it Now to this our Saviour Answers First By shewing what the extent of their Adversaries power is how far it can reach and what mischief it can do when God permits it to rage to the very utmost And this he doth in the 28th Verse the verse immediately foregoing the Text Fear not them who kill the Body but are not able to kill the Soul Or as St. Luke expresseth it Chap. 12.4 They can kill the Body but after that have no more they can do Alas are such Men to be feared who when they do their worst can only destroy your worst part which if they do not yet Accidents