for Thee Give us a sense of that infinite debt of Obedience that we owe unto Thee for our Being that product of an infinite Power and an infinite Motion for our well-beings our restitution in Christ without whom our very Being would have been our burden Give us a sense of the great imperfections of all our best performances that need no less a Sacrifice than the Blood and Intercession of Christ to wash them from that guilt that would damn us if we had nothing else to answer for Give us a sense of thy Great Condescention to thy weak and sinful Creatures that art pleased to deliver unto us the knowledge of thy Will and when we by Nature are unable to conceive it or to believe it dost give us Light to understand it and Faith to assent unto it that thy Law is Holy Just and Good and when for all these convictions of thy Truth our hearts the seats of Rebellion do oppose it in the love and practice of it thou art pleased to send down a powerful working of thy Spirit to chase out of us those oppositions of our corrupted Nature and to make us willing in the day of thy power and to strive with and subdue our hearts to any measure of the Love of thy Will and when notwithstanding all this our poor and lean performances are mingled with much of our own deadness contrary motions and pollutions yet thou art pleased to sprinkle our Obedience with the Blood of Christ to mingle it with his perfect Righteousness to forgive the defects to cover the imperfections to rectifie the deformities of all our Obedience to pardon what is ours our sins and defects and to accept and reward what is thine own as if it were ours when thou workest all our works in us and yet rewardest us as if we had wrought them And as in the distinct consideration of the Will of the Counsels and Commands of God we are to desire that his Will may be done on Earth as it is in Heaven so in the conjunct consideration of both these Wills There is not an Action or Event in the world but it falls out by the determinate Counsel and Fore-appointment of God and yet to the production of these Events we find a mixture of actions that expresly thwart the Command of God The greatest Event and of the greatest concernment that the World ever knew or shall know was the Death of Jesus Christ and though he was thus delivered by the determinate Counsel and Foreknowledge of God yet the Jews took and by wicked hands crucified and slew him Acts 2.23 The Counsel of God was a most Wise and Merciful Counsel the action of the Jews that fulfilled this Counsel was a most cruel and unjust action yet the injustice of the instrument did no way affect the Counsel of God nor the Counsel of God no way justifie the action of the Jews witness that heavy Curse that upon their own imprecation lyes upon the actors and their posterity unto this day His Blood be upon us and upon our Children Matth. 27.25 The man sins most willingly and though the Wise God intermingle occurrences that make the sinful actions of men instrumental to his Counsels yet their Guilt is no less and no less their own by being subservient to his Counsel God hath given thee a word of Command He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require at thy hands Micah 6.8 Thou needest not nor maist seek out for a Rule of thy actions in the Secret Counsel of God nor endeavour to justifie thy actions because in order to the fulfilling of those Counsels but keep to that Rule which he hath given To the Law and to the Testimony Deut. 29.29 The secret things belong unto the Lord our God but those things that are revealed belong to us and to our Children for ever Therefore O Lord teach me so to wait upon the Will of thy Counsels and to be instrumental in them that I may nevertheless ever obey the Will of thy Command that while I act thy Will as a Creature I may never neglect it as a Man or a Christian Thy Wisdom it is true can bring about thy Counsels by the sinful actions of men and as thou turnest the hearts of men as Rivers of waters so thou turnest the sinful motions of the heart as a skilful workman can turn the streams of water so that whilest it moves naturally it shall bring about Ends that are of a higher constitution But surely if thou canst make those works of disobedience serve thy Providence much more canst thou use such actions to the fulfilling of thy Counsels that are suitable to thy Commands therefore as the Will of thy Counsels is done in Heaven by the Angels and Blessed Spirits in such a way as is suitable to thy Commands So let thy Will be done on Earth that while we serve thy Providence we may nevertheless Obey thy Will and whiles we closely observe what thou requirest that we may Contentedly Patiently Cheerfully and Thankfully submit unto and receive what thou in thy most Wise Counsel dispensest Give us this day our daily Bread Our Saviour directs us Matth. 6.33 to seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and then promiseth that the things of this life shall be added to us And according to the Method of this Doctrine and Promise so is the Method of this Prayer first to seek the Glory Kingdom and Will of God and then for those things that are necessary for our selves And though he hath promised that they shall be added to us yet he directs to pray for what he hath thus promised to add And this is the course of God's Will and our Duty that we should begg of God what he hath certainly promised to give The Promises of God as they are the warrants of our Prayers so our Prayers are required though not as causes yet as means of fulfilling his Promises And then a Promise is most suitable and fitly performed when it is sued out by our Prayers When God had promised to build the ruined places and plant that which was desolate and had engaged his own Name and Truth to perform it I the Lord have spoken it and I will do it Ezech. 36.36 yet requires their prayers to precede the performance of it I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them and that amongst other upon these Considerations 1. To shew our Dependance upon him All Creatures as they are essentially depending upon God in their being and preservation so according to the measure of their power they testifie that Dependance Psal 104.21 The young Lyons seek their meat from God Psal 147.9 He giveth the Beasts their food and to the young Ravens which cry Psal 145.15 The Eyes of all wait upon thee and thou givest them their meat in due season There is a secret and unknown testification even in the
Goodness and Bounty of God that he doth not only injoyn Man his Duty to Glorifie him but also joyns with it Mans Happiness to injoy him for ever He that observes the former shall be sure not to miss of the latter In the same path and tract which leads us to Glorifie God which is our Duty we are sure to meet with our injoyment of him which is our everlasting Happiness and Blessedness And the business of the true Religion revealed in the Scriptures is to lead us to that Duty and to that Happiness which is the Chief End of Man He that wants this will be miserable in the midst of all worldly Enjoyments and he that attains this his Comforts here shall be blessed his Crosses Sanctified and his Death a gate to let him into a most Blessed and Glorious and Everlasting Life Thesis II. The Scriptures of both Testaments are the only perfect Rule for Mans attaining his Chief End This is the End why Man was made and which he ought principally to attend and look after but because to the attaining of the End it is necessary that the due means of attaining thereof be known and used And because as Almighty God the Maker of Man is he that alone must design the End of his own Work so likewise it belongs to him alone to chuse and appoint and order the means belonging to that end therefore as he is not wanting to us in appointing a Fit and Blessed End to Mankind so neither is he wanting in designing and discovering unto Mankind the Means for attaining to that End This means is called a Rule a fixed and setled direction teaching and shewing us what is to be known and what to be done and avoided in order to that end Beasts follow instincts of Nature in their actions But Man that is indued with higher faculties and ordered to a better End is to be directed to that End by a Rule given by that God who hath appointed his End This Rule therefore that must guide Man to his great End of his Creation requires 1. That it be a Rule given by God himself For as he appoints the End of Mankind so he alone must appoint the Means of attaining it and therefore the discovery thereof must come from him 2. That it be a certain Rule in respect of the great consequence that depends upon it Mans everlasting Happiness 3. That it be a fixed and setled Rule for Mankind is apt to straggle and wander full of vain imaginations which were not the Rule fixed and stable would corrupt and disorder it 4. A plain and easie Rule because it concerns all Men as well the unlearned and weak as the wise and learned their concernment is equal and therefore the Rule that tends to that common concernment is fit to be plain and familiar Since it is necessary therefore that there should be a Rule and such a Rule we are to consider whether God hath afforded such a Rule and what it is which is set down in these three particulars 1. That God hath given his own Word to be this Rule 2. That the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are that Word of God 3. That those Scriptures are the Rule and the only Rule whereby Man may attain his Chief End 1. That God hath given us his own Word to be this Rule And this as before appears was necessary that the Direction to our Chief End should come from God 2. The Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are the Word of God Herein is to be observed 1. What those Scriptures are They are the Canonical Books of the Old and New Testament excluding the Books commonly called Apocrypha These were written in several Ages by holy Men inspired with the Spirit of God 2 Tim. 3.16 Some parts thereof as the Five Books of Moses above Three thousand five hundred years since and that of the New Testament above One thousand six hundred years since And Almighty God who hath had a most special care of the Everlasting Good of Mankind hath by a wonderful Providence hitherto preserved them uncorrupted and hath dispersed them over all Nations in their several Languages that as the common Salvation concerned all Men so the means of attaining it might be likewise common to all Men. 2. Why the Divine Providence hath ordered it to be put into Writing It is true in the first Ages of the World till the time of Moses which was near Three thousand five hundred years the Will of God was not put into writing but was delivered over by word of mouth from Father to Son And this was the direction that Men had to know and to obey God 1. Because in those ancient Ages of the World Men lived long For Adam the first Man lived above Twenty years after Methusalem the eighth from Adam was born and Methusalem lived almost an hundred years after Sem was born and Sem lived above sixty years after Isaac was born So that in these three Men Adam Methusalem and Sem all the Truths of God for above Two thousand years were preserved and delivered over 2. Because the select Churhes of God were preserved in Families and were not National and so the knowledge of the true God kept in a smaller compass But when after the Ages of Men were shorter and when the Church of God grew to be National as it was after the Jews came out of Egypt then God himself wrote his Law in Tables of Stone and Moses wrote his Five Books And then and from that time forward the Sacred Histories and Prophesies under the Old Testament and the Gospel and other parts of the New Testament was committed to Writing for these Reasons principally 1. That they might be the better preserved from being lost or forgotten 2. That they might be the better preserved from being corrupted For that which is delivered only by word of Mouth is many times varied and changed in the second or third hand 3. That it might be the better dispersed and communicated to all Mankind And this was done in the Old Testament by Translations of it into Greek about two hundred years before Christ and dispersing it into a great part of the World And after Christs time both the Old and New Testament Translated into several Languages and since dispersed over the World which could not have been so well done had it not been at first in Writing Thus the Wisdom and Providence of God provides for the exigence of all times most wisely and excellently And having preserved part of this precious Jewel the Old Testament for the most part within the Commonwealth of the Jews till it was broken about the time of Christ by the Romans hath now delivered both to all Mankind 3. It is to be inquired Which the Author hath elswhere more largely considered What evidence we have to prove those Writings to be the Word of God And omiting many others we insist upon these principally 1. In
of the Soul the Reason and Understanding and this Defect is commonly upon these two occasions 1. The Soul wants a clear Sense and Judgment that these Desires are not fit to be gratified but to be denied at least when they become Immoderate or Unseasonable It is ordinarily our Infirmity to judge of things as they are at present and therefore if the Present presents it self pleasing or displeasing we accordingly entertain it or refuse it without any due prospect to the event or state of things at a distance either because we Know it not or Believe it not or Regard it not If a Man being solicited to unwarrantable or unseasonable carnal Pleasures hath not a prospect that the end thereof will be bitterness or if he have such a Prospect yet he believes it not or if he do yet if his Judgment prefer the satisfaction of a present Lust before the avoiding of an endless pain it is no wonder if he submit to the solicitation of his sensual Appetite 2. But if the Judgment be right yet if the Superiour and more noble part of the Soul have not Courage and Resolution enough to give the Law to the Inferiour but yields and submits and becomes base the sensual Appetite gets the throne and Captivates Reason and rules as it pleaseth and this is commonly the condition of the Soul after a fall for the sensual Appetite once a Victor becomes Imperious and Emasculates and Captivates the superior Faculty to a continued Subjection And this is the Reason why when Lusts of any kind especially that of the Flesh having gotten the Mastery makes a Man indued with Reason and Understanding yet infinitely more Intemperate and Impure than the very Beasts themselves which have no such Check or Advantage of Reason for those noble Faculties of Phantasie and Imagination and Memory and Reason it self being prostituted to Lust doth bring in all the Advantages of its own perfection to that service and thereby sins beyond the extent of a bare sensual Creature the very Reason it self invents new and prodigious Lusts and Provisions for them and fulfillings of them the Phantasie improves them the Heart and Thoughts feed upon them and so by that very Perfection of his Nature which was placed in him to Command and Regulate these Lusts or Desires of the sensual Appetite becomes the most exquisite and industrious Advancer of them and makes a man infinitely worse than a Beast for a Beast hath no antecedent speculations of his Lust no provisions for them but when the opportunity and his own natural propensions encline him to them when he hath fulfilled his Lust thinks no more of it but Man by the advantage of his Reason his Phantasie his Memory makes Provisions for his Lusts yields up his thoughts to speculations of them studies stratagems and contrivances to satisfie them So that by how much his nature is the more perfect his sensual Lusts are the more exquisite and unsatiable and by this means his Heart becomes Unclean a very Stewes of Wantonness and Impurity a box full of nothing but stinking and unsavory Vapors and Steems the very sink receptacle of all the Impure desires of the Flesh where they are cherished and entertained and sublimated into Impurities more exquisite and yet more filthy than ever the sensual Appetite could arrive unto and this is an Vnclean Heart And upon these Considerations a man may easily see how little ground there is for to think there should be a Communion between Almighty God or his most Holy Spirit with a man thus qualified 1. The Heart as it is the seat of the Desires is the only fit Sacrifice to be offered up to God as it is the Chamber of our thoughts it is the only fit Room to entertain him in as it is the fountain of our Actions the fittest part to be assisted with the Spirit of God it is the only fit thing that we can give to God and indeed the only thing in effect that he requires of us 2. Again that God is a most Pure God his Spirit a most Pure and delicate Spirit and let any man then judge whether such a nasty impure unclean Heart is a fit Sacrifice to be offered to such a God or a fit receptacle for such a Spirit It therefore imports such a man that hopes to have Communion with God to have his Heart in a better Temper Again it seems more than probable to me that as a Body fed with poysonous and unwholsome Food must needs by such a Diet contract foulness and putrefaction So the very Soul of Man which hath so strict a Conjunction with and union to the Body by continual Conversation with and Subjection to such unclean and fleshly thoughts receives a Tincture and an imbasement by them which if there were no other Hell must needs make it Miserable in its Separation upon these two Respects 1. Upon the Consideration of that Ugliness which it hath contracted by those impure Conversations and which it might have avoided if it had in the Body exercised its proper Empire over them 2. By that Disappointment which it finds in the State of separation from the fulfilling and satisfying those sensual Inclinations which it effected here and now carrieth with it but stands utterly disappointed of any satisfaction of them IV. We consider How it comes to pass that a Heart thus naturally unclean is Cleansed which in general is by a Restitution of the Soul to its proper and native Soveraignty and Dominion over the sensual Appetite and those Lusts that arise from the Constitution of the Body and the Connexion of the Soul to it And this Restitution is answerable to the Depravation or Impotence whereby the Soul is Subjected and Captivated under those Lusts which are principally these following 1. The first ground of the Impotency of the Soul in subduing of the sensual Appetite is in the Understanding which is so far weakned or darkned by natural Corruption that it is ready in point of Judgment to prefer the present fruition of Corporal Pleasures and the satisfaction of the sensual Appetite before the denying of it for it sees and finds a present contentment in the former but sees not the danger and inconvenience that will insue upon it nor the benefit and advantage that will insue upon a due Restraint and Moderation of them It finds a present Contentment and Satisfaction in the one but it hath not the Prospect of the other or if it have yet the Conviction thereof is so Weak and Imperfect that the Pleasures of Sin for a season do overcome and subdue it For the Cure therefore of this Error and Impotency in the Judgment there ought to be 1. A Conviction that there is a Danger and Inconvenience that will certainly attend the Dominion of Lust over the Soul and a Benefit and Advantage that will attend the Victory of the Soul over these Lusts 2. And because there may be an Inconvenience in the former and a
Displeasure be not a necessary consequence of that Sin and if it be may not he inflict the issues of that wrath of his when and in what measure he pleaseth and if he may what security can this Temptation give against it hath it an Arm of Omnipotence to secure me against the power of him that is Omnipotent and if it cannot what Compensation or amends can it make me to countervail the Damage of his Wrath or the very Danger of it Can the Pleasure or Contentment of the Sin do it alas the Pleasure will pass away in it may be a Life a Day a moment but the Guilt and Torment continues to Eternity Motives to Watchfulness In reference to the Good and Evil ANGELS AS we see Plants in a Nursery when they come to a due growth are Transplanted into Orchards and those that are unuseful are pulled up and cast into the Fire or as we see Boys in a Free-School such as are undisciplineable are after some years of probation sent away to Mechanical Imployments and those that are Ingenious and Diligent are Transplanted to the Universities So among the Children of Men in this Life those that are Vitious and Incorrigible are by Death rooted out and cast into a suitable Condition and those that are Vessels fit for their Masters use Towardly Plants are by Death Transplanted into another Region a Garden of Happiness and Comfort And possibly as by continuance of time they received Improvement and Perfection here So in that other Region they add to their Degrees of Perfection and are promoted to further Accessions and Degrees and Stations of Happiness and Glory till they come to the state of Spirits of just Men made perfect Could we see the Invisible Regiment of the World by the subordinate Government of Good and Evil Angels as once Elisha's servant saw the Fiery Chariots and Horsmen in the Mount it would give us another kind of representation of things than now they appear to us We have just reason to believe that there are infinite numbers of Spirits of both kinds that have their passings to and fro and Negotiations as well among themselves as among the Children of Men and as Ravens Kites and other unclean Birds haunt Carrion and as Vermine haunt after Putrefaction and are busie about it or as disorderly debauched Companions and Ruffians ever haunt out and hang upon a dissolute and foolish Heir till they have sucked out all his Substance and Wealth So the Impure and corrupted Angels haunt and flock about a Man given over to Vice till they have wholly corrupted and putrified his Soul and those Good Men whom they cannot win over to them they pursue with as much Malice and Envy as is possible and though they cannot come within them yet as far as they can they raise up External Mischiefs against them watch opportunities to insnare or blemish them though the Vigilancy of a better Guard and their own Prudence and Circumspection do for the most part disappoint and prevent them Besides the displeasure of the great God there be some Considerations even in reference to these Good and Evil Angels to make Good Men very Watchful that they fall not into presumptuous or foul Sins 1. It cannot chuse but be a Grief to the Good Angels Luk. 15.10 to be present and Spectators of the Enormities of those Matth. 18.10 for whose Preservation they are imployed 2. It must in all probability work in them a nauseousness and retiring themselves from such Offenders at least till they have renewed and washed themselves by Repentance and made their Peace with God in Christ For there is no greater Antipathy than between these Pure and Chast Spirits and any Sin or Foulness 3. It cannot chuse but be a most grateful Spectacle to these Envious and Malignant Evil Spirits who upon the discovery of such a fall of a Good Man call their impure Company together and make pastime about such an object as Boys do about a Drunken Man and upbraid the Sacred and Pure Angels Look here is your Pious Man your Professor Come see in what a condition he is and what he is about 4. It lays open such a Man to the Power and Malice of those envious Spirits they have gotten him within their Territories and Dominions and unless God in great Mercy restrain them renders a Good Man obnoxious to their Mischief And as the contagion and noysomness of Sin drives away the Pure and Holy Spirits so it attracts and draws together those Impure and Malignant Spirits as the smell of Carrion doth Birds and Beasts of prey It concerns us therefore to be very vigilant against all Sin and if through Inadvertence Infirmity or Temptation we fall into it to be diligent to make our Peace and wash our selves as soon as we can in the Blood of Christ and Water of Repentance OF THE MODERATION OF THE AFFECTIONS Phil. 4.5 Let your Moderation be known unto all Men. MOderation is that Grace or Vertue whereby a Man governs his sensual Appetite his Passions and Affections his Words and Actions from all Excess and Exorbitancy It refers 1. To the sensual Appetite 2. To the Passions of the Mind 3. To Speech and Words 4. To the Actions of our Life 1. Moderation in the sensual Appetite and this is properly Temperance which is a Prudent Restraint of our Appetite from all Excess in Eating Drinking and those other inclinations that gratifie our senses And certainly this becomes us not only as Christians but as Reasonable Creatures for the sensual Appetite and those inclinations that tend to the gratification of our External senses are in a great measure the same in Men and in Brutes and they are in the due order and use Good and Convenient for both we cannot live without them But Almighty God hath given to Mankind a Higher and a Nobler Nature namely Understanding and Reason which in the right posture and constitution of the Humane Nature is to Govern Guide Moderate and Order that inferiour Faculty that is common to the Brutes as well as to Man And that Man that keeps not this Regiment and Superintendency of his Nobler Faculty degrades himself into the condition of a Brute and indeed into somewhat worse for even the Instincts of Brutes do for the most part regulate their sensual Appetite from Excess and Immoderation But because this belongs to that distinct vertue of Temperance I forbear further Instances herein 2. Moderation of our Passions and Affections and these are here principally intended namely Love Hatred or Anger Joy Grief Hope Fear and those other mixt or derivative Passions that arise in Man upon the presentment of their several Objects And although the Passions of the Mind considered simply in themselves are a part of our Nature and not Evil but when duely regulated and ordered are of excellent Use to us yet if they once become unruly mis-placed or over-acted they occasion the greatest troubles in the World both to the
things to be done The Son of God that came out of the Bosome of his Father and knew all his Mind received a Commission from him to instruct Mankind in the way to Life Joh. 17.8 I have given unto them the Words which thou gavest me Joh. 3.34 He whom God hath sent speaketh the Words of God Matth. 11.27 No man knoweth the will of the Father save the Son and him to whom the Son revealeth it 3. As he came with Light to instruct us so he came with Power to conquer in us Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power and to conquer for us Death and Hell The Business that we are to consider respecteth principally the first and second part of his Meditation viz. in bringing the Will and Mind of God to us to teach us what to ask which concerns his Prophetical Office And again having formed desires in us according to that Will of God to present them unto his Father which concerns his Priestly Office After this manner pray Luke 11.1 2. One of his Disciples said unto him Lord teach us to pray and he said When ye pray say c. In general we may learn 1. That Christ doth not exclude other Prayers The injunction of this excludes not all other prayers Our Saviour himself and those that were acquainted with his Mind and Practice used variety of prayers according to the several occasions differing from this form and therefore the Apostle commands Ephes 6.18 Praying always with all prayers and supplications Prayers formed for every occasion And that Spirit that maketh intercession for us with groans that cannot be uttered is not confined to any particular form not to vary from it 2. Though thou art not restrained to this form only yet in all thy prayers pray after this manner There is somewhat in this Prayer that must be ingredient to all thy prayers 1. Be sure thou hast a Commission a Promise for what thou prayest desire those things that are warrantable by the Will of God revealed in his Word Christ was acquainted with the Mind of God and gives us a pattern to ask those things which are warrantable Ask for thy good but ask not for thy Lust James 4.2 2. Though the things thou askest be warrantable and agreeable to the revealed Will of God Yet in the particularity of thy desires refer thy self and submit unto the Will of God because thou art not wise enough to know what is fit for thee in particular Especially in the measure time and manner of the thing thou askest The Son of God hath taught us to pray for the fulfilling of the Will of God before the supply of our own Wants and in his own Prayer in the Garden Matth. 26. Nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt Whatsoever thou desirest yet confine not God Thou shalt be sure thy Prayer shall not lose his fruit though the thing desired seem not to be granted The Cup did not pass from our Saviour though he asked it Matth. 26.39 Yet he was heard in that he feared Heb. 5.7 3. As much as thou canst let thy prayer be a reasonable service a work of thy Spirit and Understanding 1 Cor. 14.15 not only of thy Lips and Tongue for thou hast to do with the God of the Spirits of all flesh that will be worshipped in spirit and in truth Pray with thy Lips that thou mayst by that means fix thy Mind the better to the work but let thy words be the production of thy Soul Let thy Heart pray as well as thy Tongue And this was one of the Reasons of our Saviour's inditing this Prayer in this short and pithy form to condemn the vanity of the Gentiles who had confidence in their vain repetitions of words without the intention and application of the heart Matt. 6.8 4. Here we see Christ the Wisdom of the Father delivers out a Form of Prayer framed with a great deal of Wisdom containing very much matter in a few words Learn that though thou art not to put confidence in studied Devotions nor to make thy prayers the work of thy invention or wit but of thy Heart and Soul yet let the Reverence and Awe thou bearest to him before whom thou comest in thy prayers the seriousness of the business about which thou goest put thee in mind to Prepare thy self and thy Soul and to tune it by these considerations to an humble frame of spirit to a fore-casting of thy desires to an humble approach to the presence of God to all beseeming Reverence both in thy words and gesture The Heart it is true should be in a continual frame of prayer and almost every occurrence of our Life requires a lifting up of the Heart to God in Prayer or in Thanksgiving which cannot be so ordered with preparation but a solemn Prayer though in private requires a just preparation of the Heart and a performance of it with the whole contribution of the whole Soul and strength and understanding and affection 3. Though thou art not bound to use no other form yet use this frequently upon these Considerations 1. It is the Command of thy Lord and Master There is somewhat of Command in these words He that commands to pray after this manner meant not that this Prayer should be forgotten That which was made a pattern to thy other prayers was not intended to be a thing only to be looked upon and not to be used Thou mayest use other Prayers to give scope to thy spirit but conclude with this 2. It is a great means of strengthning the Heart in Prayer When I shall consider I am now using that very Prayer which the Son of God when he was in the flesh at the request of his Disciples gave unto them not only as a rule and pattern but as a form When ye pray say c. I call the great God my Father and it is no presumption in me so to do the Eternal Son of God that knew all his Father's mind commanded me to call him so and to come before him as my Father I am begging for the conveniencies of my Life for the pardon of my Sins for my preservation in and from temptation Had they not been things that I might hope to be granted the Son of God would never have taught me to ask them O Lord it is true I can see nothing in my self why I should expect that thou shouldest hear me my Sins are renewed every day and I beged pardon but yesterday and I have sinned against thee the same Sin this day But yet thy Son that knowes all thy Will that would never have put me to beg that which were unfit for me to ask or thee to grant he it is that taught me to begg my daily bread of thee and as often in the same Prayer to begg thy forgiveness I will not learn hereby to presume in offending but yet I will learn to be confident in thy Mercy 3. It is a
Comprehensive Prayer and therefore fit to be supplemental unto thine own prayers Thy present wants or fears or desires carry thy spirit in thy own prayers eagerly and vehemently in pursuit of those thy wants fears or desires because they are things presently incumbent upon thee and in thy view and by that means thou dost many times in thy prayers overshoot many matters that are of more concernment it may be for thee to ask as the Glory of God thy preservation from future inconveniencies that are not yet in thy view and this prayer gathers up thy omissions calls home thy spirit unto that frame and temper of heart that is fit viz. Submission to the Will and Glory of God in the first petition of this Prayer furnisheth in a short Compendium to pray over that which thou hast before asked and to pray for that which before thou hast omitted 4. As it is a Comprehensive Prayer and contains much so it is a Compendious Prayer and contains much in little The Wise and Merciful God knowes the frailty of our Nature and therefore hath fitted us according to our own narrowness with abridgments he knowes the shortness of our Memory and therefore he gave his Will under the Old Law in Ten Words Christ he gave us another abridgment of that abridgment Love God and thy Neighbour God also knowes the weakness of our spirits and therefore he gives us a short Prayer that in the using of it our spirits may bear up and the fire last till the Prayer ended It is true when we have a continuing sense of Evil felt or feared upon us our spirits are able to hold out a Prayer long in warmth and heat But when the matters of our desires are not so apparent to our sense our spirits are apt to grow cold before we come at the end of it Here is a short Prayer furnish'd in all things fit to be asked and such as thy spirit may go along with to the End without being tyred It is true that a Man shall usually find more intention of spirit in his own prayers than in this Bless God that thou hast this intention of spirit in thy own prayers and neglect them not but pray for pardon that thou wantest it in this and strive to amend it Now the great Cause of the unprofitable use even of this Prayer and of divers other Ordinances grows from this That people use them without a distinct and deep consideration of the things contained in them The Sun in the Firmament is the greatest Wonder in the World and of infinite more consideration than the appearance of a new Star or a Comet But the commonness of the Sun makes Mankind pass over that without any observation and yet look upon the latter with much admiration and astonishment Just thus it is with this and other Prayers This Prayer being taken up and learnt with our speech we swallow by whole-sale and never weigh it or consider it but other Prayers of our own or others whilest they are new to us we use more attentively and it may be more profitably It should therefore be our care to rub out the Corn out of this Ear to Examine and Consider this excellent Prayer distinctly that so in the use of it a full understanding and affection may go along with it without which it is no Prayer for in Prayer we have to do with the God of the Spirits of all flesh that judgeth not neither regardeth the bare repetition of words the thing condemned by our Saviour when he commanded this Prayer But by the uniting our Souls and Spirits to him our words are not so much our prayers as the consequents and signs of our prayers The known Division of this Prayer is first the Preamble Secondly the Requests Thirdly the Conclusion 1. The Preamble Our Father which art in Heaven The general duty we learn from it is this that we come not suddenly and unseemly in our Requests to him but as much as may be to prepare our Souls with fitting apprehensions and affections before we come to ask of him with apprehensions of his goodness that may draw us to him in that he is our Father and with apprehensions of his Greatness that may make us consider our distance and come before him with Reverence in that he is in Heaven Eccles 5.2 Be not rash with thy Mouth and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God for God is in Heaven and thou upon Earth therefore let thy words be few God is in Heaven and thou upon Earth it teacheth thee thy distance and it is fit thou should'st throughly digest that apprehension before thou ask that thy asking may be with Reverence External Reverence of it self is inconsiderable but as it is the figure of that internal Reverence that is in the Soul Where the external Reverence is without the internal it is base and odious Hypocrisie a dead and a despised performance a picture of Piety without life But the internal Reverence of the Mind cannot be without an external expression of it The Forms or Natures that God hath put into every creature are those which shape their external figure in some proportion answerable to their internal Form And it is as impossible for an heart sensible of the Majesty Glory Greatness and Power of God to come before him either with a petulant sawcy presumptuous or unseemly carriage as it is for the Form of a Lamb or a Child to render it self either in the shape of a Lion or a Wolf Again God is in Heaven and thou upon Earth As thou hast a business to do to prepare thy heart with the sense of thy distance that thy desires may be with a sutable humility when thou prayest so thou hast need of preparation to bring up thy heart out of that Earth wherein thou art unto Heaven to defecate that Earthy heart of thine that it may be fit to come into the presence of the God of Heaven When God beholds the highest things in nature the Heavens he humbles himself he descends below his own Excellency Psalm 113.6 And if thou art a Sutor to this great King it is fit thou shouldest come unto the Throne of his Majesty and not expect that he should come to thy Cottage to be importuned though yet he doth this also in his great Mercy and Condescention yet it is not fit for thee to expect it Again thy lifting up of thy heart to him is thy Advantage the nearer thou drawest to his Glory and Presence so it be with an humble and clean heart the more thou wilt partake of his Bounty and Goodness the fitter thy heart will be to have communion with him The Holy and Glorious Angels and Souls departed partake more of his fulness and perfection than Man doth because by the purity of their nature they have a nearer approach to the Fountain of Good than Man hath and the nearer or farther off the Spirit of a man
comes or keeps off from God the more or less of his Goodness he participates Now in this act of prayer we endeavour to lay hold of his Goodness and Promises Necessary it is therefore we bring our hearts by preparation as near to him as we can 1. That we may be near unto him and in this nearness consists an advantage of Communion with him 2. That we may be like him and that likeness is every day increased by our beholding of him whereby we are in some measure translated into the same Glory 3. That we may be in our proper place God hath communicated his goodness to all things according to their several degrees of perfection in those stations wherein his own Great and Infinite Wisdom placed them and the place of Man was nearer to God by his nature than he can now arrive unto in this Life in his own Person though we have a High-Priest that continually bears our names before our Father And certainly if it be at any time seasonable for a Man to wind up his heart in the greatest nearness to God that he can do it is when he comes before him in Praises for the things he hath and Petitions for the things he wants Learn therefore in general to bring up thy heart as near as thou canst to the great God in preparation and meditation before thou offerest thy Prayer that thy sacrifice may be mingled with a true fire and thy Soul may be raised up with the due consideration of what thou art about and who thou art to deal withal Touching the Particulars in this Preamble Our Father Two things are herein considerable 1. How God is said to be our Father 2. What Frame or temper of heart and spirit this blessed relation and conception of him as a Father ought to raise in us especially when we come before him in Prayer As to the first God hath the appellation or relation of a Father principally in these respects 1 By Creation Thus he is the Father of all things But in as much as Paternity and Filiation are relations of persons not of bare subsistency properly therefore in this respect he is called Father in relation to Angels and Men to Men Isa 64.8 But now O Lord thou art our Father we are the clay and thou our potter Mal. 2.10 have not all one Father hath not one God created us Luke 3.38 which was the Son of Adam which was the Son of God And as to Men so in a more near relation to the Souls of Men and the blessed Angels who participate more immediately of his Image and perfection Jam. 1.17 The Father of lights Heb. 12.9 The Father of Spirits Zec. 12.2 The former of Spirits Job 38.7 And all the Sons of God shouted for joy 2. By special susception or undertaking either without an intervenient Contract thus he is pleased to own a more special Paternity towards those that have most need of him Psal 68.5 A Father of the Fatherless or by an intervenient Contract thus he was a Father in a more near Relation to the Jewish People who as a Child is called by the Name of his Father so they did as it were bear his Name Jer. 14.9 We are called by thy Name leave us not Isa 63.16 Doubtless thou art our Father though Abraham be ignorant of us and accordingly he evidenced himself towards them in all the care and tenderness of a Father Deut. 32.11 As an Eagle fluttereth over her Young c. Hos 11.1 When Israel was a Child I loved him Rom. 9.4 and called my Son out of Egypt But these Relations are yet too large and spacious 3. By Adoption in Christ Which Relation is thus wrought by an Eternal Stipulation between the Father and the Son the Son was to take upon him our Nature by a supernatural Conception and to stand as a publick Person and Mediator between the Father and lapsed Man and appointed that as many as should by true Faith lay hold on him there should be a kind of Union wrought between Christ and that Believer and in that Union the Father looks upon all that which was in the Believer as imputed to Christ and all that which was in Christ as imputed to the Believer Was there Sin and Guilt in the Believer it is laid on Christ and he bears all Iniquities Isa 53.6 Is there Righteousness in Christ the Believer hath that Righteousness the Righteousness which is of God by Faith Is Christ the First-born of God Psa 89.25 26. Though we cannot partake of his Primogeniture yet we partake of his Sonship John 1.12 As many as received him to them he gave power to become the Sons of God John 20.17 I ascend unto my Father and to your Father to my God and to your God Gal. 4.5 That we might receive the Adoption of Sons And by vertue of this Union we partake of the inheritance of Sons Joynt-Heirs with Christ Gal. 4.7 of the Spirit of Sons Gal. 4.6 And because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts c. And by vertue of this Filiation we have the Priviledges of Sons Access with boldness unto the Father Ephes 2.19 Care and tenderness of our Father over us Matth. 6.32 For your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things Audience from him John 16.26 At that day ye shall ask in my Name c. For the Father himself loveth you Now this Appellation and Relation of a Father in the first Entrance into Prayers carries up our hearts unto these Considerations 1. That we should by all means labour to be in this relation to God viz. that he should be our Father for why do we call him so unless he be so to us and that we should not be contented barely with the Relation unto him as we are Men for so were even the Athenians who inscribed their Altar To the Unknown God His Off-spring Acts 17.28 nor with the Relation arising out of an external Profession and Covenant but with that nearest Relation of Paternity arising by our Union with Christ 2. And consequently that all our Applications to God in Prayer must be in and through Christ for through him is this Relation wrought and it is a Relation of Nearness and Union which is the greatest Nearness Ephes 2.13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were a far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ and 19. of the House-hold of God our Union unto God growes by our Union to Christ who is one with the Father John 17.23 I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one and this is the meaning of asking in his Name John 16.26 through him we have an access to the Father Ephes 2.18 3. We learn with what Affections we should come to him in our Prayers And these arise either from the consideration of our duty as Children or from the consideration of that which we
did lead him And all these and a world of the like Expressions in the Book of God to unvail the love of God to his Creatures and thereby to draw out an aweful love to him and an humble boldness to make an approach unto him Heb. 4.16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the Throne of Grace and to bless our Redeemer who by the price of his Blood hath purchased this free liberty of access unto God as our Father Ephes 3.12 In whom we have boldness and access with confidence Who as he hath purchased access for us so when notwithstanding that we are fearful and backward and ashamed to come is pleased in the virtue of his own Mediation to stand between the Glory and Brightness of the Father and us poor Creatures and to shew us more of his Goodness and Mercy than of his Glory and to receive our desires and to bring both them and us into the presence of his Father and our Father 2. As this Expression leads us unto God and gives us access so it gives us assurance of success in our Petitions This Prayer as is said is a comprehensive Prayer we thereby in an Abridgement ask whatsoever is necessary for this life or that to come but the Name of a Father is a comprehensive Name the Petitions that thou art asking are large Petitions and the Promise is yet more large John 16.23 Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my Name he will give it you Matth. 7.7 Ask and it shall be given you But here is the Foundation thy application is to thy Father Matth. 7.11 If ye being evil know how to give good things to your Children how much more shall your Father which is in Heaven give good things to them that ask him Whatsoever thou canst find or expect from thy Natural Father so much and much more may'st thou expect from thy Heavenly Father Patience to bear with thy infirmities and failings Psalm 78.18 Compassion to pity thy suffering Psal 103.13 Goodness to supply thy wants Justice to avenge thy injuries Psal 105.14 Protection to defend thee from dangers Vigilancy and care to support thee against Temptations Mercy to pardon thy back-slidings Jer. 3.14 Skill to interpret and Tenderness to accept thy weak and stammering Petitions Providence and Bounty abundantly to reward all thy sincere performances Luk. 12.32 Fear not little flock it is my Fathers good will to give you a Kingdome And this Consideration of God as our Father when we come before him in Prayer as it teacheth us our duty so it doth most naturally teach us the three first Petitions to desire the Glory of his Name the Increase of the manifestation of his Kingdom and Power the full submission unto and desire of the fulfilling of his Will And as that relation looks downward upon us so it concludes the three last Petitions From whom shouldest thou desire or expect Mercy to forgive thee Conveniencies to supply thee Care and Protection to preserve and deliver thee from Evil if not from a Father and as from this appellation of a Father we gather Confidence in his love so in the next qualification or description of this Father we gather Confidence in his Power Which art in Heaven or Heavenly Father Matt. 6.26 To denote 1. The eminence of his Glory and Power The Heavens are the most Eminent and Glorious Creatures that our Eyes behold and speak much of the Glory and Majesty of God Psal 19.1 and in this adjunct of Heavenly we give him the acknowledgement and attribution of the Greatness of his Power and Glory Psal 1.5 For our God is in the Heavens and he hath done whatsoever he pleaseth 2. Heaven the Throne of his Majesty Psal 11.4 Isa 66.1 The Heaven is my Throne and the Earth is my Foot-stool Psal 68.4 Extol him that rideth upon the Heavens Deut. 33.26 who rideth upon the Heavens for thy help and in his excellency upon the sky 1 Kings 8.49 Heaven thy dwelling place Which though it be the Seat of his glory yet it is not the circumscription of his Presence 1 Kings 8.27 The Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain thee Psal 113.4 his Glory is above the Heavens Isa 57.15 The high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity an incomprehensible infinitude Psal 139.8 If I ascend into Heaven thou art there and if I make my bed in Hell thou art there Isa 40.22 It is he that sitteth on the Circle of the Earth So that his Presence is in all places and though in respect of his Creatures the greatest manifestation of his Presence is above the Heaven yet his Infinite and Essential Glory is equally in all places Now from this attribution we learn 1. Our Duty in Prayer As a Christian should always have his Conversation in Heaven from whenee he expects his Saviour Phil. 3.20 so in a special manner when he comes to God in Prayer Hence Prayer is called a drawing near to God Heb. 10.22 lifting up the Heart unto God Know therefore thou do'st or at least shouldest in Prayer bring thy Heart up into Heaven before the Throne of the Infinite Majesty which imports or inforceth these Consequents 1. Let thy Spirit be mingled with thy Prayers for there is no other way to draw near to God but by bringing thy spirit into his presence He is a Spirit and will be worshipped in Spirit thy Body is here upon the Earth and thy words vanish before they are gone far from thee Thou canst not get before the presence of the Lord of Heaven but with thy Spirit and Soul and unless thy Prayer be the drawing near of thy Spirit to him thy Prayer is a Provocation and not a Service unprofitable and useless for thee and unaccepted and not regarded by God it dyes and is rotten in the Earth and it cannot come up to thy Father which is in Heaven 2. Let thy Spirit be a pure Spirit and thy Prayers be pure Prayers for what hath any thing that is impure to do with Heaven a place of Purity and Holiness None but the pure in spirit can see God Matth. 5.8 and none but pure hands are fit to be lifted up to him 1 Tim. 2.8 Psal 24.4 And that thy Spirit may be pure and fit to come up into this High and Holy Place and to have Communion with the Holy and Glorious God get thy Spirit and Soul and Conscience washed by the Blood of Christ and thy Prayers mingled with the Incense of Christ Rev. 8.3 and labour to get an Inherent Holiness a pure and a sanctified Heart and from that will thy Words and thy Conversation and thy Services and thy Sacrifices all which are but the Emanations and Fruit of thy Heart be Holy and bear some though a weak proportion to that place and to that Person whither thou art sending thy Prayers And more especially and particularly labour to cleanse thy Heart when thou art about to pray because thy Prayers are a drawing near unto God
Psal 73.28 The Priests under the Law when they were to come near unto God in their Administrations were to be washed and clean from their natural and external Impurities and a Leper was not suffered to come into the Tabernacle but what is that to the Leprosie and Impurity of thy Spirit that very part of thee that only can have an immediate access to God and what Communion can there be between an holy God and an unholy Soul Psal 66.18 If I regard Iniquity in my Heart God will not hear me Consider therefore that thy approach is unto Heaven the dwelling place of his Majesty and of his Glory and Holiness becomes such an Habitation Psal 93.5 But who then is fit for such a communion What is Man that he should be clean and he which is born of a Woman that he should be righteous Behold he putteth no trust in his Saints yea the Heavens are not clean in his sight how much more abominable and filthy is Man which drinketh iniquity like water Job 15.14 15 16. But for this thy Saviour hath given thee an Expedient he taketh away the iniquity of thy Holy things and mingles thy Sacrifice with his own insense and covers thy impurities with his own righteousness and if for all this the cense of thy own vileness cover thy Heart with shame and the burden of thy Sins and Corruptions keeps thy Soul under that it cannot with that clearness and confidence look up unto Heaven but with the Publican in the Gospel stand afarr off and scarce darest ask for any thing but what the sense of Guilt inforceth viz. Mercy to pardon thee yet such is the Goodness of God in Christ to thy low and humbled Soul that though thou hast scarce confidence enough to draw nigh unto God yet he hath compassion enough to draw nigh unto thee Psal 34.18 The Lord is nigh to them that are of a broken Heart And though thy laden Soul can scarce get up into Heaven into the presence of thy Creator yet he will bring down Heaven into thy Soul Isa 57.15 Thus saith the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth Eternity whose Name is Holy I dwell in the High and Holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones 3. Let thy Prayer be full of Reverence with thy whole Man for as thou comest to a Father and in that relation thou owest him Reverence so thou comest to a Heavenly Father the great Lord and Judge of all things 1 Pet. 1.17 And if ye call on the Father who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's works pass the time of your sojourning here in fear And as a Father and such a Father calls for thy Reverence so especially when thou considerest that thou comest to this great King in his Throne in the place of his Majesty and Glory And therefore this Expression is added to take up the whole Latitude of thy thoughts with the highest apprehensions of the Glory and Majesty of the Lord before whom thou comest and that thou maist consider the Infinite distance that is between thee and the Lord of Heaven Isa 55.9 For as the Heaven is higher than the Earth so are my thoughts than your thoughts and my ways than your ways And upon this consideration to admire and magnifie the Goodness and Mercy of this great King that is pleased to admit poor sinful Worms to come into his presence and beg for our Lives and for our Souls with a Promise of Mercy and Acceptation 4. Let thy Prayers be full of Intention Thou dost or shouldest bring up thy Soul into Heaven into the Presence of the Great and Glorious God and what should thy wandring thoughts thy Earthly business do there leave them at the foot of the Hill when thou ascendest into the Mount of God Consider the person to whom thou comest exactly views and observes the frame and connexion and workings and motions of thy thoughts and desires and whether they go along with thy words or with thy External deportment and if they do not so much of thy Prayer is not only lost but a mockery and abuse of thy Maker And as the consideration of the Person to whom thou makest thy address so the Place where thou comest doth not sute with those impertinent and vain diversions Therefore when thou prayest do it considerately advisedly and with the whole Intention of thy Soul Eccles 5.2 Be not rash with thy mouth and let not thy heart utter any thing hastily before God for God is in Heaven and thou upon Earth 2. As this Expression teacheth us our duty towards God in Prayer so it teacheth us what to Expect from him 1. Hence learn the All-seeing Eye of God that is acquainted with all thy wants and with all thy desires It was a mistaken use that was made of his being in Heaven Job 22.14 Thick Clouds are a covering to him that he seeth not and he walketh in the circuit of Heaven No but Psalm 33.13 The Lord looketh from Heaven he beholdeth all the Sons of Men. Psal 11.4 The distance of the place is no disadvantage to his sight or hearing Again Though Heaven be the Seat of his Glory yet all places are filled with his Presence but especially he is nigh to them that call upon him to all that call upon him in truth Psal 145.18 is nigh to such as be of a broken Heart Psalm 34.18 is round about his people Psal 125.2 is nigh unto them in all they call upon him for Deut. 4.7 will bow down his Ear to hear Psal 31.2 will bow the Heavens and come down for their good Psal 18.9 So that thy Prayers have no great distance to go for all places are Heaven where God is and he is in all places especially where two or three are gathered together in his Name to call upon him 2. Hence learn the All-sufficient and Almighty Power of God Psal 115.3 Our God is in Heaven he hath done whatsoever he pleased As the relation of a Father carrieth with it a fulness of love to be willing to grant thy largest requests so the Consideration that he is a Heavenly Father carrieth with it a fulness of Power to grant them These considerations of the Love and Power of God bear up the Heart in Prayer as once Aaron and Hur did Moses hands Exodus 17.12 And therefore they are both placed in the Porch of this Prayer like the pillars of Jachin and Boaz in Solomon's Temple 1 Kings 7.21 To stablish and strengthen thy Heart in thy Prayer to God 3. As the consideration of Heavenly or which art in Heaven carries thy Heart to confidence in his Power and All-sufficiency to grant thy Petitions so it improves thy Faith in his Infinite Tenderness and Goodness When thou comest to the Father of thy flesh thy Earthly Father that relation imports and carries with it much
forgave you If God should require obedience to any command though I saw no reason for it yet the Love of God would constrain me to reason thus Though I see no reason of this command yet when I consider who it is that commands it even the Infinite and Merciful God to whom I owe my self and all I hope for I see reason enough for me to obey though I see not the reason why God should command But in this injunction of Forgiving my Enemy I see a most just and proportionable reason of my Obedience I owed unto God a most Infinite Love and Obedience to the uttermost possibility of my Being for from him I had it and when I broke that Allegiance I owed unto him an Infinite Debt of Guilt and Punishment and with this guilt I likewise contracted an innate enmity against that God to whom I owed so vast a debt of Duty and of Guilt this very God freely without my seeking when I hated him sent me his Son with a free Pardon of all this Infinite Guilt and commanded me to shew Mercy to my offending brother the offence that I committed was against an Infinite Obligation of the creature to his Creator the offence that my Brother commits as against me is only against some petty relation we are otherwise both equals God freely forgave me when there was nothing to enjoyn or inforce or deserve or so much as to seek it and is it not reasonable that I should forgive my brother that it may be seeks my Pardon but if he doth not our common Lord and Master enjoyns it 2. Consequently upon the former the not observing of this Duty doth most Justly and Reasonably deserve that I should not be heard in this Petition If I can so boldly and unthankfully encounter a Command of God standing upon such just and reasonable grounds with what face I can expect a Pardon from him at my request when I refuse to Pardon my Brother at his command 3. Consequently also the pardon of my Brother is no Meritorious cause for God to pardon me the Breach of any command is a meritorious cause of Punishment but the Observation of one duty cannot deserve the Pardon of the violation of another God requires me to forgive my Brother and when I have done so I have done but my duty and no not deserve my Pardon and therefore when I say forgive me for I forgave others I make not the Pardon I ask the wages for the Pardon I gave for as my Brothers offence against me holds not proportion with my offence against God so neither doth my Pardon of him hold proportion with Gods Pardon to me 4. Nor consequently is my Pardon of others the measure of that Pardon I beg of God The offences committed by my brother against me are not in truth so much offences committed against me as against God for it is therefore an injury to me because done against that law that he hath interposed between him and me and so though I am concerned yet in truth the foundation of my concernment is that Law that God hath set between him and me and were it possible to suppose no such Law it were impossible to conceive any injury to be done from one man to another So then my Pardon of him is but of slender concernment of my own the chiefest interest is Gods Again my offence against God is against an Infinite Obligation and against an Infinite Person but my brothers offence against me as it relates to me is but of finite relation or obligation and against a finite Person and therefore the measure of the thing forgiven by me is too short and too narrow to fit and sute with that whereof I beg my Pardon Again my Pardon to my Brother is with a great deal of corruption superciliousness pride grudging aversness expostulations secret risings of my Heart against him O! But such a Pardon will not serve my turn I beg a Pardon at the hands of the God of Mercy and Perfection a full a perfect Pardon Measure not out O Lord thy Pardon to me according to my Pardon to my Brother the thing I pardon holds not proportion with the offence which I have committed against thee his is but a finite offence against me a finite Creature mine is an infinite Offence gainst an infinite Obligation and against an Infinite God the Pardon that I give is mingled with ruggedness with revenge with remembrance of the thing I forgive but the Pardon I beg of thee is an abundant Pardon Isa 55.7 A blotting out and an everlasting forgetting of my Sins Isa 43.25 Such a Pardon as leaves not behind it the tincture of my former guilt that though my Sins were as scarlet they may be as white as snow Isa 1.18 But 5. Forgive us for we forgive By our Union with Christ we partake of his Priviledge of being the Sons of God so that as a Father hath tenderness towards his child and is apt and ready upon his submission to Pardon him so there is the same and a far greater readiness in him to forgive I said I will confess my Transgressions unto the Lord and thou forgavest the Iniquity of my Sin As soon as he had but a resolution to beg his Pardon God prevents his Petition by granting that Pardon which he intended to ask And as by this Union with Christ we partake of his Priviledge so we partake of his Spirit and that Spirit is a Merciful Spirit ready to Pardon an Enemy even before he ask it This was the command he gave us and this was the Pattern he left us who when he was reviled reviled not again 1 Pet. 2.21 23. but prayed for those that sought his Life Luk. 23.34 Father Forgive them for they know not what they do And therefore this Conformity unto the Mind of Christ is an Evidence unto a Man of his Participation of him and that God heareth him as a Father heareth his Child and by this means Faith is strengthened and the Soul argues thus in this Petition O Lord I am guilty in my self of many Sins but yet if I am found in thy Son thou wilt look upon me with the same tenderness that a Father looks upon his child and wilt be more ready to forgive me than I can be to ask it I find thy Son was Merciful and ready to forgive even his Enemies and I thank thy good Grace I find in my self the same mind that my Saviour bore a mind ready to forgive the injuries that were offered him and this disposition I have not from my self nor my own spirit for that spirit lusteth after envy but surely it comes from that meek and gentle Spirit that is in thy Son and upon this I do believe I am in some measure united to him and as I do partake of his Spirit so I doubt not but I partake of that relation of his even the relation of a Son unto thee and in that relation I
come before thee and beg thee to pardon my Sins assuredly trusting that thou that hast created in me a mind of Mercy and Forgiveness unto others wilt shew thy self a God of Mercy and Pardon unto me 6. Forgive us for we forgive It is true our Pardon of others deserves not thy Mercy nor can it make thee a debtor unto us but Bountiful Lord thou hast been pleased in Christ in whom all thy Promises are Yea and Amen by thine own free Promise to engage thy self unto thy creature Psal 18.25 That with the merciful thou wilt shew thy self merciful Matt. 5.7 That the merciful shall obtain Mercy Mat. 6.14 That if we forgive men their Trespasses thou wilt forgive us and these Promises of thine freely and undeservedly made by thee I lay before thee when I beg my Pardon in Jesus Christ thereby to strengthen my Soul in thy Goodness in the free remission of all my Sins To conclude In this Petition the Soul breathes out such thoughts as these O Lord I confess before thee I am a sinful creature I have a sinful and polluted Nature a Body of sin and death and this sinful Nature sends forth through all my Thoughts Words and Actions foul and filthy streams in every moment of my Life and if thou shouldest pass by all the sins of my Nature and Life unto this day and shouldest call me to an account for my errors since I last begged my Pardon there were guilt enough left to press me down to the lowest Hell And this guilt of the least of any of my sins as it is more than I am able to answer so it is more than I am able to expiate there is no escaping but by thy free Pardon and that Pardon I beg of thee in the Name and Righteousness and Promise of thy Son who knew all thy mind and taught me to seek my Pardon as often as to seek my daily bread And in confidence only of that free Mercy of thine I beseech thee pardon me and as I beg the Pardon of my sins in general so in special I beg the Pardon of those Sins which I committed since thy last act of remission granted and manifested and ratified unto me this or that neglect of my Duty to thee or my neighbour this or that sinful proud unclean vain Thought which hath stained my Soul and grieved thy Spirit and polluted or weakned my Conscience this or that uncharitable or malicious or unseemly or vain Word this or that unjust or unbecoming or unchristian or ungodly Action every one of these leaves a spot in my Soul which nothing but the Blood of Christ and thy Free Grace can take away It leaves a Disease a Weakness a Wound in my Soul which nothing but thy Free Spirit can heal and recover And though I know that my greatest mercy to others cannot merit mercy from thee because that mercy is but my duty and a duty mingled in the performance of it with many of my own imperfections which stand in need of thy mercy to pardon it and that little good that is in it is not my own but the work of thy Grace as free as thy Pardon yet it is an evidence to me that thou wilt be merciful unto me in that thou hast contrary to my own nature wrought a merciful temper in my heart to others the same mind that was in thy Son and therefore I am humbly confident that thou hast given me that Spirit of thy Son and consequently the relation and priviledge of a Son that in as much as thou hast given me a heart to pardon others thou wilt make good thy Promise of Mercy and Pardon unto me I make mention of my remission of others not as the merit of thy forgiving of me but thereby to strengthen my Faith and to lay hold of thy Promise made in and by thy Son that if we forgive Men their offences thou wilt also forgive us And this I beg not to make room for new offences by pardoning the old nor to continue in sin that Grace may abound but with a resolution to forsake my sins as well as to confess them and not turn again to folly strengthen me so with thy Grace that as thou hast now cleansed my Soul from my past sins and spots so I may keep my self from mine Iniquity that I may live more to thy Honour that I may walk with more Vigilance that I may every day find my account less and thy Spirit and Grace more and more effectual in me to conform me to the Will and Example of thy Son in all Holiness and Blamelessness of mind and life and to that end Lead us not into Temptation c. This Petition directs us to pray for 1 Preventing Mercy Lead us not into Temptation 2 Delivering Mercy but deliver us from Evil. Keep us from falling into Evil but if we fall into it deliver us from it The Former part wherein is considerable 1. What is meant by Temptation 2. What to lead into Temptation Temptation may be understood 1 for an Active Solicitation unto Evil of Sin this is done either by the Devil thus our Saviour was led by the Spirit into the Wilderness to be tempted of the Devil Matt. 4.1 And therefore he is often called the Tempter who being a Spirit is by the advantage of his Nature and by the permission of God able to mingle himself so with our Souls and faculties that he can immediately solicite unto Evil. Thus he mingled himself with the Spirits of the Prophets of Ahab and became a lying Spirit in their Mouths 1 Kings 22.21 Thus he mingled himself with the Spirit of Judas tempting him to betray Christ Luke 22.7 with the spirit of Ananias Act. 5.3 Why hath Satan filled thy Heart or it is done by Evil Men either by their Counsels Perswasions or Examples or by our own corrupt hearts James 1.14 Every Man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own Lusts and inticed Our corrupt and sinful flesh breathes and evaporates into our Souls those ill and filthy vapors which infect and disorder and seduce it from God the Law of our Members bringing us into captivity to the Law of sin Rom. 7.23 2. For that Objective Temptation or the Object from whence occasionally Temptation ariseth And thus almost every Object of our sense is a Temptation not that there is any proper active motion or action of the Object to perswade to sin but the corruption of our sensual Nature meeting with such an Object acts amiss upon it and so it becomes a Temptation to sin and especially if the Object be such as bears a disproportion to our enjoyment of it The beauty of the Apple was a Temptation to Eve the wedge of Gold and the Babylonish Garment to Achan Naboths Vineyard to Ahab Bathsheba to David yet in these the Objects were innocent and had in themselves no active solicitation to Evil but because they were seemingly good yet prohibited corrupted
Will may be performed by us and all Man-kind in some measure answerable to what is done by thy Glorious Angels in Heaven that we may do it Chearfully without Murmuring Sincerely without Dissimulation Speedily without Delay or Procrastination and Constantly and Uncessantly without Deficiency or Fainting And that we may not at all fail in our duty herein be pleased daily more and more to reveal thy Heavenly Will unto us that so our Wills on Earth may answer thy Will in Heaven and keep us alwaies careful and circumspect in sincerity and integrity of heart to keep close unto it that neither the corruptions of our own hearts the seducements of Satan the deceits of this present World may at any time withdraw us from the Obedience of thy most Perfect and Holy Will Give us this day our daily Bread And now most Gracious Father as we have Petitioned Thee for things that more immediately concern thy Glory Kingdom and Will we beg Thee to give us leave to Petition Thee for some things that more immediately concern our selves Blessed Lord thou hast given us our Being and yet when thou hast so given it us we cannot support our selves in that Being one day nay onemoment without thy further Influence and Bounty We therefore beg of Thee our Daily Bread and in that all the Blessings and convenient Necessaries for our support We beg bread for this Life Thou that feedest the young Ravens when they cry we that are thy Children beg of Thee to feed us with food convenient for us Thou that cloathest the Lillies of the field give us cloathing for our covering and defence and all those necessaries and convenient supplies for our wants and conditions And because it is thy Blessing that giveth our Food ability to nourish us our Cloaths to keep us warm and all other outward supplies their serviceableness and usefulness for our Conditions we beg thy Blessing may come along with thy Benefits And because it is part as well of our Duty as of that State and Condition wherein thou hast placed us in this Life that in the sweat of our brows we should eat our bread enable us we beseech Thee for the Duties of our several Callings and Imployments and bless our Labours that we may serve Thee faithfully therein and may be enabled thereby honestly to provide for our selves and Families And as we beg of Thee this meat that perisheth the convenient supplies of our external conditions in this life so we beseech Thee give us that Bread that may feed us unto everlasting life an Interest in the Righteousness and Merits of thy Son Jesus Christ thy Grace and the Direction Guidance and Sanctification of thy Holy Spirit whereby we may be directed strengthned and comforted in a walking according to thy Will here and may everlastingly enjoy thy Presence and Glory hereafter And forgive us our Trespasses Thou art the great Creator Lord and Governor of all the World and art in a more special relation the Soveraign the Father the great Benefactor of Man-kind and therefore may'st most justly expect from the children of Men our uttermost Love and Fear and Reverence and Obedience and thou hast by the Light of Nature and by that greater Light of thy Holy Word revealed unto us a most Holy and Righteous Law to which we owe a most entire and sincere Obedience and yet notwithstanding all these obligations we poor sinful Creatures do daily and hourly violate that Holy Law of thine both in Thought Word and Deed we omit much of what thou requirest of us and we commit often what thou forbiddest us we are deficient in the remembrance of thee in our Love to thee in our Fear of thee We often omit those Duties that thou requirest of Invocation Thanksgiving Dependance and when we perform them they want that due measure of Love Humility Reverence Intention of mind that thou most justly dost require and deserve we omit those duties of Charity Justice Righteousness that we owe to others that Sobriety Temperance Moderation Vigilance that relate to our selves and we daily commit offences against thee the Glorious God against our neighbours against our selves contrary to the injunctions of thy Holy Law revealed to us and these we often reiterate against Mercies Chastisements Promises of better Obedience And although many of our Neglects and Offences immediately concern our selves or others yet they are all offences against thy Holy and Righteous Law and against that Subjection and Obedience and Duty and Thankfulness that we owe unto thee And when we have done all this we are not able to make thee any satisfaction for any of the least of our offences or neglects but only to confess our Guilt and to beg thy Mercy Pardon and Forgiveness We therefore come unto thee who art our Lord and Soveraign whose Prerogative it is to forgive Iniquity Transgression and Sin to thee which art our Father who art full of Pity and Compassion to thy Children though disobedient and backsliding Children to thee who art a Father of Mercies as well as of Men and hast delight in Forgiving thy disobedient and returning and repenting Children and we confess our Sins our backslidings our failings And upon the account of thy own Mercy and Goodness upon the account of thy Son's Merits and Sufferings upon the account of thy own Promises contained in that Word whereupon thou hast caused thy Servants to trust Pardon the sins of our Duties and the sins of our Lives the sins of our Natures and the sins of our Practice the sins of our Thoughts Words and Actions the sins of Omission and the sins of Commission the sins of Infirmity Failing and daily Incursion and the sins of Wilfulness Presumption and Rebellion whereof we stand guilty before thee Our Request we confess is great The Debt whereof we desire Forgiveness is a great and a vast debt but we ask it of the great and glorious Monarch of the World we ask it of our gracious and merciful Father and from that glorious God who rejoyceth more in multiplying Pardons upon repenting sinners than the Children of Men can delight in offending As we forgive them that Trespass against us And besides all this we have been taught by him that knew thy Will to the full that if we from our hearts forgive those that trespass against us thou that art our Heavenly Father wilt forgive us our Trespasses against thee Upon this Promise of thine we lay hold In obedience to thy Commands we forgive our brethren their offences against us and beg thee therefore to make good that thy Promise of Forgive us our offences It is true our forgiving of others cannot merit thy Pardon of us When we forgive we do but our duty because thou commandest it And besides the Trespass that we remit is but to our Brother and is but a small inconsiderable trespass in comparison of those Trespasses whereof we beg the forgiveness of Thee his Trespass not an hundred pence ours