full and perfect than that knowledge which can be attained by the Light of Nature as appears in these two respects 1. Those things concerning God that the Light of Nature doth in some measure discover are more fully compleatly and clearly discovered by the Light of the Scriptures 2. The Scriptures do discover those things concerning God and his Works and our selves that were never discovered nor indeed discoverable by the Light of Nature which as they are of greatest importance to be known so being discovered by the Scriptures they do wonderfully clear and satisfie the defects of the Light of Nature As for instance in both kinds the Light of Nature discovers that there is a God but the manner of his subsistence in Three Persons yet in Unity of Essence is only learned by the Scriptures The Light of Nature discovers that he is the first Cause and Preserver of all things but the manner how all things were produced and when is only learned by the Scriptures The Light of Nature tells us that this God is to be worshipped and obeyed but in what manner he is to be worshipped and the particulars of his commands wherein he is to be obeyed it discoves not or at least very darkly The Scriptures only shew us clearly the manner of his worship and the certain Rule of our Obedience The Light of Nature shews us that there is a great defection and disorder in our Natures but whence it did arise or how it is to be helped the Scripture only teacheth The Light of Nature shews us that all Sin is an offence against the Purity Justice and Will of God and therefore deserves his anger and displeasure but how the guilt of Sin may be done away and the favor of God again procured is not within the reach of the Light of Nature to discover but is only learned from the Scriptures The Light of Nature teacheth that surely there is a Reward for the Righteous and a punishment of the obstinate sinner but how it shall be inflicted and when and how Mankind should be put into a capacity of receiving Rewards or Punishments by Resurrection from the Dead the Light of Nature discovers not or at least but darkly and diffidently and confusedly the Light of the Scriptures only discovers all plainly clearly and evidently These and divers other Truths are discovered in the Scriptures which the Light of Nature either not at all or if at all yet but darkly pointeth at 3. The Light of Nature is very uncertain and easily corrupted either by lusts or weakness or variety of Imaginations And from hence grew all the false gods false worships idolatries and supersititions among the Heathen that were only led by the Light of Nature changing the Truth of God into a lie and changing the Glory of the Incorruptible God into an Image made like to a corruptible man Rom. 1.23 25. But the Light of the Scriptures is an unchangeable stable fixed Light not adulterated nor to be corrupted but though Mens imaginations and fancies be as unstable as the Waters and thereby corrupt and pervert themselves yet the Light of the Scriptures continue firm and stable unchangeable in the successions of thousands of generations Now the things that the Scriptures thus principally teach are two in order to the two great Powers or Faculties of Man 1. In order to his Understanding what is to be believed and to be believed principally touching God 2. In order to his Will or practical faculty What God requires to be done As touching the former What is to be believed Believing and knowledge and opinion differ in this 1. Knowledge is that whereby we certainly know any thing to be or nor to be by our Senses or Reason or Experience 2. Opinion is a doubtful uncertain Perswasion of mind that any thing is or is not yet not without a mixture of doubting or distrust 3. Belief is a certain perswasion of the truth of any thing upon the Credit and Authority of another Now if we be assured that whatsoever God saith is most certainly true as needs it must be because Truth is an essential Attribute of God and if we be perswaded surely that these Scriptures are the Word of God then of necessity we must believe whatsoever Almighty God in the Scriptures reveals And this is Belief So that the very same Truth that may be known by Reason or Observation may likewise be believed as revealed in the Word of God Though many things are to be believed because revealed in the Scriptures which cannot be fully demonstrated by Reason Thus though it be partly evident to Reason that God made the World and so is the object of our knowledge yet the same Truth as revealed in the Scriptures is to be believed and so is the object of our Faith Heb. 11.3 Through Faith we understand that the Worlds were framed by the Word of God that is We do acknowledge and subscribe unto it as true because God in the Scriptures which are his Word hath revealed and discovered it unto us And as touching things to be done the duty God requires of us here is the difference between the performance of duties by a Man believing the Scriptures and another Man A Believer doth a good work for example a Work of Mercy and a Heathen or another Moral Man doth the same work and yet though the work be for the matter the same they very much differ in the value The Believer understands by the Word of God that it is a duty injoyned him of God to be merciful as our Father who is in Heaven is merciful he believes it to be the command of God and he doth it in obedience to that command and so it is accepted of God but another Man many times doth it or may do it not upon the same account but it may be meerly upon the inclination of his natural temper or for vain-glory and so it is not so much an act of obedience to God as love to himself And therefore in the former it is the Obedience of Faith in the latter an Action of Nature ECCLES XII 1. Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth while the evil days come not nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them TWo things are principally commended to us in this Text. 1. A Duty injoyned to remember our Creator 2. The principal Season of that Duty The days of our Youth Which Season is recommended for this duty by way of preference above the evil days not as if the Remembring our Creator were unseasonable at any time but because the time of our Youth is more seasonable than that Evil time or those Evil days wherein we shall say We have no pleasure in them 1. The Duty injoyned is to Remember our Creator which imports two things 1. To know our Creator for we cannot remember what we have not some knowledge of 2. To Remember him often to call him to
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
Spirit to resist and overcome all my Temptations to cleanse and purge this foul heart of mine of this brood and nest of lusts and corruptions that are within it to strengthen my self against the Temptations of Hell the World and my self to lead me in safe paths to discover and admonish me hourly of all the dangers that are in my way and so by thy mighty and over-ruling Providence to guide me that I may avoid all occasions of falling so to order and over-rule and moderate and temper all the occurrences of my life that they may be suitable to that Grace thou givest me to bear them without offending thee and if thou at any time suffer me to take a fall yet deliver me from Presumptuous sins give me a heart speedily to fly to thee for strength to restore me for mercy to pardon me If thou suffer me to fall into Temptation yet I beseech thee deliver me from the evil But deliver us from Evil. Three Evils are here meant 1. The Evil of Sin We are before taught to pray for pardoning Mercy in the first Petition for preventing Mercy in the former part of this Petition and here we are taught to pray for delivering restoring Mercy When a sin is committed there is not only a guilt contracted which stands in need of Mercy to pardon it but the Soul receives a Wound that weakens it and stands in need of a Divine strength to restore it and without this it would never rise out of that state of Impotency yea of Rebellion into which it is fallen but would multiply sin upon sin to all Eternity As before our conversion unto God we are dead in trespasses and sins and cannot convert our selves so after we are converted any one sin puts us as in our selves and in respect of our own strength into the same state of dead Men in which our conversion at first found us only here is the odds God is pleased to put into us a Seed of Life that shall again quicken us though we fall 1 John 3.9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin that is continue in it for his seed abideth in him 1 John 2.1 If any man sin we have an Advocate c. That Seed of Life that Advocate of our Peace will cause him to lay hold again upon the Strength and Mercy and Promise of God will carry his Eye to look upon this brazen Serpent will enable him to reapply the Merits and Life of Christ to his Soul and so that wound that was in it self mortal is cured and the Soul inabled to return again to God whom by sin it hath forsaken and yet though the benefit is ours the deliverance is Gods and he will be sought unto as well for strength to recover from the state of sin as for Mercy to recover from the Guilt of Sin after every fall 2. Deliver us from the evil of Punishment or Affliction 1. By giving us Patience to bear it as from the hand of God 2. Wisdom and Understanding to discern and perceive what the end of God is in sending it for the Rod hath his Voice and his Message It may be it is to bring into remembrance some sin past unrepented of which lyes rankling in thy conscience though thou hast forgotten it and so it bids thee look backward It may be it is to prevent thee from some sin which thou art otherwise like to fall into and so bids thee look forward It may be thy Heart begins to settle upon her lees to fix her self upon the World to grow secure and careless to grow proud and wanton and so it bids thee look within thee It may be God is pleased to use this cross to stir thee up to Dependence upon him to seek him by Prayer to discover his Power and Mercy in delivering thee in some eminent way and so it bids thee look above thee Learn therefore the message of the Cross and improve it to that end for which he sent it and by this means thou shalt be delivered from the Evil of the Evil. 3. Deliver us from Evil that is from the very Incumbency of the Evil upon us And this is a thing that wee may lawfully ask so it be with submission to the Will of God who best knows what is fit for us only of this we may be sure that though the thing be not granted yet thy Petition is not lost when Paul besought God thrice against an affliction 2 Cor. 12.9 Though he had not deliverance from it yet he had sufficient Grace given him to bear it when our blessed Lord besought that that Cup might pass from him though he must drink of the Cup yet he was heard in the thing which he feared Heb. 5.7 And thy Prayer for deliverance shall be answered either with a way to escape it or with strength comfortably to bear it 1 Cor. 10.13 3. Deliver us from the Evil that is the Evil one who goeth about as a roaring Lyon seeking whom he may devour the Prince of Darkness the Prince of this World the Prince of the power of the Air an invisible Prince that could he but get commission from the great Lord of Heaven and Earth would sift us as wheat would shake our Faith and bring us under his own rule a Creature but yet of that Power Wisdom Subtilty and Malice that he would be easily able to seduce or at least to disorder and shatter the strongest Man as once he did Job therefore we have cause to pray that as the Son of God came to destroy the works of Satan to judge this Prince of this World to bruise his Head so he would continually assist us with his Grace to resist him to discover him even when he transforms himself into an Angel of light that if he shall go about to seduce us from the Truth by Signs and Wonders as once he did Pharaoh by Predictions as sometimes he did in the Heathen Oracles by Misapplications even of the very Word of Truth as he indeavoured to do by our Saviour by successes and events of things that we may remember the caution that Moses gave unto the Israelites Deut. 13.3 The Lord your God proveth you whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your Soul that if he go about to seduce us into Sin or denying of the Truth by Proposals and Promises of Honours Preferments temporal Advantages or to affright us from the truth by Menaces Persecutions Disgraces Death yet we may not be allured or affrighted into sin but may keep close to the sure Truth of God revealed in his Word whatever the Event be For thine is the Kingdom Power and Glory In the beginning of this Prayer our Saviour teacheth us to sterngthen our Faith in the Mercy of God by teaching us to call hin Father and in the Power of God by teaching us to call him our Heavenly Father that under both these considerations we may look upon
Power and the works of his Power reflect Glory upon that part of his Name Jer. 10.6 his name is great in Power Jer. 32.20 which hast set signs in Egypt c. And hast made thee a name as at this day He hath proclaimed that he is long-suffering and the works of his Patience towards our back-slidings and rebellions reflect Glory upon that part of his name Psal 106.8 Nevertheless he saved them for his Name sake that he might make his mighty power known the power of his Patience to forbear them as well as of his strength to deliver them And thus Psal 48.10 According to thy Name so is thy praise in all the Earth that is all the works of God and his dispensations carry an impression of the Glory and Truth of some Attribute of his Name Psalm 134.2 I will praise thy Name for thy loving kindness and thy Truth for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy Name that is thy word hath proclaimed thy name to be Merciful Bountiful c. And all the course of thy Government in the World doth Justifie the truth of that word of thine and doth attest it every part of it bringing back to some Attribute of that Name of thine Glory and a just suffrage unto the truth of thy Word Hallowed or Sanctified be thy Name This Imports these things 1 That all the works of God and the actions and occurrencies of the World may bear upon them and in them an impression of the Glory of God of his Power Majesty Wisdome Goodness Justice That they may have upon them that Beauty Comliness and Usefulness that he originally did put upon them God made all things for his Glory and in conformity thereunto they were in their original full of Beauty and Order and the Excellence of the Work did speak the Perfection of the Workman but the Sin of Men and Angels brought upon some parts of his works a deformity and disorder Gen. 3.17 I have cursed the ground for thy sake And though in that curse and in all other the consequents of Sin there is still a Glory of the Justice of God in punishing and of his Wisdom in managing of them yet much of the beauty of the works themselves is taken from them by that disorder that sin hath brought upon them When we pray therefore that the Name of God may be hallowed we desire that as much as may stand with his will all things may bear in them the impression of his Glory that they may have a conformity not only to his will but to his good pleasure that in all things the Wisdome and Goodness and Power of God may be conspicuous that he would in Christ take out that disorder and curse that hath by Sin defaced the Creature that all things may in the highest measure be restored to their primitive perfection that all the occurrencies of the World and all the actions of Men and Angels may carry in them the most eminent inscription of his Presence Wisdome and Goodness and may be directed with the best advantage to his Glory Our love to God makes that which he wills to be our wills and as he wills his own Glory so it makes us to desire his Glory And though we are to leave the particular manifestation thereof to his Wisdome yet it must be our chief desire that all things may in the highest measure move to his Honour and bear the inscription of it And this is that praise that David calls for from all creatures Psal 148.150 2. In as much as God hath indued Reasonable Creatures with understanding and Capacity to discover the Wisdom and Goodness of God in his Creatures and Works we are to desire that the Works of God may not only carry in them a Native or secret impression of his Power Wisdom and other Attributes but that it may be made evident and discovered and manifested to the understandings of Men and Angels and that they may discern it and be convinced of it Psal 9.16 that the Lord may be known by the Judgment that he Executes Ps 64.9 And all Men shall fear and declare the works of God for they shall wisely consider his doings Psal 58.11 So that a Man shall say verily he is a God that Judgeth in the Earth Psal 111.2 That as his works are great so they may be sought out that as all the works of God contain an objective glory of God in them so that the same may be seen and observed by those parts of his Creation Men and Angels that have a capacity to receive it and for that purpose that objective Glory of God is put into all creatures and this capacity or receptivity is placed in Intellectual Creatures that they may observe and discern the Glory of his Wisdom Goodness and Truth and all other his Attributes in the Creatures 3. And in as much as he hath magnified his Word above all his Name Psal 138.2 That is he hath evinced the truth of his Word and every part thereof in all the course of his Providence and Works that Men and Angels may discern and understand the fulfilling and making good of his Word The Sun shining upon a Glass doth cause a reflection of his beams but many may not see it either because they are blind and cannot see it or they look another way or stand in such a position that they do not see it and so it is with the Works of God When I pray that his Name be hallowed I pray that God would be pleased to open the Eyes of Men by his Spirit to put them in such a frame and position that they may discern the Power and Wisdom and Goodness and Justice and Truth of God that reflects from his Works that these impressions of his may not be lost unto us nor the Glory of them lost unto him 3. That the observation and discovery of the Truth and Goodness c. of God may not only work a conviction thereof in our Understandings and Judgments for thus it doth even to the devils themselves but that that conviction may raise up in the minds and affections those sutable consequences that should arise from such a conviction such as are these 1 A subscription and setting to our seal that God is True and Just and Merciful In the work of Conviction we are in a manner passive but herein we are active when in our hearts we do cheerfully and willingly subscribe and attest to all that Goodness and Truth whereof we are thus convinced 2 An Inward Admiration of the Power Truth and Glory of God that is thus discovered unto us The natural effect of great discoveries is Admiration 2 Thes 1.10 To be admired in all them that believe 3 Blessing of that goodness of his not only that is discovered unto us but that so far condescends to his creature as to shew us so much of his Glory Truth and Greatness 4 An Attribution of Infinitely more Glory Majesty Mercy
his Lusts And this variety may arise by the difference of stations or degrees that may be but Bread for Solomon's Table which may be Quails for a meaner person the difference of relations and dependencies the difference of tempers and constitutions of body the difference of seasons and occurrences There may be a Season when our Lord gives us a commission to eat whatsoever our Soul desireth so it be done before the Lord and as in his presence Deut. 14.26 And there is a Season when slaying of Oxen and killing Sheep and eating Flesh is an iniquity not to be purged Isa 22.12 13 14. The Wise God that ordereth and disposeth all times and persons and circumstances doth with the same Wisdom fit them with suitable Concomitants and Adjuncts He hath made every thing beautiful in its time Eccles 3.11 But besides this Bread for our Bodies there is Bread for our Souls which comes under this Petition The Bread of Life and the Water of Life John 6.33 this is the Life of our Souls And as much as the Good and Support and Life of our Souls is of more concernment to us than the Life of our Bodies so is the Bread of our Souls of more concernment for us to ask than the Bread of our Bodies this is Christ John 6.34 I am the Bread of Life he that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst Bread like the Widows Barrel of Meal that shall never diminish unto all Eternity This Bread our Lord hath been pleased already to give us Christ and his fulness and nothing is wanting if we have but a hand to receive it And this Bread we eat when we believe the Truth of God concerning him when we often contemplate upon the Mercy of God in giving him and upon that mighty Salvation which in him he hath given us when we have often recourse unto him for Grace and Mercy when we carry unto him all our stock of Love and Admiration and Dependence and Recumbence and Resolution of Spirit And here we find Bread for our Souls in the most comprehensive latitude accommodate to every condition of the Soul Here is Bread to feed and to strengthen it the Grace and Spirit of Christ Physick to cure and recover it the Satisfaction and Merit of Christ Varieties to feast and to refresh it the Promises of God Joy in believing unspeakable and full of Glory Bread that will satisfie yet never satiate but the more we feed upon him the greater is our plenty and the better our stomach To conclude then the whole consideration of this Petition When I pray for my daily Bread my Soul doth or should run out into such thoughts as these O Lord thou did'st at first freely give me my Being I could not deserve it when I was not The same Title that I have to my Being I have to my Preservation and Support of my Being it is still free gift and therefore I come to thee for my Bread upon no other terms than as a poor Beggar to a most bountiful Lord. And because thou hast commanded me to cast my care upon thee therefore I seek my Bread of thee for this day which thou hast hitherto lent me I desire to trust thee with my Portion and it is my happiness that my Portion is not in my own hands but in thine Give therefore I pray thee Bread for this day and when to morrow comes I will beg Bread of thee for to morrow and if thou givest me this day supplies beyond the expence of this day I will use it thankfully and nevertheless dependingly for I will renew my Petition for my daily Bread still It is thy blessing that gives my Bread power to nourish me And that which is Bread to day and sufficient for to morrow may without thy blessing upon it like the Israelites Manna kept beyond thy Command be Worms to morrow And because thou hast promised that verily I shall be fed Psal 37.3 upon that promise of thine I beg food and cloathing convenient for me If thou givest me no more or not so much give me Contentedness and Thankfulness and if thou givest me more give me Thankfulness for it Sobriety in the use of it and Liberality in the dispencing of it In giving me but Enough I am Steward for my self and in giving me more than Enough I am but a Steward of that abundance for others But above all Ever give me of the Bread of Life that whilest my Body is fed my Soul may not be starved either for want of that Everlasting Bread or for want of an appetite to it And forgive us our Debts Matt. 6. Our Sins Luk. 11. Sins We are all under the guilt of sin No man lives and sins not Eccles 7.20 If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves 1 John 1.8 God made Man Righteous at first and gave him a Righteous Law and in as much as Man owed an infinite subjection to the Authour of his Being he owed an Exact Obedience to the Law of his Maker yet God was pleased to give him this Law not only as the Rule of his Obedience but as a Covenant of Life and of Death viz. that so long as he and his Seed should observe that Law so long they should enjoy Blessedness and Immortality and if they should break any part of that Law they should die the death The first man made a stipulation for himself and his Posterity and this was but just for he had in himself the Race of all Mankind all succeeding Generations are but pieces of Adam who had not nor could have their Being but from him and so it was but Reasonable and Just for him to contract for all his Posterity And as it was just in respect of the Person contracting so it was just in respect of the Manner of the Contract the Law that was his covenant was a just and righteous Law a Law sutable to the indowments and power of his Nature Again the Blessedness which by his obedience he was to hold was not of his own creating nor obtaining it was the free gift of God and it is but reasonable that the Lord of this gift might give it in what manner he pleased and it could not be unjust that the Lord that gave him this Blessedness should give it him under what Conditions he pleased but he gave it him under most reasonable and just Conditions viz. an Obedience to a most just and reasonable Law which suited with the ability and perfection of his Nature and therefore when upon the breach of Covenant by Man he withdrew that blessedness from him and his posterity he did no more than what was most just for him to do And thus we stand Guilty of that Sin which our first Father committed and are deprived of that Blessedness and Life which our first Father had and the Privation of that Blessedness and Immortality is Death Rom. 5.12 By one Man sin
an unsearchable bottomless Fountain of Power as well to pardon as to punish Our Temptations unto sin meet us upon every occasion from without us and from within us and we have no wisdom in our selves to foresee them no strength nor yet any will to oppose them but thou hast infinite Power to foresee to prevent to divert them and to deliver from them The least of Evils armed with the guilt of any one sin will like a weight of Lead press us into an impossibility of recovery from it the enemy of our Souls is conversant within us and about us and ready upon every occasion to seduce us into sin and to torment and disorder us for it and his power and strength and subtilty is beyond our power to resist and indeed he finds us willing captives but as thou hast Authority so thou hast Power to restrain him to discover him to fortifie and strengthen us against him and to deliver us from him And therefore I here lay hold of the strength of Omnipotency to grant these my Petitions but this is not all And the Glory Omnipotency though it be one addition of strength to our Prayers yet it is not enough The Leper in the Gospel said truly to our Saviour If thou wilt thou canst make me clean but yet he doth not conclude Thou canst therefore thou wilt but thy Glory is the great End of all thy Works the End of thy great Work of Creation Prov. 16.4 the End of thy Son 's coming into the World to redeem Mankind Luk. 2.14 the End of thy Eternal Counsel in electing some to Life and leaving others Rom. 9.22 It is the only Tribute that all thy Works can give thee for their Being and Preservation and that which thou accountest most dear and peculiar unto thy self Isa 42.8.48.11 I am the Lord that is my Name and my Glory I will not give to another And in all these my requests I have sought nothing but what conduceth to thy Glory In granting what I have here asked the Benefit is ours but the Glory is thine In it Thou hast the Glory of thy Mercy the Glory of thy Power the Glory of thy Bounty and Goodness the Glory of thy Truth and Faithfulness thou hast said of old that thy Glory shall be revealed and that all flesh shall see it Isa 40.5 that they shall sanctifie thy Name Isa 29.23 that thou wilt set up a Kingdom that shall never be destroyed and shall break in pieces and consume other Kingdoms and shall stand for ever Dan. 2.44 Dan. 7.27 That thy counsel shall stand and thou wilt do all thy pleasure Isa 46.10 That thou wilt give us a new heart and a new spirit and wilt cause us to walk in thy Statutes and to keep thy Judgments and do them Ezech. 36.26 27. That verily we shall be fed Psal 37.3 That though the young Lions do lack and suffer hunger yet they that seek thee shall not want any good thing Psal 34.10 That if we return unto thee thou wilt have Mercy and abundantly Pardon Isa 55.7 That thou art a God Pardoning iniquity transgression and sin Exod. 34.7 That thou wilt not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able but wilt with the Temptation make a way to escape 1 Cor. 10.13 That if we call upon thee in the day of trouble thou wilt deliver us and we shall glorifie thee Psal 50.15 And yet though thou the great God of Power and Truth hast spoken all this and wilt do it yet that thou maist have the due acknowledgment of our subjection and dependance upon thee thou wilt be enquired of for this to do it for us Ezek. 36.36 37. And although we are so sinful that we cannot so much as deserve thy pity in our greatest misery yet for thy Name 's sake and for thy Glory's sake hear us Psal 106.8 For thy own sake Isa 48.11 And though all the Praises and Acknowledgments of thy Creatures add nothing to thy Glory for thine is an essential infinite absolute independent Glory yet since thou art pleased to accept of this our poor and our only Tribute and to take it in good part from thy Creature we will thankfully acknowledge thy great condescension to us in accepting of our Prayers and granting our Requests giving us liberty through thy Son to be intercessors for our selves for others nay for thine own Glory and Kingdom and the manifestation of it What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me I will take the cup of Salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord. Give me Grace in all my wants and necessities to fly to thee by Prayer and in all my supplies and deliverances to return unto thee with Thanksgiving For Ever Thy Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations Psal 145.13 A Kingdom which shall in time break and subdue all the Kingdoms of this World and the Kingdom of darkness Sin Death and Satan And as is thy Kingdom such is thy Power infinite in extent infinitely more comprehensive than the vastest wants or desires of thy Creatures infinite in duration unexhaustible by all the successions of Time and of Eternity it self And as is thy Kingdom and Power such is thy Glory an Eternal and endless Glory before the birth of Time when nothing had a Being but thy self thou had'st Infinite Self-sufficiency and an incomprehensible fulness of Glory Joh. 17.5 And when thou did'st in time create the World it did not contribute unto thy fulness of Glory but thou did'st communicate and imprint some of thy Glory upon it and all the Glory that thy Creatures bring unto thee is nothing else but the reflection of thine own Glory a recoyl of that Beam that came from thy Sun yet though the Glory of thy Essence cannot receive any increase by this reflection yet thou art pleased everlastingly to perpetuate this thy reflexive Glory by the immortal Angels and Spirits of just men made perfect to whom thou wilt unto all Eternity communicate a fulness of the Vision of thy Self according to the measure of their perfected but finite Natures and from that communication of thy Glory to them they shall everlastingly return Glory to thy Name saying Blessing Honour Glory and Power be unto him that sitteth on the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever Amen Rev. 5.13 THE Lord's Prayer PARAPHRASED Our Father O Eternal and Glorious Lord God for thou gavest at first Being to the Common Parents of all Mankind Thou art our Father by Nature we owe our own immediate Being more to Thee than we do to our immediate Parents for thou art the Father of our Spirits Thou art our Father by our Preservation we could not support our selves in being one moment of time without the uncessant influence of thy Providence and Goodness Thou art our Father by Adoption receiving us in a more special manner to be thy Children in and through Jesus Christ