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
the Souldiers and Comfort and Satisfaction into the Souls of those that expected his Resurrection and cause that stone which the Pharisees laid upon the Sepulchre as a seal unto his Mortality to start aside and give way to our Saviour's Resurrection Mat. 28.2 3 4. And little do we know those wonderful Services that these invisible Powers do in the World even for poor and weak Men at the Command of their great Lord and Soveraign every hour in the day And now O Lord it is true that thy Will is done in Heaven by those thy glorious creatures perfectly and exactly but I and all thy creatures upon Earth have in us a mixture of darkness that we cannot know thy Will and a mixture of corruption that resists the obedience of thy Will and a mixture of impotence that we cannot perform that part of thy Will that we know and desire to obey so that when we can at any time say with the Apostle To will is present with me yet we must with the same Apostle say that how to perform that good we find not Rom. 7.18 Therefore I cannot in this House of clay hope to aspire to the full perfection of an Angelical Obedience nor to do thy Will on Earth as it is done in Heaven yet there is an imperfect Perfection which in Christ thou art pleased to accept of an Evangelical though not an Angelical Perfection in our Obedience a Perfection of Integrity and Sincerity free from Guile base ends or Hypocrisie a heart truly endeavouring to obey the voice of God in his Word and truly sorrowful for his defects and failings in that obedience Thus the heart of David 1 King 15.3 of Hezekiah 2 King 20.3 were perfect hearts the obedience enjoyned by David to Solomon 1 Chron. 28.9 Serve him with a perfect heart and willing mind and this perfection of Obedience give unto thy servants that thy Will may be done on Earth as it is in Heaven Sincerely and Singly 2. Which is a consequent of the former Angelical Obedience is an Universal Obedience there is not any Command of God not the meanest but they perform it Psal 103.20 Bless the Lord ye his Angels that excel in strength that do his Commandments hearkning unto the voice of his Word For the same principle of perfect Love to God moves them to a willing obedience to every Command as well as any and they find as much beauty in their obedience unto the Command of God when sent out to minister for the poor Members of the Son of God Heb. 1.14 As when sent upon an imployment for the matter more glorious And O Lord Let thy Will be thus done on Earth as it is in Heaven let me have respect to all thy Commandments and let no sin be so much mine so dear so natural so sutable to my nature or condition but that I may forsake it at thy Command and keep my self from my transgression since it is the same God that equally commands and forbids in all and the same Love to God which is or should be the principle and ground of all my Obedience Jam. 2.10 Whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point is guilty of all A heart that can observe some Commands and yet dispense with it self in the violation of others obeys not for Love of God but of himself 3. Angelical Obedience is a Willing and Cheerful Obedience Which still runs upon the former reason the principle of their obedience is perfect Love of God and Love is an active affection as strong as death so that they are glad of any opportunity to return the expressions of that Love in a most hearty and willing obedience Mat. 18.10 Christ speaking of the Angels saith They always behold the Face of my Father they watch and are attentive and with cheerfulness expect every Command of God And thus also let thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven that we may willingly and cheerfully perform thy Will glad that we thy poor creatures have any opportunity to do any service to thee though thou needest it not and thankful that thou art pleased to accept of the obedience of thy creature 4. Consequently an Angelical obedience is Speedy Swift Ready They dispute not the reason of the Command nor delay not the performance of it Like the Centurion's servant he saith to one go and he goeth Luk. 7.8 And Lord as thus thy Will is done in Heaven so let it be done on Earth when thou commandest things that our flesh and blood have much ado to disgest would fain be reasoning against or at least linger in the observance give us this grace not to confer with flesh and blood Gal. 1.16 but resolvedly and speedily to obey thy Will When Abraham was called to leave his own Country he obeyed and went out not knowing whither he went Heb. 11.8 When commanded to sacrifice his Son he rose early in the morning and goes about this hard imploy Gen. 22.3 Lingrings and Reasonings upon the Commands of God as they carry in them a want of Duty so they always bring with them much disadvantage either wholly intercepting our obedience or mingling with it much unwillingness and aversness to it 5. A Heavenly and Angelical Obedience though it be full of Perfection yet it is full of Humility They know that they owe an infinite Obedience to him from whom they receive their Being and that their Obedience to God is but the payment of that debt they owe to him and cannot make him a debtor to them They know that infinite distance between the infinite God and themselves though glorious yet finite Creatures and therefore they do not only pay their Obedience as a just Tribute to God without arrogance of merit but they do it with all the Reverence and Acknowledgment that is imaginable Both these we find in the Adoration of the 24 Elders Revel 4.10 11. They fall down before him and cast their Crowns before the Throne saying Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power The distance between God and Man is infinite and though the Angels are nearer unto God in perfection of Nature than men yet still the distance between them is infinite here is the odds the Angels see their distance and see more of the Perfection of God and the more they see of him the more they Adore and Reverence him and the humbler they are in their Services because they see the greatness of their distance And if Angelical Obedience that is so perfect shall be mingled with so much Reverence with how much Humility should our Services that are so imperfect be allayed O Lord Let thy Will be thus also done in Earth as it is in Heaven Give us a sense of thy infinite Glory and Majesty of that infinite distance between Thee and thy Creature that with all Reverence to thy Majesty and all Lowliness in our selves we may appear before thee in all we do
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
Angel of the Lord smote him Acts 12.23 and when the great King was puffed up with the greatness of his Glory and Power then the Message comes that the Kingdom is departed from him Dan. 4.13 And commonly God takes that season to punish the whole stock of Sins that a man hath committed when his heart is most lifted up Pro. 16.18 Pride goeth before destruction Again Presumptuous Sins these bid defiance to the Name of God to his Truth his Justice his Power his Presence Deut. 29.20 The Jealousie of God will smoke against such a Man Scandalous Sins in those that bear or profess the Name of God 2 Sam. 12.14 by this occasion is given to the Enemies of God to blaspheme Inadvertence and want of Consideration of the Works of God Because they regard not the works of the Lord nor the operations of his hands therefore shall he destroy them and not build them up Psal 28.5 God therefore doth dispense many of his works of Providence that Men should wisely consider of his doings and declare his work Psal 64.9 This Inadvertence partly disappointeth God of his End and robbeth him of his Glory Misapplication of events either to false causes Idols Fate Fortune or only to Second causes without the due attribution of all to the most Wise and Powerful Counsel of the Mighty Lord Deut. 8.17 18. And thou say in thy Heart my power and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth but thou shalt remember the Lord thy God for it is hee that giveth thee power to get Wealth So for promotion Psal 75.6 Victory Isay 10.5 O Assyrian the Rod of mine anger 13. but he saith by the strength of mine hand have I done this and by my Wisdom And as in things concerning others this Observation is to be used so principally in the Occurrences and Providences concerning thy self to labour to know that all things that befal thee come from the most Wise and Just hand of God in all thy Blessings acknowledge his Mercy and labour to find him in them in all thy Afflictions acknowledge his Justice and his Wisdom Labour to find out the Cause and give him the Glory Now concerning the Order of this Petition it fell not in the first place by Chance but he that was the Wisdom of the Father placed it there upon most just Reasons 1. The Glory of God is that which is first to be sought for because it is the chief End of God in all things and that which he principally intended He made all things for his Glory Vide Isa 43.7 21. The first and highest Duty of Man is to Love God and Love to God will carry the Heart to desire that first which God first wills in so much as if the Glory of God must be lost or the Soul that loves him the perfection of Love will choose the preservation of his Glory rather than of it self if it were possible Vide Exod. 32.33 Rom. 9.3 2. It is the Justest and only Tribute that all Creatures can return to God for their Being and Blessing Such is his infinite Self-sufficiencie that it is impossible he can receive any good from them that receive their Being from him Job 35.7 If thou be righteous what givest thou him Psal 16.2 My goodness extendeth not to thee But the return of the Honour and Glory and acknowledgment of his Goodness is all that the Creature can give and that he is pleased to accept Psal 50.15 I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me Psal 116.12 Whatshall I return unto the Lord for all his benefits to me I will take the cup of Salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord. Revel 4.11 Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created And according to this Debt of Duty which the Creatures owe to God for their being so we find them according to their several capacities and conditions bringing in their Tribute Revel 5.13 And every Creature which is in Heaven in the Earth and under the Earth and in the Sea heard I saying Blessing Honour Glory and Power be unto him that sitteth on the Throne and unto the Lamb for Ever and Ever 3. It is the best preparative for the Heart that approacheth to God in Prayer to be first taken up withal If in the ordinary Actions of our Nature the Glory of God should affect our heart and be the End at which we should aim 1 Cor. 10.31 Whether ye Eat or Drink or whatsoever ye do do all to the Glory of God And if the Son of God in this Pattern of Prayer begins his Petitions with the sanctifying of his Name it is certainly most necessary that the heart of him that sets upon this Duty be taken up with the consideration of the Honour and Majesty of him who will be sanctified by all that draw near unto him and to carry that End through all our Prayers lest while we repeat the words of this Petition we take the Name of God in vain seemingly praying for the Glorifying of that Name which we at the same time dishonour either for want of a due consideration of his Majesty or for want of making his Glory the Rule and End of our Prayers This first Petition therefore requires that the Heart be duly affected with the Glory of that Name which it invokes and duly acted and directed to that Glory and that this Petition be drawn through all the rest of our Requests These ensuing Considerations therefore arise from the placing of this Petition first in this Prayer 1. As thou prayest that his Name be hallowed so in all thy Request labour to Sanctifie the Lord in thy Heart Sanctifie him in his Greatness and Majesty with honourable and reverent thoughts of him in thy Heart with an aweful and humble carriage both of thy inward and outward man as in the presence of the Great and Glorious King of Heaven and Earth Sanctifie him in his Authority and Sovereignty by calling upon him in Obedience to his Command and Will who hath Commanded it by acknowledgment of thy dependance upon him Sanctifie him in his Power and All-sufficiencie by casting thy self upon him who is Mighty to Save and to fulfil thy most Extensive and Large Requests Sanctifie him in his Goodness and Mercy which is infinite more large to pardon thy Sins to supply thy Wants and to fill thee with all good Things than thy Necessities or the widest compass of thy Soul can be to ask Sanctifie him in his Truth and Faithfulness by a recumbence and resting upon his Promises that no one thing shall fail of all the good things that he hath spoken that no man shall seek his Face in vain that he that hath said Whatsoever thou shalt ask in his Son's Name he will give it that hath granted us access unto him upon the purchase of his Son's Blood will in no sort
Judgment when the Subjects of thy Kingdom shall be delivered from all death and sorrow and shall inherit that Kingdom which thou hast prepared for and from all Eternity And keep all our hearts looking for and hasting unto thy coming passing our time here in all Holy Conversation and Godliness 2 Pet. 3.11 that so when our Lord cometh he may find us so doing and then come Lord Jesus come quickly Thy Will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven Though the Will of God be one indivisible Act yet in regard of the Manifestation of it to us it comes under a double apprehension 1. The Will of his Counsel 2. The Will of his Commands This is that which he wills to be done by his Creature The other is that he wills shall be done upon his Creature 1. The Will of his Counsel whereby he hath from all Eternity appointed and ordered most Wisely and Infallibly and Irresistibly all the Acts and Events of all his Creatures so that those things that seem to us most naturally or most freely to move are subservient in all their actings to this most free and eternal Counsel of his and all those Occurences which seem to us most inconsiderable or contingent are preordained by the same most Infallible Counsel and make the Instruments of bringing about the greatest Concernments in the world Isa 43.14 I will work and who shall let it Isa 14.24 The Lord of hosts hath sworn saying Surely as I have thought so shall it come to pass and as I have purposed it shall stand Isa 14.27 For the Lord of hosts hath purposed and who shall disannul it and his hand is stretched out and who shall turn it back Isa 46.9 10. I am God and there is none like me declaring the End from the Beginning and from antient times the things that are not yet done saying My Counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure Insomuch that those various and instable and free motions of the Will and Mind of Man which seem to come under no Rule nor Government but of himself are most Exactly ordered to the bringing to pass the Purposes of God Prov. 19.21 There are many devices in the heart of man nevertheless the Counsel of the Lord that shall stand Prov. 20.24 Man's goings are of the Lord how can a man then understand his own way Jer. 10.23 O Lord I know that the way of man is not in himself it is not in a man that walketh to direct his steps And herein we may observe the most deep and unsearchable Wisdom Power and Purity of God that whiles Man worketh freely yet therein God worketh thereby powerfully and while Man worketh Sinfully yet God worketh thereby Purely and Justly The freedom of the Will of Man is not controled by the infallibility of the Counsel of God nor can interrupt or disappoint it and the sinfulness of the will and ways of man is not justified by the Infallibility and Purity of the Counsel of God nor doth it pollute it This is admirably set forth in the actings of those two most Powerful Monarchs the Assyrian Isa 10.5 6 7. O Assyrian the Rod of mine anger and the Staff in their hand is my indignation I will send him against an hypocritical Nation c. Howbeit he meaneth not so The Assyrian King did what he did most freely most presumptuously and proudly and arrogantly attributing his Successes to his own Power had no thought of Justice to punish the defections of Judah or vindicating the breach of their Covenant with God but to satisfie his own Covetousness and Ambition Vers 13. For he saith By the strength of mine hand have I done this and by my Wisdom c. Little thinking that the Wrath and Justice of God was the Staff in his Hand the Strength of his Power But in all this God doth most wisely and justly manage the Distempers of a proud ambitious injurious and covetous King to the fulfilling of the most Wise and Just Counsels of his own Will without staining any part there of with the Vices of that person by which they were acted but punishing those Vices in the Instrument which were instrumental in the fulfilling of his Counsel Vers 12. Wherefore when I have performed my whole Will upon Sion and upon Jerusalem I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the King of Assyria and the glory of his high looks And as thus in the Assyrian so after in the Persian Monarch Isa 45.1 Thus saith the Lord to his Anointed to Cyrus whose right hand I have holden to subdue Nations before him Now this Will of Gods Counsel is for the most part a secret Will till it be fulfilling Psal 77.19 Thy way O Lord is in the Sea and thy foot-steps are not known Though sometimes for the vindicating of his own Power and convincing men that he governeth all things according to the Counsel of his Will he is pleased to proclaim it in Prophecies and Predictions the great and undeniable Evidences of his Eternal Counsel and Government Isa 41.23 Shew the things that are to come that we may know ye are gods Isa 48.3 5. Isa 42.9 Isa 45.21 Who hath declared this from ancient time Who hath told it from that time have not I the Lord 2. The Will of his Commands This is the Rule of our Actions Isa 59.21 My words which I have put into thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy seed c. Deut. 30.14 The word is very nigh unto thee in thy mouth and in thy heart that thou mayest do it Micha 6.9 He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love Mercy and to walk humbly with thy God The Will of Gods Counsel is Secret but the Will of his Command is Revealed unto us in these three great Directions of our Lives 1. The Word of Conscience the Law written in the heart or natural Conscience Rom. 2.14 15. So much of his Will is by some means of Providence discovered even to a Natural Conscience as leaves a man unexcusable 2. The Word of the Spirit of God speaking either secretly in the heart or by some occurrence or dispensation of Providence thou shalt hear a voice behind thee saying This is the way walk in it Isa 30.21 3. The Word of both Testaments The Natural Conscience is corrupted and many times doth not his duty the word of the Spirit of God is not so easily discerned by our fleshly Nature and many times we mistake the voice of our own spirit for the Spirit of God he hath therefore in his infinite Wisdome and Mercy given us a standing Rule the Rule of his written Word obvious to our sence and whatever other dictates there shall be we are sure not to Err in following it Isa 8.20 To the Law and to the Testimony for if they walk not according to that Rule
stifle it mingle thy Word in our Hearts with Faith that may purifie our Hearts and make thy Word powerful to the subduing of all those strong holds and oppositions that stand out against it thy Will in Heaven is a Perfect Pure and Holy Will send out such discoveries of thy Will that we may know it in the Spiritualness and Truth of it vindicated from the false Glosses that the Corruptions and degenerations of the times or our own deceitful and false Hearts are apt to put upon it and that thy Will may be done on Earth as it is in Heaven let it be known on Earth as it is in Heaven 2. Because the only true principle of Obedience is Love shed abroad thy Love in our Hearts and because the sense of thy Love to us is the cause and ground of our Love to thee shew us the greatness and fullness of thy Love to us in Christ and that will reflect acts of Love to thee again and make us ready and willing to obey thy Will and exceeding thankful to thee that thou art pleased to accept the sincere though imperfect obedience of thy Creature 3. And because the end of the manifestation of thy Love to Mankind in Christ was to redeem us from all Iniquity and to purifie unto thy self a peculiar People zealous of good Works Tit. 2.14 And in as much as our conformity to thy Will as it is our Perfection so it is the Great and Just Tribute that we owe unto thee for our Being as Creatures and much more for our Redemption as redeemed and purchased Creatures Let all our Thoughts Words and Works be universally subject and obedient to thy Will revealed in thy Son that we may be Holy as thou art Holy in all manner of Conversation purge our Hearts from vain and unprofitable Thoughts from sinful and polluted thoughts from Devilish and Atheistical thoughts and let our thoughts be such as becomes the presence of God before whom they are all naked and legible such as becomes that Heart where Christ is pleased to make his residence Pious Charitable Pure Chast Clean Sober Humble thoughts fit to be attendants upon so Heavenly a Guest wash my Tongue from that fire of Hell that is naturally in it James 3.6 deliver it from blasphemous Atheistical calumniating uncharitable false vain and unprofitable words and let me use my Tongue as one whose words are all Registred and that must give an account for every idle word Let my Speeches be seasoned with salt glorifying thy Name edifying others true profitable seasonable serious charitable discreet for by my words I shall be justified and by my words I shall be condemned Deliver me from all sinful impure unseemly unjust Actions in the first life of any action or intention let me bring them to the Rule of thy Word to the Rule of my Conscience to the Rule of thy Presence and impartially measure them thereby and if they will not abide that Examination or upon that Examination want their due conformity let me reject them without any more reasonings or disputings In all my actions relating immediately to thy Majesty Let them be warrantable pious sincere reverent humble in all my actions relating to others let them be full of Justice Charity free from Revenge disdain fullenness measuring out impartially as in the presence of God the same measure which I would desire to be done unto my self in all my actions relating to my self let there be sobriety temperance moderation seasonableness And let all this be done out of that only true principle of obedience Love to God presented unto him upon that only ground of acceptation Jesus Christ and seasoned with that acceptable grace of Humility If when I have done all that is injoyned I am but an unprofitable Servant how unprofitable am I when I Infinitely fail of what I am Commanded And as I pray that the things that thou willest to be done in Heaven may be done by us on Earth so I desire that that Heavenly Will of thine may be done on Earth as thy Will is done in Heaven by those Glorious and Pure Creatures that alwayes behold thy Face Perfectly Universally Speedily Cheerfully Humbly 1. Perfectly The Angels do clearly discern and know the Will of God by a double act 1. On God's part a Clear Emanation or Beam of the Mind of God shining into their clear intellectual Nature and conveying into them a perfect discovery of the Mind and Will of God concerning them 2. On their part by a clear Intuition of God and beholding his Mind and Will in him concerning them the Wise God having fitted their Natures with such a measure of intuition of him whereby though they cannot see all his Perfections yet they are fitted and inabled to see so much as is suitable to their Nature conducible to the fulness of that Perfection which they are capable of and to the performance of that active service which he requires of them And as thus they perfectly know His Will so Their Wills are most purely inclined and moved to the obedience of it there is no mixture of impurity or resistance in their wills against the Will of God no mixture of Hypocrisie or base self-Ends for their Pure Natures are taken up with a fulness of Love of God as large and comprehensive as their Natures and upon that principle they move in all their acts of obedience and they clearly see that their highest Perfection consists in the most Even and Unbyassed Conformity to the Command of God and so the more perfect their Obedience is the more absolute is their Perfection they need no other motive to obey him but this that it is the most Perfect Command of the most Perfect and Wise and Holy God And as thus their Minds and Wills are fashioned and fitted to a most perfect obedience so they are indued with a Power from God exactly commensurate to an exact performance of his Will whether it be in their reflexed actions unto God or whether it be in their instrumental actions unto others If God command an Angel to destroy an Host of the Assyrians he can dispatch 185000 of them in one night if he command an Angel to deliver Daniel out of the Lions Den he can shut the Lions Mouth that they shall be rather his Guard than his Executioners Dan. 6.22 If he command an Angel to deliver Peter out of the Prison he can make his Chains fall off from him like the towe when it feeleth the fire Acts 12.7 When he commands an Angel to comfort his Son though under a pressure and weight more heavy to his Soul than the weight of the whole Earth he can dart into the tender and vital parts of the Soul such Comforts and Cordials that can enable his humanity to bear that burden Luke 22.43 When he commands an Angel to attend the Resurrection of his Son he can at the same instant shake terror and amazement and dissolution into the Spirits of
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
Almighty God in the entrance into our Prayers And because our thoughts are easily taken off from these considerations and like Moses Arm our Faith soon declines and our light soon burns out and because there is an equal necessity of Intention of spirit as well in our last request as in our first our Saviour teacheth us to remind those considerations that may support and fortifie our Souls in the close of our Prayers as well as in the beginning that so the consideration of Almighty God his Power and Goodness who is the Beginning and the End the First and the Last may be also the Beginning and the End as of our Prayers so of all our Services Thine is the Kingdom Thou art the only and absolute and rightful Soveraign of all thy Creatures and to thee do all the Creatures in the World owe an Infinite subjection for by thy Power and Goodness they were created and are preserved and yet if it were possible that Infinitude could admit of degrees the children of Men owe a more Infinite subjection unto thee than any of the rest of thy Creatures for thou yet sparest unto them that being that by sin they have forfeited unto thee and yet more than this those whom thou hast redeemed by the Passion of thy Son and sanctified owe thee yet a more Infinite debt of subjection than the rest of the Children of Men and because thou art our King whither should we go to make our requests but unto our King in whom all Authority is justly placed and if thou art our King it is but reasonable for me to desire That thy Name may be glorified that all the subjects of thy Kingdom according to their several conditions may Magnifie and Glorifie the Name of their King That thy Kingdom may come with evidence and demonstration of it self and that all thy Creatures as they owe a just subjection to thee so they may duly perform it that those that have rebelled against thee may return and be brought into subjection to thee that though other Lords have had an usurped dominion over us yet that thy Kingdom may break in pieces all Usurpations and recover thy revolted subjects unto their just Allegiance That thy Will the only rightful Law and Rule of Justice may be done in all places of thy Dominion in Earth and Heaven and that all thy Creatures may submit freely to this thy Will which is the only rule and measure both of their perfection and obedience The Wills of Earthly Kings are subject to Error Oppression and Injustice and therefore thy Providence hath regulated their administrations by Laws and Rules but thy Will is the only Rule Exemplar and Foundation of Justice therefore let thy Will be done That thou wouldest give us our daily bread when the seven years of plenty had filled Pharaoh's store-houses and were after entertained with seven years of Famine the Egyptian's cryed unto their King for bread Gen. 41.55 And whither should we go for Bread for our Bodies but to our King who is Lord of all the store of the World and gives meat to all his Creatures in their season and feeds the young Ravens when they cry And whither should we go for bread for our Souls but to Thee our King who hast intrusted this Bread of Life under the hands of our Joseph our Saviour that thou wouldest Forgive us our sins For our sins are as so many Treasons against thy Majesty and thou alone canst remit against whom alone we can offend the pardoning of Sins as it is thy peculiar Prerogative for who can forgive sins save God only so it is thy Property a part of thy Name pardoning iniquity transgression and sin Exod. 34.7 That thou wouldest deliver us from Temptation the cause of sin and from Evil the fruit of sin from the incursions of that Rebel against thy Majesty the Prince of Darkness for whither should the Subjects fly for Protection but to their King and though that Prince hath a Kingdom too yet it is regnum sub graviore regno the very Kingdom of Hell is subject to thy Authority and therefore as thou art our King we beseech Thee Protect and Deliver us And the Power There may be a lawful and a just Authority where yet there wants Power to act it but as thou hast a just Sovereignty and Authority over all thy Creatures so thou hast an Infinite Power to do whatsoever thou pleasest nothing is too hard for thee Evil Men and evil Angels though they resist thy Authority cannot avoid thy Power My requests that I have here sent up unto thee they are great requests but yet they are all within thy Power to grant Sin hath drawn a cloud and darkness over our understandings that we cannot see thee It hath infused a malignity into our wills that we cannot abide thee and how then shall we sanctifie that Name which we know not or if we know yet we hate it But thou hast Infinite Power to scatter this darkness that we may see thee to conquer this perversness that we may love and glorifie thee The Prince of darkness hath set up his usurped power and is become the Prince of the World and sets up strong holds in our hearts and mans them with principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness but thou hast Infinite Power even by a poor despised Gospel to pull down these strong-holds to subdue those Principalities and Powers to bind the strong man that keeps the House and to set up thy Throne and thy Kingdom even where Satan's seat is The state of our nature is so changed that we that were once fitted for an obedience to thy Will are now become enemies to it resisters of it dead to the obedience of it but thou hast infinite Power by thy very Word of Command to quicken us as well as to create us to change our Natures to conform our Wills to the obedience of thine that so thy Will may be done in Earth as it is in Heaven Sin hath put a curse into the Creature that it hath lost much of that effectual power to support and to preserve our Nature that once it had and it hath put a disorder into the whole Creation so that it is a wonder to see that such a World of men and Creatures amongst whom sin hath sown such a disorder and enmity should be one able to live by another yet thou hast power to remove that curse to provide for the several Exigencies of all thy Creatures according to their several conveniencies to feed us in times and places of necessity to make a Raven our purveyor a Cruise of Oyl or a Barrel of Meal to be a supply for three years Famine Our daily sins committed so often against so great a duty against so many Mercies so much Patience so much Love so much Bounty received from one that owes us nothing are enough to sin away any stock of Pardoning Mercy and Patience below Infinitude But thou hast
In all the course and passages of our lives thou hast manifested unto us the Love and Compassion and Tenderness and Goodness and Affection and Kindness of a Father Forgiving our offences Healing our back-slidings Pitying our weaknesses Supplying our wants Delivering us from dangers Accepting our weak endeavours to please and serve thee Providing things necessary for us and an Immortal inheritance of Glory and Happiness Blessed be thy Name that art pleased even from Heaven to commissionate us to come unto thee to call upon thee under that encourageing comfortable and near Relation and Title of our Father which carries in it the most full and ample assurance of Audience and Acceptation for with whom can we expect Acceptation or Access from whom can we expect the concession of what we need if not from Our Father to whom should we resort for supplies but to our Father Which art in Heaven It is true the Fathers of our Flesh did bear to us Tenderness and Affection but alas they were Mortal Fathers Fathers on earth Fathers that either are dead or must dye And besides though their affections might be large to us they were straitned in Power they were Earthly Fathers and possibly their affections to us were larger than their ability But thou art our Father an Abiding Everlasting Father a Father in Heaven As thy Love is abundantly extended to us as a Father so thy Power and Ability to answer us is as large as thy Goodness Thou art an Heavenly Father an All-sufficient Father we are not straitned in thy Love to us because thou art our Father neither are we straitned in thy Power Wisdom Goodness for thou art Infinite in all thy Attributes Isa 66.1 And yet though thou art in Heaven as thy Throne yet Earth is thy Footstool though thou dwellest in the Heavens by the glorious manifestation of thy Majesty yet the Heaven 1 Kings 8.27 nor the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain thee Thou art in all places by thy Power Presence and Essence Our Prayers have no long journey to thee for thou art near unto us and acquainted with all our thoughts and wants and desires And thou art not only present to hear our Prayers but to Relieve supply support us and art pleased by a special Promise to make the poor cottage of an humble sincere praying Soul to be thy Temple and to be present there Psal 145.18 and to be near to all them that in integrity call upon thee Hallowed be thy Name And since thy Glory and Honour is the great End of all thy works we desire that it may be the beginning and end of all our Prayers and Services Let thy great Name be Glorious and Glorified and Sanctified through all the World Isa 11.9 Let the knowledge of thee fill all the Earth as the waters cover the Sea Let that be done in the World that may most advance thy Glory Let all thy works Praise thee Let thy Wisdom Power Justice Goodness Mercy and Truth be evident unto all Man-kind that they may observe acknowledge and admire it and Magnifie the Name of thee the Eternal God In all the dispensations of thy Providence enable us to see thee and to sanctifie thy Name in our hearts with Thankfulness in our lips with Thanksgiving in our lives with Dutifulness and Obedience Enable us to live to the Honour of that great Name of thine by which we are called and that as we profess our selves to be thy Children so we may study and sincerely endeavour to be like thee in all Goodness and Righteousness that we may thereby bring Glory to thee Our Father which art in Heaven that we and all Man-kind may have high and Honourable thoughts touching thee in some measure suitable to thy Glory Majesty Goodness Wisdom Bounty and Purity and may in all our words and actions manifest these inward Thoughts touching thee with suitable and becoming Words and Actions Thy Kingdom come Let thy Kingdom of Grace come Let all the World become the true subjects of thee the Glorious God And let the Gospel of thy Kingdom the everlasting Gospel run victoriously over the face of the whole World Revel 11.15 that the Kingdoms of the Earth may become the Kingdom of God and of his Christ Let thy Grace and thy Fear and thy Love and thy Law rule in all our hearts and in the hearts of all Man-kind And subdue and exterminate the Kingdom of darkness the Kingdom of Satan the Kingdom of Anti-Christ bring all Men to the knowledge and Obedience of the Truth and let the Scepter of thy Kingdom be set up and upheld as long as the Sun endureth And let thy Kingdom of Glory come Also make us fit Vessels of it and that having this hope we may perfect holiness in thy fear 2 Cor. 7.1 2 Pet. 3.12 waiting for and hastning unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and the day wherein he shall deliver up the Kingdom unto the Father 1 Cor. 15.24.28 that God may be all in all Thy will be done And since thy Will is a most Holy Righteous Gratious Just and Wise Will let it be evermore our choice to make thy will to be ours and to resign up our wills unto thee and to thy Will Let the will of thy Counsel be done and although we know it is not in the power of Men or Devils to hinder it yet so we do testifie our duty unto thee in praying that nothing may impede or retard the Will of thy Counsels for thy Counsels are full of Goodness and Benignity and Purity and Righteousness And we beg thee to give us hearts most entirely to wait upon thee in whatsoever thou shall appoint concerning us that if thou shalt give us Prospeirity and success in this life we may receive it with all Thankfulness and Humility and use it with Sobriety Moderation and Faithfulness if thou shalt send us Adversity we may entertain it with all Submissiveness Patience Contentedness chearfully submitting to the Dispensation of our Heavenly Father ever acknowledging thy Will to be the best Will and that whereunto it becomes us with all Humility to submit to and in the mid'st of all to rejoyce that our Portion and Patrimony and Happiness is reserved for us in a better life And as we desire the Will of thy Counsels may be done upon us so we desire the Will of thy Commands may be done by us and by all Man-kind that we may conform our Hearts and Lives to the Rule of thy Blessed Word that we may live in all Piety to thee our God in all Righteousness towards men in all Sobriety towards our selves that we may follow those Precepts and Patterns of Holiness Righteousness Justice Temperance Patience Goodness Charity and all other Moral and Christian Vertues that thou hast in thy Word commanded or propounded for our Practice and Imitation In Earth at it is in Heaven And that this Obedience unto Thee and thy
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