abode which must be eyed in Prayer It is fit to notice this word Art which though darkly yet truly intimats Gods constancy or our Fathers immutability Others change their affection their opinion their scituation but the Lord changeth not and therefore we are not consumed Yet this is not objective to be understood as though he changed not things before him for that belongs to his free-will and can alter them as he pleaseth but in sensu composito he determining his will to one thing is unchangeable in that there being nothing that can perswade him to desist alter his purpose heighten his reason or remove his habitation he wanting the very shadow of changing his understanding being perfectly clear Queen Elizabeth her motto of England was semper eadem his is semper idem being still the same to day yesterday and for evermore This of old was expressed in his Name I AM THAT I AM Ehejeh Asher Ehejeh I shall be what I shall be referring to his will his nature his purposes his intentions his love his mercy his word his promises are everlasting and therefore is his Covenant called a Covenant of salt that is firm in it self and preserving others So that in Prayer to cut off all Satans discouragements we may competently be furnished with strength in questioning our inward part what is written in the Law how readest thou and finding there the expressions of everlasting kindness boldly concur to thy Saviours precept and say Our Father which art in Heaven Other fathers moving from and to other places from the Streets to their Tables thence to their beds whence may be they are shifted to their graves but this Father in Heaven abides the same for ever I AM WHAT I AM is like that which is which was and which is to come denoting both eternity and immutability and though St. Paul said once I am what I am yet as Kings their coin he circumscribes his performances Gratia Dei by the grace of God Cyrus dying endeavoured a diversion to his childrens sorrow and his friends malady in discoursing about unity and vertue and the gods and closed his eyes commanding that none should behold his soul-less body but that the Persians being invited to his Sepulchre all should rejoice that Cyrus was with the gods and secured for ever against suffering of any evil May not the Christian concluding from the paternal relation God beareth unto him secure his soul from all damping considerations which can arise from his perplexed heart upon the entertaining thoughts respecting Gods immutability and sublimity he being in heaven eternally ruling and unchangeably abiding to award entanglements Father gives of it self significant and apt succours to virtuat the practice of Prayer but a more manifest vigour is acquired when this qui es which art is reflected upon Which expression being read backward maketh se hinting his being his immutable being his unchangeable being is altogether of himself whence the supplicant may irrefragably infer that though he hath changed possibly to sin since the last Prayer yet God is not altered and therefore may be addressed unto for pardon vigorously in assurance It is to be noted that the word art is not expressed in the Original but implyed only yet it is manifest that it is not idle in the Translation but operats upon the duty of Prayer 1. Shewing Gods presence in it and therefore our awe It is used of them only who are before us for of the absent we say not quiâ—es which art but which is And therefore if the women of Corinth were to be covered because of the Angels how much more ought all to have a holy modesty when they call upon God lest eying him too sawcily he make ready his arrows against our faces the visible seat of our shameful impudence Take heed therefore not only to thy foot but to thy knee thy tongue thy face thine eye when thou enterest into the house of God or to thine own prayer-house lest thou be accounted hasty sawcy and malapert by asking of him wherewith to nourish thy lust Thou mayst offend in thy lofty looking with the Pharisee much speaking with the Heathen much repeating with Battus for one saith Battology is inarticulata vox like the talk of young children Study thou therefore to be manly and pray with understanding 2. Our confidence in it and therefore let us be open in Prayer The Sun never fails for all the light he transmits unto the world the Sea is not diminished notwithstanding the moisture it affords Gods Store-house will not empty though he enrich the world with his substance while therefore thou art with him in thy house or closet ask enough ask that thy joy may be full Illi enim 〈◊〉 exaudiri merentur he is heard aâ—â—â—ably of God who being heated with 〈◊〉 zeal asks and doth what good possibâ—â—â—y is within the sphear of his activity Ask therefore and ask again and ask more still capacitating for more good that thy own joy and the joy in others may yet be more full Et ne demittas eum and let not him go untill by love thy soul be joyned unto him which shall corroborat and yet more accumulat thy joy Alexander ordered his Treasurer to give Anaxagoras as much treasure as he pleased to demand he asked a hundred Talents each Talent valued 375 pound sterling at which the Treasurer wondering Alexander gladned saying Recte facit He doth as he ought knowing he hath a friend who can and will give him so much Be not sparing in thy requests but beg the utmost for the discharging of all thy debts the assurance of all his possessions thy Father can do it thy King will do it the glory of Christ nor of the Angels nor of the Saints being not all diminished by thy accession to those heavenly Mansions 3. Our chearfulness therefore let us not be disheartned in Prayer That God should come and stand before us with sealed pardons ought to conciliat us to all heavenly exercises but more singularly to this personal treaty to this intercourse of Prayer wherein we can look God in the face and he behold our tears when both are beyond the possibility of other Fathers What could Amittai have done for his beloved Ionah when in the Whales belly yet this Pater in Coelis God in heaven delivered him from all his distresses It is to be noted that though God be often in Scripture said to repent which implyes a change of and mutation in mind yet it is to be understood rei mutatio not Dei A change there was in the Ninivites first and after in God in the language of men that not being executed which was threatned we call it repentance when God repreived their destruction for to speak properly God hath in himself no umbrage of a change but as the Stars of Heaven
its voice and is ashamed of neither 2. Their nearnesse The greatest engine wherewith Satan endeavours mans ruine is mans own heart It is thought Iobs wife gave him the sharpest and sorest temptation to despair because of her proximity being indeed as wives are said to be his second self But what pangs of horrour shall he feel and to what strange extravagancy may he be tempted unto whose inbred corruption allures to sinful exploits and then to despairing attempts because of which there is still temptation or fear of temptation which yet must not be differenced from a temptation in the soul Apollodorus dreaming of captivity among the Scythians fancied that they flayed off his skin and chop'd him in pieccs and then boyling him in a Caldron imagined his heart ex ipso lebete out of the furnace cryed unto him O Apollodours I am the cause of all this pain and misery thou endureth A Iudas a Cain may be conjectured to say the like words in torment There is within us putrid matter apt tinder which the Devil is still striving to fire and carrying it about us in our very bodies we have no reason to confide in our selves but pray Lead us not into temptation 3. Their imperiousnesse Annanias sacrilegious thoughts and Iudas covetous desires with the Jews malicious contrivings say unto them what thou dost do quickly and then it may be to do good is present with thee but such an usurped dominion hath lust got that the good we would do cannot be done being besooled besotted and enraged by the fleshes soft things the worlds vain things and Beelzebubs bitter things our own hearts joyning withall forcing upon us the acceptance of things corrupt from each as occasion shall prompt us with convenient opportunity to that degree that we might observe and write of all the world and of our selves in particular what one did of Cyprus for there the Turks despise their Alcharon the Iews smileth at their Religion and the Christian derideth the Scripture and all men and people make a mock of purity and sanctifying graces or the true way to salvation so that I am weary of this prophane Countrey and desire nothing more then the blessedness of our own c. yours in the midst of temptation 4. Their appositnesse Temptations like David take our own sword and cut off our head our own dagger and wound us the Melancholian shall have horrour trouble and vexations yea the pleasantest song in providence shall be represented in the tune of the Lamentatiâ—ns making even mercy and long-suffering an argument of Gods stupendious wrath that being but delayed untill meeting in the other world Contrary to a ranting Belshazzer it will renew the thoughts of it may be forgotten victories and hold no Goblet fit to drink his Concubines health in but the Lords Chalice no ground proper for his dance than that which is holy nor no sporting-jest so frisking as that which moves by the wyer of sacred Scripture When Herod swears out of Madnesse Drunkennesse or Vanity to grant the request of that galloping Wench Herodias it answers and is set to the Tune of her Malice and off the head of the Baptist goeth They will give the furious man occasion of broils the phlegmatick both wine and wantons and the proud shall be presented with a Boorish Clown an inadvertent Swain on purpose to make him swear and roar or with some Colloguing Gnatho to cause him huff swell and vapour all which keeps the soul like the sea in so restlesse a motion that except we anchor within the vail how easily shall all make ship-wrack of faith and a good conscience 5. Their closnesse Did temptation speak out its mind there would be no great danger to debate the cause with it Iudas did look for something beside a Halter and who can perswade that Dapper Youth in the Proverbs that he is going to the house where a dart is prepared for his liver the very seat of love which if temptation told he would avoid it as death and hell The malicious Iews averr that their blood-thirstinesse comes from a zeal to God and their spleen against the Apostles to be a voice from Heaven and Saul before he was called Paul thought in his conscience no doubt that he ought to do many things contrary to the Name of Iesus Christ. Neither doth temptation come all at once but by degrees as we listen and attend unto it and indeed as we are able to bear it It told not David at first of Vriahs murther for then it is possible he had started from adultery so it told not Iudas at first he should hang himself but set him on coveting then to stealing then to murmuring so luring him and trolling him to her hand untill she slew him There is one who wittily shews how temptation passeth through and advanceth forward in the dominion of the soul make the heart a Countrey and then temptation hath six Posts six dayes march and thus her Gests lyeâ—lâ— the first day she provoketh lust to the first motions of sin then the second day or the second Stage she turneth the heart toward it the third Stage is when the heart in a high trot that is earnestly cometh up to it in the fourth Stage she hovers is circumspect and dwells upon the way and manner of doing that evil in the fifth she begins to assent and to dally embrace and do the projected sin in the sixth the evil is done finished and accomplished Temptation is then entered the head City the Fort-royal is taken and the soul says unto it Take thy ease and indeed it may for its work is done and the errant it came for is already finished It can do no more and leaves it unto sin to bring forth death the proper work thereof Temptations then having no other end then to cast us under the wrath of God to bring and draw innumerable evils from him and atlast to have us hear the sentence of final extirpation to be pronounced by him Let us mind our deliverance and study its avoidance and if thou Reader hath yeelded formerly unto its flatterings to prevent killing by its hellish blandishments imitat that Sophist Isaeus once wilde but at last sober who when questioned if he knew that beauty or if that woman were fair modestly replied desii laborare ab oculis I have given over gazing It being a sure rule that sin is best overcome by flying that is by flying from it Lead us not into temptation THE wonders which God performed and the difficulties wherein he led his people of old are called great temptations and in that same wildernesse wherein Israel saw the works of God did our Saviour hear the temptings of the Devil but having strength within him he held out and was not tempted i. e. did not yeeld we wanting ability to oppose when he embatles against us
twice in any one thing Temptation not being the cause of our falling but our inadvertence dulnesse and instability whereby we shall even without outward violence as that house builded on the sand which will sink though neither winds nor flouds should rise Satan that old Serpent being the father of sin and our own lust its mother adultery fornication uncleannesse c. its progeny Moses rod and an evil conscience its attendants diseases of the body consumptions of estate and destruction of the soul being consequences thereof we are to pray against it and temptations to it which shall suffice for the matter and follows now the order of this Petition It followeth Forgive us our debts that relating to sin past whereas Lead us not insinuats our desire to be redeemed from sin to come and in both imports the sad and perplexed estate of poor mortals who can no sooner have sin remitted but must expect from hell to be freshly assaulted and led into temptation which generally is an Usher to signal great and sad evils prayed against in the next Petition CHAP. VIII But deliver us from evil THis is a Petition calling for the effectual accomplishment of that promise made by the Holy Ghost to the fearer of the Lord viz. that he should not be visited with evil And with an Ancient is oft reckoned a distinct Petition being septima ultima the seventh and the last Yet again the same Author hath a modest videtur a probability only that it may be so Many of the modern Authors beholding this but as an explication of Lead us not into temptation will have this not to be differenced so much as to sense one Petition We are clear for his judgment who asserts parum refert it is no great matter whether we hold this to be so or no and he is pertinent among reformed Writers who concludes they may be reduced into one yet are not so one but they may be divided into two Petitions that is in the general and implicitly they are one in particular expresly and actually they are two And considering that every evil is not temptation and that in Lead us not c. we pray that no evil may be done whereas here we pray that no evil may be suffered we shall handle them as a distinct Petition which is approved not only as most ancient but as most rational clear and edifying and as natures motion is more swift the nearer it approach to the Center so shall we make the more speed to arrive at our place of rest this Prayers signaculum Amen It is to be adverted the Vulgar Translation hath in Luke curtail'd this Prayer by ommission of these words holding it contained in Lead us not into temptation but being originally in both the Evangelists man is not to be wise above what is written especially when the matter written continet tantum hath as much in it as the retained part which here it doth for pray we not for the doing of Gods will for the coming of his Kingdom only that we may be delivered from evil whether visible or invisible In this last as in all the other Petitions we shall make enquiry into the matter and next the order of this the first hath deliverance in its mouth and evil in its eye à malo so sin may be called from its blacknesse and therefore as evil it defileth or from its cause say others for it came by an apple and therefore it is evill it causeth deadnesse This is certain there is both natural and moral evil There is natural evil in but least in this Petition blindnesse deafnesse bruises deformity or any casualty marring the beauty of man is herein deprecated in this the child prayes against cuts hurts before he play that Mephibosheths misfortune happen not unto him in his sports There is moral evil in and most in this Petition against sin our prayers here ascend our heart continually as the sea casting forth the dirt and mire of adulteries and all lascivousnesse in their acts or fumes and falling down by either in shours of vengeance except scatter'd by the beames and rayes of mercy we say with the Psalmist Incline not our hearts to any evil thing to practise wicked works Really performing what was thought Hypopocritically written by a vain-glorious Braggadochi over the door of his house the Friend or Son of God liveth here let no evil enter when as Diogenes questioned how the Inhabitant himself should enter he being excessively vitious of which extream there are so many imitators that were Timon the Man-hater alive he would encounter with multitudes naturally so torrid so rough so scorching contentious that his once admired dandling young Alcibiades for nothing but because he saw in him fair symptomes or rather shrew'd signs of much future mischief to be done by him towards his Countrey I say this act of his should be razed from Authentick record as wonderful his confederats should be so numeroâ—s evil having so universally infected nature mankind and man There is also political evil in but last in this Petition Sin and punishment drunkennesse and poverty are not many leagues distant not many say I yea not one each sinner as a Muscovia servant carrying a Curbatch at his girdle wherewith he is to be beaten when found offending the Delinquents breast not to say his belt having Scorpions tyed unto it wherewith he is to be scourged and shall be tortured when doing a misse But generals not being pungent the evils we pray against are more particularly these from evil that is from an evil conscience which followeth evil doing When Adam sinned he was first ashamed then afraid conscience under guilt may as a dog in the warm Sun of worldly affluence sleep in or at the door of the benummed but in the gloomy weather of â—ading pleasure will in defyance of all resistance fright and tear the sinner either out of his rest or out of his sin Pestilence and Famine attending evil actions with evil beasts the sword with terrifying diseases are with evil interwoven and lest our cities be depopulat our families scattered our beauty blasted we beg deliverance from evil From evil that is from Satan the tempter to all evil he is here so understood that some will have no other evil thought upon that he is understood is certain but that other evils are not likewise included seems grosse there being no circumstance of restraint we are bound to take the word in its largest extension though he as more eminent then others propter excessum malitiae for his abounding wickednesse may be principally eyed who having nothing to say against us yet irreconciliably pursueth us for hurt Against which wickednesse of his even of his we are here commanded to pray the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Masculine signifying properly Satan and in
the Neuter hurts and dangers it may be sensed the Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being sometime demonstrative pointing at a special one and other times indefinit for any one and in such a summary as our Lord here intended we may comprehend its meaning to be deliverance from all evil in the bulk and Satan as the chief A Spanish Gentleman and noctivagant or a night-walker rising in his sleep through excessive heat intending to wash in the River was met by one pretending the same businesse but tempted him to cast himself from a high bridge into a very deep place into which the tempter was already vapouring the Dons seet no sooner touched the water then he awoke and calling upon the other for help was frustrat perceiving it an evil spirit after prayer to God shifted as he could avoided the danger and guarded for the future against such extravagancies and the Devils going about to devour hath made the Religious of old urgent and vigilant to escape captivity and we in this age have no reason to be too secure though upon beds of Down From evil that is hell the place of evil in Heaven all is good on earth there is some good but in hell no good Iudas is said to go to his own place that â—is to which he was adjudged his merits worthily casting him from the Apostolat of which in and by his hypocrisie he only keep'd possession from which place worse then that wherein he died which yet as is said was so stinking that men were forced to stop their noses through unwholesome scents we beg here freedom from our Father setting him viz. Our Father in the preface in opposition to that evil one here begging his good against the others evil opposing person to person things to things a Father to a Foe Behold this evil through the prospect of Scriptural threats and exhortation and an evil example and an evil death is easily perceptible all the Law and Prophets by a Father is summed up in this viz to eschew evil and do good but Drunkards Blasphemers Idolaters Iews Turks seeking still to debauch there is strength to resist their solicitations violence their frauds and their enticements here prayed for that though men accept favour from such which yet ought not to be done saith some yet certainly no kindnesse ought to lure us unto encouraging them in unholy performances There is a people near unto Armenia called the Curdi whose Barbarous cruelty especially to Christians hath circumcised their country and made it be called terra Diaboli Devils land and it is to be lamented that so much of the European continent or indeed so many of its Islands may be thought to be governed by the same Soveraign yet how prevalent soever that Fiend be to prevent the spreading of his dominion as well as restricting the exorbitancies thereof yea for repelling its force and nullifying its being we pray in deliverance from evil Not only this but a peaceable departure and removeal is here beseeched the death of the uncircumcised or to die by the hands of a stranger being a curse yea not to die the common death of all men or a mans own death being both sad and dangerous is by all men except inconsiderat deprecated under the notion of evil fire water and sudden death being comprehended therein in the judgement of a learned Interpreter A Scholler quarrelling with one of his companions over night in the night in his sleep entered the others Chamber and slew him returning still asleep into his own bed declaring next day he dreamed he had slain his Comrade Here was temptation and evil both done and suffered yet such Reader as may befall both me and thee which should make us pray against evil whether in its causes or in its occasions whether for our selves or others It not being deliver me but Vs from evil without which charity neque multa neque magna the doing many things the doing great things being not good things availeth nothing but let it be still remembred that the greatest Evil viz. the evil of sin is to be guarded against sicknesse poverty death having no such bitter influences on the Conscience or on the Soul as transgression hath for how pleasant soever it seem to flesh it shall be toylsome burdensome and tormenting we read even of sowre honey such is sin of heavy sand but evil is heavier for that will rest at Earths Center but the other presse to Hells bottomlesse bottom therefore most to be prayed against and feared upon our Earth that from it by the power of our Father in Heaven we may be delivered and made watchful against it I say watchful for to pray against evil yet study to do evil is bold impiety and shall end in mischief It is 〈◊〉 â—he Iesuits have a Law secluding women from their Colledges and if any through the Porters inadvertence enter the dust upon which she trod is to be gathered and extruded the gates lest they be defiled to preserve chastity is good and to fear evil is happy but to avoid sin the Heart more then the Earth is to be heeded and the soul of man rather then the sole of the shoe is to be respected and praying rather then such fooling is to be used as a proper antidot and remedy against sin or evil But deliver us from evill THE pernicious consequences of sin and evil are so numerous that nature it self prompts natural men to endeavour an escape but freedom from the tincture and stain of vice is more earnestly pressed by the spiritually intelligent yea in fear or in case of sloath the Doctrine is feelingly urged upon all Saints by the Lord of glory in many Scriptures particularly in this Petition deliver us from evil that is from the Devil the Author and prompter to evil being old in wickednesse so skilfull in allurements that man with his carnal weapons cannot defeat him in his invisible assaults and therefore cry for deliverance which Petition that we may learn let us examine into the extent of the word deliver and next the use thereof It is as broad as evil as long as the day it is not à tali vel tali deliverance from this or that evil as Peter from drowning Sampson from thirsting but absolutely from all from any evil whether of temporal spiritual or of eternal concernment The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying two things 1. That we be preserved from falling into evil next that we be liberat out of the evil wherein we have fallen he trusted in God said the Jews let him deliver him and this deliverance our Father doth command four wayes 1. By renewing our natures through grace he washeth us by the blood of his Son which purgeth us from our innate pollution delivers us from the evil of a defiled soul hard heart dead
conscience darkned understanding and from the guilt of impure thoughts by sending in the nick of temptation fresh supplies of reserved grace as a General will do to a stout and overpowered Officer Divines mention often of Restraining grace by which the sinner meets with obstructions in his clossest-contrived projects as Laban did in the ease of Iacob which though a singular mercy yet superlatively amounted by this renewing grace it consisting in a transmenting of the soul and drawing out from its remotest ventricle the very wishes of doing evil destroying enmity to the Law and seminating the love of God whereby it is more desireable and is indeed a delivering from or drawing out of that dark hole which a Gentile Learned Critick thinks is implyed in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deliver us 2. By securing our persons from evil in his providence In falls slips Sea-voyages Land-journeys if his holy Angels had not supported we had been like them that go down into the pit Hath not some in their readings dreamings had warnings to prepare for the Crosse And that Book found in the belly of a Fish in the Mercat of the famous University of Cambridge a little before these late troubles which being in writ and teaching preparation for the Crosse at a publick Commencement or Laureation was certainly a providential if not a miraculous warning-piece of future disasters hardly to be believed in future ages And that was strange in that old History of a lascivious Souldier who attempting the chastity of a Virgin was wonderfully struck blind whereby with her honour the Maid escap'd intact and untouch'd 3. By restraining our adversaries through his power Satans wisdom God hath made and will still make foolishness and his power weaknesse and the poysoned Arrows which contrary to the Law of Arms he shoots called in Scripture fiery darts become ineffectual as touching the execution of his designed end for delivering of his adopted from their apprehended evil Saying to them as to the Sea Hitherto have you gone but you shall go no further Hence it is Deliver us from evil not evils that we should not be revenged at one another but united against Satan he being the head in which evil is most desperatly plotted 4. By detecting the world in shewing it in its native dresse That often by the golden Apple of some gaudy and finical pleasure interrupts us in our course to the New Ierusalem in going aside with Iudah in falling back with the Galatians in embracing this present world with Demas with those hypocritical painted countenance strong men have perished but the deformity thereof in the withdrawing its mask being viewed creats in place of love a detestation of its blandishments and a derision of her wheynings To conceit a purgatory in this prayer is to bring strange fire into the Sanctuary for unlesse it can be proved that Christ hath not compleatly suffered for our sins or that his bloud cleanseth us not from all sin we cannot fancy any suffering of our own to be either just or profitable And when the Apostle teacheth that righteous men naming himself is present with the Lord when absent from the body and that when this earthly Tabernacle is dissolved they have one eternal in the Heavens It is wondered how Rome entertains the Doctrine of purging souls in a distinct locality from either and where is that blessed rest they possesse that die in the Lord if there be a burning Purgatory Deliver us from evil that is from the Devil World and sin and in all spiritual conflicts God having a City of resuge from the inticer to evil and in case of seduction hath the kindnesse to bind up their wounds by the death of the High Priest antidoting the souls of the deluded against the poysoned Arrows which either by force or stratagem Satan or any of his complices can throw against them David and Peter fell and yet were delivered after they had finned Ioseph was delivered and he had not sinned and many of the righteous are delivered by death least they should sin which last though it be not the lot of every Saint for Daniel saw the captivity yet it hath been the prayer of the Elect as Paul of old desired to be with Christ and long after him it was said of Satyrus non nobis ereptus es sed periculis thou art not removed from us but from evils and in the last age an holy Germain desired removeal for three causes to behold Christ enjoy the company of the Saints and be free ab implacabilibus odiis Theologorum from the furious disputes of contentious Scollars and Divines Deliverance is that copiosa redemptio a full redemption from evil 1. By prevention that it come not 2. By subvention that it conquer not 3. By plenary liberation that it never come And it our houies be naunted by evil spirits to passe the proving that we are not oblidged to dwell where Satan is an inmate or to speak to him without special revelation besides that courage and faith which is to be exercised and a gooly life fasting prayer and this prayer are proper means to be delivered from that annoyance In bodily distempers worldly crosses not charmes but prayer is to be made use of for our deliverance as did the Christian Army under Bren King of Ierusalem besiedging Damiata in Egypt when provision was brought into their tents by the over-flowing of Nilus bold fishes swiming throughout the Leagure to their great terrour and amazement in that manner that Souldiers took them up in their hands but the sawce being more then the meat by prayer and fasting the river was diverted yea ditched that it returned no more by prayer and thanksgiving throughout the army by open Proclamation Afterwards the city being taken great spoyl was found and by applying the same medicament great cures have been wrought and great evils senced against for as it is said of Maro in the history it will cure feavers remove devils discharge avarice heal wrath cool lust cure sloath and command intemperance to be gone the prayers of the penitent be a Catholicon proper against all diseases It is a question well ftarted and wisely answered by a person of learning and honour why in this prayer we have no Petition for a joyful resurrection or for eternal life for to let passe what is contained in Thy Kingdom come it is sued for also in deliverance from evil it being the highest step we can attain unto in this life and by it Christs sayes Friend sit up higher and therefore are we delivered from evil that we may be delivered unto Heaven I say we for again it is deliver Vs not Me neither ought we to envy or hate our Brethren how different soever from us all have not one speech one accent nor one opinion yet non decet we
removing of ill must our devotions be mingled evil things filling up so great a place in our little time here allotted us wherefore in our definition of Prayer we have added 6. Deliverance from those evils either feared or felt Evil is either of sin or punishment it is either past present or to come and therefore as we pray for forgiveness of sin past in Forgive us our debts so for deliverance from evil to come or present in Lead us not into temptation c. But all must be 7. Through our Lord Iesus Christ His merits is that Incense that must persume which must capacitate our accesses to become his purity lest they should be nauseated by his Holiness This is the salt that must season every sacrifice and except we have the garments of this our elder Brother we shall not smell as that field which the Lord will bless but have with Iacob rather occasion to argue the partaking of a curse For in all communing with God that would be pondered that he sayes of Jesus as Iosephs did of Benjamin except ye bring him ye shall not see my face It is to be noted that this calling upon God is either publick or private it eyes either mercies received and then it is called Thanksgiving or wished for to others and then it is called Intercession or for avoiding of ill and then it is called Supplication or if either of these for our selves it is called Prayer for into these four is Prayer divided by St. Paul and each of these are espoused to and to be found in the Lords Prayer and in each Petition thereof In the first Petition Hallowed be thy Name we pray for knowledge of the Word of God in our selves supplicate for all Christian Brethren in tribulation we interceed that the fins of our Brethren in seeking their own name be not imputed and giveth thanks if God hath made us instruments in honouring at any time his In the second Thy Kingdom come we give thanks for our hopes of Heaven and pray for the advancing of his Church we supplicate to be strengthened by his grace and interceed that all may be blessed by the Word and Sacraments In the third Thy will be done c. We interceed for a through conformity with the Angels we pray for a subjugating of our wills we give thanks for the enlightning of our minds and supplicat for ardency and zeal In the fourth Give us this day our dayly bread we supplicat against poverty and want we pray against impatience and discontent and interceed for ability and strength to gain our bread and giveth thanks for our calling and imployment In the fifth Forgive us our debts c. We give thanks for the imputation of Christs righteousnesse we supplicat against a tryal by Law we interceed that all may be saved and pray against malice and revenge In the sixth Lead us not into temptation we bewail our by-past sollies give thanks for our former conquests interceed for safety to our brethren and prayes for the spirit of discerning to our selves In the seventh Deliver us from evil we pray for a binding up of satan interceed for assistance against natural corruption supplicate against hell and death and give thanks for our hopes of a joyful Resurrection and the reason of all is his is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory for ever SECT II. THe effects of Prayer follows in our former proposed order which he thought many and good who called Prayer Clavis coeli the Key that opened Heavens Gate unto us the Stair by which we ascended to the company of the first-born to the society of Angels to the enjoyment of our Saviour and to the bosome of the Father It is the Arms of the Christian for by fervent prayer Moses overcame the Amalakites David Goliah Ezekiah Senacheriâ— and Esther Haman What needs more It heats the soul becalms the heart keeps off evil obtains a pardon procures long life restoreth health pacifieth God creats wisdom infuseth grace purchaseth plenty delivers from judgement increaseth courage conserveth peace and shews us what should be done Let us see its holy workings for and upon those three great ones Conscience God and Satan 1. It purifieth the Conscience by opening its sores the impostumated matter therein by long contracted guilt becomes feaverish and when headed will make the stoutest through pain cry with the Prophet My bowels my bowels woe is me I am pained at my very heart or with the Apostle O wretched man that I am but prayer as a lance opens the boil and by confession the putrid matter is evacuated as in David thus and thus have I done and with the Prodigal I have sinned against Heaven yea by the same orifice of acknowledgement is the precious balm of a Fatherly Absolution poured in in a God hath taken away thy iniquity thou shalt not die by which the late dejected spirit is made to rejoice in Gods house of Prayer Saint Pauls thorne was so painfull to him that he prayed thrice against it and by prayer was strengthened to enduce and had comfort in the smart of the same to teach us that when conscience heats or ulcers it is excellent to retire our selves and with Daniel cry O Lord hear O Lord forgive O Lord hearken and do confideing in mercy upon and for his answer Fear not peace be unto thee be strong yea be strong assuring thy self that whoso calleth upon the Name of the Lord shall be delivered The Apostle enjoyneth Prayer without ceasing it is pressed by a Father both day and night yet magis noctu rather in the night when free from incumbrances visits and most apt to enjoy our selves then are we fittest to open our sores Animarum Medico to the Chirurgian of Souls in recollecting what we have been doing and what thinking in the day-time that by compunction of Soul and Spirit our misdoings and our negligences may be remitted and the wounds they made healed spending a solitary night as Pyrrhus spent his solitude and time for being found alone and demanded what he was doing replyed I am studying to be good Which act of communing with our own heart was of no small account in the eyes of David 2. It dignifieth God by depending upon his love By this we reason with him not being dashed for all our scarlet-sins nor desperate though we have play'd the Prodigal because we return to him who is our Father it evidencing his acceptance and his goodnesse that we presume to call for our dayly bread his liberality that he forgives us our debts his omnipotency that he defends us from Devils his ubiquity that we can call in every place In confession we own the justnesse of
sinning 2. Possess the heavenly joy the believer hath at the conversion of one sinner 3. Escape those plagues that have befallen others for sin c. A Daniel a Noah a Iob may by their servent supplications save themselves from sudden calamity which like an amazing thunder-bolt shall at last pierce the interior parts of that soul whose breast is hardened against the mishaps of men and whose spirits are careless of what befals men When God scourgeth a Land his very sondlings so to speak must not expect immunity they not being without their saults how much more shall his severity rage against them who do not only neglect to bring water to cool and allay our heat but poure on oyl to augment the fire Since such as love not peace nor delight in blessing nor rejoice in mercy are threatned with the want of them when their souls are most exposed to the contrary perils and may chance for their fiery life to die like Constantius Copronymus whose last words were I am condemned to inextinguishable flames They might charge me perhaps with cruelty should I enlarge the story and shew how his body as unworthy of burial was first burned then thrown into the Sea but this inference is harmless to induce all to live peaceably with living men lest just Providence refuse them a lodging with the dead when they are to be joined with them That is not absurd to be added which is taught us in the fabulous divinity of the old Poets of Pluto their supposed god of wealth whom they held to be nursed by Pax that is peace sufficiently knowing that where peace and amity is not an inhabitant it is not the wit nor industry of man that will prevent indigence or poverty Such therefore as complain of the decay of substance and who complains not shall make a more hopeful harvest at the return of the year if they would maugre malice cultivat their bosoms grubbing up the thorns and brambles which grow therein and makes their fellowship dangerous sowing it with â—eed of the love of God which would produce fruit in the love of man and then the Lord being our God the earth should yield her increase Unity being as Hermons dew to the hills of Zion the means wherein we shall have the blessing of fruitfulness and to that life for evermore Let us now enter upon the causes of that uncharitable spirit in our dayes wherein this precept so pray ye is not heeded and though there is no cause for it yet there is a source whence it ariseth as 1. From each ones natural corruption not being searched after He naturally hath pride he envy he curiosity he uncleanness he intemperance which suffered to grow spread diverse branches and they again bring forth infinit sprigs all which finally will be mother to direful actings and ridiculous disputings the bane of this transported prophane impure talkative and speculative age In hac dilectissimi unitate sanctorum In that unity that is to be seen among the Saints there is no spare room for the proud man nor place for the covetous nor pretence for the envyous or for whatsoever vain glory boasts of or wrath is eager for or luxury is itching after these being known not to belong unto Christ but in covenant with satan and far from being owned as pious Fremit itaque therefore the adversary to peace rageth c. If this Age be examined by this true rule many pretended Saints and loose Professors should be sirnamed by some other thing then Christian. 2. From each ones having too great respect for his own opinion Is it not obvious to the most purblind in our neighbourhood that by marrying our selves to our own humour sordidly called a principle we have divorced our selves from the God of love and peace eagerly contending for to make prize of all which have not payed Toll and Custom at our board according to our own privat law or book of rates which yet is as different as there are heads to invent making our confusion the more irreparable and our consciences the more insensible yea our vilest actions the more excusable as that each sinner inferrs the soundness of his own positions from the rottenness he beholds in the others practice Love is generally divided into five sorts that of God that of our neighbour that of our Countrey that of the World and that of our Selves this last is so near and so dear and so choice a bit that before it be not fully enjoyed all the other shall passe uncourted yea had we a love to the things of this world this generation would not so eagerly seek their own pleasures for sondness in this maketh the other languish before us our projects for Government digging sepulchres visibly for interment of Gospel-practice 3. From each ones too great aspect to his own profit Then were murderers complainers men walking after their own lusts their mouths speaking great swelling words when mens persons were had in admiration Many other reasons of this sort might be added as Gods just judgement upon us for our late barbarous unchristian dishonourable treacherous seditious rebellious behaviour towards Authority our Countrey our Relations our Religion our Selves which particularly to discusse were a task too great for a By-nature designed Historian Subordinat to these our Peace is obstructed and Charity banished First by our weighing Doctrine by men A sound truth will be received as Orthodox from one mans mouth which â—rom the mouth of a Cephas a Paul or an Apollos were they alive should either be condemned as heretical or thought unsavoury salt There is a second surmising evil things of men neglecting duty owned by themselves lest evil should thereby follow upon others which evil none seeth so consequential to that duty but it may and ought to be undergone there is a third bearing a real hatred to men for which it may be asked what the Ghost of the Murthered said to Pomenes Quare me occidisti Why dost thou kill me or hate me the tongue of the malicious being equally mortal to that of the tale-bearer which is a maul a sword a sharp arrow Qui odit Fratrem saith one He who hates his brother is in darkness and again is a murtherer he goeth out he cometh in yet he is chained unto guilt do not imagine he is not imprisoned for Carcer ejus cor ejus est his own heart is his prison and there he is tormented Where is there a Nathanael admired of Christ nay where is there a Gerhard bemoaned by Bernard O amicum fidelem O faithful friend in whom there wanted not friendly behaviour and all offices of love and charity and who sought not his own things This puts an obligation upon us deliberatly to study the acquisition of this universality of love that in our prayers we may remember all men Unto which the very word Religion binds us
holy Trinity being taken not so much from nature as from holy works we shall observe some letters of this Name that we may be careful of giving him in it that due respect which belongs unto his greatnesse since the secrecy and mystery of his being dischargeth our srailty and ignorance curiously to pry and behold his Name in his works of mercy of wonders of patience of comsorts of veracity the first respecting the miserable the second the despicable the third the scornful the fourth the mournful the fifth the doubtful 1. One great letter in his Name is mercy promised to the miserable and may be as clearly seen as Pilats inscription over Jesus by this as well as Paul all are delivered from the body of death and the mercy shown to the Prodigal by the Father discovers the tenderness of God towards a sinner when becoming which yet is through grace flexible and penitent In this the Saints rejoiced and for this God is feared that is hallowed and intreated his heart being affected with the miseries of poor man he stands at their hand to save him from those that would condemn his soul Christ pleading out of compassion and procuring not a repreive but a pardon And when men neither do nor will implore his Omnipotent aid for deliverance from evil nay when they reluctat against his severe threats either that they be superceded or omitted his mercy passing over all neglects presseth in upon them dilating it self so far that no faculty of the soul more cordially entertains the thoughts of any thing save those of Mercy Mercy Septem in me video misericordias Domini A holy man viewing the experiences of Gods love finds a seven-fold mercy graciously afforded to himself The first was that God had preserved him from many sins in his generation another was that he had highly and often offended yet had not been plagued A third was that in visiting his soul God had made him know that sin was bitter A fourth was that he becoming peâ—itent had felt the blessedness of him whose tranlgression was covered A fifth was that after his recovery he was kept from sliding back into his old fins A sixth was that he had grace given him to promove and advance in a holy conversation And the last was in which he highly magnified God that he had gotten the assurance of acquiring Heavens Kingdom It was said by them of old time the Lord is merciful and gracious slow to anger and plenteous in mercy and therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you that he is merciful and gracious speaks his mercy to be Speciosa beautiful but that he waits to be gracious upon you shews that it is Spatiosa exceeding large and universal 2. His wonders performed to the despicable is another Letter and may be as clearly seen as the Prophets vision upon Tables he that runs may read it and who reads it ought to fear before it That which he hath done for his little Benjamin for and by Moses in the land of Ham and the terrible things by the Red-sea should make the whole earth tremble before him and how twelve fishermen from Ierusalem have brought the greatest Princes and most refined part of the Universe to imbrace the truth of Christ and him crucified in so ample and honourable manner that their Crowns hath not its chiefest Jewel if it want a Crosse nor themselves accounted of but as Barbarians if not christian is strange wherefore hallow his Name sing unto him talk you of all his wondrous works That famous Christian and woman-Martyr Blandina being by tormentors tormented by turns wearied and not able to plague her with renewed tortours having her body rent yet as oft as she pronounced I am a Christian and have committed no evil was refreshed and felt no pain Tyburtius the Martyr compelled to offer Incense to idols or walk bare-foot over hot Iron boldly undertook the last with these words Depone O Fabiane renounce thy unbelief and do as much in the name of thy Iupiter as I in the Name of my Iehovaâ— and if he can let him save thee from pain or torment How did he secure the Children in the Furnace Ioseph in the Prison Iob in the Dung-hill wherefore glory ye in his holy Name There are three great wonders should cause men revere and stand in awe at Gods Name and power 1. Christs rising from the dead 2. His ascending up to Heaven 3. Converting of the world by twelve men by the contemning of wealth despising of glory refusing of government and enduring of torment which was wonderful 3. His patience protracted to the scornful is another Letter and may be as evidently seen as on the thigh of the WORD of GOD KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS They who are as smoak to his eyes are yet admitted into his Temple and how ost would he have gathered Ierusalem yea our selves when the Sun riseth may learn that the goodness of God leadeth us to repentance It is true the Axe of his justice is laid at the root of the tree but mark it is but laid to see if fruit by consideration and contrition will come and though he be broken with our whorish hearts yet he â—aith How long or when shall it once be We believe Gods power and have heard of his thunder yet how few faith as Adam was afraid when I heard thy voice in the Scriptures but after all our roavings rather impudently say with Gehazi Thy servant went no whither and because we are not sentenced to judgment infer either that he is like our selves or mocks the promise of his coming both which is endured through his ineffable patience to reduce us at last to more sober apprehensions that is repentance contrition 4. His comforts exhibited to the mournful is another Letter as clear as the name Iohn upon Zacharias Table he is called sometimes the God of Abraham and sometimes the God of Heaven as also of grace and consolation His Spirit the Comforter drying the eyes of all who discerning their crimes and dangers sanctifie his Name by calling for a pardon against those defections they have made from the way of his holiness and peace What high revelations had Iohn the Divine in Patmos what comfort had Iacob in his stone-pillows and may we not appeal to many if in providence by Prayer it hath not been said Be it unto thee according to thy faith when they have been perplexed by the cold blasts of temporal or spiritual calamities and as Nehemiah been made to stand to blesse the Lord for ever and his glorious Name which is exalted above all blessings and praise It is the worlds design to delude the soul the fleshes purpose to betray it and Satans to destroy it but Christ resolves to protect it and checks our unbelief to the end of the world with
evil for evil yea of not for evil good Christianity is so denominat from Christ and the Christian being oblidged to walk as he walked he is to go about doing good healing the very ear of a Malchus and though reviled answered not again as he is called a Ciceronian who imitats a Cicero in his style not otherwise so he is not to be termed Christian who giveth his tongue to evil speaking his heart or hand to revengeful re-acting that being contrary both to the practice and command of Jesus Behold nature her self and this hare-brain'd fâ—llow is condemned should the pile of grass wither when trod upon or every excessive heat creat a fever in the body or should the heavens thunder at every overclouding what â—â—ights would be in the world As Chirurgions have unguentum Basilicon to cause matter so they have Apostolicum to cleanse the wound Album to expel the heat and Desiâ—â—â—tiuâ—m rubrum to dry and skin it As there are provocations to choller so there are Gospel documents which as spiritual Artists we must have ever in readinesse to apply to the place affected for curing as proper medicaments for the souls ease That advice of one Philosopher is good that when any reports thee to have been slâ—ndred say thy adversary knew not all thâ—y vices or then he had not spoke â—o little and though the world talk of honour and courage magni animi est injurius despicere It is the symptome of a large and noble soul to despise contempt or disdain revenge said another Philosopher albeit he knew not at least prosessed not the Gospel nor perchance ever saw that of the wise King he that is slow to anger is better then the mighty and he that ruleth his spirit then he that taketh a city for he sub dueth himself and possesseth himself the greatest vertue among morals It was among the Scythians a mark of insamy and dishonesty if any man had not killed some man where this bâ—dge was put upon innocency among Barbarians how mutually would they go about and prey upon one another to purchase reputation but good men detesting the procurements of such honour entails same upon themselves and their successors by their warrinesse of goring their conscience imputing it grandour to be affraid of sin and reputation to walk without offending God In that Dialogue betwixt Philosophy and her Beloved it was held as a sound advice in point of calmnesse of spirit of one Canius who being informed of a conspiracy against himself answered if I had known it I had not told it you Not to presse this on all four or every way Christianity dischargeth credulity to slanderous reports orders a check and no more to be owing the relater Moses the meekest man of the earth could bear personal calumny and before him Isaac only pleaded but scolded not for his wells and after them Paul wished no more hurt to his â—oes but that they were as himself in every thing his bonds excepted It is true these Diamonds had their flaws these Pomgranats their rotten kernels David curses and Sampson prays for the ruine of the Philistines yet these Prophetick impulses are not to be the ordinary Standart of our converse with men for Paul though sharp to Elymas prayed over the Jaylor as though he had never scourged him he gave place to wrath and adviseth like a good Preacher a good practitioner to be followers of him as he follows Christ who is maximè imitabilis most to be followed 1. For piety 2. For zeal 3. For humility 4. For patient suffering 3. From the obstruction the contrary vice bears to goodness that being by it hindered Sullenness and rancour impeding prayer from having entrance into the earâ— of Heaven the Laws whereof requiring prayer to be maâ—e every where without wrath implying frequency in that duty and composednesse of mind at it evidenceth this conclusion bottomed upon infallible verity for if Family-contentions prove obstacles to Family-duty shâ—ll not that particular Petition be doomed by men to be condemned by God whose flames are excited by the billows of fury envy hatred and passion and not by those of the Sanctuary charity love and concord The same is to be said of Sacraments spleen hindering thereby spiritual influx 〈◊〉 how can they be beneficial to him who not only is not injured but himself by ill-wishing is injurious to his brother Not to reflect it is to be feared many of our supplications because of this vanisheth into air and Sermons become unprofitable because of this unfruitfull work of darknesse malice for 〈◊〉 home understand Reader the Basis or Ground-stone of Gods forgivenesse is fixed only on the ground of thy brotherly forgiving And in spiritural conflicts allow hatred to plead its old supposed plea viz Love not him who walk's contrary to thee who derogats frâ—m thee who complains of thee and insults over thee Let love reply That the love of Christ constrains me and that quam diu so long as I keep at distance from man in point of charity so long detain I from my self the good of all my sacrifices and make my prayers yea the praying of this Prayer do me more hurt then good so much the more as this command is easie I am prone to conjecture should Christ have said Fast pray read fight kill burn and lie and be forgiven there are in this age had embraced the doctrine but to forgive is durus sermo an hard saying and cannot be digested It were some excuse if any lived and transgressed not for in many things we offend all and as a stone cast into the water creats a circle and that another and a broader so anger if tolerat will naturally kindle a fire in one mans breast which shall blow up anothers into a flame which may endanger an house and that a street and that a town and therefore happy is he first stifles it in the hearth of his own bosome lest by its heating the flesh of another be scorched in his re-offending or tart replying There was a breach made of the Kings peace in the Kings own house after the cruel servant had imprisoned his fellow for an hundred pence that is in our coyn three pound two shillings sterling when his Lord had forgiven him ten thousand talents which in our vulgar account is eighteen thousand seven hundred and fifty pounds sterling six thousand times more then was owing him yet charged upon him afresh though poor for not having mercy upon his debter when humble The stormiest man in his age it seems was Celius who was so testy though an Orator that at his own Table he avoided peace and there meeting one for patience was offended checking his guest with an aliquid contradict oppose me in something that we may discourse as if quietnesse and calmnesse in conferring had made his Table solitary yet
shew such that to run into temptation ought not to be our practice but quietly to rest in our calling and patiently endure the time of tryal not opening a door of temptation to our selves the presumptuous being fearlesse heedlesse are evermore in hazard whereas the intelligent in the perfection of Christian stayedness say in a sound sense with Ahaz I will not sin nor tempt the Lord. And he gave one golden sentence among hundreds to the Church who uttered tentationes declina flee from temptations like a child but if they come shew manhood and endure them patiently Lead us not into temptation THe danger or great evil of being led into temptation couched in this Petition offers it self Reader unto consideration the Iews tempted Christ and were destroyed of serpents tu igitur cave believe and tremble Naturalists speak of a little but bold Bird that will sall upon the biggest Goat and suck her leaving as a reward drynesse and blindnesse to her feeder for ever to this Caprimulgus or Pfassus that being the Birds vulgar name may temptation be compared which falls upon us in our wandring tickling our breasts with complacency and sinful delight yet we are made empty of the sincere milk of the Word of God in one sense and by it is picked up the good seed of the Word in another and being blinded in our understandings we become as hooded Hawks and carried whither temptation pleaseth This Petition hath fear for its rise as all the rest hath necessity and love A wise man will decline the food that disposes the humours for that disease unto which he naturally inclineth and avoids the house infected with that malady of which he is apprehensive and all being subject mille modis more then ten thousand wayes unto it wâ—shall to creat warrinesse 1. Discover the danger which is here feared 2. How we shall be delivered from it the thing here desired The first shall appear from the Coherence from the Exigesis it follows immediatly after the Petition for pardon of sin forgive us our trespasses because relapses are dangerous sin is compared to broken bones sores diseases wounds the relapsing into which is a prognostick of direful sufferings David sell by a woman Lot by wine Peter by a wench but we do not read they turned back into those sins after the washing not loving these iniquities in their practice again which once by repentance they had vomited up or re-acting that folly for which lately before God they pretended to be sorry Let one example of a relapsed sinner throughout the whole Bible be sound that after conviction supplication pardon and absolution went back to his former irregularity and redintegrated for all that into favour with God again and something may be said but since it cannot be had let the pardoned sinner fear the snare and pray against temptation The Exigesis as it is called clears this for after Lead us not into temptation followeth Deliver us from evil as if temptation and the Devil temptation and ill temptation and evil were so joyned as hardly to admit a separation And in earnest we read of sew assaulted but were either killed wounded or skarred Iob it is true cursed not God yet he cursed the day of his birth which God made and uttered some words which God did not relish It is an excellent observe that the fall of the two wisest Adam and Solomon was so great that though upon little ground their salvation is questioned which is a punishment their fall deserved The strongest Peter that is the most rocky Christian being but an earthen vessel may get a crack by temptation which in our circuit through the world should obsequiously make us listen to our Saviours direction and pray after this manner for the way of man is not in himself neither is it in man that walketh to direct his steps A poor man in Leipzick having murthered and robbed the Master Mistriss and Children of a Family declared when attaqued and apprehended that he had lyen hungry three days under a stair studying how yet abhoring to do the deed and in deliberating whether to do it it was whispered by an unknown voice Fac fac do it do it upon which being encouraged he attempted and executed that bloody crime Tempting to sin is usually attended with sin if not with the sin designed yet a sinful way may be forged to elude the design which maketh temptations to be dangerous and so much the more are they portentuous as there is used a five-fold pollicy to ensnare the most Cautelous 1. Temptation beautifieth the sin The wine is sweet and pleasant to the gust of Noah Ahab rejoiced no doubt in the conceited pleasure of the not yet possessed Garden of herbs and how did Iudas hugg his thirty pieces of silver when represented unto him in the fairest colours that the Devil or the World could possibly draw to overballance the bloudinesse of that crime nature it self detests and without the fascination of money would not commit Hence one calleth temptation a deceitful glosse set upon vice to make it look amiable Pirats at Sea will put out the Kings Colours promising peace and assuring friendship so temptation will put forth the vexillum of Profit Security Quiet Rest Satisfaction and Content and thus Wolf-like cloathed with the Sheeps Coat prey upon the credulous inadvertent and the carelesse soul. Avoid therefore Reader first the pleasure of sin and next the sorrow of sin in a withdrawing from temptation yea when omnia prospera sunt time all things thrives live thou in fear 2. It maketh them frequently to commit the sin Peters love made him follow his master but fear of himself made him do it afar off and at last overcame his love and made him be plunged in the gulf of temptation And as the Fishes in Iordan glides smoothly down the River and sports in the Sea of Tiberias and then hopefully advancing as they think they suddenly fall into the dead and stinking Sea of Sodom So had Peter been by the stream carried to perdition if our Saviour had not turned which made Peter be though wet safely landed upon the shore God stood by and suffered Noah to drink but sent Noah's own son to mock him for his intemperance which occasioned the Father to curse his Son which for his insobriety was a punishment to himself Sampson saw an Harlot and went in unto her and Delilah at last made that Nazarite be shaven and the Judge of Israel to be derided of the Philistines justly he had put out the eyes of his soul by gazing upon the face of a daughter of the uncircumcised and they uncircumcised put out the eyes of his body that he circumcised should gaze upon no other 3. It may benumme the conscience under sin How soon did David's heart smite him for cuting the lap of Sauls garment but
are not to quarrel with them nor oppose their good therefore but what can be said propter peccatum venditi sumus we are by our sins separated from God and by judgment he hath divorced us from one another and not praying against evil with and for our Brethren all of us suffer evil from our God as from our adversary because we will not agree with our brother in the way from which evil with all other good Lord deliver us And so much for the Matter of this Petition the Order hath respect unto the whole prayer and is briefly this viz. there is no freedom from evil to be expected without calling upon the Father hallowing of his Name advancing of his Kingdom doing of his Will acknowledging of his Providence craving pardon for our offences watching against temptation all which do so secure us that evil shall not come nigh our dwelling CHAP. IX For thine is the Kingdom Power and Glory for ever IN our entry this Prayer was compared to Ierusalems Temple it had an outward Court here is a Preface a goodly Porch like it having no doors because representing Heaven the words Our Father being open to all Believers There was the holy place here are seven Petitions there was the most holy place here is the conclusion the comparison running not upon all four for thine is the Kingdom Power and the Glory c. Words significant yet ommitted in the Vulgar Latine and generally neglected by the Latine Fathers because as it is thought not recorded by St. Luke from which argument how much of the Gospel must be snatched from and scratched out of St. Iohn because not recorded by St. Matthew yet retained in the writings of the Greek Fathers Chrysostom Theophylact and the Author of Opus imperfectum which passed for the work of the first named Author generally untill the last age and is yet ordinarily bound up with his works The Romish Interpreters put a reproach generally upon this clause thinking it hath stole into the Gospel from a custom of the Greek Church whose Clergy said this when the people uttered deliver us from evil But the dangerous consequence of such conclusions explods the very imagination of such base and blasphemous interpretations and much of the Gospel by it may be adjudged mens conceits not to rake into Montanus his animadverte Erasmus his nugae Barradius his irrepsit and having spoken of that difference betwixt the two Evangelists and the reasons thereof Either this must be a part of the Prayer or most Greek copies must be suspected or which is more this prayer is not perfect as wanting a sorm of Praise and Thanksgiving which makes it so opposit in St. Matthew who registrats the prayer fully that it ought not to be extruded though not found in some copies through prejudice or misunderstanding many having it and learned Interpreters paraphrasing upon it yea Aquinas gives it his interpretation without any reflection upon its being a fondling but as holy Writ though in his text following the Vulgar it be not inserted though yet it be retained in more Authentick and more correct copies the Syriack and the hebrew which were the Originals Being not bound to err with any holding this conclusion as part of the holy Canon and holy Writ we shall of it as of the prayer consider the matter and next its influence on prayer In the first it may be explained 1. As a reason of our praying 2. As a reason of our praying to the Father 3. As a reason of our so praying In the first of these as they are illative and â—ollowing the particle FOR they weigh 1. The Kingdom to â—e his and therefore as subjects the supplicants are to be preserved It is a Kings duty to guard his coasts secure his subjects and protect their goods they having no power of themselves except to say Deliver us from evil For thine is the Kingdom 2. The Power to be his and therefore the supplicants as unable ought to be upheld It is power which makes a King and the higher power being God yea as in our Creed being God Almighty the inhabitants of Earth have recourse to him for bread for forgivenesse for thine is the Power 3. The Glory to be his and therefore the supplicants as thankful ought to be answer'd The beggar receiving a morsel renounceth merit and blesseth his benefactour the Christian knowing whose bread he eats ought not to forget but being religiously thankful bless God for food natural as bread or Physick or spiritual for mercy and forgivenesse or political as freedom of body credit in report or conveniency in house and is retributio divinorum but all the reward expected for bountiful liberality For for hastening of his Kingdom teaching of his will and deliverance from evil his shall be that is thine is the Glory It was said of Gordian the third Emperour that he wanted nothing to compleat a Prince but Age and it was said by him miserable is that King from whom truth is concealed but in the King of this Kingdom there is no apprehension of deâ—ect he clearly knowing all distresses the meanest subject can fall under which is his Glory and can by omnipotence deliver him out of all for his is the Power there being no possibility of avoiding his search and censure for his is the Kingdom Again we pray to him not to Saints or Angels the Soveraignty not being theirs give us deliverance assistance say we to the Father For thine is the Kingdom Peter Mary Gabriel Anna or St. Barbara being but Subjects our Sisters and our Brethren neither is the Power theirs by grace they are what they are but he by nature that is by himself can discharge all debts quench the horest fire restore the dead stop the mouths of Lions framed us in the womb maketh the Heavens as a Canopy above us and hangeth the earth upon nothing under us For which power let him have all the Glory and make our accesse by faith unto him It is said that young Titus the delight of mankind as he is called after worthy warlike exploits was so courted so beloved that it was rumored he intended to rebel against his father but he hasted to confute the calumny and after a great expedition unexpectedly accosted Vespasian the Emperour with a veni Pater veni Father here am I Father here am I as if thereby he had shewed him filial faithfulnesse and bear testimony there was no project of disloyalty against his Syre the Kingdom being his and certainly in the worshipping of Saints there is treachery against the King of Saints he having no Master of requests in Heaven but Iesus nor no name there whereby we can be saved but Christ's of Nazareth There may be a King without a Kingdom without Power and Glory in his Kingdom The King of Spain when all Christian Princes have quit it styles himself