comes or keeps off from God the more or less of his Goodness he participates Now in this act of prayer we endeavour to lay hold of his Goodness and Promises Necessary it is therefore we bring our hearts by preparation as near to him as we can 1. That we may be near unto him and in this nearness consists an advantage of Communion with him 2. That we may be like him and that likeness is every day increased by our beholding of him whereby we are in some measure translated into the same Glory 3. That we may be in our proper place God hath communicated his goodness to all things according to their several degrees of perfection in those stations wherein his own Great and Infinite Wisdom placed them and the place of Man was nearer to God by his nature than he can now arrive unto in this Life in his own Person though we have a High-Priest that continually bears our names before our Father And certainly if it be at any time seasonable for a Man to wind up his heart in the greatest nearness to God that he can do it is when he comes before him in Praises for the things he hath and Petitions for the things he wants Learn therefore in general to bring up thy heart as near as thou canst to the great God in preparation and meditation before thou offerest thy Prayer that thy sacrifice may be mingled with a true fire and thy Soul may be raised up with the due consideration of what thou art about and who thou art to deal withal Touching the Particulars in this Preamble Our Father Two things are herein considerable 1. How God is said to be our Father 2. What Frame or temper of heart and spirit this blessed relation and conception of him as a Father ought to raise in us especially when we come before him in Prayer As to the first God hath the appellation or relation of a Father principally in these respects 1 By Creation Thus he is the Father of all things But in as much as Paternity and Filiation are relations of persons not of bare subsistency properly therefore in this respect he is called Father in relation to Angels and Men to Men Isa 64.8 But now O Lord thou art our Father we are the clay and thou our potter Mal. 2.10 have not all one Father hath not one God created us Luke 3.38 which was the Son of Adam which was the Son of God And as to Men so in a more near relation to the Souls of Men and the blessed Angels who participate more immediately of his Image and perfection Jam. 1.17 The Father of lights Heb. 12.9 The Father of Spirits Zec. 12.2 The former of Spirits Job 38.7 And all the Sons of God shouted for joy 2. By special susception or undertaking either without an intervenient Contract thus he is pleased to own a more special Paternity towards those that have most need of him Psal 68.5 A Father of the Fatherless or by an intervenient Contract thus he was a Father in a more near Relation to the Jewish People who as a Child is called by the Name of his Father so they did as it were bear his Name Jer. 14.9 We are called by thy Name leave us not Isa 63.16 Doubtless thou art our Father though Abraham be ignorant of us and accordingly he evidenced himself towards them in all the care and tenderness of a Father Deut. 32.11 As an Eagle fluttereth over her Young c. Hos 11.1 When Israel was a Child I loved him Rom. 9.4 and called my Son out of Egypt But these Relations are yet too large and spacious 3. By Adoption in Christ Which Relation is thus wrought by an Eternal Stipulation between the Father and the Son the Son was to take upon him our Nature by a supernatural Conception and to stand as a publick Person and Mediator between the Father and lapsed Man and appointed that as many as should by true Faith lay hold on him there should be a kind of Union wrought between Christ and that Believer and in that Union the Father looks upon all that which was in the Believer as imputed to Christ and all that which was in Christ as imputed to the Believer Was there Sin and Guilt in the Believer it is laid on Christ and he bears all Iniquities Isa 53.6 Is there Righteousness in Christ the Believer hath that Righteousness the Righteousness which is of God by Faith Is Christ the First-born of God Psa 89.25 26. Though we cannot partake of his Primogeniture yet we partake of his Sonship John 1.12 As many as received him to them he gave power to become the Sons of God John 20.17 I ascend unto my Father and to your Father to my God and to your God Gal. 4.5 That we might receive the Adoption of Sons And by vertue of this Union we partake of the inheritance of Sons Joynt-Heirs with Christ Gal. 4.7 of the Spirit of Sons Gal. 4.6 And because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts c. And by vertue of this Filiation we have the Priviledges of Sons Access with boldness unto the Father Ephes 2.19 Care and tenderness of our Father over us Matth. 6.32 For your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things Audience from him John 16.26 At that day ye shall ask in my Name c. For the Father himself loveth you Now this Appellation and Relation of a Father in the first Entrance into Prayers carries up our hearts unto these Considerations 1. That we should by all means labour to be in this relation to God viz. that he should be our Father for why do we call him so unless he be so to us and that we should not be contented barely with the Relation unto him as we are Men for so were even the Athenians who inscribed their Altar To the Unknown God His Off-spring Acts 17.28 nor with the Relation arising out of an external Profession and Covenant but with that nearest Relation of Paternity arising by our Union with Christ 2. And consequently that all our Applications to God in Prayer must be in and through Christ for through him is this Relation wrought and it is a Relation of Nearness and Union which is the greatest Nearness Ephes 2.13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were a far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ and 19. of the House-hold of God our Union unto God growes by our Union to Christ who is one with the Father John 17.23 I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one and this is the meaning of asking in his Name John 16.26 through him we have an access to the Father Ephes 2.18 3. We learn with what Affections we should come to him in our Prayers And these arise either from the consideration of our duty as Children or from the consideration of that which we
one Wave be past another may follow And if there were nothing else to make thee Watchful yet be sure the hour of Sickness and the hour of Death will overtake thee and that is an hour of Affliction which thou must alwayes prepare for lest it take thee unawares OF SUBMISSION PRAYER THANKSGIVING HF that freely Submits not to the Divine Disposition and Providence gains nothing by his Contumacy for submit he must whether he will or no. But he gains this Loss and Disadvantage thereby that those Providences that are not according to his desire gall him more by the Unquietness and Impatience of his mind under them He that with an entire freeness of Soul submits to the Divine Providences gains thereby these Advantages namely 1. That certainly such a resolved willing submission never makes the Providences the more harsh or severe 2. That commonly they are even in themselves more gentle and easie because the Man needs not a severity to bring him to a right temper of mind namely due subjection to the Divine Will 3. But be the Providences never so harsh and hard they sit more easie upon a quiet patient resigning Soul A Man never loseth by Prayer for if the thing be Granted it makes the Blessing both the sweeter and the safer being the Humble Victory and Acquest of his Prayer and it makes the Man the Better the more Thankful for he looks upon it as a Gift and not a Chance the more Dependent upon God and the readier upon all occasions to call upon him who hath honoured the Prayer of his Servant with a Concession And if it be Denied yet he loseth not for it may be the thing he asked might have done him harm and been his prejudice Again though he be not gratified in the thing he desired a Thousand to one but he is gratified with what was fitter or better But if not yet the man receives infallibly this benefit by being denied that he is made the better the more Humble and Patient and to be content that Almighty God should be Master of his own Bounty and not to be commanded by our Prayers Or at least it discovers unto him the Distemper of his Heart if he be not contented to be denied his Heart was Proud and his Prayer Hypocritical he seemed to Pray but indeed meant to Command not to pray for what he desired which makes him thus Impatient of a denial Sense of Misery Want or Danger when we find no other means of Remedy or prevention doth carry us to prayer and Invocation upon God The Sailors did this in the Storm But commonly though Deliverance follows even upon our very Prayers we rarely with that seriousness and intention of mind return unto God the praise and Acknowledgment of his Goodness Of the Ten Leapers that were cleansed we read only of One that returned Thanks for the Benefit and commonly we either forget the Benefit and our Benefactor when our turn is served and are content to attribute our Deliverance to Chance to Means or to any thing rather than to the Goodness of God And the Reasons may be these 1. The Pride and Naughtiness of our Hearts that are unwilling to own our Dependance upon God when we think we stand not in need of him 2. Necessity and Fear and the Incumbent sense of Evil are more pressing and urgent and by a kind of force oftentimes drive us to Pray when we cannot probably find help elsewhere But when the Necessity and Fear and Incumbence of Evil is removed it is only a true Judgment and the Grateful temper of our Hearts that do ingage us to render Thanks for the Mercy received which is ordinarily more flat and less active than Evils felt or feared Natural Necessity prompts a Man to Prayer oftentimes but it is sincerity and a right temper of the Soul that prompts a Man to Gratitude and Thankfulness He that in his Necessity prayes for Help and orbtains it if his prayers were the fruit barely of his Exigence is seldom Thankful and if he be not Thankful it is an Evidence that his Prayers did not move from a Heart sincere and truly principled with a Dependence upon God and a habit of Dutifulness to him But if he be Thankful for the Mercy received it is an Evidence that not only his Gratitude but his Prayers sprang from the same Principle namely a Good and sincere Heart principled with the same habit of Grace Piety Dependance upon God and Obedience to him There is an admirable Oeconomy of the Divine Goodness and Wisdom to bring his Creature Man both to his Duty and Happiness many times he invites us to come to him by Perswasions and Monitions and secret Motions and when we neglect that voice he oftentimes sends upon us Troubles and Afflictions and Dangers and this he doth by a kind of moral force to make us flie to him by prayer for help and relief deliverance And it seldom misseth its effect if there be but any Wisdom or the Common Instinct implanted generally in the Humane Nature When we know not which way to turn we then flie to God 2 Chro. 20.12 because all other ways are most commonly obstructed and hedged up and this passage only left open to an escape In their Affliction they will seek me early Hos 5.15 Almighty God deals by us as a wise Artist that hath a purpose to turn a stream towards some designed place stops all other egresses but that which fits his design or as a Father that is minded to bring an Extravagant Son to his Duty and Dependance obstructs all supplies but such as may be had from himself So oftentimes God Almighty doth so methodise his Afflictions that all ways of relief are obstructed but such as may lead a Man to him It is true many times in such cases we will be shifting and trying every avenue to get out at but when we find every passage hedged up with Thorns but that only which leads to him our Stomachs come down and we are glad to seek relief in that way where we find only it can be had Like Jonas his Mariners in the Storm we try all experiments and Artifices to save our selves throw out our Anchors take down the Sails ply the Pump throw over the Goods to lighten the Vessel and when all will not do then we begin to call upon God Lord save us we perish But yet the method of the Divine Goodness resteth not here but brings us a step forward He is often graciously pleased to grant the Deliverance we pray for to let us see that we call not upon his Name in vain and to incourage us to depend upon him to draw near unto him to make him our Confidence as well as our Fear And though sometimes he defers our Deliverance yet he doth it partly to give unto our selves an Experiment of our own Sincerity and Patience partly to Discipline and Tutor us to Constancy and Patient
things to be done The Son of God that came out of the Bosome of his Father and knew all his Mind received a Commission from him to instruct Mankind in the way to Life Joh. 17.8 I have given unto them the Words which thou gavest me Joh. 3.34 He whom God hath sent speaketh the Words of God Matth. 11.27 No man knoweth the will of the Father save the Son and him to whom the Son revealeth it 3. As he came with Light to instruct us so he came with Power to conquer in us Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power and to conquer for us Death and Hell The Business that we are to consider respecteth principally the first and second part of his Meditation viz. in bringing the Will and Mind of God to us to teach us what to ask which concerns his Prophetical Office And again having formed desires in us according to that Will of God to present them unto his Father which concerns his Priestly Office After this manner pray Luke 11.1 2. One of his Disciples said unto him Lord teach us to pray and he said When ye pray say c. In general we may learn 1. That Christ doth not exclude other Prayers The injunction of this excludes not all other prayers Our Saviour himself and those that were acquainted with his Mind and Practice used variety of prayers according to the several occasions differing from this form and therefore the Apostle commands Ephes 6.18 Praying always with all prayers and supplications Prayers formed for every occasion And that Spirit that maketh intercession for us with groans that cannot be uttered is not confined to any particular form not to vary from it 2. Though thou art not restrained to this form only yet in all thy prayers pray after this manner There is somewhat in this Prayer that must be ingredient to all thy prayers 1. Be sure thou hast a Commission a Promise for what thou prayest desire those things that are warrantable by the Will of God revealed in his Word Christ was acquainted with the Mind of God and gives us a pattern to ask those things which are warrantable Ask for thy good but ask not for thy Lust James 4.2 2. Though the things thou askest be warrantable and agreeable to the revealed Will of God Yet in the particularity of thy desires refer thy self and submit unto the Will of God because thou art not wise enough to know what is fit for thee in particular Especially in the measure time and manner of the thing thou askest The Son of God hath taught us to pray for the fulfilling of the Will of God before the supply of our own Wants and in his own Prayer in the Garden Matth. 26. Nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt Whatsoever thou desirest yet confine not God Thou shalt be sure thy Prayer shall not lose his fruit though the thing desired seem not to be granted The Cup did not pass from our Saviour though he asked it Matth. 26.39 Yet he was heard in that he feared Heb. 5.7 3. As much as thou canst let thy prayer be a reasonable service a work of thy Spirit and Understanding 1 Cor. 14.15 not only of thy Lips and Tongue for thou hast to do with the God of the Spirits of all flesh that will be worshipped in spirit and in truth Pray with thy Lips that thou mayst by that means fix thy Mind the better to the work but let thy words be the production of thy Soul Let thy Heart pray as well as thy Tongue And this was one of the Reasons of our Saviour's inditing this Prayer in this short and pithy form to condemn the vanity of the Gentiles who had confidence in their vain repetitions of words without the intention and application of the heart Matt. 6.8 4. Here we see Christ the Wisdom of the Father delivers out a Form of Prayer framed with a great deal of Wisdom containing very much matter in a few words Learn that though thou art not to put confidence in studied Devotions nor to make thy prayers the work of thy invention or wit but of thy Heart and Soul yet let the Reverence and Awe thou bearest to him before whom thou comest in thy prayers the seriousness of the business about which thou goest put thee in mind to Prepare thy self and thy Soul and to tune it by these considerations to an humble frame of spirit to a fore-casting of thy desires to an humble approach to the presence of God to all beseeming Reverence both in thy words and gesture The Heart it is true should be in a continual frame of prayer and almost every occurrence of our Life requires a lifting up of the Heart to God in Prayer or in Thanksgiving which cannot be so ordered with preparation but a solemn Prayer though in private requires a just preparation of the Heart and a performance of it with the whole contribution of the whole Soul and strength and understanding and affection 3. Though thou art not bound to use no other form yet use this frequently upon these Considerations 1. It is the Command of thy Lord and Master There is somewhat of Command in these words He that commands to pray after this manner meant not that this Prayer should be forgotten That which was made a pattern to thy other prayers was not intended to be a thing only to be looked upon and not to be used Thou mayest use other Prayers to give scope to thy spirit but conclude with this 2. It is a great means of strengthning the Heart in Prayer When I shall consider I am now using that very Prayer which the Son of God when he was in the flesh at the request of his Disciples gave unto them not only as a rule and pattern but as a form When ye pray say c. I call the great God my Father and it is no presumption in me so to do the Eternal Son of God that knew all his Father's mind commanded me to call him so and to come before him as my Father I am begging for the conveniencies of my Life for the pardon of my Sins for my preservation in and from temptation Had they not been things that I might hope to be granted the Son of God would never have taught me to ask them O Lord it is true I can see nothing in my self why I should expect that thou shouldest hear me my Sins are renewed every day and I beged pardon but yesterday and I have sinned against thee the same Sin this day But yet thy Son that knowes all thy Will that would never have put me to beg that which were unfit for me to ask or thee to grant he it is that taught me to begg my daily bread of thee and as often in the same Prayer to begg thy forgiveness I will not learn hereby to presume in offending but yet I will learn to be confident in thy Mercy 3. It is a
himself the Glory and Honour and Praise thereof might return unto himself who only can be the adequate End of himself of all he doth Thanksgiving therefore and Praise answers the greatest and most noble End in the World If I want and pray for what I want my immediate End therein is my own Good and yet that End is too narrow if I propound not to my self to Praise and Glorifie the Bounty of that God which answers my Prayer 3. Again whereas all the Irrational and inanimate Creatures in the World do passively praise Almighty God in that they bear every one of them the Inscription of his Wisdom Goodness Power The Reasonable and Intellectual Natures of Men and Angels have that noble Advance that they can and may Actively and Intentionally Glorifie and Praise the Goodness of God and it is indeed the noblest Harmony that they can make when they summon all their Understanding Will Affections all that is within them to Praise that God to whom they owe their Being and Benefits And the Wise and Glorious God doth therefore Communicate the sensible Experimental Eminent Influences of his Mercy Goodness and Bounty unto the Reasonable and Intellectual Natures of Men and Angels that they might touch and strike upon those noble strings of the Heart and Mind and Affections that may thereupon return the Harmony of Thanksgiving and Praise to the great Lord of the World And surely the Nature of Man in its true state and temper is as naturally and effectually moved to the returning of Thanksgiving to God for Mercies received as a well tuned Lute or other Instrument doth give an Harmonious sound upon the touches of a skilful Artist And most certainly that nature is strangely out of Tune and Order that upon Mercies received makes not a sweet return of Thanksgiving and Praise This therefore as it is the noblest so it is the most natural production of the Reasonable Nature the fullest of Congruity to the right disposition of its Faculties Almighty God sends upon the Children of Men Benefits Blessings Deliverances Favours And the fruit that he doth and that most justly expect is a Crop of Praise Glory Honour and Thanksgiving Call upon me in the day of Trouble and I will Deliver thee and thou shalt Glorifie me And it is a barren degenerate stupid Heart that yields not such fruit of such a Semination So that Praise and Thanksgiving is Con-natural to our very Faculties the tribute that the Rational Nature naturally payes to the Divine Being as his Benefactor the very fruit that the great Lord of the Harvest expects for all his Goodness and Mercy 4. The truth is Thanksgiving is the very End of Prayer and as the End is more noble than the means conducible to the End so therefore is the Duty the business of Thanksgiving in its self though equally necessary yet more noble than Prayer it self I want something that I would desire Almighty God to give me and I therefore pray my Merciful Lord grants me my desire and gives me what I pray for and therefore gives it and gives it upon my Prayer to him that therefore his Mercy and Goodness may be more Evident unto me and that thereupon I may Praise and Glorifie and give Thanks unto him And if with the Nine Lepers in the Gospel I receive the Benefit I ask and do not with the Tenth give Glory to God for the Benefit I receive I disappoint both the Giver of what he designed in the Gift and disappoint my very Prayers in that which is their just and proper End And hence it is that our Blessed Lord in that absolute form of Prayer which he hath taught us premiseth the first and greatest Petition of the Hallowing or Glorifying of the Name of God and the first the great the regnant Petition that is to influence all the rest that follow especially those that are for the supplies of our own wants 5. Whereas in Prayer we ask that we may receive from God Almighty God hath been pleased to Honour and Dignifie our Duty of Thanksgiving with so much condescention of his Majesty that he receives or at least interprets it as a Receipt from his poor Creature It is true our Praises add nothing to his Perfection and self-sufficiency Nay our very Thanksgiving and Praise is but a gift that he gives to himself He gives us a Being that may be Capable to Praise him gives us Hearts and Affections that may be willing to Praise him gives us Grace that may enable us to Praise him gives us Benefits that may Excite us to Praise him gives us Directions how to Praise him gives us Laws Commands Promises Encouragements to Praise him So that in truth our very Thanksgivings and Praises to him are but his own work and yet such is his Goodness that he takes and accepts and Rewards our Praises and Thanksgivings as if they were our own Actions And whereas in Prayer we receive from him in Thanksgiving he is pleased so far to Honour this Duty as if he received somewhat from us and accordingly accepts and rewards it Meditations UPON THE Lord's Prayer MEDITATIONS UPON THE Lord's Prayer Matth. 6.9 After this manner therefore pray ye Our Father c. BY the Sin of Adam and the Corruption and Obliquity that thereupon entred into the humane nature Mankind had contracted a three-fold mischief 1. Guilt that needed an Expiation 2. Blindness that needed an Illumination 3. Perverseness and Rebellion that needed Power and Victory to subdue it In the fulness of time God sent his Son into the World with healing for all these Diseases 1. He sent his Son to be our Sacrifice and our Priest and not only so in his own Person but by derivation unto those that believe on him he hath imprinted upon them and communicated unto them a participation of his own Office and hath made them Kings and Priests 1. By making an Atonement for them with his Father whereby they are accepted John 16.26 27. I say not unto you I will pray the Father for you for the Father himself loveth you not to Exclude the continuance and Efficacy of his Intercession but to intimate the fulness of our Reconciliation that having made us of his houshold Ephes 2.19 we may have access to the Master and Father of the Family Ephes 2.18 for through him we have access unto the Father 2. By sending his own Spirit to instruct and warm and fit our spirits to come into the presence for through him we have access by one Spirit Ephes 2.18 teaching what to ask and inabling us to ask as we should Rom. 8.26 For we know not what we should pray for as we ought 2. As he made him a Sacrifice for our Guilt so he sent him to be a Light for our darkness John 1.5 the World was all in Darkness and Error the most Exact Sublimate Wits inscribed their Altar To the Unknown God They were ignorant of things to be known and of
Psal 73.28 The Priests under the Law when they were to come near unto God in their Administrations were to be washed and clean from their natural and external Impurities and a Leper was not suffered to come into the Tabernacle but what is that to the Leprosie and Impurity of thy Spirit that very part of thee that only can have an immediate access to God and what Communion can there be between an holy God and an unholy Soul Psal 66.18 If I regard Iniquity in my Heart God will not hear me Consider therefore that thy approach is unto Heaven the dwelling place of his Majesty and of his Glory and Holiness becomes such an Habitation Psal 93.5 But who then is fit for such a communion What is Man that he should be clean and he which is born of a Woman that he should be righteous Behold he putteth no trust in his Saints yea the Heavens are not clean in his sight how much more abominable and filthy is Man which drinketh iniquity like water Job 15.14 15 16. But for this thy Saviour hath given thee an Expedient he taketh away the iniquity of thy Holy things and mingles thy Sacrifice with his own insense and covers thy impurities with his own righteousness and if for all this the cense of thy own vileness cover thy Heart with shame and the burden of thy Sins and Corruptions keeps thy Soul under that it cannot with that clearness and confidence look up unto Heaven but with the Publican in the Gospel stand afarr off and scarce darest ask for any thing but what the sense of Guilt inforceth viz. Mercy to pardon thee yet such is the Goodness of God in Christ to thy low and humbled Soul that though thou hast scarce confidence enough to draw nigh unto God yet he hath compassion enough to draw nigh unto thee Psal 34.18 The Lord is nigh to them that are of a broken Heart And though thy laden Soul can scarce get up into Heaven into the presence of thy Creator yet he will bring down Heaven into thy Soul Isa 57.15 Thus saith the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth Eternity whose Name is Holy I dwell in the High and Holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones 3. Let thy Prayer be full of Reverence with thy whole Man for as thou comest to a Father and in that relation thou owest him Reverence so thou comest to a Heavenly Father the great Lord and Judge of all things 1 Pet. 1.17 And if ye call on the Father who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's works pass the time of your sojourning here in fear And as a Father and such a Father calls for thy Reverence so especially when thou considerest that thou comest to this great King in his Throne in the place of his Majesty and Glory And therefore this Expression is added to take up the whole Latitude of thy thoughts with the highest apprehensions of the Glory and Majesty of the Lord before whom thou comest and that thou maist consider the Infinite distance that is between thee and the Lord of Heaven Isa 55.9 For as the Heaven is higher than the Earth so are my thoughts than your thoughts and my ways than your ways And upon this consideration to admire and magnifie the Goodness and Mercy of this great King that is pleased to admit poor sinful Worms to come into his presence and beg for our Lives and for our Souls with a Promise of Mercy and Acceptation 4. Let thy Prayers be full of Intention Thou dost or shouldest bring up thy Soul into Heaven into the Presence of the Great and Glorious God and what should thy wandring thoughts thy Earthly business do there leave them at the foot of the Hill when thou ascendest into the Mount of God Consider the person to whom thou comest exactly views and observes the frame and connexion and workings and motions of thy thoughts and desires and whether they go along with thy words or with thy External deportment and if they do not so much of thy Prayer is not only lost but a mockery and abuse of thy Maker And as the consideration of the Person to whom thou makest thy address so the Place where thou comest doth not sute with those impertinent and vain diversions Therefore when thou prayest do it considerately advisedly and with the whole Intention of thy Soul Eccles 5.2 Be not rash with thy mouth and let not thy heart utter any thing hastily before God for God is in Heaven and thou upon Earth 2. As this Expression teacheth us our duty towards God in Prayer so it teacheth us what to Expect from him 1. Hence learn the All-seeing Eye of God that is acquainted with all thy wants and with all thy desires It was a mistaken use that was made of his being in Heaven Job 22.14 Thick Clouds are a covering to him that he seeth not and he walketh in the circuit of Heaven No but Psalm 33.13 The Lord looketh from Heaven he beholdeth all the Sons of Men. Psal 11.4 The distance of the place is no disadvantage to his sight or hearing Again Though Heaven be the Seat of his Glory yet all places are filled with his Presence but especially he is nigh to them that call upon him to all that call upon him in truth Psal 145.18 is nigh to such as be of a broken Heart Psalm 34.18 is round about his people Psal 125.2 is nigh unto them in all they call upon him for Deut. 4.7 will bow down his Ear to hear Psal 31.2 will bow the Heavens and come down for their good Psal 18.9 So that thy Prayers have no great distance to go for all places are Heaven where God is and he is in all places especially where two or three are gathered together in his Name to call upon him 2. Hence learn the All-sufficient and Almighty Power of God Psal 115.3 Our God is in Heaven he hath done whatsoever he pleased As the relation of a Father carrieth with it a fulness of love to be willing to grant thy largest requests so the Consideration that he is a Heavenly Father carrieth with it a fulness of Power to grant them These considerations of the Love and Power of God bear up the Heart in Prayer as once Aaron and Hur did Moses hands Exodus 17.12 And therefore they are both placed in the Porch of this Prayer like the pillars of Jachin and Boaz in Solomon's Temple 1 Kings 7.21 To stablish and strengthen thy Heart in thy Prayer to God 3. As the consideration of Heavenly or which art in Heaven carries thy Heart to confidence in his Power and All-sufficiency to grant thy Petitions so it improves thy Faith in his Infinite Tenderness and Goodness When thou comest to the Father of thy flesh thy Earthly Father that relation imports and carries with it much
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