makes to God ought to be ratified with an Amen sent from our very hearts which if we sincerely and affectionately perform we have abundant assurance that what is confirmed by so many suffrages on Earth shall likewise be confirmed by our Father which is in Heaven And how beautiful how becoming would this be when the whole Church shall thus conspire together in their Requests St. Jerome tells us It was the custom in his days to close up every Prayer with such an unanimous consent that their Amens rung and echoed in the Church and sounded like the fall of Waters or the noise of Thunder This would be a Testimony of our hearty consent to the things we Pray for And if any two that shall agree upon Earth touching any thing that they shall ask they shall have it granted them as our Saviour hath promised Matth. 18.19 then certainly the joynt Prayers of a whole multitude of Christians must needs have a kind of Omnipotency in them and be able to do any thing with God And thus I have with God's Assistance given you a brief Exposition of this most excellent Prayer of our Saviour The Lord Sanctifie it unto you and make it a means to help you to Pray with more understanding with stronger Faith and with greater Fervency The End of the Larger Exposition A Catechistical EXPOSITION OF THE Lord's Prayer By way of QUESTION and ANSWER By the Right Reverend Father in God EZEKIEL Lord Bishop of Derry by which he examined the Youth each lord's-Lord's-Day during the whole Time he preached upon the Lord's Prayer Quest IS the Lords Prayer a Form of Prayer or onely a Pattern for Prayer Answ It is both That it is to be used as a Form appears Luke 11.2 When ye pray say Our Father which art in Heaven c. That it is a Pattern Matt. 6.9 After this Manner therefore pray ye Our Father which art in Heaven c. Q. What are the Parts of this Prayer A. They are Four 1. The Preface or Introduction 2. The Petitions and Requests 3. The Doxology or Praise-giving 4. The Conclusion and Ratification Q. What is the Preface to this Prayer A. Our Father which art in Heaven Q. What observe you from it A. That in the Beginning of our Prayers we ought seriously to consider and reverently to express the glorious Attributes of God as an excellent Means to compose us into an Holy Fear of his Divine Majesty Q. How many are the Petitions contained in this Prayer A. Six Whereof the three first respect God's Glory and the three last our own Good Q. What learn you from this Order and Method A. That we ought first to seek God's Glory before any Interests and Concerns of our own Q. How are those Petitions divided which immediately concern the Glory of God A. In the first of them we pray that God may be glorified in the other two for the Means whereby he is glorified Q. How divide you those Petitions which concern our own good A. One relates to our Temporal the other two to our Spiritual good Q. What observe you from placing the Petition for our Temporal good in the Midst of this Prayer A. That we are onely to bait at the World in our Passage to Heaven and onely refresh our selves with our daily Bread in our Way and Journey thither Q. What are the Petitions which relate to our Spiritual good A. They are two One whereby we beg the Pardon of our Sins the other whereby we beg Deliverance from them Q. What ascribe you to God in the Doxology A. Four of his most glorious Attributes 1. First His Sovereignty Thine is the Kingdom 2. Secondly His Omnipotence And the Power 3. Thirdly His Excellency And the Glory 4. Fourthly The Eternity and Unchangeableness of all these They are Thine for ever Q. What signifies that Particle Amen at the End of this Prayer A. It signifies two Things So be it Which notes our Desire for the obtaining of what we ask So it shall be Which notes our Assurance of being heard Q. What is the Preface to the Lord's Prayer A. Our Father which art in Heaven Q. What doth this teach us A. That in our Entrance into Prayer we should seriously consider both the Mercy of God as he is our Father and likewise his Majesty as he is in Heaven That the one may beget in us Filial Boldness and the other awfull Reverence and by the mixture of both we may be kept from Despair and Presumption Q. In what Respects may God be stiled Father A. In three especially 1. First in respect of the Eternal Generation of his Son And so this Title is proper onely to the first Person of the Trinity 2. In respect of Creation and Providence and so he is the Father of all Mal. 2.10 Have we not all one Father Hath not one God created us 3. In respect of Regeneration and Adoption And so he is the onely Father of the Faithfull John 1.12.13 But as many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God even to them that believed on his Name Which were born not of Blood nor of the VVill of Flesh nor of the VVill of Man but of God Rom. 8.15 16. For ye have not received the Spirit of Bondage again to Fear But ye have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father The Spirit it self beareth witness with our Spirit that we are the Children of God Q. In what Respects do we call God Father in this Prayer A. In the two last As he hath created us and doth preserve us and as he hath regenerated and adopted us Q. When ye stile God the Father do ye mean onely God the Father the first Person of the Trinity A. No. For God the first Person is eminently called the Father not in respect of us but in respect of Christ In respect of us the whole Trinity both Father Son and Holy Ghost is our Father which is in Heaven Isaiah 9.6 For unto us a Child is born unto us a Son is given and the Government shall be upon his Shoulder and his Name shall be called Wonderfull Counsellour The Mighty God The Everlasting Father The Prince of Peace John 3.5 Jesus answered Verily verily I say unto thee Except a Man be born of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Q. What is implied in this Particle Our Our Father A. That God is the Father of all Men He is the Father of the VVicked by Creation and Providence but especially of the Godly by Regeneration and Adoption Q. Is it proper in our secret Prayers to say Our Father A. It is For so we find Dan. 9.17 Now therefore O our God hear the Prayer of thy Servant and his Supplications and cause thy Face to shine upon thy Sanctuary that is desolate for the Lord's Sake Q. What learn we by stiling God our Father A. First to esteem one another as Brethren
and centre of it it being encompassed round about with Petitions for Heavenly and Spiritual Blessings And this may intimate to us that we are only to bait at the World in our Passage and Journey to Heaven that we ought to begin with Spirituals and end with Spirituals but only to take up and refresh our selves a little with our daily Bread in our way Thirdly In the Doxology or Praise there are Four things contained First God's Sovereignty Thine is the Kingdom Secondly God's Omnipotency And the Power Thirdly God's Excellency And the Glory Fourthly The Eternity and Unchangableness of them and of all God's other Attributes noted to us in that Expression For ever Fourthly and Lastly Here is the ratifying Particle Amen added as a Seal to the whole Prayer and it importeth a desire to have that confirmed or granted which we have prayed for And thus Benaiah when he had received Instructions from David concerning the establishing of Solomon in the Kingdom answereth thereto Amen and explains it 1 Kings 1.36 The Lord God of my Lord the King say so too So that when we add this Word Amen at the end and close of our Prayers it is as much as if we had said the Lord God say so too or the Lord grant these Requests For the proper signification of Amen is so be it or so it is or so it shall be the former notes our Desires the latter our confidence and assurance of being heard Now of all these Four parts of which this Prayer is composed I shall speak in their order First therefore Let us consider the Preface in these Words Our Father which art in Heaven And here God is described by two of his most eminent Attributes his Grace and Glory his Goodness and his Greatness by the one in that he is stiled Our Father by the other in that he is said to be in Heaven And both these are most sweetly tempered together to beget in us a Holy Mixture of Filial Boldness and aweful Reverence which are so necessary to the sanctifying of God's Name in all our Addresses to him We are commanded to come to the Throne of Grace with boldness Heb. 4.16 and yet to serve God acceptably with reverence and with fear Heb. 12.28 Yea and indeed the very calling of it a Throne of Grace intimates both these Affections at once It is a Throne and therefore requires Awe and Reverence but it is a Throne of Grace too and therefore permits holy Freedom and Confidence And so we find all along in the Prayers of the Saints how they mix the consideration of God's Mercy and his Majesty together in the very Prefaces and Preparations to their Prayers So Neh. 1.5 Lord God of Heaven the great and terrible God that keepeth Covenant and Mercy for them that love him So Dan. 9.4 O Lord the great and dreadful God keeping Covenant and Mercy for them that love him Now this excellent mixture of aweful and encouraging Attributes will keep us from both the Extreams of Despair on the one Hand and of Presumption on the other He is our Father and this may correct the despairing Fear which might otherwise seize us upon the consideration of his Majesty and Glory And he is likewise infinitely Glorious a God whose Throne is in the highest Heavens and the Earth his Foot-stool And this may correct the presumptuous irreverence which else the consideration of God as our Father might perhaps embolden us unto Now here I shall first speak of the Relation of God unto us as a Father and then of the Place of his Glory and Residence in Heaven and of both but briefly for I must not dwell upon every particular First To begin with the Relation of God to us as a Father Now God is a Father Three ways First God is a Father by Eternal Generation Secondly By Temporal Creation and Providence Thirdly By Spiritual Regeneration and Adoption First God is a Father by Eternal Generation having by an inconceivable and ineffable way begotten his Son God Co-equal Co-eternal with himself and therefore called The only begotten Son of God Joh. 3.16 Thus God is a Father only to our Lord Jesus Christ according to his Divine Nature And whensoever this Title Father is given to God with relation to the Eternal Sonship of our Lord Jesus Christ it denotes only the First Person in the ever Blessed Trinity who is therefore chiefly and especially called the Father Secondly God is a Father by Temporal Creation as he gives a Being and Existence to his Creatures creating those whom he made Rational after his own Image and Similitude And therefore God is said to be a Father of Spirits Heb. 12.9 And the Angels are called the Sons of God Job 1.6 There was a day when the Sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord. And so Adam upon the account of his Creation is called the Son of God Luke 3.38 where the Evangelist runs up the Genealogy of Mankind till it terminates in God Who was the Son of Adam who was the Son of God Thirdly God is said to be a Father by Spiritual Regeneration and Adoption and so all true Believers are said to be the Sons of God and to be born of God John 1.12 13. To as many as received him to them gave he Power to become the Sons of God even to as many as believed on his Name which were born not of the will of Man but of God So Rom. 8.17 we are said to receive the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father For the Spirit it self witnesseth with our Spirits that we are the Children of God Now in these two last Significations this Expression Our Father which art in Heaven is to be understood and so they denote not any one particular Person of the Blessed Trinity but it is a relative Attribute belonging equally to all the Three Persons God is the Father of all Men by Creation and Providence and he is especially the Father of the Faithful by Regeneration and Adoption Now as these Actions of Creation Regeneration and Adoption are common to the whole Trinity so likewise is the Title of Father God the first Person in the Blessed Trinity is indeed Eminently called the Father but not in respect of us but in respect of Christ his only begotten Son from all Eternity In respect of us the whole Trinity is our Father which is in Heaven both Father Son and Holy Ghost and in praying to our Father we pray to them all joyntly for Christ the Second Person in the Trinity is expresly called the Father Isa 9.6 Vnto us a Child is born unto us a Son is given and his Name shall be called Wonderful Councellor the Mighty God the Everlasting Father And we are said to be born of the Spirit John 3.5 Except a Man be born of Water and of the Spirit Now that God should be pleased to take this into his Glorious Style even to be called Our Father it may
Kingdom and then shew you how this Kingdom comes And lastly what we pray for in presenting this Petition to God Thy Kingdom come First We must distinguish of God's Kingdom Now the Kingdom of God is Two-fold either Universal or more Particular and Peculiar The one is his Kingdom of Power the other is his Kingdom of Grace First His Vniversal Kingdom which extends over all things in Heaven and Earth yea and Hell it self And so he is the sole Monarh of the whole World and all the Princes and Potentates of the Earth are but his Vice-Roys and Vicegerents that Govern under and should Govern for him For he is that Blessed and only Potentate the King of kings and Lord of lords as the Apostle Styles him 1 Tim. 6.15 and his Kingdom ruleth over all Psal 103.19 It is true in this Vniversal Kingdom there are many Rebels that would not have him to Reign over them Many that daily rise up in Arms break his Laws defy his Justice and reject his Mercy Many that were their Power equal to their Malice would Dethrone and Depose him from his Sovereignty Whole Legions of Infernal Spirits are continually mustering up all their Forces and drawing wretched sinful Men into the Conspiracy and their quarrel is for no less than Dominion and Empire who shall be King God or Satan yet all their attempts are but vain and frustrate and in spite of all their impotent rage God's Kingdom shall stand and as it was from Everlasting so shall it be to Everlasting for thine is the Kingdom and Power for ever and ever And therefore the most wicked of all God's Creatures are still his Subjects not subject indeed to his Laws for so they break his Bonds asunder and cast away his Cords from them but they are subject to his Power and Providence and that in Three respects As it grants Permission As it imposeth Restraints And as it inflicts Punishments First All are God's Subjects in that they can do nothing without his Permission Neither the Devil that Arch-Creature nor the worst of his Instruments can so much as touch an hair of our Head unless leave be granted them Yea we find that a whole Legion of Devils after they were dispossessed of their usurped abode durst not so much as house themselves in a Herd of Swine without first craving leave of our Saviour Mark 5.12 And all the Villainies and Out-rages that have ever been committed in the World have had their pass from God's Permission without which the Lusts of Men as furious and eager as they are must needs have miscarrying Wombs and dry Breasts Nor is it any taint at all to the pure Holiness of God that he doth thus permit the wickedness of Men which if he pleased he might prevent For though we are obliged to keep others from sin when it lies in our power to do it yet no such Obligation lies upon God though he can keep the wickedst Wretch on Earth from ever sinning any more yet he permits Wisely for the greater advancement of his own Glory and the Exercise of his Peoples Graces and at the last he punishes Justly Secondly His Kingdom is over all in that he can bend in and restrain his Rebellious Subjects as he pleaseth Sometimes he doth it by cutting short their Power of doing mischief He chains up those Mad Men and takes from them those Swords Arrows and Fire-brands which otherwise they might hurl abroad both to their own and others hurt Sometimes he raiseth up an opposite Power against them that they cannot break through to the Commission of their sins so the Jews would often have taken Christ and put him to Death but they feared the People whom his Miracles and Cures had obliged unto him Sometimes Providence casts in some seasonable diversion and thus he over-ruled Joseph's Brethren restraining them from killing him by the Providential passing by of Merchants that way And sometimes by removing the Objects against which they intended to sin So Herod intended to put Peter to death but that very night God sent his Angel to work his escape and prevented that wickedness Many other ways there may be of his Exercising his Sovereignty and Dominion over his most Rebellious Creatures who though they are Slaves to their Lusts yet God holds their Chain in his own hand slacking it by his permission and sometimes straitning it by his Powerful restraints And therefore we find in Scripture that God hath a certain measure for Mens sins beyond which they shall not exceed Zach. 5. There is mention made of an Ephah of Wickedness And this signifies to us that though wicked Men break the bounds of his Laws yet they cannot break the bounds of his Providence God hath set them their measure which they can neither fill without his Permission nor exceed because of his restraint Thirdly God declares his Kingdom to be over all by inflicting deserved punishments on the most stubborn and rebellious Sinners though they transgress his Laws and provoke his Holiness yet they shall never out-brave his Justice but he will certainly humble them if not to Repentance yet to Hell and Perdition Luke 19.17 Those mine Enemies that would not that I should Reign over them bring them hither and slay them before me And therefore we see how God hath erected Trophies and Monuments to the Praise of his dread Power and Servere Justice out of the Ruins of the most Proud and Insolent Sinners Pharaoh who was both the great Type and Instrument of the Devil how did God break that stubborn Wretch with Plague upon Plague and one Misery after another For to this very purpose God set him up that he might shew his Signs and Wonders upon him And thus God deals with many others in this Life by some Signal and Remarkable Punishments making them Examples to deter others from the like Crimes But thus he deals with all his Rebels in Hell for even that is one and a large part of his Kingdom It is his Prison wherein he hath shut up all his Malefactors whom his grim Serjeant Death hath Arrested It is the great Slaughter-house of Souls and the Shop of Justice Devils are there his Executioners and Fire and Rack and Torments the due Guerdon of those impenitent Rebels who shaking off his Yoke and casting of his Cords from them are crush'd for ever under the insupportable load of his Wrath and bound in Chains of massy Darkness reserved for the Judgment of the Great Day Thus we see God's Vniversal Kingdom consists of Three great Provinces Heaven Earth and Hell In Heaven only Grace and Mercy Reigns on Earth both Mercy and Justice in the various dispensations of them towards the Sons of Men in Hell pure and unmixed Justice triumphs in the Eternal Damnation of his Apostate Creatures This is God's Vniversal Kingdom But Secondly Besides this God hath a peculiar Kingdom and that is his Kingdom of Grace which though it be not so large and extensive as the
deliverance in all our dangers for supports under all our troubles and for comfort under all our sorrows because he is Eternal and therefore the same God who hath heretofore in all Ages of the World done great things for all those who trust in him And therefore the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory which were a forcible plea with God in former times a plea to which he could deny nothing when urged in Faith have still the same efficacy and validity now For these and all other of God's Attributes are his for ever Therefore O Christian now lay hold on God's strength and plead with him what he hath done for his Children in former Ages How he hath forgiven the Penitent revived the Contrite restored Joy and Salvation to dejected and despondent Spirits how he hath wrought for the Sanctification of his great Name by what wonderful providences and wise methods he hath established and inlarged his Kingdom how he hath strengthened the weak hands and feeble knees and made those who were without Might able by his Grace to perform the hardest Duties in fullfilling his Will and Commandments how he hath provided for all their necessities rebuked the temptations of the wicked one and kept them in the World from the evil of the World And then urge Lord thou art still the same God Eternal in thy Essence Immutable in thy Attributes thy Power thy Wisdom and thy Mercy are the same that ever they were and therefore vouchsafe unto us the same Favour This plea offers an holy violence to Heaven a violence that is pleasing and acceptable unto God which he will not he cannot resist If we endeavour to be of the same dispositions and affections with the Saints of old we may be sure to obtain of God's hands the same Mercy and Salvation See how Asaph instructs the Church to make use of the Memorials of God's former loving kindnesses and the great and wonderful works that he had wrought for their Fathers Psal 78.4 6 7. We will shew to the Generations to come the Praises of the Lord and his strength and the wonderful works that he hath done that one Generation may declare them to another that they may set their hope in God And therefore the consideration of the Eternity and unchangableness of God is of vast and infinite comfort and a mighty advantage for the strengthening our Faith in pleading with God for the same Mercies which he hath formerly bestowed upon others because he is the same yesterday to day and for ever And thus I have finished the Doxology and therein considered the four Glorious Attributes ascribed unto God in it his Sovereignty his Omnipotence his Excellency and his Eternity There remains but one thing more to be spoken of in this Prayer and that is the Conclusion and Ratification of all in that short Particle Amen Of this I shall speak but very briefly and so shut up this whole Subject This word Amen is sometimes prefixed before a Speech and sometimes affixed after it When it is prefixed before it is assertory and so we find it very often in the Evangelists for wheresoever our Saviour useth the word verily it is no other but Amen Verily verily Isay unto thee i. e. Amen Amen I say unto thee which is a vehement assertion of the Truth and necessity of what he speaks And our Saviour useth it to gain the more attention and belief to what he desires Thus John 3.5 Amen Amen I say unto thee except a Man be born of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven So John 16.23 Amen Amen I say unto you whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my Name he will give it you And so in many other places in the Evangelists How backward are we to believe since our infidelity is such that it constraineth the Son of God who is Truth it self to use asseverations and protestations to win our assent unto him Secondly As this Particle Amen used in the beginning of a Speech is Assertory of the undoubted Truth of it so when it is subjoined and used at the end of it is Precatory and signifies our earnest desire to have our Prayers heard and our Petitions granted Psal 41.13 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting Amen and Amen Psal 72.19 Let the whole Earth be filled with his Glory Amen and Amen Psal 106.48 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting and let all the People say Amen In the former sence of the words as it is prefixed to a Speech it signifies so it is In this Latter as it is added to a Petition or Request it signifies so be it Now this teacheth us to put up all our Petitions First with understanding duly weighing and considering what it is we ask of God For when we use vain and insignificant babling how can we seal and close them up with an hearty Amen And this condemns the mockery of the Papists who because God understands what is uttered in a language to them unknown think that they may lawfully pray to him in a Tongue which they themselves understand not But with what Zeal with what affection can they close up such Prayers with an Amen This is like setting a Seal to an Instrument which they know not what it contains and is expresly condemned by the Apostle 1 Cor. 14.16 How shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of Thanks seeing he understands not what thou sayest Secondly It teacheth us to present all our requests to the Throne of Grace with fervent Zeal and Affection Amen is a wing to our Prayers it is the Bow that shoots them up to Heaven And although every Petition as we utter them before God should be accompanied with an earnest and hearty desire to have them heard and granted yet at the close of them all we are to redouble and repeat this our desire in the word Amen Wherein we do as it were briefly and succinctly Pray over again all that we had prayed before and in one word beg of God That he would give us all that we had before asked of him And therefore whether we Pray our selves or joyn in Prayers with others and make their Petitions ours we ought to attest our understanding of our assent unto and our earnest desires after the Mercies that are begged by Sealing up the Prayers with an Amen And certainly it would be a very beseeming thing if Amens were audible and sounding unless we are ashamed to be thought to Pray when others Pray and to make use of others expressions to present our Petitions When we come to the publick Worship we are not to look upon the Minister only as Praying for the People but he is the Peoples Mouth unto God and it is or ought to be the Prayer of the whole Congregation which he presents They Pray with him and by him and every Petition that he
are giving Alms to others or whilst we are praying to the great God of Heaven and Earth to make frail mortal Men like our selves our Idols which we do whensoever we pray rather that we may be heard and admired by Men than that God should hear us and accept us In the next words our Saviour proceeds in laying down some other Directions concerning the Duty of Prayer and therein he forbids his Hearers to use vain Repetitions in Prayer verse 7. When you Pray use not vain Repetitions as the Heathens do Not that all Repetitions in Prayer are vain bablings in the sight of God for our Lord himself Prayed thrice using the same words for so we read Matth. 26. and 44. For doubtless as Copiousness and Variety of fluent Expressions in any usually flow from raised Affections so when those Affections are heightned and raised to an Ecstasy and Agony of Soul in our wrestlings with God in Prayer Ingeminations are then the most Proper and most Elegant way of expressing them doubling and redoubling the same Petitions again and again not allowing God if I may so speak with Holy Reverence so much time nor our selves so much leasure as to form in our minds much more with our Lips to offer up any new requests till by a Holy Violence in wrestling with God we have extorted out of his hands those Mercies and Blessings our Hearts are set upon the suing to him for Vain Repetitions therefore are such as are made use of by any without new and lively Stirrings and Motions of the Heart and Affections at the same time And that which makes a Prayer vain makes a Repetition in Prayer to be vain also Now that is a vain Prayer and we shall certainly find it so when the requests we offer up to God therein are heartless and lifeless For we must know God hath Commanded us to Pray not that he might be excited and moved by hearing the Voice of our Cries in Prayer to give unto us those Mercies and Blessings which he himself was not resolved before hand to bestow upon us but that we our selves might be fitted and prepared to receive from him what he is always ready and willing to confer upon us He requires Prayer from us not that he might be affected therewith for as the Apostle St. James tells us With him there is no variableness nor shadow of turning James 1.17 but that we our selves might have our Hearts raised and affected therewith And therefore the chiefest effect of Prayer being to affect our selves if Prayer it self be not vain neither are Repetitions in Prayer vain if whilst we are spreading the same requests before God we do it with new Affections and Desires No Prayer therefore ought to be accused of idle Babling and vain Repetitions but those that Pray may I fear too often be charged with it And here by the way I desire all those who are offended at or refuse to joyn with the Stated Forms of Prayer that the Church hath appointed to be made use of either in publick or private because the same requests do many times occur therein to keep a strict Eye upon their Hearts and Affections and then the Scruples and Objections that they make will presently be removed for it is much in their own Power to make them to be either vain Repetitions or the most fervent Ingeminations of their most affectionate Desires unto God and the most Spiritual and Forcible part of all their Prayers and Supplications they offer up unto him But then further as our Saviour forbids vain Repetitions in Prayer so he likewise forbids much speaking for they think says our Saviour St. Matth. 6.7 That they shall be heard for their much speaking Now as the former Prohibition doth not exclude all Repetitions in Prayer so neither doth this latter exclude as some Ignorant Persons perhaps who are soon wearied out with the Service of God may be apt to think long Prayers for this would be a flat contradiction to his own practice for it is said in St. Luke 6.12 That he went out into a Mountain to Pray and continued all night in Prayer unto God Some indeed take the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prayer to signifie the House of Prayer as if our Saviour continued only in such a Dedicated House or Chappel all night according as Juvenal useth the word in quâ te quaero prosencha Yet as it will be hard to prove that the Jews had any such Houses for Prayer besides their Synagogues which were not seated in Desolate whither our Saviour went then to Pray but in Populous Cities and frequented Places So it will be more hard to imagine that our Saviour would continue all night in the House of Prayer if he had not been taken up in the performance of the Duty of Prayer There is therefore a great deal of difference between much speaking in Prayer and speaking much in Prayer for certainly a Man may speak much to God in prayer when yet he may not be guilty of much speaking for there is a compendious way of speaking to speak much in a little and there is a babling way of speaking when by many tedious Ambages and long Impertinencies men pour out a Sea of Words and scarce one drop of Sence or Matter Now it is this last way of speaking unto God which our Saviour here condemns and condemns it justly for it shews either Folly or Irreverence Folly in that it is a sign we do not sufficiently consider what we ask Irreverence in that it is a sign we do not consider of whom we ask and such men are rather to be esteemed talkative than devout But when a man's Soul is full fraught with matter of which if he duly weighs either his Spiritual wants or his Temporal Sorrows and Afflictions he can never be unfurnished to pour out his Soul and with a torrent of Holy Rhetorick lay open his Case before God begging seasonable supplies in suitable expressions certainly he cannot fall under the reproof of much speaking although he may speak much and long for such an one hath much to say and whilst Matter and Affections last let his prayer be an hour long yea a day long yea an eternity long as our Praises shall be in Heaven he is not to be censured for a Babler but hath still spoken much in a little It is true the Wise Man hath Commanded That our words be few in our Addresses to God Eccles 5.2 and he gives a most forcible Reason For God is in Heaven and thou upon Earth His Infinite Majesty should therefore over-awe thee from using any rash and vain loquacity But yet this makes not against long prayers for many words may be but a few to express the sentiments of our Souls and none can be too many while the Heart keeps Pace with the Tongue and every Petition is filled with Matter and winged with Affections And whereas our Saviour condemns the Pharisees who devoured Widows Houses
thy Pardon even a Right and Title to a Blessed and Glorious Inheritance Thy Pardon thou hast from the Passive Obedience of Christ in his Sufferings A Right to Heaven thou hast through the Active Obedience of Christ in fullfilling all Righteousness And through both hast thou obtained a compleat Justification God looking upon thee as Innocent through the Satisfaction of his Son and as Worthy through his Obedience both which are made thine by Faith Now this Pardon of sin is in Scripture set forth by very sweet and full Expressions It is called a blotting out of Transgression A Metaphor taken from a Creditors crossing the Debt-Book signifying thereby a discharge of the Debt And lest we might possibly fear God will implead us for them without Book the Prophet adds forgetting unto blotting out Esai 43.25 I even I am he that blotteth out thy Transgressions for my Names sake and I will not remember thy sins It is called a covering of our sins Psal 32.1 Blessed is the Man whose Transgressions are forgiven and whose sin is covered Yea we have a further ground of Comfort for it is not only a covering of our sins but it is a covering of God's Face from them Psal 51.9 Hide thy Face from my sins and blot out all mine iniquities It is a casting of them behind God's back as a thing that he will never more regard Is 38.17 Thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back And lest we should suspect he should turn again to behold them it is called a casting of them into the bottom of Sea Mic. 7.19 as we do with things we would have irrecoverably lost and gone It is a scattering them as a thick Cloud Esai 44.22 When the Vapours of it are so dissipated that there shall not remain the least spot to obstruct the shining of God's Face and Favour upon our Souls Yea and so perfect an Abolition shall be made of all our Iniquities that though Divine Justice should enter into a strict search and scrutiny after them they shall not be found against us So the Prophet Jeremiah tells us Jerem. 50.20 In that day shall the iniquity of Israel be sought for and there shall be none and the sins of Judah and they shall not be found How hath God heaped up Expressions of his Grace and Mercy one upon another and studied words as it were to assure us of the Validity of our Pardon giving to us abounding Consolations as our sins have been abounding And thus much shall suffice to shew the Nature of Pardoning Grace and Mercy as expressed in these words Forgive us our Debts Secondly Let us consider unto whom this Petition for Pardon is directed and that is as all the rest are to our Father whose Laws we have violated whose Justice we have offended whose displeasure we have incurred and to whose vengeance we have made our selves liable and obnoxious to him we sue for Pardon and Remission Hence we may collect this note That it is the High Prerogative of God alone to forgive Sins God assumes this particularly to himself and seems to triumph in the Glory of this Attribute I even I am he that blotteth out thy Transgressions And therefore when Christ cured the Paralytick the Scribes and Pharisees storm'd at him for a Blasphemer for saying Be of good chear thy Sins are forgiven thee Thou Blasphemest say they for who can forgive Sins but God alone Mark 2.7 And this Charge of Blasphemy which they laid against Christ had he not been the true God had been unanswerable And therefore our Saviour denies not their Principle which is most certain and infallible but to convince them that they themselves were Blasphemers in applying it to him proves his Deity by a Miracle and demonstrates his Authority to forgive Sins by his Power in healing Diseases But you will say if it be the incommunicable Prerogative of God only to forgive Sins How is it that we find this Privilege and Power ascribed unto Men also John 20.23 Whosoever Sins ye remit they are remitted It seems therefore that the Apostles and Ministers of Jesus Christ their Successors stand invested by Christ with a Power to forgive Sins I Answer Remission of Sins is two-fold either Authoritatively and Judicially or Secondly Ministerial and Declarative The former belongs only to God who by the meer Authority of his Grace and Mercy doth freely and fully acquit us of our Guilt without requiring any thing at our Hands by way of recompence or punishment Now for any Creature either in Heaven or Earth to assume this to himself is a most insolent and Blasphemous Pride which while the Pope of Rome doth he hath given us the strongest Argument that can be to assert and prove him to be the Antichrist and that Son of Perdition for among the many Characters that are given of Antichrist all of which do more than sufficiently belong unto him this is one that he exalteth himself above all that is called God 2. Thess 2.4 Not only above Titular Gods as Kings and Magistrates are for it is notoriously known what Power he arrogates unto himself in disposing Crowns and transferring States making Princes themselves far more inferiour to him than their Subjects are to them but also above the only Living and True God and the Lord Jesus Christ in pretending to a Judicial Authority to forgive Sins and Offences committed against God For it is clear and evident whosoever can Pardon the Offences of one Person against another must himself be Superiour to both and have Authority and Jurisdiction over both but chiefly over the Person offended to make him cease the Prosecution of his Right and sit down by the Wrong received For if a Prince should Pardon the Injury that one Subject doth the other he must command the Person grieved not to molest or prosecute him that hath done the Wrong and so disable him from taking revenge Now what a wretched and damnable Insolence is it for any vile sinful Man to pretend to such a Power of forgiving Sins committed against God as if by his Authority he could command God to surcease his Suit and to require no farther recompence but to rest himself contented that it is the Pope's Will and Pleasure to have it so What is this but to exalt himself above all that is called God not only on Earth but in Heavean it self A most horrid Blasphemy and so proper a Character of Antichrist that there needs no other to describe him by Secondly There is a Ministerial declarative Remission of Sins and this is either Internal in the Court of Conscience or External in the Court of the Church of Christ here upon Earth The former Remission is the Office or Ministery of the Holy Ghost sealing of us up unto the Day of Redemption by his silent and most comfortable Testimony witnessing unto us that our Sins are pardoned and our Persons accepted The External Declaration of Remission of Sins is an open publication to all
thou hast wronged any Man in his Credit and Reputation either by raising or divulging false and slanderous Reports know that thou art his Debtor and Justice obligeth thee to make him satisfaction for that injury by wiping away those aspersions and licking away the dirt with the same Tongue with which thou didst bespatter him for if thou sufferest the same Reports to run on which thou hast set on foot all that shall relate them after thee multiply thy guilt and all the numerous Off-spring of Lyes which through a certain itch that Men have of speaking ill will be soon propagated shall all be charged upon thee for of them all thou and the Devil art the Father 2ly Art thou Conscious thou hast wronged thy Superiours as Magistrates Ministers Parents or Masters in that Authority and Power that God hath given them over thee by any disobedient demeanour towards them know that thou art their Debtor and it lies upon thy Conscience to give them due satisfaction which because it cannot be done by recalling the Offences past it must be done by an humble acknowledgment to them desiring their Pardon and promising and endeavouring more ready submission for the future So was the Case of Aaron and Miriam when they had affronted Moses and were convinced of the wrong they had done him Aaron makes his humble acknowledgment and begs forgiveness Numb 12.11 Alas my Lord I beseech thee lay not this sin upon us wherein we have done foolishly and wherein we have sinned And so the Prodigal when he returned to his Father confessed his disobedience Luke 15.21 Father I have sinned against Heaven and in thy sight and am no more worthy to be called thy Son Which though it be a Parable yet teacheth us real and literal Duties in parallel cases Thirdly Art thou Conscious to thy self that thou hast wronged any one in their Right either in with-holding or taking from them what in Law and Equity belonged to them thou art their Debtor and as such art bound to make them satisfaction by making them a full and plenary Restitution and that though the thing wherein thou hast wronged them be great or small more or less yea though it should seemingly tend to the loss of thy Credit to acknowledge such a wrong or visibly tend to thy impoverishing and undoing to restore it Nor is it enough when thy Conscience checks thee for it that thou confess the sin to God and prayest for Pardon at his hands but it behooveth thee to render unto Man what is his and what thou unjustly keepest from him whether it be his by thy Promise and Engagement or by his former Title and Possession As thou lovest thy Soul and hopest for Pardon and Salvation thou must make Restitution and the reason is because as long as thou detainest it so long thou continuest in the Commission of the same sin for an unjust detainure and possession is a continued and prolonged Theft And certainly our Repentance be it what it will can never be true and sincere while we continue in the sin we seem to repent of and this Repentance not being true Pardon shall never be granted thee but as thou remainest a Debtor to Man so thy Debt to God remains uncancell'd and though Men may not sue thee to recover their Right because this sin sometimes is so secretly carried on that it may not come to their knowledge yet Divine Justice will sue thee for it and pursue thee to Eternal Condemnation But you may say What if those whom we have wronged be since dead how can any Restitution be made to them or any Recompence reach them I Answer In this case thou art bound to find out their Children or Relations in whom they still live and to whom it is to be supposed that which thou hast detained should have descended and to restore it unto them with ample satisfaction likewise for all the prejudice they have sustained in the mean time for want of it But in case none can be found to whom of Right it may belong then God's Right takes place as he is the Vniversal Proprietor of all things and thou oughtest besides what thou art obliged to give of thine own to bestow it in Works of Charity and Piety which may promote his Glory still bewailing that thou hast so long deferred the Restitution of it to the immediate Owners till thou hast made thy self now incapable of doing it This perhaps will seem a very hard Lesson to many and doubtless it is so to a World so full of Rapine and Injustice But I cannot I dare not make God's Commands lighter nor easier than he hath made them And let this seem as hard as it will yet this is the Rule of Christianity this is the inflexible Law of Justice and without observing it you keep your selves from all hopes of obtaining Pardon by continuing in your sin which is utterly inconsistent with Repentance and without Repentance there can be no Remission nor Salvation And thus much for the word Debtors and what it intimates to us namely that we are bound to make satisfaction for all the wrongs and injuries we have done to any others But then as there lies this Debt on the part of the Debtor so doth there likewise one great and important Duty on the part of the Creditor and that is forgiveness As we forgive our Debtors Now all pardon and forgiveness is a removing of the liableness unto punishment under which we formerly lay And therefore as when God pardons he frees us from the punishment due to our offences so when we pardon and forgive others it must be by a meek forbearing to punish others who have offended us And this consists in two things First In abstaining from the outward Acts of private and personal Revenge whether by word or by deed for both are expresly forbidden us If others have bent their Tongues against us and shot forth their Arrows even cruel words Christianity obligeth us not to return them back again much less as is the common but wicked practice of the most with double measure and advantage for if they have wronged us by their actions as well as by their speeches we may not assume to our selves a liberty of Retribution nor think that the iniquity of their proceeding will justifie the Equity of ours for both of these see what the Apostle saith 1 Pet. 3.9 Be pitiful be courteous not rendring evil for evil for railing for railing but contrarywise blessing knowing that you are thereunto called that you should inherit a blessing And indeed there is nothing that the Gospel and Laws of Christ do more instantly press upon us than that we would not requite injuries with injuries This prohibition is the proper Character of his Doctrine and this the practice of his Disciples Revenge is a wild untam'd passion that knows no bounds nor measures And if we were permitted to carve it out for our selves we should certainly exceed all limits and
for ever and it is an incommunicable Attribute of his Divine Essence to be so But because all the perfections and properties of God are God himself therefore this everlastingness here in the Doxology ascribed to his Kingdom his Power and his Glory are said to be for ever Yet not only these but whatsoever is in God is absolutely Eternal His Righteousness is an everlasting Righteousness Psal 119.142 His Truth endureth for ever Psal 117.2 His Mercy is for ever Psal 136.1 His Mercy endureth for ever which is there made the burden of that most excellent Song and the sweet close of every verse in it His Love is for ever Jer. 31.3 I have loved thee with an everlasting love Now in treating of the Attributes of God I shall endeavour to shew these three things First What the true and proper notion of Eternity is Secondly That God is Eternal Thirdly What encouragement our Faith may have from this Attribute of God's Eternity that those things which we pray unto him for shall be granted unto us First Let us see what Eternity is And here though it be altogether impossible exactly to describe what is boundless and infinite yet to help our weak and shallow conceptions we may take this notion of it Eternity is a duration which hath neither beginning nor end nor succession of parts Or according to the common description of Boethius Est interminabilis vitae tota simul perfecta possessio It is the compleat possession of an endless life all at once So that it is distinguished from all other durations whatsoever First In that other durations have had their beginnings for all things were Created either in time or with time but Eternity was before all time and shall be after it Secondly In that all Temporal durations are successive measured by the motions of Heavenly Bodies by years days and hours but Eternity is permanent it is but one abiding instant and hath no parts following one after another and though it comprehends all time within its infinite Circle yet it doth not move along with time For as Rivers are contained within their banks and flow along by them part after part without any motion of the banks themselves so Time is contained within Eternity and flows along in it without any motion or succession of Eternity it self This I confess is hard if not altogether impossible to be formed into an Idea yet conceiving Reason will infallibly demonstrate that Being which neither hath beginning nor end can have no succession in its duration for where-ever there is Succession there must needs be a Priority and where-ever there is a Priority there must needs be a beginning And if Eternity did consist and were made up of such parts as are equal and commensurate to our years and days it must needs follow that these parts themselves must be infinite for if they be but finite we shall come to a beginning which is not to be granted in Eternity And if they be infinite then in Eternity there must be as many Millions of Years as of Minutes and consequently a Minute would be equal to a Million of Years yea the least part of a Minute would be equal to it which is grosly absurd But I shall not detain you with these Philosophical Speculations Only when we say that God is from everlasting to everlasting we ought not to conceive that there is any Succession in his duration that he grows older or that he hath continued longer this day than he was yesterday For though when we speak of God we are forced to use such expressions and denote Succession in his Being as that he was from everlasting and that he shall be to everlasting yet to say that God was or that he shall be is only allowable by reason of the penury of our conceptions But in strict propriety these are derogatory to him for God neither was nor shall be but only is and enjoys his Eternal Essence immutably and unsuccessively And therefore when Moses demanded his Name that he might inform the Israelites who that God was that would take pity of their Sufferings he tells him thou shalt say unto them I AM hath sent me to you Exod. 3.14 And this indeed is the best and fittest expression of his Eternity and unchangableness Yea and the Scripture hath given us one more high and lofty expression of it Psal 90.4 A thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past what is yesterday to this day but a mere nothing So a thousand years yea all the thousand years and all the time that ever the Orbs of Heaven shall spin out to the World is all to God but as yesterday when it is past he lives not by it nor is his Being measured out by days or years but it is a perpetual Now a standing Moment an indivisible and permanent instant without flux or vicissitude Indeed it is wholly inconsistent with Eternity and an infinite duration that there should be any thing past or any thing to come in it For what is already past cannot be infinite because it is already ended And what is to come cannot be Eternal because there was something going before it And from hence it appears that a duration which is Eternal must be without beginning without end and without any Succession of parts Now Secondly That God is thus Eternal appears both from clear Evidence of Scripture and invincible demonstrations of Reason it self First The Scripture bears abundant witness to the Truth of this Attribute Psal 102.25 26 27. The Heavens are the Works of thy hands they shall perish but thou shalt endure yea all of them shall wax old as a Garment but thou art the same and thy years shall have no end Psal 90.2 Before the Mountains were brought forth or ever thou hadst formed the Earth and the World even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God Isa 43.10 Before me was there no God formed neither shall there be after me 1. Tim. 1.17 Now to the King Eternal and Immortal the only Wise God be Honour and Glory But I cannot stand to cite all the Testimonies that might be alleadged Secondly The Eternity of God may be demonstrated by clear and irrefragable reason And that I shall give you in these several gradations First It is absolutely necessary that there be some first cause of all things that are made which is not it self made or produced by any For the series of Causes is not infinite otherwise no effect could be produced since what is infinite cannot be pass'd through And if all Beings that are are caused by some pre-existent Being then there is not nor ever was a Being before which there was not another and so this gross absurdity will follow That before there was a Being there was a Being which is a contradiction Therefore we must necessarily rest in some first Cause from which all things have their Origin and is it self caused by no other Secondly
not my Will but thine be done A. These are not so much Prayers as Declarations of their Submission unto and Patience under the Hand of God Q. May we not pray at all that God's Will of Purpose may be done A. Yes it is for Temporal or Spiritual or Eternal Blessings on our selves or others Q. What force doth the Particle Thy carry in it when we pray Thy will be done A. It may be taken either emphatically or exclusively 1. First It signifies that God's Will ought to be preferred above and before all others Acts 4.19 But Peter and John answered and said unto them whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God judge ye Both because it is most Soveraign and because it is most Holy and Perfect so that we act most like Men when we act most like Christians 2. Secondly It signifies exclusively that God's Will and not our own may be done For ours being carnal and corrupt we pray for the subduing it to his Q. What mean you by praying that God's Will be done in Earth A. First I pray that it may be done by my self and all others living on the Earth Psal 67.2 That thy way may be known upon Earth thy saving Health among all Nations Secondly We pray that we may improve the few Days of this Mortal Life in the Service of God for there is no Device nor Operation in the Grave Q. Having given this Account of the Petition in the Matter of it what is next observable A. The Proportion of it As it is in Heaven Q. But is it not impossible to do the Will of God in Earth as it is done in Heaven where the Holy Angels do perfectly perform it A. It is as to the Equality of Perfection but not as to the Similitude and Proportion of our Endeavours after it For we are commanded to be holy as God is holy and perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect Matt. 5.48 Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect Which Command we obey when we seriously endeavour it Q. How then is the Will of God done in Heaven A. First Thine Obedience is absolutely perfect both as to Parts and Degrees that is to say they obey all God's Will enjoined them and that with all their might and after this Perfection we ought to strive and in this Petition pray for a greater Measure of it Secondly Their Obedience is chearfull not extorted by Fears or Sufferings Thirdly They do the Will of God with Zeal and Ardency Psal 104.4 Who maketh his Angels spirits his Ministers a flaming Fire Fourthly They do it with Celerity and ready Dispatch and therefore the Angels are often in Scripture described to have Wings Fifthly The Will of God is done in Heaven with all possible Prostration and Reverence Rev. 4.10 The four and twenty Elders fall down before him that sat on the Throne and worship him that liveth for ever and ever and cast their Crowns before the Throne saying Sixthly The Will of God is done in Heaven with Constancy and Perseverance Rev. 7.15 Therefore are they before the Throne of God and serve him Day and Night in his Temple and he that sitteth on the Throne shall dwell among them And thus we ought to pray and endeavour that we may do the Will of God on Earth Q. What learn you from this A. That we ought not to satisfie our selves in comparing our Obedience with other Mens as the boasting Pharisee did but to take the Examples for our Holiness from Heaven and to endeavour to imitate the Purity of Angels and the God of Angels For St. Paul himself when he prescribes his Life as an Example for Christians doth it onely as he followed the Pattern of Christ 1 Cor. 11.1 Be ye followers of me even as I also am of Christ Q. We have already considered the three first Petitions which immediately related to God s Glory it remains now to treat of those which immediately concern our own Good Which is the first of them A. That wherein we beg the good things of this present Life in these words Give us this Day our daily Bread Q. What is here meant by Bread A. All Temporal and Earthly Blessings that contribute either to our being or well being For Bread being the most usual and usefull Support of Life it is often in Scripture put for all kind of Provision necessary for natural Life Gen. 3.19 In the Sweat of thy Face shalt thou eat Bread till thou return into the Ground for out of it wast thou taken for Dust thou art and unto Dust shalt thou return Q. What learn we hence A. That it is not below a Spiritual Christian to pray for Temporal Mercies both because they are needfull for us Matt. 6.32 For after all these things do the Gentiles seek for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things And God hath promised to bestow them Phil. 4.19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his Riches in Glory by Christ Jesus Q. How ought we to pray for them A. Onely conditionally if it may consist with God's good Pleasure to bestow them otherwise we do not pray but invade and if it may consist with our good to receive them otherwise we ask a Curse instead of a Blessing Q. What learn you from the word Give A. That God is the Giver of every Temporal Mercy Q. How is God said to give us our daily Bread A. First by producing it and bringing it to us for though the Chain of natural Causes be never so long yet God holds the first Link of it in his own hand Hosea 2.21 22. And it shall come to pass in that Day I will hear saith the Lord I will hear the Heavens and they shall hear the Earth Vers 22. And the Earth shall hear the Corn and the Wine and the Oil and they shall hear Jezreel Secondly by blessing it to us without which our daily Bread can never nourish us Deut. 8.3 And he humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger and fed thee with Manna which thou knowest not neither did thy Fathers know that he might make thee know that Man doth not live by Bread onely but by every word that proceedeth out of the Mouth of the Lord doth Man live Q. What mean you when you pray for daily Bread A. By this we pray That God would bestow upon us daily those Mercies which are sufficient for the Day Q. What learn you hence A. That as in praying for Bread we pray for Conveniencies not for Superfluities or Delicacies So in our praying for daily Bread we pray for present supplies not Goods laid up for many Years Which teacheth us to moderate our Cares and Desires after Earthly Things and to rest satisfied in God's Providence and present Blessings Q. May we not then carefully provide for the Time to come and the Support of our Dependents A.
may persuade you to a diligent search and perusal of the Scriptures The Jews indeed were so exact or rather Superstitious in this that he was judged a despiser of those Sacred Oracles who did not readily know how often every Letter of the Alphabet occurred in them This preciseness God hath made use of to deliver down his word to us unvaried and uncorrupted It is not such a scrupulous search of the Scripture I now exhort you to but as God hath left it to us a rich Depositum a dear pledge of his Love and care so we should diligently attend to a rational and profitable study of it There are but two things in the general that commend any writing to us either that it discovers knowledge or directs practice that it informs the Judgment or reforms the Life Both of these are eminently the Characters of this Book of God And therefore David tells us Psal 19.7 The Law of God converts the Soul and makes wise the simple It is a light not only to our heads but it is a Lamp unto our Feet and a light unto our paths Psal 119.105 Let us consider it as to both First In point of knowledge as it perfects the understanding and so it will appear in sundry particulars how excellent a study it is For First The Scripture discovers unto us the knowledge of those truths that the most improved natural Reason could never sift out and are intelligible only by Divine Revelation God hath Composed two Books by the diligent study of which we may come to the knowledge of himself The Book of the Creatures and the Book of the Scriptures The Book of the Creatures is written in those great Letters of Heaven and Earth the Air and Sea and by these we may spell out somewhat of God He made them for our instruction as well as our service There is not a Creature that God hath breathed abroad upon the face of the Earth but it Reads us Lectures of his infinite Power and Wisdom So that it is no absurdity to say that they are all the Works of his mouth so they are all the works of his Hands The whole World is a speaking workmanship Rom. 1.20 The invisible things of God are clearly seen by the things that are made even his eternal Power and Godhead And indeed when we seriously consider how God hath poised the Earth in the midst of the Air and the whole World in the midst of a vast and boundless nothing how he hath hung out those glorious lights of Heaven the Sun the Moon and Stars and made paths in the Sky for their several courses how he hath laid the Sea on heaps and so girt it in that it may possibly overlook but not overflow the Land when we view the Variety Harmony and Law of the Creation our Reason must needs be very short if we cannot from these collect the infinite Wisdom Power and Goodness of the Creator So much of God as belong to these two great Attributes of Creator and Governour of the World the Book of Nature may plainly discover to us But then there are other more retired and reserved Notions of God other truths that nearly concern our selves and our eternal Salvation to know and believe which nature could never give the least glimpse to discover What Signature is there stampt upon any of the Creatures of a Trinity in Unity of the eternal Generation or temporal Carnation of the Son of God What Creature could inform us of our first fall and guilt contracted by it Where can we find the Copy of the Covenant of Works or of grace printed upon any of the Creatures All the great Sages of the World though they were Nature's Secretaries and ransack'd its abstrusest mysteries yet all their Learning and Knowledge could not discover the Sacred Mystery of a Crucified Saviour These are truths which Nature is so far from searching out that it can scarce receive them when revealed 1. Corinth 2.14 The natural Man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God neither can he know them because they are Spiritually discerned The light that can reveal these must break immediately from Heaven it self And so it did upon the Prophets Evangelists and Apostles the Pen-men of the Holy Scriptures And if it were their singular Privilege that the Holy Ghost should descend into their breasts and so possess them with Divine inspirations that what they spake or wrote became Oracular how little less is ours since the Scriptures reveal to us the very same truths which the Spirit revealed to them God heretofore spake in them and now he speaks by them unto us Their Revelations are become ours the only difference is that what God taught them by extraordinary inspiration the very same truths he teacheth us in the Scripture by the ordinary illumination of his Spirit Here therefore whilest we diligently converse in the Book of God we enjoy the privilege of Prophets The same word of God which came unto them comes also unto us and that without those severe preparations and strong agonies which sometimes they underwent before God would inspire them with the knowledge of his Heavenly truth That is the first Motive and Argument Secondly The knowledge which the Scripture teacheth is for the matter of it the most sublime and losty in the World All other sciences are but poor and beggarly Elements if compared with this What doth the Naturalist but only busie himself in digging a little drossie knowledge out of the Entrails of the Earth The Astronomer who ascends highest mounts no higher than the Coelestial Bodies the Stars and Planets which are but the out-works of Heaven But the Scripture pierceth much farther and lets us into Heaven it self There it discovers the Majesty and Glory of God upon his Throne the Eternal Son of God sitting at his right hand making a prevailing and Authoritative intercession for us The glittering train of Cherubims and Seraphims an innumerable company of Angels and the Spirits of Just Men made perfect So that indeed when you have this Book laid open before you you have Heaven it self and all the inconceivable glories of it laid open to your view What can be more sublime than the nature of God And yet here we have it so plainly described by all its most glorious Attributes and Perfections that the Scripture doth but beam forth light to an Eye of Faith whereby it may be inabled to see him who is invisible But if we consider those Gospel Mysteries the Scripture relates the Hypostatical Union of the Divine and Humane Nature in Christ's incarnation the Mystical Union of our persons to his by our believing that the Son of God should be Substituted in the stead of guilty Sinners that he who knew no sin should be made a Sacrifice for sin and the Justice of God become reconciled to Man through the blood of God these are Mysteries so infinitely profound as are enough to puzzle a whole College of
Angels Now these the Scripture propounds unto us not only to pose but to perfect our understanding For that little knowledge we can attain unto in these things is far more excellent than the most comprehensive knowledge of all things else in the World And where our scanty apprehensions fall short of fathoming these deep mysteries the Apostle hath taught us to seek it out with an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 11.33 O the depth of the Riches both of the Knowledge and Wisdom of God! how unreasearchable are his Judgments and his ways past finding out Thirdly The Scripture is an inexhaustible Fountain of Knowledge the more you draw from it the more still springs up It is a deep Mine and the farther you search into it still the richer you find it It is tedious to read the works and writings of Men often over because we are soon at the bottom of what they deliver and our understanding hath nothing new to refresh it But in reading the Scripture it fares with us as it did with those whom Christ miraculously fed the bread multiplied under their Teeth and increased in the very chewing of it So here while we ruminate and chew on the truths of the Scripture they multiply and rise up thicker under our meditation One great cause of the neglect that many are guilty of in reading the Holy Scripture is a fear that they shall but meet with the same things again which they have already read and known and this they account tedious and irksome Indeed if they read it only Superficially and slightly it will be so But those who fix their minds to ponder and meditate upon the word find new truths arising up to their understanding which they never before discovered Look as it is in a Starry night if you cast your Eyes upon many spaces of the Heavens at the first glance perhaps you shall discover no Stars there yet if you continue to look earnestly and fixedly some will emerge to your view that were before hid and concealed So is it with the Holy Scriptures If we only glance curiously upon them no wonder we discover no more Stars no more glorious truths beaming out their light to our Understanding St. Augustine found this so experimentally true that he tells us in his third Epistle that though he should with better capacity and greater diligence study all his Life time from the beginning of his Childhood to decrepit Age nothing else but the Holy Scriptures yet they are so compacted and thick set with truths that he might daily learn something which before he knew not God hath as it were studied to speak compendiously in the Scriptures What a Miracle of brevity is it that the whole Duty of Man relating both to God and his Neighbour should be all comprised in ten words Not a word but were the sence of it drawn out were enough to fill whole Volumes and therefore the Psalmist Psal 119.96 I have seen an end of all perfection but thy Commandments are exceeding broad When we have attained the knowledge of those things that are absolutely necessary to Salvation there yet remain such depths of Wisdom both in the manner of Scripture expression and in the mysteriousness of things exprest that after our utmost industry still there will be left new truths to become the discovery of a new search Fourthly The Scripture exhibits to us that knowledge which is necessary to Eternal Salvation This is Life Eternal to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent John 17.3 And this knowledge the Scriptures alone can afford us John 5.39 So 2 Tim. 3.15 We need not therefore enquire after blind traditions or expect any whimsical Enthusiasms the written word contains whatsoever is necessary to be known in order to Eternal Salvation and whosoever is wise above what is written is wise only in impertinences Now hath God contracted whatever was necessary for us to know and summed it up in one Book and shall not we be diligent and industrious in studying that which doth so necessarily concern us Other knowledge is only for the adorning and embellishment of Nature this is for the necessity of Life of Life Eternal I have before spoken enough concerning the necessity of knowledge unto Salvation and therefore shall not farther inlarge Therefore as St. Peter said to Christ Lord whither shall we go thou hast the words of Eternal Life So let us Answer whatsoever may seem to call us off from the diligent study of the Scriptures Whither shall we go to this we must cleave with this we will converse for here alone are the words of Eternal Life Fifthly The Knowledge that the Scripture discloseth is of undoubted Certainty and perpetual Truth it depends not upon Probabilities or Conjectures but the infallible Authority of Christ himself he hath dictated it for whom it is impossible to lye The rule of our Veracity or Truth is the conformity of our Speech to the existency of Things but divine Truth and Veracity hath no other Rule besides the Will of him that speaks it He must needs speak infallible Truth who speaks things into their beings such is the omnipotent Speech of God Whatsoever he declares is therefore true because he declares it Never matter how strange and impossible Scripture-Mysteries may seem to Flesh and Blood to the corrupt and captious understandings of natural Men when the word of God hath undertaken for the Truth it is as much impiety to doubt of them as it is Folly to question the reality of what we see with our very Eyes Nay the information of our Senses what we see what we hear what we feel is not so certain as the truth of those things which God reveals and testifies in the Scriptures And therefore the Apostle 2 Pet. 1.18 19. Speaking of that Miraculous Voice that sounded from Heaven Matth. 17.5 This is my beloved Son in whom I am well Pleased We saith the Apostle heard this Voice when we were with him in the Holy Mount but we have also a more sure word of Prophecy or as the Greek may well be rendred We account more sure the word of Prophecy unto which ye do well that ye take heed What a more sure word than a Voice from Heaven When God himself shall vocally bear witness to the Truth Yes we have a more sure Word and that 's the Word of Prophesie recorded in the Old Testament And hence it will follow that because the Prophecies concerning Christ may seem somewhat obscure in Comparison with this audible Voice from Heaven therefore the testimony of obscure Scripture is to be preferred before the testimony of clear Sence Now therefore if you would know things beyond all danger either of Falshood or Hesitation be Conversant in the Scripture where we may take all for certain upon the Word and Authority of that God who neither can deceive nor be deceived Sixthly The Scripture alone gives us the true and unerring Knowledge