to upbraid any one Party For though the Act of Oblivion injoyns us to forget Injuries done to Men yet Religion will oblige us to remember our Sins against God The Sacraments I have handled with that brevity that I have not there much insisted on the Rites wherewith our Church administers them but elsewhere in the Book have in the general offer'd somewhat to their defence Where I plead Admission of all to the holy Table I would not be understood to speak for those which are under Church-censures On every of these parts I have said little of the much which might have been said and for ought that I know nothing that has been said by others having had a special care all the way of the Eighth Commandement Sir You are the onely Author that I have consulted and these sheets have not been the travail so much of my Invention as of my Memory while I have been recovering those Notices your Institution lodg'd in my young head and heart Wherefore what I have fail'd in Elegance of expression or Solidity of matter I must first here beg your Pardon for seeing that contrary to the method of the Resurrection what was sown in strength is now raâ—s'd in weakness And next crave your Blessing upon the Book and Me that God would make us both serviceable to the Publick For I very well understand what hazard of censure I run by appearing thus in Print and what Obligations I now lay upon my self to walk carefully and order my conversation aright since he that puts forth a Book of Religion and leads an irreligious life doth but libell himself and scandalize his Book Sir As it was your great care and love to send me in my younger years to several places for my education so 't was my no lesse happinesse that I was principled in Religion by your self and though Scholar to sundry Masters was your Catechumenus I thought it then the most fitting Gratitude to return you what I receiv'd and design your own Instructions the Memorial of my Dutie That the God of all Consolation would crown your Old age with Honour and Ioy and after these many years of Suffering and Persecution wherein you have had so large a share heap upon you the blessings of Peace and a long Life that you may see and partake the prosperity of Jerusalem shall be the dayly prayer of Dear Father St. Thomas-day 1661. Your most dutifull and obedient Son Adam Littleton Sentences out of Scrip ure Heb. V. 12. FOr when for the time ye ought to be Teachers ye have need that one teach you again which be the first Principles of the oracles of God and are become such as have need of milk not of strong meat 1 Tim. I. 13. Hold fast the Form of sound Words which thou hast heard of me in Faith and Love which is in Christ Iesus Prov. XXII 6. Train up or Catechise a Child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it Psal. XXXIV 11 12 13 14. Come ye Children hearken unto me I will teach you the fear of the Lord. What man is he that desireth life and lovâ—th many dayes that he may see good Keep thy Tongue from evil thy lips from speaking guile Depart from evil do good seek Peace and pursue it Prov. IV. 23. Keep thy Heart with all diligence or above all keeping for out of it are the issues of life Psalm CXI 10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom a good Vnderstanding or good success have all they that do his Commandements Eccles. XII 13. Let us hear the Conclusion of the whole matter Fear God and Keep his Commandements for this is THE WHOLE DUTIE OF MAN An Explanation of the GROUNDS OF RELIGION RELIGION is the Fear of God i.e. the acknowledging worshipping of God God is known by his Works and by his Word There was never any Nation which did not profess the worship of God An Atheist was alwayes counted a monster Now most Countries following Nature as their guid have mistaken either in the matter or manner of their worship The Heathens therefore such as Indians Scythians Turks c. worship either a false God or with false worship But God's people being guided by the light of Scripture do embrace the true Religion the Iewish Church in the time of the Law the Christian Church under the Gospel For after the coming of Christ the Religion of the Iews hath now no longer use since it was but a shadow and type of Christ to come For Christ the Sun of Righteousnesse being risen the Ceremonies like shadows are scatter'd and fled away Christian Religion then is that Doctrine which Christ himself taught when he was on earth confirm'd by miracles and holinesse of Life and sealed with his precious Blood dying on the Cross. Christian Religion is at large conteined in the holy Scriptures i.e. in the writings of the Prophets and Apostles who were the Pen men of the holy Ghost But it is chiefly compriz'd in the four Heads of Catechism which we call the Principles of Religion Now Catechism is a brief and plain Institution which explains the Mysteries of Faith and the Duties of a holy Life in that manner that they may be easily understood by any even the most vulgar apprehension Wherefore 't is call'd the Sincere milk of the Word as being fitted to the capacity of little children which as yet cannot bear more weighty discourses which are compar'd to solid meat This Doctrine then is plain that it may be receiv'd by the Understanding and short that it may be held in Memory yet full too that it may instruct us in all things necessary to salvation For it is made up of four parts whereof the First teacheth us what we are to believe concerning God and the Church the Second what duty we owe to God and man the Third describes a method of praying the Fourth delivers those Sacred seals by which this doctrine is confirm'd The Confession of Faith is set down in the Apostles Creed The Law of God contein'd in the Ten Commandements is the Rule of life The Lord's Prayer is a most absolute form and pattern of Prayer And lastly the two Sacraments of Baptism and the Holy Supper are instead of Seals These are the Pillars upon which not onely the Church but every faithfull soul is in the Spirit built up to perfect knowledge and blessednesse to grace and glory AN EXPLANATION Of the LORD'S PRAYER The Lord's Prayer OUr Father which art in heaven Hallowed be thy Name Thy kingdom come Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our dayly bread And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil For thine is the kingdome the power and the glory for ever and ever Amen The LORDS PRAYER PRAYER is a calling upon God in time of
Scripture The one was when he came in the flesh in the form of a servant to die for us that he might reign upon the tree as some readings have it in the Psalms The other will be when he shall come in the clouds with power and glory attended with Angels to judge the world at that great and dreadful day when the trumpet shall summon all to appear before the tribunal And when that 's done he shall deliver up the Kingdom to his Father and the time of this his coming and the end of the world he hath left here to be the subject of our prayers and not of our inquiries to exercise devotion not curiosity the uncertainty of the time being an argument to quicken our diligence in preparing for it that we may watch and pray he having told us afore-hand that he will steal upon us as a thief in the night But what need we trouble our selves about the age of the world when our own time is so uncertain that we cannot call the next hour our own and know not how soon the arrest of death may hurry us away to judgement He that dies now in the Lord rests from his labour his good works follow him and if we cannot properly say that the Kingdom of God is come to him we may safely say he is gone to it At the end of the world then is Christ's great coming and the general judgement but at every single death there is a particular doom past when the soul immediately after it's delivery out of the body is dispatched either into the regions of life or lodged in the chambers of death so that in this sense Christ may be said to come too And there is a gracious visit when he comes and knocks at the heart and calls to his beloved by his word When he comes into us to a feast and banquet of love furnished with the consolations of the spirit The sum of this request is that God would declare his power even to the heathen that know not his name and make discoveries of his Majesty by his outward administrations not leaving himself without witness but convince profane spirits that there is a God that rules in the world that he would manage the affairs of the world for his peoples good and for the advancement of the Kingdom of his Son that he would bless the civill societies of men that he would fill Soveraigns with wisdom to go in and out before the people and people with loyalty to their rulers and with love to one another That he would establish the state wherein we live in peace and order preserving us on one hand from the tyranny and oppression of superiours and on the other hand from rebellion and conspiracy of inferiors That he would save the King whom he hath set under himself our supream Head and Governor from all treasons and treacherous designs that he would subdue the people under him cloath his enemies with shame and upon himself let his crown flourish that he would give the King his judgements and make our Magistrates men of courage fearing God and hating covetousness That he would preserve us from all dreadfull calamities the plague pestilence and famine from wars fires inundations from murder and sudden death That he would take a special care of his Church and his chosen ones that he would send labourers into his vineyard that he would endue his Ministers with righteousness that he would illuminate all Bishops and Pastours with true knowledge and understanding of his word that both by their preaching and living they may set it forth and shew it accordingly That he would inlarge the tents of Japhet remember his ancient people the Iewes gather in the remnant of the gentiles send forth his Gospell into the dark corners of the earth and publish the glad tidings of salvation unto all mankind that he would fill up the number of his elect and hasten the glorious appearance of Christ That he would confound the devices of all that have evill will to Zion and turn the hearts of hereticks schismaticks and bloody tyrants That he would assist those that suffer for the testimony of a good conscience with strength from above and send them the comforter That he would destroy the man of sin with the breath of his mouth That he would garrison our hearts with his grace that he would teach us his laws that we may walk in his statutes and keep his commands That he would mortify the desires and lusts of the flesh subdue us to himself and make us a willing people in the day of his power That he would open our hearts for the receiving of his word and rule in them by his spirit That his Kingdom may first enter into us that we may enter into it Lastly that we may have our feet shod with the preparation of the Gospell live in a constant exspectation of our great change that when our Lord comes he may find us doing his will on earth as it is in Heaven And blessed is he whom his Lord when he comes shall find so doing THY WILL BE DONE The nature of God is not made up of a body and soul nor hath he bodily parts as eyes hands feet c. or faculties of mind as understanding memory affections and 't is no less improper to say of God that he knows or wills any thing as that he walks sees c. which are metaphorical expressions taken from men God being pleased in holy writ to condescend to our capacity and speak of himself after the manner of men God is all understanding all will nor is there any thing in God which is not infinite i.e. himself His will then is not a thing really distinct from his understanding or indeed from his essence neither is it a blind power as it is in us that needs the guidance of reason and the light of another faculty to be convey'd into it to represent the object and advise it to choose the good and eschew the evil but is of it self most free most wise most good It self is a law and rule to it self determins it self and is the measure and standard of all goodness righteousness and holiness The Lord is righteous in all his wayes and holy in all his works And his pracepts are more to be desired then gold yea then fine gold sweeter then hony the hony-comb Now there is a twofold will of God that of his decrees and that of his commands Nor do these two cross and oppose the one the other as if God decreed one thing should be and commanded the contrary but they keep a sweet harmony and mutuall correspondence God's word and his providence may seem sometimes to clash and justle one another yet they do keep the same road of righteousness nor does God ever contradict himself or speak one thing and mean another Let God be true and every man a lyar '
Lord God the King of glory immortal infinite eternal the greatest the best in a word the Heavenly Father And this distinguishes him from the fathers of our flesh our earthly parents who are weak men dwelling in houses of clay of a limited life love whose breath is in their nostrils and when they return to the dust all their thoughts perish who cannot do for us as they would and sometimes will not do us that little good they can short-handed and narrow-hearted who if they supply our outward and bodily wants give us a handsome education and provide us a fashionable way of life they do as much as is expected more then can be requited but cannot bestow grace on us nor bless us with spiritual blessings in heavenly places And yet to these parents we are required next to God to pay our service and thanks to the utmost and shew all possible honour Nor did our Saviour who finds fault with the Pharisaical interpretation of that precept and the sorry evasion of the Corban mean to slacken that natural bond of affection and duty which is betwixt parents and their children when he bids us call no man Father upon earth But he speaks that comparatively to heighten our reverences dutyes to our heavenly Father that in comparison of him we should take no notice of our earthly relations nor think them worthy of our least respect as himself sayes elswhere He that hateth not father and mother c. that is doth not infinitely less love them then he doth me my wayes and my concernments he cannot be my disciple Wherefore how great an aw ought we to bring along with us before such a glorious presence what distance should we stand at what reverence should we bear to his name since he is in Heaven and we on earth what obedience should we have for his word with what humility should we come and fall down at his feet kneel before the Lord our Maker How should every one with the prodigal cry out Father I have sinned against Heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be called thy son IN HEAVEN God is every where omnipresent fills all places Both lands and tracts of sea heaven high Whither shall I flee from thy presence If I ascend up into Heaven thou art there if I make my bed in hell behold thou art there But he is said in a peculiar manner to be in heaven there he dwels in unapprochable light there he displayes his glory and scatters his goodness out of his treasures his sun and his rain thunder and lightning hail storm fulfilling his word There are the dreadful remarks of his presence and the brightest appearances of his Majesty which made the very heathens place their imaginary deityes in heaven that though they mistook in the object of their worship yet they hit right in the place where they were to seek God For heaven is his dwelling place but the earth hath he given to the children of men The word is in the Heavens not in these lower regions of the sky where the winds bluster and the clouds thicken where the sun and moon and stars observing their courses carry light about the world But in the third heaven in the Heaven of Heavens whence he is called Elion the Highest Poor short-sighted Pagans dazled with the glories of these luminaries which shine in the firmament and are but the servants of nature tapers which God has hung up in the vault and cover of the world directed their devotions no farther and so came short of the glory of God who dwelleth on high far above the very light of nature and the laws of change whereas things here below are subject to continual vicissitudes roll'd about with the wheel of chance alwayes flowing or ebbing the world it self being but a sea of glass there 's a perpetuity of good and a constant happiness which knows neither change nor end Besides it became the infinity of God which cannot be bounded or coop'd up with any term of locality to choose heaven for his mansion whose vast circumference and compass is of that wide extent that in the Natural Philosopher's opinion the whole globe of earth is but as a point to it and this clod in which men make such a quarter and bustle in persuit of their interest is a sorry ant-hillock in respect of that stately arch and spangled roof nay the nations are as the Prophet hath it as the small dust of the balance and a drop of a bucket Lastly the incorruptible God thought fit to set his seat on high far above the sphere of corruption to which all sublunary things are liable and advance himself to the greatest distance from earth the grounds and dregs of nature the bottom of the world the sediment and mother of things There he dwells in liquid and clear regions of glory and bliss the invisible God whose face no man can see and live attended by millions of Angels and blessed Saints departed this life yet is pleased to look down from on high on the children of men and have his ears open to their prayers when they call upon him Nor doth he only dwell in heaven and as with reverence I may say keep house there with his courtiers and domesticks about him but he sits there too as a Iudge The Lord hath prepared his Throne in the Heavens Heaven is his throne and earth is his foot stool And let things run never so much at random here on earth there is one in heaven to render to every one according to his works whose wrath as 't is unsufferable so his power is irresistible and his knowledge infallible He has girt the whole round of nature that there is no escaping him the whole world is his close prisoner and let wicked men use all their shifts though the mountains should fall upon them and the hills cover them yet God's hand shall find out his enemies and bring them to punishment For He is there as a spy too upon us he beholdeth us afar of and observes our carriage and takes notice of all our doings not an idle word scapes him nor is there a thought in the heart which he knows not long before His piercing eyes walk too and fro through the earth and his ey-lids try the children of men And this argument our Saviour uses where he perswades to secret good and sayes he thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly What care then should we have to our wayes to our words who are alwayes in sight in hearing of our heavenly Father with what reverence should we approach to his throne in what aw should we stand of his power How should we be struck flat to the ground like Paul at his conversion amazed and astonished with the considerations of a heavenly Majesty How should our hearts be set on fire with heavenly flames and the
desire of heavenly things How should we slight and trample upon earth and all earthly concernments in comparison of Heaven where our Father hath many mansions of glory and at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore How should our appetites be flatted to the relish of all sensual contents when we think of those good things which the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation hath laid up for us in heaven What a mean esteem should we have for all the glittering vanities the paltry preferments deceivable riches the guilded hopes and pleasures as false as base of this lower world when we think of the glories and the joyes above How should these ravish our soules and make them impatient till they have weighed anchor and be with Christ How highly should we prize our spiritual birth-right and heavenly inheritance How should we now indeavour to have our conversation already in heaven How should we fear the displeasure of so great so good a Father more then hell How careful should we be of disparaging our high birth and heavenly calling by any indecency or foul miscarriage How should we strive to be like our Father which is in heaven holy as he is holy merciful as he is merciful perfect as he is perfect that we may be known by our conversation to be the children of God children of the highest the children of light to whon belongs the Kingdom of Heaven For 't is God's presence and favour makes heaven Heaven would not be heaven unless he were there Where ever grace is there 's heaven for God dwels there entertaining himself in an humble heart as much in the highest heavens To make short how should we admire him worship him fear him and love him and joy in him with a holy ecstasy of affections and heavenly reptures of devotion that have leave to use these words Our Father which art in Heaven This appellation with the other title of Father assures and makes up our confidence compleat For being our Father he will do us all the good he can and being in Heaven he can do what he will so that the goodness of a Father and the power of heaven stand ingaged for us as the two pillars of our hope and two sureties that all our petitions following will be granted and made good unto us Amongst which as 't was fit those which belong to his own glory have the first place and God having made all things for himself cannot be unmindfull of providing for that But he loves to be ask'd to do even what he means of himself to do that man's will may be brought into a compliance with God's and the execution of decrees become the return of prayers Thus he delights to oblige where he can force and that which he hath with an unchangeable purpose from all eternity resolv'd with himself makes it the product of his creatures will as if he had more kindness for the desires of men then for his own resolv's and would not perform his own eternal decrees unless man first consent and make it his request And indeed it is man's concernment that is driven throughout the prayer for 't is not for God's sake that we pray but for our own What advantage gets God by our prayers unless giving be getting His name is holy his Kingdom is everlasting and his will irresistible whether we pray or no. But we pray that all this may be order'd for our good and we are as much concern'd in this as in our daily bread God so ordering all the administrations of his providence and grace that his glory and man's salvation go hand in hand and that all things may work together as for his glory so for our good the good of those that love and fear his name HALLOWED BE THY NAME The name is the first thing we enquire after about any thing we desire to know as Moses when he talked with God at his first appearance to him told him the Israelites would ask him who sent him and what was his name There hath alwayes been taken great care for the imposition of names that they might be suitable and proper to the nature of things For things are distinguished and known from one another by their names Wherefore God himself named the greater pieces of his work which being of vast unruly bulk were to be under his own immediate government as Heaven and Earth and the Sea and 't is said he calls the stars all by their names c. But those creatures which he meant to put under mans feet he brought to him to name The like care hath been constantly taken by parents and others in providing fit names for their children that families and persons may be sufficiently distinguished for which purpose the day on which the child was circumcised amongst the Iews which was the eighth day from his birth and about the same time among the heathens but amongst us Christians at the baptisme this solemnity of naming the child is perform'd a thing of such concernment that it hath been delivered sometimes by the message of Angels other while by miracle And that was a signal token in the prophecie wherein he calls his anointed Cyrus by name four hundred years before he was in being 'T is a nice consideration but there may be something in it and of more then ordinary consequence that God should take such care about names that he should think fit to give and change them either in favour or displeasure as in the instance of Abraham Conjah Peter c. and that he is said to write the names of his elect in the book of life and to give them a new name and to blot out the names of the wicked and to threaten that their names i.e. their memory shall perish Let them take heed that forbear to Christen their children and give them names least they design their childrens ruin God finding no names they have in the church-roll to copy into his book Is not he rightly named Iacob saith Esau for he hath supplanted me this twice And Nabal was as very a churl as his name gave him for and very many scripture-names are thus signicant And Melchizedeck whose true name if 't were Shem was Name according to the signification of the Hebrew word denotes as the Apostle explains it the character of the person King of righteousness who was also King of Salem that is King of peace God out of a familiar love to mankind is pleased to dress himself as 't were and set forth his nature by those wayes which are usual amongst men and therefore hath made himself a name Now the name of God is any thing by which God hath made himself known and hath in the Scripture-language several acceptions For sometimes the name is taken for the person himself whose name it is as in reckoning so many names And so we say of God to call upon the name of the Lord i.e.
want or distress and a returning of praise for blessings receiv'd or deliverances obtein'd Or indeed more generally and suitably to the nature of this holy exercise abstracting it from our occasions 't is a Meditation upon God his essence and his Attributes his Word and his Works and an acknowledgement of his power and wisdome and goodness whereby he orders all things to his own glory and our good It is indeed the special act of God's worship for Adoration is nothing else but a praying to him whom we adore Whereupon the heathen well observ'd that 't was not he that graves the idol but he that prayes to it which consecrates the Deity This is sure that his Religion may well be question'd who useth not to pray though 't is true too that prayer may be abus'd to wrong ends even to devour widow's houses nay to eat up God's own House Now the grounds of Prayer are laid in the nature of God and the relation which he hath to us who as he is our Creator and preserver challenges this homage whence the Psalmist frequently invites all our fellow creatures to this duty brings us altogether into one quire to praise the Lord. And the very instinct of nature hath taught ravenous beasts not so much to prey as to pray the young Lions and the young Ravens in their hunger cry to him and he feeds them and fills every thing living with his blessing Nor doth our relation so much as our want make prayer necessary for we depend upon him both as to the life of nature and of grace nor are we able to subsist or act without his constant help Therefore that praecept is no more then nature dictates to us Pray without ceasing or continually that is In every time In every place In every business The main thing in Prayer being to lift up the soul to carry God in our thoughts and have our conversation in Heaven as the man after Gods own heart saith of himself I have set the Lord alwayes before me And in the presence of so glorious a Majesty there cannot chuse but be an humble reverent fervent chearfull frame of spirit a mind well tuned and the affections so order'd the thoughts so compos'd as if one were alwayes in an actual devotion Now God's Nature makes it as convenient for us to go to him in prayer as our Interest makes it necessary for as he was pleased to call Abraham that had frequent intercourses with him in this kind his friend He hath all the qualities which should be taken notice of in the choice of a friend He wants neither will nor skill to do us all imaginable good He hath kindness to intend us good wisdome to contrive it and power to accomplish it Nor are the other Attributes idle in our behalf For 't is his Mercy to promise us help and his Iustice to perform his promise and the like may be said of the rest Then what a priviledge is it that a poor creature dust and ashes may freely speak to his maker That we who dwell in houses of clay may keep up a commerce with heaven that sinfull creatures as we are have access to the throne of Grace with boldness and may challenge a hearing in God's Court of Chancery Shall not the Iudge of all the earth saith he do right And any sinner may sue for his pardon with the same plea. Shall not justice acquit me since mercy hath accepted my surety Is it not enough that my debt hath been once pay'd Christ hath dyed for my sins and my soul shall live Nay let our case be what it will God himself hath afforded us such Arguments as he will not stand out Shall he that hath given me a life deny me food shall he that hath given me a body deny me raiment He that hath given me his Son will not he much more give me all things else Thus Prayer is not only like Iacob's wrestling with God upon earth but his scaling ladder too to reach heaven whilst Prayers ascend to fetch down blessings and blessings descend to fetch up praises Lastly let 's but look to the advantages that come by praying and me thinks no body should be so ill natur'd to himself as to neglect it What is 't but ask and have and will any one be so lazy as to refuse the pains of asking He deserves not bread to put in his mouth that will not open a proud mouth to ask it We have Gods word for 't in several places that his kindness he rates so cheap that it shall be had for asking Ask and it shall be given you And our Saviour passeth his word that whatsoever we shall ask in his name he will do it Can any thing be purchas'd at a lower rate then asking This is the buying without mony and without price Doth a man want wisdome counsel help Doth a sinner want grace pardon strength Doth a Saint want light comfort rest Let him but come and ask he shall find God readier to give then himself was to ask who sometimes answers prayers before they are made and counts it one of his greatest titles that he is a hearer of Prayer But some ask and have not Because as the Apostle saith they ask amiss Wherefore he that would pray aright so that he may obtein must come prepared furnisht with those Graces which may make him accepted Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight We must not rush into so great a presence for the foolish shall not stand before thee but consider the Majesty of God and our own vileness being deeply affected with the sense of his goodness and mans misery and premeditate before hand what we have to say and how and indeed pray before we go to pray that God will prepare our hearts for prayer For so the Psalmist resolves the success of Prayer Thou shalt prepare or direct their heart and shalt cause thy ear to hear And though all the graces like a bed of spices are upon this occasion to breath forth their sweet odours yet some have a more particular imployment such as are Reverence in our high thoughts of God Humility in our low thoughts of our selves Trust to rely upon his goodness and Patience to wait his time Knowledge that we may understand in some measure the nature of God and Obedience that we may sincerely perform his will Zeal which may inflame and raise our affections towards him and Constancy which may keep us in a daily practice of this Deity And to those which call upon him so God will be near and will either do that which they ask or something which may be better for them Who comes irreverently puts an affront upon God which an earthly Prince would not brook He that is possess'd with an aw of greatness will take heed how he demeans himself before it Reverence then
draws with it attention which will drive away vain thoughts as Abraham scar'd the birds from the sacrifice We cannot in reason exspect that God should take notice of us if we mind not him or hear those prayers which the Speaker himself regards not Who leaves Humility behind him doth but personate a devotion and plays rather then prays He may please himself or others it may be with acting a pompous part but God resists the proud nor doth the boasting Pharisee go home justified Now Humility is chiefly seated in the mind but it expresses it self too in the outward parts and prescribes the posture of kneeling bowing falling flat upon the face nor was the Publican less humbled when he stood afar off and pray'd Who would seek to God if he durst not trust him but look'd upon him either as a down-right enemy or an unsteady friend we must bring the confidence of children if we look to have the kindness of a Father The Apostle hath said it that he that prayes doubting and with wavering shall go without so that who asks with distrust bespeaks a denyall Nor yet must this confidence be so bold as to limit God to means how or appoint him his time when God's own times are best our seasons are in his hand and 't is not for us even in this sense to know the times and the seasons Moreover he works without means as well as with means and the unlikelier the means the likelier for God's service the first cause virtuates the second therefore the assurance that God will grant must be attended with patience i.e. a quiet expectation till it please God to answer us in his own way He that will not stay God's leasure deserves not his answer He that believes saith the Prophet shall not make hast which the Apostle quotes thus He that believes shall not be ashamed that is disappointed And that is the next to wit Faith by which we apprehend and get knowledge of God For he that addresseth to him must first believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that seek him God is not pleas'd with the sacrifice of fools The best service we can perform if it be not enliven'd with saith is at the best but a carcase of duty and like that cheat Plutarch mentions of an oxes bones cover'd with the hide and intended a sacrifice when the flesh and entrals were gone Nor will a naked faith serve turn to make this oblation acceptable unless it be cloth'd with good works There must be obedience as well as knowledge a sincere heart as well as an orthodox head nor is 't less fit that pure hands should be lifted up to God in prayer then devout eyes And therefore this Prayer is accompanied by both Creed Decalogue both of them having an influence upon it since we cannot pray as we should without having respect to both Faith manners seeing that without Faith 't is impossible to please God and the desire of the wicked as well as their way shal perish Prayer is sometimes term'd a sacrifice now that can't be offer'd without fire There must be then all the affections in a flame For the fervent Prayer of the righteous availeth much and the Prayers of the Saints are presented by Christ to his Father mixt with the sweet odours of his intercession in a censer Zeal was that fiery chariot wherein Elias rode to Heaven who had that great command over heaven while he was on earth by his praying that he could with this key of David either open or shut it at his pleasure Yet we must take heed of bringing strange fire the ignis fatuus of a new Light or the glimmering taper of an ignorant devotion but fetch it from heaven nor content our selves with a flash and fit of devotion but keep it alive in our hearts as the fire upon the altar which was never to go out There must be a constancy and a daily practice such as Daniel's use was who prayed three times a day with his face towards Ierusalem and David's who prais'd God morning and at evening and at noon-day And thus some expound that Pray alwayes i.e. constantly every day without intermission set aside some of your time for this duty alluding to the custom of the daily sacrifice Now there are several sorts of Prayer As to the place publick in the church or private in the family in the closet As to time ordinary for our ordinary affairs morning and evening before and after meals and extraordinary upon extraordinary occasions such as are designs dangers and deliverances fasts and feasts judgements and mercies particular sins and graces c. And accordingly some have to very good purpose and great benefit of the vulgar put forth Manuals of devotion fitted for all the business and most occurrences of life As to the manner mental only as Hanna pray'd in silence or oral utter'd by the voice whence 't is call'd Oratio As to the person praying either conceiv'd that either upon premeditation or with sudden affection and as they say ex tempore and this may must be allowed any Christian in his privacy or set either by publick appointment of the Church or the civil Magistrate who being to order the matters of Religion may well be styled in this meaning the Minister of God Diaconus Dei Liturgus Dei i.e. as the Greek word imports God's common-Prayer-maker it being the very word whence Liturgy is deriv'd or by direction of Godly men for the use of them who are unprovided with forms of their own And lastly as to the subject or the things prayed for the Apostle hath divided it into four kinds Petition for good Deprecation of evil Thanksgiving for the good obtein'd or evil remov'd and Intercession in the behalf of others All which sorts of prayer are either exemplified or included in this most absolute form which our Saviour himself prescrib'd which from him is called The Lord's Prayer There are not many things which wear the stamp of this title and those have a peculiar veneration due to them as immediately appointed by Iesus himself the Lord's Day the Lord's Supper the Lord's Prayer The same word out of which the name which we give God's House is made Kirk or Church Christ did not only make it but appoint it too for when his disciples came to him with a desire that he would teach them to pray as Iohn had done his disciples He bade them use this form St. Matthew indeed When you pray say thus which yet doth signify not only in this manner but in these very words St. Luke more peremptorily delivers the institution when you pray say so that granting the adversary the advantage that he would catch at from St. Matthew yet he must acknowledge even from thence that this prayer is an exact copy and plat-form by which we are to frame and model
in his â—y supplyes their wants opens his hand and fils them with his goodness cherishes and maintains them And having built this goodly frame of heaven and earth doth with his everlasting armes what vain story sayes of Atlas support and uphold it or rather as his Vice-gerents are pictur'd with a Globe in one hand and a Scepter in the other grasps the whole world in his hand and dandles it in his lap as a tender hearted mother her playsom child Can he that implanted so tender an affection in all mothers dammes to their young ones himself be without large bowels of compassion full breasts of mercy and a tender bosom of love His goodness exceeds all comparison Though a mother should forget her child yet saith he I will not forget my people Providence is that great dug at which every creature hangs and draws its comfort by which all things are maintain'd whence are issued forth daily allowances and constant provisions dealt out For he commands blessing and deliverance Thou art my shepheard saith the Psalmist and I shall want nothing The Spirit of God saith the sacred Historian mov'd upon the face of the deep that Chaos and first matter out of which the several kinds of creatures were afterwards to be particularly produced A word proper to birds that sit upon their eggs brood them He flutter'd and sate upon it and kept it in a lively warmth and quicken'd that rude lump that he might out of that great confused ball wherein the seeds of things lay jumbled which therefore an ancient Philosopher call'd Natures Egg hatch a well order'd world And since God hath compar'd himself in one place to a broody eagle Christ in another himself to a hen the one teaching her young ones to fly and shift for themselves by carrying them on her back the other clucking her chickens with great pains scraping up their subsistence cherishing them under her wings and with all her might protecting them from rapine We may from these similitudes learn what a dear love and careful fear God hath for all his least they come to hurt God then may very well be styled a Father in this sense too that he hath not only as a Father given being to all things but as a Father of a family provides for al about him furnishing them with convenient accommodations and seasonable supplyes Nor is this all yet but he orders all things disposes chance overrules events to his own ends doing whatsoever he pleaseth both in heaven and earth even as Fathers order the affairs of their family or as magistrates who are the Fathers of their country manage the civil state making lawes and putting them in execution rewarding the obedient punishing the disobedient Indeed all government is naturally bottom'd upon this relation and grounded in a paternal authority the Father at first exercising all power even to life and death over those of his own family nor is a city or common-wealth any other then a more numerous family subject to the same ruler and govern'd by the same laws God then it is that gives order for every thing by whom and when and how it should be done Not a sparrow fals to the ground without his leave The whole series of second causes is but that golden chain the Poets fancied whose uppermost link is fasten'd to Iove's chair He is the Lord of Hoasts such as are the stars in their courses thunder lightning hail snow rain wind and storm fulfilling his word nay frogs and lice when he hath service for them will muster into armies and the locusts gather themselves into bands He knows best what will make for our good and his own glory and by his wise contrivance carry's things in that nature that they shall all work together for those ends He is in the world as a King in his Kingdom Where his word is there is power and who shall say to him what dost thou Angels are his attendants and menials the other creatures his utensils But men though they are term'd vessels too in his great house yet they are priviledg'd with a nearer relation to him They are his children for he is our Father OUR This word denotes a propriety and closer interest seeing he is not our Father alone in that general sense in that he made us not we our selves as he is styled the Father of rain and the Father of lights nor for the greater likeness we have to him more then our fellow creatures which is common to us with the Angels who are therefore call'd the Sons of God But by redemption also having purchas'd us by the Blood of his Son and made us a peculiar people to himself and having begotten us anew by the word and spirit and adopted us by grace that we who are by nature children of wrath might be made the children of God and to which of the Angels ever said he thus my Son Oh! what a condescension of love that God should suffer himself to be styled our Father who have corruption for our mother that Christ should become our brother whose sisters are the worms For if we be sons then are we heirs and if heirs then coheirs with Christ Oh infinite love and kindness unspeakable how dearly obliging an expression that our Saviour who is the only Son of God begotten of his substance should not permit but command us to call God our Father too my Father and your Father sayes he Now as Father is a word of authority and signifies love and care bespeaking from us a reciprocal love a filial reverence and obedience so Our is a note of indearment which should teach us charity which indeed the whole prayer breaths in all the parts of it Give us Forgive us and Deliver us bringing in all mankind to partake the benefit of our prayers And seeing it hath pleased God to own us for children and Christ to make us partners of his relation to become brethren it would very ill beseem the best of saints or greatest of men to disdain any of their fellow-brethren he they never so miserable never so wicked Since were there not a community of the same nature the sense of humanity the tyes of reason and religion and the laws of nations to bring us to some kind of unity and mutual affection God's love to us is an invincible argument why we should love one another WHICH ART And there is none beside thee For whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of thee Indeed the original doth not so express it making use of the article alone and leaving the verb to be understood which as 't is elliptical so 't is an emphatical kind of speaking He or The in Heaven which should note a superlative excellence above all others to whom the title of Father can belong the
and a praise to the good And as he hath corwn'd all mankind with honour and dignity giving them dominion over their fellow-creatures so he hath put that Majesty upon rulers whom he hath appointed to govern their fellow-men who else without lawes and order would be little better then beasts that they may be looked upon and observ'd with that reverence as if they were earthly Gods I have said ye are Gods but ye shall dy like men They are God's anointed ones and honour'd of him accountable only to him required therefore to do their homage and kiss the Son least he be angry And as they must like all other men dy so they must also appear before the judgement-seat of God Kings to their subjects dreadful stand O're Kings themselv's is Gods command He hath all the royalties that belong to an Imperial Crown a righteous Scepter righteous lawes loyal subjects glorious priviledges blessed rewards for the obedient and great punishments for the disobedient Not ought Kings of the earth to be impatient at mutinous and rebellious spirits when God himself wants not those who rise up against him and which may set them a copy of princely clemency to write their acts of grace after gives gifts to the rebellious leaving some of them as monuments of his mercy though too others he make trophies of his justice I might note that sure Kingship is the best form and model of government since God himself rules under that title that the Regicide is a kind of Deicide and when subjects dare mate their soverain and contrive a Common-wealth to justle out the Kingdom they do but challenge divine vengeance for that which perhaps their injur'd princes forces cannot chastise and call upon themselves Lucifer's fate who left his first estate by clambering higher whose pride prefer'd him to the principality in Hell where he gnashes his teeth and curses God who questionless hath been that Angel of light that hath cloak'd sedition with the name of Godliness and taught the late teachers to despise dominion and speak evil of dignities and blaspheme the name of Kings And all nature hath by instinct followed divine example gathering it self as much as may be into oneness making every sort of creature almost submit to monarchical rule and preaching as it were the Apostle's lesson Be not many masters But the sad experience of these nations in the time of tyranny and the wonderfull providence of God in the restitution hath sufficiently convinc'd all honest English of this truth that That government is best which is likest God's to wit a Monarchy a Kingdom Now God hath a twofold Kingdom one universal at large all the world over the other particular and special his Church For he is King of the nations and King of the Saints or we may say a threefold Kingdom in respect of the different administration of this later according to the different condition of the church militant here on earth or triumphant in heaven to wit a temporal spiritual and eternal Kingdom or the Kingdom of his power the Kingdom of grace and the Kingdom of glory By his power he governs the whole fabric of the world disposes of all things appoints seasons sets bounds to human power over-rules their purposes stills the raging of the Sea and the madness of the people raises up casts down kills and makes alive strikes the earth with his thunder and darts forth his lightnings the winds obey him blow only where he lists All things are his servants and he doth what he pleaseth both in heaven and in earth By his grace he governs his Church sets up his throne in the hearts of his people appoints officers gathers the elect and rules them by his word and spirit conquers sin and death kills our corruptions subdues our lusts and treads Satan under our feet and breaks the powers of hell that the gates thereof shall not prevail against the church guids the faithfull ones in his wayes tryes their patience exercises their faith teaches them his lawes that they may observe his statutes and ordinances defends the Saints and is a sun and shield to direct and protect them that neither the Devil nor wicked men can doe them any hurt rewards those that doe or suffer any thing for his sake punishes offenders and persues the impenitent and such as obstinately stand out his calls and tenders of grace and go on presumptuously in their evill way with the fury of his indignation afflicting them with bodily plagues temporal calamities and spiritual judgements as blindness of mind hardness of heart c. giving them up to their own shamefull lusts and a reprobate mind into the power of the divel and either passing final sentence upon them in this life or reserving them till the great Assises of the last judgement In the Kingdom of glory as he himself is call'd the King of glory he sits on his Throne incompass'd with millions of Angels and blessed Saints who fall down before him and sing praises to him that sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb. This is to have it's beginning when the other two end not to be compleated till the last day when the Angels gather the elect from the four corners of the earth whom God shall reward with everlasting bliss when he shall send the ungodly to Hell where the worm never dyeth and the fire never goes out Then those who were sufferers shall be conquerers and wear a never-fading crown I have fought a good fight saith St. Paul and henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness All the Saints then shall be Kings there shall be the glorious orders of pure Virgins that defiled not themselves of blessed Coâ—â—essors that were not ashamed of their profession of holy Martyrs who lov'd not their soules to death of Prophets the Harbingers of Christ and Apostles the heralds of the Gospell and all the quire of Heaven singing Halleluiahs This is that Kingdom of Christ which he said was not of this world for which he despised the shame with which his servants that have a tast of the heavenly gift and are afforded the earnest of their meditations a sight of the heavenly Canaan and glorified transfiguration as from Pisgah and on mount Tabor are so ravished and deeply affected that they must needs cry come Lord Iesus come quickly Thy Kingdom come COME i.e. appear and show it self may its interest be promoted may it get ground and inlarge it self may it be seen that the Lord is King let the people be never so unquiet may it come into our hearts and rule there and beat down every proud imagination that lifts it self up against God may Christ hasten his coming illustrious presence which the Iews Liturgy is ful of even to this day the coming of Messias Now there is a twofold advent or coming of Christ mentioned in
that makes such interpretations of the will of God as that his good pleasure or everlasting purposes should thwart the manifestations of his will which he hath made in his word For instance God saith that he would not the death of a sinner but rather that he should repent and live And his Apostle saith that he would have all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth He then that shall teach that God hath absolutely predestin'd any sinner to damnation and by irreversible decrees concluded him under an impossibility of repentance layes an imputation upon God's veracity and makes him if not a lyar yet which is the worse of the two a dissembler to say he desires their life when he hath by an irrevocable decree prejudg'd them to unavoidable death and with all arguments of love to invite them to come to heaven when he hath long before they were born shut the gates against them By his decrees he hath from the beginning set down with himself what shall be in time foresees and orders all events to his own end insomuch that one tittle of his word shall not pass away till he have accomplish'd his full will and brought about his own purposes Poor weak men want strength and policy to perfect designs and many times we are cut of in the mid-way by an untimely death But God's counsels are laid deep and he is of an infinite power and lives to do what he doth to the uttermost Nor yet does he act so absolutely as to take from second causes their freedom of acting or impose a necessity upon man's will to force it this way or that Far be it from any sober heart to think that God can in any sense be the authour of sin Should this doctrine obtein in any man's mind that all his actions are from all eternity predetermin'd by God so that he must needs do what he doth and cannot possibly do otherwise I should desire that it may onely be consider'd what direfull consequences will naturally insue from such a persuasion when 't is in good earnest own'd and liv'd after and whether all the villany and mischief in the world will not find hence a ready justification Not to say how vain and useless all reason counsels debates exhortations and reproofs all that by which we are men or Christians the use of ministry and ordinances and all the arguments for a virtuous and a godly life would prove with one that were obstinately possest with this opinion and were resolv'd to live according to it But 't is safer for us to consult God's precepts then tamper overboldly with his decrees and to study his will in his commands with humility adoring the wisedom and righteousness of his unsearchable counsels These he hath reserv'd to himself and locked up from us as the Arcana imperii The other he hath plainly made known unto us and proclaim'd them in his word and we hear the sound of them in our eares O that they might also sink into our hearts to doe them By these we shall at last be tryed when every one shall receive according to his works nor will the decrees of God prejudice that soul which hath duly observ'd his commands or secure those who wilfully break them Scripture is the plain rule which we are to walk by the book of decrees is that sealed book which none but the Lamb is worthy to open We ought to study our duty more then destiny Thou shalt love the Lord with all thy heart and thy neighbour as thy self are flat commands that require absolute obedience But the promises and threatnings of God are under condition and God will make righteous judgement and be found no respecter of persons when Not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of our Father which is in Heaven BE DONE God's decrees are done upon us his commands are to be done by us those require our submission these our performance And indeed our whole duty is made up of a passive and active obedience whereby we willingly bear what evils God is pleased to send and as readily doe what good he bids us But why doe we pray that God's will may be done since his decrees will come to pass though we pray not and his commands 't is our part to perform The reason is for the first to shew our compliance with God's will for the second to desire God's assistance since without the aids of his grace we are not able to doe any thing as we ought ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN That men here below may as willingly submit to his good pleasure and pay as chearfull and constant obedience to his commands as the Saints and Angels above doe who alwayes stand in his presence in a readiness to serve him who never quarrel at any of his appointments or grudge at any pains they put themselves to praising him continually falling down before him and ascribing power and dominion and glory to him that sitteth on the throne and to the Lamb All the business they have to doe there and to spend their time at is the singing of Hallelujahs and delighting themselves in seeing the face of God and meditating on his goodness They have no other imployment but the contemplation and enjoyment of the chiefest good and count it their happion to be taken up alwayes with these thoughts oh what a heavenly life should we lead here on earth if we could but thus throw all our desires at God's feet contenting our selves with his disposals not trouble our selves with the cares of this life but count it our meat and drink to do his will to obey him and trust in him though he should kill us to doe and suffer any thing for his sake and think it our honour that we are thought worthy to breath after heaven mind heavenly things and whilst we are in this valley of the shadow of death prepare our selves for eternity by doing that here in this life which will be the whole imployment of the next To gather up the sum of the whole petition 't is this That God would give us patient and chearful spirits so far that we may resign up our selves and our interests wholly into his hand and submit to his good pleasure possess our souls with patience and count that condition best which God out of his infinite wisdom and tender care thinks fittest for us as being well assured that he doth all for the best that he loves us better then we our selves do That we should thankfull acknowledge his goodness in his preservations of us and provisions for us And if at any time he chastise us with wants and distresses and exercise us with afflictions to entertain them as messages of his love and tokens of his kindness not to murmur or repine under the cross think we are hardly dealt with but to account it great joy and
take up the yoke and bear the burden quietly and cast it upon the Lord who will bring it to pass That we may not boldly pry into his decrees nor presume upon a rash confidence or despair in distrust of his love but adhere to the plain rule of his word and busy our selves in doing his will That we would tread carefully in the path of duty and mind the business of our general and particular calling and trust God with the success in the use of all lawfull means That we may not be discontented peevish and froward when our humours and interests are cross'd and when his providence answers not our desires but bless God when he takes away as well as when he gives and give him the glory whatever befalls us That we may resign all to his blessed will and rest fully satisfied with his determinations that in all cases we may say with our Saviour Not my will but thine be done That he would write his laws in our hearts and teach us his statutes and acquaint us with his will that we may doe it That he would assist us with his grace and strength from above for the performance of his commandements That he would mortifie our lusts and the corrupt desires of the flesh that we may not set up them in opposition to his Holy will but bring every proud imagination in obedience to him That we may be so acted by his spirit that we may be quickend in every good way and work and be carried on from strength to strength till we come to perfection That we may have a holy emulation for the blessed spirits above and endeavour to imitate them in yielding an obedience without delay without murmuring and without weariness That we may endeavour to the utmost to find out what that good that acceptable and perfect will of God is and to perform it and never think we can doe too much for him or suffer too much for his sake That we would lay aside all worldly cares and serve God without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the dayes of our life and fit our selves for the business of eternity by having our conversation in heaven whilest we are here on earth Thus the three Petitions do immediately concern God and may also have particular reference to the three Persons of the Trinity That the name of the Father who is God blessed for ever may be exalted and glorified That the Kingdom of his Son and his glorious presence may be hastned That the spirit would frame our hearts to the obedience of his will And to the three offices of Christ By whose name as he is our Priest we are saved whose name is above every name holy and excellent who as King rules in our hearts and will come in triumphant manner at the last day to own his faithfull subjects and be avenged of his enemies And who lastly as Prophet hath declared unto us the will of the Father and came to do his will on earth as it is in Heaven with an exact unsinning obedience Nor is the word Thy idle but hath a great significance commending to us that great Gospel-duty of self-denial which is indeed the essential character of a right Christian who can be content to part with all so God may have his due For so the opposition is to be understood Thy name not our honour Thy Kingdom not our interest Thy will not our humour And thus the three petitions seem to be levell'd at the world's Trinity Honour Riches and Pleasure We ought not to study our own honour but to doe all for the glory of God we must not strive for deceivable riches but set the Crown upon Christ's head We should not follow our own pleasure and pursue our own satisfactions and contents but submit to God's will It is no wonder that this holy form of Prayer was so displeasing to the ambitious and factious spirits of these latter times a generation of self-seeekers who meant to advance their own names and get the power of the Kingdom into their own hand and pretended a divine authority for their own will as if they would have prayed rather Our will be done in heaven as it is on earth nor did they stick to say as much when they father'd all their mischiefs on providence and from their successes concluded God's approbation of their wickedness These last words On earth as it is in Heaven may seem to look back upon the three precedent Petitions after this manner on earth as in Heaven Hallowed be thy Name Thy Kingdom come Thy will be done May we men on earth praise and glorify thy name adore thy power and Majesty perform thy commands and submit to thy holy will even as the Angels those ministring spirits and the blessed Saints doe in Heaven saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Sabaoth Now follow the Petitions which concern us and our necessities which are either temporal supplyes of food and a comfortable subsistence and a dayly provision and sustenance or spiritual wants such as are the Pardoâ— of our sins and justification by the blood of the Son of God which was shed for the remission of sins and the strength of assisting grace whereby we may resist and overcome temptation sanctification wrought by the spirit of God dwelling in us and cleansing our hearts by faith So that these three also may have respect to the three persons seeing that they seem particularly directed to the Father for maintenance to the Son for pardon to the Spirit for grace BREAD What more natural for children to ask or for a father to give Bread is the staff of life the stay and support of nature the chief nourishment and that which alone will keep nature in repair and the body in health but is usually taken by a Synecdoche for all manner of food whatsoever even for flesh meat and drink whence to eat bread with one was a common form of speech meant for sitting down at table dining or supping and being entertain'd and indeed feasted with varieties And yet more largely sometimes as here it is for all the provisions and accommodations of life not only food but raiment habitation health strength money friends estate preferment vigour of mind soundness of body success in our undertakings a blessing upon our labours comfort from our relations with all other temporal concernments as seasonable weather the early and the later rain fruitfull fields plenty peace deliverance from dangers long life and a good old age with all those good things of mind of body and of fortune as we call them which may be the objects of a right order'd natural desire and all those additional advantages which the custome of countryes hath made convenient and agreeable to people according to their severall ranks and qualities which are all here comprehended under the name of Bread to teach us frugality and contentedness that if we have but bread we
Be it more or less whatever it is it comes from the hand of a Father and is better then a rebellious child deserves We must neither envy those that have more given them nor scorn those that have less since it pleased God so to make the distribution Let not thy eye be evill because thy master is good nor censure any one from his outward fortune We are all children of the same Father and if he gives one child better cloaths and better fare then another he sees very good reason to diversifie his dispensations and 't is reason enough to quiet our thoughts that he hath so order'd it But if our curiosity do tempt us to look out upon the condition of others about us let us make this use of it and compare our selves with those above us to learn humility that we should not be proud for God's giving us so much since he has given to some others more and with those of lower degree to practise thankfulness that we may not grumble at God's providence who hath done better by us then by many our betters Let the rich be humble because he hath nothing but what he hath receiv'd and let the poor be thankfull for the little which he hath receiv'd and God if he see it fit for him will give him more One particular duty at our meals we may pick out here that we presume not to feed upon those meats which God hath prepared for us for so the Psalmist acknowledges Thou hast prepar'd a table for me and made my cup to run over till we have craved a blessing for them nor rise up without a thanksgiving our Saviours constant practice 'T is observ'd of the swine that he wants those nerves that should draw his eyes upward so that when he feeds on the mast and the acorns he ne're looks up to the tree whence they fall He that feeds himself thus without fear or looking upward for a blessing sacriâ—ices to his belly and makes it his God and with him sure as the belly is for meats and meats for the belly so God shall destroy both it and them THIS DAY Day by day from one day to another without any carking thought for the future for sufficient for the day is the evill thereof And who that sayes this prayer knows but this day may be his last we should at least live so as if it were to be Besides it puts us in mind of a constant dependence upon God He that hath provided for me to day will not let me want to morrow we have been cast upon his care from our mother's womb and have liv'd ever since we came into the world at his charges He will not therefore cast us of now no nor forsake us in our old age when our strength fails us We have had so many tryalls of God's goodness towards us as we have liv'd dayes and hours we may well trust him then for the time to come 'T is true all futurity to us is uncertain 't is not so to him to morrow is all one with him as to day and this is certain that he will never want power or love to help us nor will he fail the expectation of those who put their trust in him who is the same yesterday to day and for ever Let us content our selves then with present enjoyments and not care for to morrow for the morrow will care for it self While we have a mouth to ask God will not want a hand to give And this word makes the prayer as dayly as the bread it asks Wherefore be sure be thy condition what it will if thou sayest this Prayer every day thy dayly allowance will find thee out and be where thou wilt it shall be sent thee some way or other as the Ravens were caterers for Elias Christ's miracles of the loaves his turning water into wine may assure us that be our provision never so scant or mean yet if his blessing be in them they will be sufficient for our support and comfort DAYLY That which thou hast apportioned for us that which God's providence has set out in the particular distributions to be our part and portion This Petition alludes to the Manna Angels food that fell every morning among the Tents of the Israelites in the wilderness whereof he that gather'd much had nothing over and he that took up little had no lack but every one enough for his eating 'T is so ordinarily and 't is little less then miracle how so many thousand families as are in a great city in a nation live by one another and how they are provided for according to their severall rates proportions Thus the Syriac renders it The Bread of our sufficience or of our proportion He then that takes more then belongs to him and exceeds his allowance must look that the overplus shall stink and breed worms The Greek word is indeed doubtfull and admits of a double interpretation First as 't is deriv'd from a word which signifies the day a coming to morrow's or the next day's bread and thus it signifies an honest care to be aforehand in the world and not as we say to live from hand to mouth And such a care does not argue distrust but on the contrary a man's improvidence may seem to call God's providence in question For so the Apostle pronounces of him that he 's worse then an infidel that does not provide for his family And so before we were obliged to trust in God because 't is to be given and yet take care of our selves and use the means because we must make it ours before he give it Secondly as 't is compounded of a word that signifies substance and a particle of various use on over to beside in c. 't is render'd super substantial bread added to our substance belonging to our substance by which we are maintain'd or kept alive or of an excellent substance And so some apply it to Christ who was that bread that came down from heaven of which the Mannâ— was a type Whose holy Body is in the Sacrament of the Supper represented by the symbol of Bread And what so fit to beg of our heavenly Father as this heavenly Bread by which our souls are fed to life everlasting our nature repair'd and perfectly restor'd our hearts strengthened our spirits quickened and our graces kept alive The meaning of this Petition is that God would feed us with food convenient for us that he would supply all our necessities and fill up all our wants That he would as a faithfull creatour preserve us in the land of the living and give us all things that he knows convenient for us in this our pilgrimage That his blessing may every day fall round about our dwelling like the morning dew and as the Manna lift amongst the tents of the Israelites That he would provide for us all accommodations suitable
to our condition and to that station of life whereunto his good providence hath design'd us That he would give us strength of body and vigour of mind perfect health and all natural and moral abilities that may fit us for the discharge of our duties and above all a contented spirit that we may eat our bread with chearfulness and be satisfied with his gracious disposals of us and any condition that he shall in his wisdom cast us into either riches or poverty That he would neither send us so much of the world 's good as to tempt us to wantonness and riot nor so little as to make us repine but assign us such a competent portion that we may find a comfortable subsistence and have where with to doe good to others That we may be enabled to provide things honest and fashionable before all men yet not make provision for the flesh to satisfy the lusts thereof That our food may be wholsome rather then delicious so that in the strength thereof we may do him service That our attire may be decent and comely to cover shame not to show pride and vanity that we may not turn his gifts into wantonness or â—mbezill his talents but imploy them to his glory and others good â— and make us friends of the unrighteous mammon That he would bless our labours and give success to our honest undertakings that we may eat the labour of our hands and it may be well with us That he would procure us faithfull friends diligent servants dutifull children fruitfull seasons and furnish us with all other perquisites that may make our condition comfortable That he would bless the nation with righteous government and honest magistrates indue the nobles with courage the commons with loyalty bless all orders and conditions of persons from the highest to the lowest from him that sitteth on the throne to him that is behind the mill enlarge all that are in distress send us plenty and peace in our dayes crown the year with his goodness and make all his steps toward us drop fatness that we may thankfully acknowledge his benefits and be charitably disposed to those that are in want that we may be tender-hearted compassionate not forget to communicate and distribute and show gratitude to all those whom he has made instruments of good to us who have obliged us by any kindness and pray for them that God would restore seaven-fold into their bosome That he would keep us in an humble constant dependance on him and provide honest courses for us that we may not eat the bread of idleness or tempt his providence with the use of unlawfull means That he would deliver us from dangers and distresses preserve us from rapine and spoil and keep us from distrusts and anxietyes about the things of this life but that we may seek first the Kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof assuring our selves that then all things else shall be added to us and whatsoever our share be of outward things take the Lord for our portion and our inheritance That he would to this end give us Christ the bread of life and with him all things and that he would with that bread which came down from heaven feed our souls to life everlasting strengthning our graces pardoning our sins and subduing our lusts AND FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES AS WE FORGIVE THEM THAT TRESPASS AGAINST US Pardon is as necessary for our spiritual life as bread for our natural For the soul that sins shall dy In many things we offend all even the righteous falls seven times a day For death came into the world by sin over all mankind but righteousness and life came by Iesus Christ And we have dayly need on 't too for we provoke God every day So then we are to hunger and thirst after the righteousness of Christ that our souls may live And as Christ's flesh is bread indeed so is his blood which he shed for the atonement of wrath and forgiveness of sins drink indeed the water out of that spiritual rock which is Christ. Oh that our souls might thirst for the living God as the wounded hart panteth after the water-brooks OUR TRESPASSES The other Evangelist useth another word debts which comes all to one both signifying sins by a translated sense borrowed from dealings amongst men betwixt creditor and debtor the person suffering the injury and the person doing it For a debtor or trespasser that is not solvent or hath not wherewith to make satisfaction agrees with his adversary puts it to reference comes to composition and by mediation of friends takes up the business that there may be no arrest or inditement or other procedeur in law against him as knowing that he should come by the worst be cast in his fuit and be sent to prison where he must ly by it till he have paid the uttermost farthing which being utterly unable to doe he must never hope to come out but rot in prison The same is the case betwixt God and us we are bound to him by our creation to an observance of his laws or to undergoe the penalty of the breach which is everlasting death But we are fallen short and are unable to discharge that debt nor are we able to answer him one word of a thousand so that there are due to us all the plagues written in his book We have gone astray and done abominably we have broken all his laws and commandments we have been rebellious children from our youth up and the imaginations of our hearts have been evill continually we have neglected our duty in every thing and have not harkned to him to obey his voice so that to us belongs shame and confusion of face for ever Now Christ became our surety took up the business undertook our reconciliation and hath answer'd the law satisfied justice discharg'd our debts cancell'd the obligation and nail'd the hand writing of the law unto his cross making a new covenant of life betwixt God and us upon Gospell-terms of grace and new obedience yet still we are wanting on our part and deal treacherously in our covenant trampling upon his blood and despising so great salvation Nay even the best of Saints have their dayly slips and failings Who is he that can justify himself and if any perfectist say he has no sin he deceives himself and the truth is not in him Our sins All Adam's off-spring the whole race of mankind is tainted Behold saith the holy Prophet a man after God's own heart I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin hath my mother conceiv'd me And the Apostle has concluded all under sin so that we are all guilty of original corruption whereby all the faculties of our soul and members of our body are over-spread as with a leprosie from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot beyond the cure of all humane arts and helps Philosophy education
thy beams As God has made the poor his receivers so he has appointed thy debtors and trespassers his assigns What they can't pay thee God strikes off of thy account what thou forgivest them is discharg'd out of God's bill against thee Thus our forgiveness like quit-rent or a legal cheat stands for a hundred times it's value and our enemies prove our greatest friends by injuring us to our happiness and turning our shame into the advantage of our glory by procuring us pardon of our sins whilest we forgive THEM THAT TRESPASS AGAINST US 'T is such an argument as the Centurion used and shews as much charity as his did faith Doe but speak the word sayes he and my servant shall be healed For I also am one in a petty authority and have souldiers under me and say to one Goe and he goes to another Come and he comes to a third Doe this and he doth it So we are taught to plead this request Forgive us our sins for we also forgive offences committed against us We have superiours that oppress us and we bear with patience equals that scorn us and we in honour prefer them inferiours that neglect us and we use them kindly we have hard masters severe teachers base friends abusive companions stubborn children spightfull neighbours unfaithfull servants and yet we return not evill for evill but give place to wrath and according to thy command overcome their evill with our good We bless those that curse us pray for those that wrongfully use us doe all the good we can to those who doe us all manner of ill and endeavour as much as in us lyes to keep peace with all men and readily forgive every one that doth us any unkindness and with our Saviour on the cross pray that our heavenly Father will forgive them too and with the first Christian Martyr that God will not lay what they doe to their charge And will not the Father of mercies do so by us and much more will not he forgive with whom there is forgiveness that he may be feared God would want worshippers no body would fear him were he a cruel God and delighted in the death of a sinner and would accept of no other sacrifice for sin but the soul that commits it He is mercifull and gracious long suffering full of loving kindness and plenteous in redemption as he has express'd himself in the vision of Moses That he may forgive us as we forgive others let us learn of him to forgive to be reviled and not revile again to love our enemies to pass by offences to wink at great faults not to be strict in observing what is done amiss For if God should doe so who would be able to stand for who knows how oft he offends to make a candid interpretation of other mens carriage and judge the best of their actions to put up wrongs at least to put them upon God's account as David said of Shimei God hath sent him to curse me this day and to look upon every enemy thou hast as God's scourge and 't will become a dutifull child to submit to his father's correction though administred by a servant's hand For he appoints the hand as well as the rod. God has severall wayes to chastise his children and punishes some with a malicious tongue to blister their good name to some a marriage bed proves their purgatory or an ill neighbour-hood To others men of violence come with a commission from heaven as God's Takers and seize on all the comforts of their lives and remember amongst all these injuries of men God doth no man wrong and he may take what course he please to reduce a rebell subject to his obedience And lastly how malitious so ever the intentions of men may be God means all this vexation for good and would not apply this strong Physic but that he finds it necessary for the health of thy soul. What little reason hast thou to be offended at any man whom God imployes in the drudgery of his chastisements How much reason hast thou to forgive and thank too any one that doth thee such kind injuries which reclaim thee from thy sins and put thee in a capacity of God's pardon And shall he that is at this pains about thee to fetch thee home to thy Father and bring thee to Heaven be thought to doe thee ill offices and not deserve a pardon for his courteous malice What good shrewd turns are these What friends more beneficial then such foes whose mistaken rage meaning to kill cures by breaking an Impostume of pride or lust whose cruelty while it would drive us from earth would but give us an earlier possession of heaven and banish us into bliss But may one say if this reasoning be good to what purpose are lawes whereby mens persons and properties are secured from wrong To what end courts of judicature where injur'd persons may have right done them Besides that war upon this account will be as unlawfull as murder and if men may not be allowed to preserve their rights by laws and where they are over-power'd to maintain them by arms in a short time they would have nothing to loose for one injury will invite another till they have eaten out their patient entertainer To this I answer 't is true the whole tenor of the Gospell is for self-denyall taking up the cross and bearing chearfully all that an injurious world can put upon us that the great character of a Christian is to be a sufferer and that the scope of this very petition is in short that we should deal with others as we will have God deal with us which is freely to forgive all trespasses that are committed against us without any exception for no other pardon can serve our turn from God's hand any one sin unpardon'd will damn us Yet God has for the preservation of the civil societies of men implanted principles of moral honesty in the minds of men and hath prescribed rules of equity in his word and hath set up his Vicegerents Kings and Magistrates under them to keep good order that no person of loose principles that has debauch'd his notions may disturb others to gratify his own lust but may be made give account to him that beareth not the sword in vain And one may in some cases nay must out of charity to the publick prosecute notorious offenders as traitors murtherers thieves c. least by a patient sufferance of their mischiefs we encourage them in their wickedness and become accessary to the guilt of any other villany they shall commit afterwards As for private wrongs as slanders c. ones own ease would be argument enough to put a supersedeas to Law with an ingenuous man who knows no ill by himself it being generally seen that he that 's over eager to prosecute a scandal justifies it To conclude there can be no offence so hainous no miscarriage so
increase their debt and their table proves their snare Others are in God's favour though the world frown on them and with Lazarus are put to shift for crumbs that fall from the rich glutton's table whose outward man is ready to perish for want while the inward man lives by faith Others may have their sins forgiven them yet be put upon worse conflict then bodily want and the necessities of a short life being buffetted with Satan and winnowed and exercis'd with strong temptations And there may be those who though preserved from falling into temptation and kept from great sins by the restraints of a gracious providence yet may not be secure as to their forgiveness who may be damn'd for their little sins every sin being in it's nature high treason against an infinite Majesty For they are all three well link'd together with a copulation seeing that any one would not doe us much good without the other two nor make sufficient provision for our necessity Bread is for the maintenance of our natural life Iustification freeing us from the guilt of sin puts us in a spiritual life by taking out the sting of death and sanctification by which we are enabled to work out our salvation instates us to the life eternal Bread keeps us while we are on earth Pardon rescues us from hell and Grace conveys us to heaven which is here meant as that with which we are to encounter temptation and give it the foyl LEAD US NOT. Man's life is often compar'd to a walk and a pilgrimage There are many wayes and many leaders we are often at a stand and through ignorance know not well which way to take and therefore have need of being led Moses led the children of Israel through the wilderness Ioshua led them into Canaan we seek a land of promise and have a wilderness of temptations to pass thorough and as we want eyes to see our way so we want feet to walk it being naturally as weak as we are ignorant our understanding dark and our will lame and crooked Nay and when we are acquainted with the wayes of truth and holiness we are apt to be misled to goe back or start aside and turn to the right hand or the left We are beset round with temptations every step we tread is snare and unless God order our goings and direct us in his way and bear us up with his grace we should every moment fall into sin and run into errour The world the flesh and the Divel lay baits and traps for us The instigations of Satan the vanities of the world the counsel and example of wicked men and the corrupt desires of our own flesh misguid us and put us upon dangerous occasions of ill rocks of offence and pits of destruction Wherefore seeing that sin doth so easily beset us we pray that God would not lead us into it that he who is the Saviour of men and the lover of souls would not take up the enemies trade who is a tempter first and then the accuser That since we are ready to goe astray our selves he would not put stumbling blocks in our way nor countenance those evil guides and ringleaders of mischief which seek our soul to destroy it by leading us himself into temptation But do not we lay an imputation upon God's goodness in praying that he would not lead us into evil and sin God tempts no man but gives way to temptation sometimes in mercy for the tryall of his servants and to refine their graces whence himself is pleas'd to make manifestations of his presence in the fiery tryall in the furnace of affliction as he did with the three children though it be heated seven times over that their faith may be as silver seven times purified in the fire Otherwhile in judgement he gives up a harden'd sinner to the counsel of his own will and delivers him over to Satan as his officer to be tempted Thus put a lying spirit at one time into the mouth of the Prophets thus our Saviour bid Iudas after the Divel had entred into his heart doe what he meant to doe quickly God leads us then when he lets us alone and leaves us to our selves when he doth not deliver or keep us from temptation for so the opposition stands Lead us not but Deliver us And sure our state must be very sad when God withdraws when we have nothing left about us but cunning and powerful enemies and a false heart within that will sooner surrender then temptation can summon If God goe aside we need none to lead us into temptation wee 'll be our own tempters the Divel may trust us with our selvs and not spend his artillery We often tempt the tempter and as if we were afraid to be led into temptation we goe of our selves seek it loving the wayes of destruction and courting our ruin thinking we cannot be too sure of damnation we make our lusts Proctors for Hell and as 't were out of kindness to Satan take his drudgery out of his hand lead our selves into temptation and run head long into the pit INTO TEMPTATION All temptation is a tryal and every thing in the world will afford materials to make temptations of The world is Satan's forge in which he hammers his fiery darts and flings about his sparkles and his firebrands Honour riches pleasure are the great temptations of mankind Prosperity an inticement to ill Adversity a discouragement from good He knows the severall genius and inclinations of men studies their temper learns their humour and interests and knows how to give them content and gratify their corruptions He catches at opportunities and nicks the temptation and shoots his darts betwixt the joints of the hâ—rness He represents the objects at the best advantage and fits his design to every circumstance The forbidden fruit to tempt the woman the woman to tempt the man He surprises her when she is alone that the female appetite might not have a masculine reason to rule it The fruit was fair to look on and sure pleasant to tast and curiosity inhances the desire knowledge though it be of evil being very pleasant Noah's vineyard tempts him to drink Lot's daughters set upon their aged father In short ther 's nothing which the Divel cannot make use of to his purpose and if need be he will head his arrows with Scripture as he did to our Saviour And as every thing is thus fit for the Divel's use to be made an instrument of evil to us so neither is he wanting in skill for he has methods and depths nor in his industry for he goes about seeking whom he may devour to shape and apply them dextrously upon all occasions No business no condition no place no season no person secure against him or temptation proof His hook is alwayes hanging he 's alwayes at our elbowes egging us to mischief He has no other business no
the head this in the heart Again Faith is divided into Historical Temporal and Saving Faith The first the Divels have who believ and tremble The second is of hypocrites who believe for a time and fall off The last doth properly belong to the elect who are therefore called Believers and the faithfull who hold out to the end live by their Faith Now Faith is a full perswasion of mind and a sure confidence by which we depend upon him in whom we believ IN GOD. We are said to believ a God when we acknowledge that there is a God and he that is such an one as he hath discovered himself in his word and works to believ God when we are perswaded that his word is the very truth and that whatsoever he hath promis'd or threatned in holy Scripture shall surely come to pass to believ in God when we place all our hope and trust in his power and goodness who both will help those that trust in him because he is a Father and can because he is Almighty God is of an infinite nature which exceeds all bounds of time or place much less can be comprehended by our shallow understanding we cannot know but we must believ and this very Faith doth as much exceed reason as reason doth sense in evidence and certainty The Holy Trinity by which three Persons are one God and the Incarnation of the Word by which two Natures meet into one Person are high and deep mysteries not to be reached by the eye not to be fathom'd by the plummet of our reason but Faith takes the heighth with a Iacob's staff and humble Hope fastens her Anchor in the bottom of this depth and diffusive Charity embraceth the whole compass of Divine truth THE FATHER The Deity is distinguished into three Persons the Father the Son and Holy Ghost and these Three are One and the same God the Father begets the Son the Son is begotten of the Father the Holy Ghost proceeds from both the Father and the Son God is the Father also of all things for of him and to him and through him are all things ALMIGHTY Who can doe all things and doth whatsoever he pleaseth both in Heaven and in Earth neither is there any thing too hard for him for who hath resisted his will Yet God cannot lye call back yesterday or make the same thing to be and not to be at the same time for these are marks of extream impotence not omnipotence and God would not be God if he could doe them MAKER God's power is not idle Even before he made he decreed to make and his thoughts were busy about the work of creation from eternity He made not as workmen doe of stuff lying before them for he made all things of nothing nor with pains and weariness for he spake and they were made He did not only make the world and then leave it to it's self as Masons doe houses they build but he preserves and governs too and disposes all events to his own glory OF HEAVEN AND EARTH That is of the whole world whereof heaven and earth are the principal parts He spred out the earth as a floor and built up the wals and laid the roof of heaven he stored the elements with several creatures the heaven with stars as lamps hung out the aire with birds the water with fishes the earth with beasts He made heaven earth and all things therein contained in the space of six dayes but the chief of all his works were Angels the citizens of heaven and Men the inhabitants of the earth made after his own likeness and indued with understanding and excellent gifts But some of the Angels with Lucifer by reason of pride left their station and turned Divels All mankind fell in Adam by disobedience from a state of innocence and happiness into a state of sin and misery so that by nature we are the children of wrath but by grace become the children of God and that by means of the Son of God who became the Son of Man that he might save the children of men The second Article Here begins the part of the Creed concerning Christ the second Person Now Christ is considered either in his Person or in his State which is two-fold the state of Humiliation and the state of Exaltation And in Iesus Christ his onely begotten Son our Lord. The Person of Christ consists of two natures Divine and Humane for as soul and body make up man so God and man are one Christ. He is described here by his names titles The names are Iesus and Christ by which are noted his offices The titles which are given him that he is the only Son of God and our Lord shew partly his essence partly his dignity AND. He who believes the Father must also believ the Son for he who denieth the Son hath not the Father IN. It must be the same saith by which we believ Father and Son since both Father and Son are the same God I and the Father are one saith he and therefore as Ye believ in the Father believ also in me JESUS That is Saviour for he came into the world to save sinners that he might reconcile God and man and recover fallen man out of the state of sin and misery into a state of grace and glory He saves from sin and from the punishment due to sin and freeth us as well from the power as guilt of sin CHRIST Messias in Hebrew and Christ in Greek is all one as in Latin anointed Now three kinds of men were wont to be anointed that is to be consecrated to their office by powring oyl upon their heads to wit King Priest and Prophet Christ was anointed with the oyl of gladness above his fellows that is extraordinarily furnisht with gifts of the holy Spirit Melchizedeck was King and Priest Samuel Priest and Prophet David Prophet and King Christ alone the thrice greatest King Priest and Prophet King by subduing our enemies the world the flesh and the Divel and ruling our hearts by his word and spirit Priest by offering up a perfect sacrifice for us satisfying divine justice for our sins and by blessing us by a perpetual intercession Prophet by revealing the will of the Father and discovering to us all things which belong to salvation HIS ONELY BEGOTTEN SON God hath many sons but Christ is the onely begotten God is stiled the Father of lights and the Father of spirits and the Angels are called the sons of God Magistrates children of the most High because they resemble him in power and dignity and all Godly men are by grace made the children of God Now there is a vast difference betwixt Christ and these All creatures by creation blessed spirits by imitation Princes and Rulers by institution Believers by adoption become God's children But Christ alone is his Son by eternall generation of
beam and his holy feet closed together to the upright beam of the Cross exposed him naked to publick shame being hung betwixt two theevs in a place without the city at the Feast of Passeover and when he had given up the ghost with many pains and groans a souldier pierced his side with a launce that that saying might have place they shall look on him whom they have pierced DEAD By the separation of soul and body for his body remain'd upon the Cross and his soul return'd immediately to God as himself told the penitent theef This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise He was not born after an ordinary manner neither dyed he a common death for as much as beside the extream pain he suffered whilest he hung with the weight of his body upon the Cross and the great shame to which he lay open he lay under a curse the Law pronouncing him cursed that hangs upon the tree AND BURIED Taken down from the Cross embalm'd with spices wrapped up in fine linnen and laid in a tomb where none had lay'n before by the care and cost of Ioseph of Arimathea And the malice of his enemies persued him beyond death and attended him to his very grave who that he might not rise again as himself had promised rolled a great stone to the mouth of the tomb and clapping on their own seals set a guard to watch him HE DESCENDED INTO HELL That is he went down into the lower-most parts of the earth and for the space of three dayes remain'd in the grave amongst the dead Or as some expound it he suffered the pains of Hell and the wrath of God due to our sins and underwent the curse of the law and terrours of conscience to which we were lyable Others take the words as they sound of the place that he did coveigh himself into the regions of darkness and discovered to the divels and to the wicked spirits the glory of his presence and routing the powers of Hell leading captivity captive and trampling Satan that old serpent the enemy of mankind under his victorious feet according to the first Prophesie of Christ The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpents head And in this sense this article is the beginning of Christ's exaltation The other degrees are his Resurrection his Ascension his Sitting at the right hand of God the Father and his Coming to judgement THE THIRD DAY After that he had lain three dayes in the grave as Ionas who ws the type of the Son of Man continued three days in the whale's belly It being observ'd that on the fourth day the body begins to corrupt which was not to happen to Christ David thus speaking concerning him My flesh shall rest in hope because thou wilt not leave my soul in Hell neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption Wherefore early in the morning on the third day which was for that reason appointed the Christian Sabbath HE ROSE AGAIN Partly raising himself by his own virtue and divine power as himself saith I lay down my life that I may take it up again I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again Partly being raised by God the Father who when his Iustice was fully satisfied released Christ out of the prison of the grave and to that purpose sent his Angels to roll away the stone death having now no more dominion over him who having finisht the work of our redemption rose again for our justification FROM THE DEAD He return'd to life appeared to his Disciples and others several times shewed the wounds which he had received on the Cross and made Thomas who was hard of belief to feel his side that he might know it was a true body And having for fourty dayes together conversed upon earth and given orders to the Apostles how they should goe into all the world and preach the Gospell and plant churches promising them the assistance of the spirit he took his leave of them in this manner as followeth HE ASCENDED In the sight of his Apostles from the top of mount Olivet where he had bin formerly used to spend much of his time in holy retirements and spiritual exercises he lifted up himself from the ground and so mounting upward through the aire was received by a cloud and to the wonder of them all carried aloft out of sight two Angels telling them as they stood gazing that as they had seen him goe away so he should come again INTO HEAVEN The seat of the blessed where God sits on his Throne attended by millions of Angels far above the sphear of the stars the sky to wit the highest heaven For having dispatched the business for which he came down on earth he return'd to the Father by whom he had bin sent to intercede with him in our behalf and make out to us thence the benefit of all those things which he had done and suffer'd for us here And having conquer'd sin and death and broken the power of Hell what remains but that he should as in triumph ride upon the wings of the wind ascend to Heaven as the prize of his glorious conquest AND SITTETH To note that he hath fully accomplished the work of our Salvation he is said at last to sit down that he may as it were rest from his labours For the servant stands or goes whilest he is employ'd and sits not down till his work be done Now Christ put on the form of a servant and came as he saith of himself to wait not to be waited on That he sits also is a token of that authority which the Father hath given him having delivered unto him all power both in heaven and in earth and put all things under his feet So God sits in Heaven to order all things at his pleasure Again to sit sometimes signifies stay he sits there not to return before the end of the world Lastly by this word is expressed the blessed and glorious condition of the Saints in the life to come who shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the Kingdom of Heaven and therefore to shew the greatness of the dignitie to which Christ according to his humane nature is advanced is added At the right hand of God the Father Almighty The right hand usually expresseth strength and honour power and glory besides to give the right hand is a sign of fellowship and friendship wherefore God calls him the man my fellow Now to speak properly God hath no right hand or left nor any bodily parts but that he may apply himself to our capacities he doth use to speak of himself after the manner of men Becuse earthly Princes are wont to place those at their right hand whom they favour and would shew a particular honour as Solomon entertained his mother The meaning is that God hath raised him to the highest pitch
civil use i.e. for ornament for memorial or some historical representation but the religious use of them is forbidden so as to set them up to worship as Nebuchadnezar gave order for his Image and as the Israelites caus'd Aaron to make them a calf which whether they had from the Egyptians practice or transcrib'd from the copy of the Tabernacle where the Cherubs were in the same shape it was so provoking a sin that Moses in zeal broke all the Commandements in pieces to see them break this one yet these Cherubs and other pictures in all manner of curious work were in the Tabernacle and afterwards in the Temple without scandal for 't is not the Image but the Image-worship that God is offended at ANY GRAVEN IMAGE OR ANY LIKENESS The former word is of a limited sense but this latter is so general as to denote all pictures or resemblances whatsoever whither carv'd and cut out in wood or stone or cast in brass or other mettle or limn'd and drawn in colours or interwoven and embroider'd in cloth or whatever other way art and fancy can find out OF ANY THING THAT IS IN HEAVEN ABOVE The Sun Moon and Stars such as the horses of the Sun we read of and the star of Remphan and Diana of the Ephesians or in the highest heavens Saints and Angels blessed spirits OR THAT IS IN THE EARTH BENEATH As trees groves and high places herbs as those of Egypt worshipped their leeks and onions birds and beasts it being the heathen fashion as the Apostle too observes it to change the glory of the incorruptible God into such unworthy similitudes Or men themselves though a diviner creature whether living as Herod was ador'd or dead it being a common use to canonize those after death who deserved well in their life nay even the worst of Tyrants that have liv'd the prodigies of mankind have had a fear and reverence survive them so far as to have their names consecrated and get the opinion of divinity after their deaths OR THAT IS IN THE WATERS UNDER THE EARTH as fishes Sea-monsters such as Dagon for the mistaken devotion of the poor Heathens fill'd all the Elements with imaginary Deities Nor did Heaven Earth and Sea afford room enough to their busy fancy but they have searched Hell too for some what to worship and the Divel himself has not escaped the base flatteries of men The Indians to this very day worshipping him and perswaded by those frightful apparitions he makes to think that their devotion is not misplaced nor is it much wonder when his instruments grand Usurpers and Impostors of the world have been own'd by abused people into a divine esteem and honoured with blasphemous Idolatry THOU SHALT NOT BOW DOWN TO THEM by prostration of thy body falling flat on thy face or bending thy knee shew them any respect as the manner was to worship Baal i.e. the image of Baal for so the Apostle renders it Baal or Belus himself having been a great Prince and for his magnificence and great atchievements consecrated by his country-men to divine worship NOR WORSHIP THEM or NOR SERVE THEM for the other word is more frequently us'd for worship thou shalt not give them any honour nor wait upon them with any attendance but look upon them as they are in themselves as dead liveless things that cannot help themselves that have eyes and see not c. Thou shalt not offer to them sacrifice nor do any other act of service as belongs to God's worship And 't is strange to consider how furious even the Israelites were grown in their Idolatrous practises when they caus'd their own children to pass through the fire to Moloch performing that to the Divel which Abraham was not permitted to doe to the true God Where we see the difference betwixt true Religion and Idolatry that God restrains his servants from those austerities which he might require but the Divel puts on his worshippers upon the most bloody and unnatural cruelties Thus Baal's priests and some others were instructed to cut and slash themselves and as it were offer up themselves an unreasonable service Thus far the precept now follows the reason of the precept FOR I THE LORD THY GOD AM A STRONG GOD or as the Septuagint and Vulgar read it I am the Lord thy God repeating that double obligation which was used in the Preface taken from the power of God and his goodness That he is a strong God implyes how much he differs from any Idol for an Idol is nothing in the world God is El but these Idols are Elilim Gods of no force and of no worth and Gelilim dunghil gods The Divel at best which is one of his dreadfullest titles is but Beelzebub a god of flyes but God is the Lord of Housts 'T is God's usual challenge to these Idols that rob him of his worship when he tells them that he made Heaven and Earth and they sorry things were themselves made by the hands of men The Prophet Isaiah has in a hansom Irony put Idols themselves out of countenance chap. 44. a place worth the turning to for any one that is in danger of being tempted to sottish Idolatry IEALOUS Who will not part with his honour to another that will be loved without a rival and though he despise not a broken heart yet will not accept a divided one but will have all or none and which is the effect of jealousie when he finds the affections goe astray from him and wander after other loves he turns his extreme love into extreme hatred those flames burn into rage 'T is an Allegorie God often delights to use comparing his Church his beloved ones to a spouse or betrothed wife himself to a kind but jealous husband Idolatry he accounts disloyalty to his bed and frequently expostulates with his people for their going a whoring after their own inventions and their spiritual fornications and threatens a Bill of divorce yet so that upon the Harlot's return and amendment he will receive her again into the embraces of his love There are two qualityes in jealousy which render it terrible that 't is very watchfull to find the offence and as revengeful to punish it And these the more dreadfull in God in that his knowledge is infallible his power irresistible and his vengeance unsufferable And if God allow'd such cruel tryals to the bare surmises of men to prove the fidelity of their wives how will the cup of his wrath rot the thighs and the wombs the posterity I mean of Idolatrous worshippers that provoke him to jealousy with their abominations VISITING A word taken from the manner of Magistrates dealing with offenders who first goe with a commission to examine and enquire into the fact to show God's leisurely proceeding to sentence as in the case of Sodom he went down to see whether the sin was according to the cry and so before came down to view
outward actions resembling the inward virtue and efficacy of that thing of which it is a sign This sacred Rite is called the Holy Supper either by the way of Metaphor to denote the communion and fellowship which the Saints have with one another for which reason we also usually term it with the Apostle Paul the Communion The whole family meeting together at that time when all the business of the day is over to refresh themselves and take their repast Nor is it otherwise with the houshold of Faith who though imployed in several dwellings and dutyes of life yet as members of one and the same body whereof Christ is the Head are united to one another by the same spirit fed with the same spiritual food So that the Mystical body of the Church is made up of many Saints just as the bread it self of many corns and the wine of drops whence 't is frequently by the Greek Fathers called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. the gathering together of the Saints whither as some Interpreters would have it that place hath allusion where the car case is that is the crucified Body of Christ thither shall the eagles the quick-sighted high-flown believers be gathered together Or out of a more particular respect to the Passeover into the place and stead whereof this Sacrament came as the other succeeded circumcision for the Iews were wont by God's appointment yearly to celebrate a Feast whereon at evening in each houshold they slew a Lamb dressed it and eat it together in remembrance of the deliverance from the Egyptian slavery and from the Angel who striking all the first born of Egypt pass'd over the houses of the Israelites who for that purpose had according to that command dash'd the Blood of the Lamb upon the lintel of the door Now Christ being the substance was to put an end to all ceremonies came to make one perfect sacrifice once for all who in that he dyed dyed but once being the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world and his death we are to remember in these pledges of his love whereby he hath delivered us from a spiritual slavery and wrought salvation for us And indeed in that very nick of time when our Saviour had finisht the Paschal Supper with his Disciples he appointed this as to abide for ever in the room of the other The Lord's Supper it is styled because appointed by the Lord Jesus and represents him to be fed on by Faith The words of the Scripture wherein the Institution is set down expresse both time when and manner how it was performed the manner again delilivers partly what he did partly what he said in consecrating the bread first and then the cup. The Institution of this Sacrament is described by the authour time and manner The Authour the Lord Iesus The Time the night wherein he was betrayed the Manner consists of two parts shewing partly what he did partly what he said and that severally of these two several signs by which he would represent his Body and Blood For this Holy Supper was to consist of spiritual meat and drink as men use both to eat and drink in their other ordinary meals The Bread is the sign of his Body the Cup of his Blood First as to the Bread what did he He took it he bless'd it he broke it he gave it What said he Take eat this is my Body Again for the Cup what did he he took it he bless'd it he gave it What said he Drink ye all of it for this is my Blood c. Now let us goe over each part again and explain it more fully THE LORD JESUS Who by the merit of his Passion and at the price of his Blood purchased for us Salvation and for himself glory and a Name above every Name that he might become Head of the Church and to him might be given all power from the Father He alone has authority to appoint Sacraments and order the affairs of his Church by his word and spirit whereby he hath impowerd his Ministers to act in his Name to dispense his ordinances even to the end of the world IN THE NIGHT. For it was a Supper which he intended and 't was at supper or rather after supper when he had with his Disciples about him eaten the Passeover the type of himself who was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world when he said at the Table One of you shall betray me and discovered his betrayer by giving him a sop which some think was no other then a piece of consecrated bread Nay the self-same night IN WHICH HE WAS BETRAID by Iudas with a kiss bringing a multitude along with him arm'd with swords and staves the rage of the rulers and the curses of the priests to lay wicked hands on him after he had sweat drops of blood in his agony and powred out his Soul in Prayer being sad even to death in a garden where he made the praeludium to his Passion BREAD by which the heart of man is strengthned which is therefore called the staff of life is made use of to represent the Body of Christ who was the bread which came down from Heaven by which souls are fed to life everlasting HE TOOK IT That he might by his example shew the Ministers of his word what they are to doe when they invite their people to the holy Table himself doth in a solemn manner begin the ceremonies taking the bread i.e. lifting it up and holding it in his hand which amongst the Iews was then the fashion observ'd by the master of the house AND GIVING THANKS We doe not read anywhere that Christ ever sate down to meat without Thanksgiving which especially before the Holy Supper is necessary it being for that reason call'd the Eucharist And surely the death of Christ which is here set forth was the greatest blessing that ever befell mankind Or Blessing it The meaning may be that by consecrating it he did set it aside from common use and praying for a special blessing upon it that it may become an effectual means of grace he stamp'd upon it a kind of reverence which was not due to it before HE BROKE IT Whence this mystery is also call'd the breaking of bread he divided it into several pieces that there might be the better distribution of it amongst the company at table AND GAVE IT i.e. reaching out his hand he set to every one his part and bestowed it amongst them TO THE DISCIPLES Who did then represent the whole Church of Christ and society of the faithful both men and women who should give up themselves to the discipline of Christ and take upon them the profession of the Gospel not so much as Iudas excepted though Christ well knew what was in his heart Wherefore by Christ's own example Ministers might learn that none should be excluded and kept from the table where Christ