be but as it gets ground from our senses to stand upon And what ground can our understanding have for this from any sense of ours we cannot heare him so much as to call to us by our names as Samuel did we cannot see him so much as flaming in a bush and not consuming it as Moses did we cannot touch so much as the wounds of Christs side as Thomas did and from whence then should our understanding take its rising It is true we see the heavens and they declare the glory of God but we slight them through too much familiarity we heare his words in the Law and the Gospel and in them is eternall life but we regard not them as having them but at the second hand and they but touch us as it were at the bound but if we could heare God speaking himselfe as the Israelites did in Sina Or if we could see but the backparts of God as Moses did in the rocke but most of all if we could see the face of God which all his Saints and Angels behold in heaven then indeed we should not need this prayer any longer for the very sight would worke in us the effect of the prayer and as Peter at the onely transfiguration of Christs humanity was so astonished that he spake he knew not what yet thus much was even extorted froÌ„ him by the glory of the sight to say Bonum est esse hic so when we shall come to enjoy the vision of God and to see one sitting upon the Thron like a Iasper stone though we shall be never so much astonished at the glory of the fight yet this will even be extorted from us to say with the 24 Elders Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power and wee shall fall of our selves into the song of the Angels Holy holy holy Lord God almighty and not only say it but never cease to say it for seeing our beholding will be cause of our admiring our admiring cause of our saying we shall never cease to say it because never cease to admire it and never leave admiring it because never leave be holding it And indeed till we shall come to see his face we shall never perfectly hallow his Nam and therefore what we want in ability we must supply with prayer that seeing our words doe but halt after our understanding and our understanding after his glory with our hearts we may adore him but adore him as incomprehensible with our hearts we may hallow him but hallow him as unsâ—eakable When we pray for the hallowing of Gods Name we pray implicitely for all things necessary and conducing to it we pray for the agent and for the instrument we pray for the time and for the place we pray for the speaker and for the hearer and in one word we pray for the propagation of the Gospell that doores may be opened to all men of faith that so the building may goe up of the new Ierusalem That labourers may be sent into Gods harvest that so theweeds may be pluckt vp and the good Corne brought into the Barne that there may be Ioy in Sion and peace within her walls that not the Trumpet of War but the Trumpet of praise thankesgiving may be heard amongst us that all eares may be circumcised all tongues touched with Coales from the Altar that so nothing be spoken nor any thing be heard but tending all to the honour and glory of Gods Name This petition stands neerest unto God of them all and makes us stand neerest to the Angels and gives us seisin as it were of what wee shall be hereafter when we shall be sensible of the sweetnesse of it though now Flesh and blood finde little rellish in it having tongues to say it but not to taste it untill they shall put on incorruption For as little account as men make of it here this very hallowing of Gods Name is the highest step of the Angels ladder to happinesse and under an Angell none can climbe it And it may be called the petition of sanctity for by it we are reduced Ad similitudinem Dei Be ye holy as I am holy And it is proper to this petition that this onely is eternall and as it is our first petition here on earth so it shall be our last ther petitions shall have an end For though Hosannaes shall cease with the ceasing of fayth and hope yet Halleluiahs shall continue with the continuance of charity and not onely continue but be continuall But may we not thinke that these words Hallowed be thy Name are not properly a petition or any part of our prayer but rather a complement and solemnity attending upon the Name of God as the Iewes manner is not onely whâ— they name any of their famous ancestours theâ— alwaies adde some words of Benediction as speaking of Moses they alwaies adde Zecharâ— liberacha Memoria ejus in benedictione as we alâ— to say Of blessed memory but much more sâ—aking of God they alwaies adde Hacadosh Baruâ— Hu Sanctus Benedictus ille which is in effect the 〈◊〉 we say here Hallowed be thy Name and it would fall out well to understand it thus that so we may make Christ as good as his word for then Thy Kingdome come will prove the first petition and it will be as Christ sayd Seeke first the Kingdome of God and the righteousnesse thereof and all other things shall be ministred unto you for having sought the Kingdome of God by this petition and the righteousnesse thereof by the next all other things are ministred unto us by the petitions following For we have a Deed of gift of all temporall things by one and a generall pardon of all faults by another and a Protection royall from all evill by the last But O my thoughts wander not in such by-paths by your selves where being alone you are not onely in danger to goe out of the way but you are in a way to fall into dangers but keepe the roade where you have company and conduct that will alwaies keepe you right and guard you safe for these words Hallowed be thy Name shall well enough and most justly be a petition and a part of our prayer and yet Christ neverthelesse be as good as his promise for this petition Hallowed be thy Name refers only to the honour of God but of those which relate to our own benefit Thy Kingdome come is worthily the first and so Christs counsaile stands firme Seeke first the Kingdome of God and all other things shall be ministred unto you Next unto the Angels in heaven are placed the Saints in heaven for when it is said Thy Kingdome may it not fitly be thought the prayer of the Saints departed of whom it is said that lyingunder the Altar they cry How long O Lord holy and true wilt thou not avenge our blood upon them that dwell upon the earth we all indeed pray
bread and this likewise was figured by the next favour shewed to the Israelites his sending downe of Manna day by day from Heaven and his bringing water out of the Rocks The next Petition is for sanctification when our wills are made conformable unto his and though by his Adoption we are children yet by our owne Vow are servants â—nd this also was Figured in the Israelites by his giving of the Law when God said to them ye shall be to me a Kingdome of Priests and an holy Nation and they againe answered God All that the Lord hath spoken we will doe The next Petition is for the comming of his Kingdome which is not onely wages as to servants but an Inheritance as to children For it is not only said Euge bone serve but venite Benedicti Patris and this was also figured in the Israelites when God distributed amongst them the Kingdomes of the Heathen and every Tribe had their stations assigned them in the land of Canaan some by Geometricall proportion and some by Arithmeticall The last Blessing is our first Petition when we shall come to be as Angels and when our Hallowing of Gods Name which is now our worke shall be our happinesse and this was also Figured in the Israelites when they rested in Canaan and subduing their Enemies round about them had nothing but songs of Praise and Thanksgiving for the Blessings they enioyed After this there is no more Figure for we are come to that which cannot be Figured there shall be no more use of the Name of Father for we shall Haliow God in his proper Name and as hee is in himselfe and our charity shall bee in that we shall then love God Not as Misericordem Not as Bonum nobis but as Bonum and not onely love him for himselfe but not love our selves but for him that it is no merveile Saint Paul leaves Faith and Hope behind this Charity seeing They are onely for our selves This only for God and great reason for God shall then be All in All. And now before we make an end to speake of Hallowing Gods Name It may not be unfit to consider the Three First Petitions as they are onely Hallowings or Alleluiahs for observing the difference of the songs we shall perceive the difference of the singers The First when we say Hallowed be thy Name is the Alleluiah of Angels and we may truely say is Canticum Canticorum the song of songs not only because it is sung without ceasing but because it shall be sung without Ending and is both the cause and the effect both the signe and the substance of our Eternall Happinesse The Second when we say Thy kingdome come is the Alleluiah of the Saints in Heaven and is an aspyring to the First but in aspiring in a very neere degree Neere in Dystance though remote in Existence for they are an assurance of Attayning and doe but tarry the time but the time will not be till Time will not be The Third when we say Thy will be done is the Allelujah of the Saints on Earth and is an aspiring to the second but an aspiring in a remote degree for while they are in the world they are subiect to all the rubs of the world while they live in the Flesh to all infirmities of the Flesh yet they have a confidence though no assurance or an assurance though but in confidence and therefore are remisse but not dejected Bold but not presumptuous not out of heart but not out of feare And may it not here be observed that as we beginne in saying Hallowed be thy Name so we end in a kinde of facting the Hallowing it and our first and last words are all for his Glory who is the first and the last and these three Attributes seeme to answer to our th ree first Petitions Hallowed be thy Name for Thine is the Glory Thy Kingdome come for Thine is the Kingdome Thy will be done for Thine is the Power and we seeme to sing not only in the first an unisonewith the Angels but in all the Three the same Ditty with the Saints in Heaven for their Allelujah is Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power and ours here Thine is the Kingdome the Power and the Glory that having sung the Song of Saints and Angels here on Earth we may be admitted into the Qâ—ire of Saints and Angels in Heaven and sing eternally Thou art moâ—thy O Lord toreceave Glory and Honour and Power For Thine is the Kingdome the Power and the Glory for ever and ever Amen And now O my soule Consider how perfect this Prayer is where are the Petitions of Men and Angels the Petions of the Church Militant and Triumphant the Petitions of Innocent Infants Paenitent sinners and Faithfull Beleevers And then harken what Musicke it makes in Gods Eares how Pleasing where the songs are all of Christs owne setting how Melodious where they are all so sweet singers how loud where there are so many voyces especially when this Chorus Cantantium this Quire of singers which hitherto have sung their parts a part shall all ioyne their voyces together in that sacred Antheme For Thine is the Kingdome the Power and the Glory and so End all in that which is the End of all and is it felfe without End The Glory of God FINIS Esa. 1.1 Heb. 2.9 Esa. 59.10 Mal. 2.8 Eph. 4.19 Fph. 3.12 Heb 4.16 Heb. 8.9 â—oh 16.14 Colos. 2.3 Ier. 8.6 Deut. 1.45 Zach. 7.13 Ier. 11.11 Esa. 1.15 Colos. 1.20 Mat. 21.22 Esa. 51.16 Luk. 18.1 Exod 16. 8. 1 Thes. 15.17 Levit 6. 12. 1 Cor. 11. 10. Ezekiel 36 37. Hosea 14. 3. Psal. 87.7 Psal. 10â— 1 Psal. 87.7 Iam. 1.6 Psal. 65.2 Luk. 18.13 Psal. â—4 10 Psal. 84.1 Psal. 94.2 Mat. 6. 〈◊〉 I am 3. 41. Psal. 139. 7. 〈◊〉 23 24. Châ—o 2. 6. Psal. 57.5 Eph. 4.10 Psal. 19.1 Rom. 1.20 Wisd. 13.50 Nah. 3.1 Psal. 32.7 Ioh. 14.3 Psal. 66.9 Exod. 〈◊〉 .15 15.3 Psal 104. 2. Zach. 14.9 Esa. 42. 16. Psal. 113 6. Esa. 53.3 ler. 51.53 lob 20.6 Heb. 9. 11. Iob 4. 19. Reâ— 3. 21. Psal. 73. 5. lob 21. 7 8. Ioh. 8.39 Ioh. 4 19. Ioh. 6. 44. Deut 13.13 Mal. 1.6 Ezek 20.25 Psal 37.25 Ioh. 14.3 Isa. 13.7 Luke 6.24 Wis. 6.6 Revel 18.7 Psal. 19. 7.99 130. Ecâ—lef 18. 6. Psal 83. 18 Psal. 27. 4. Luk. 10.42 Math. 5.45 Iohn 1. 12. Rom. 8.14 Luke 11.13 Revel 11.4 Isa. 11. 2. Colos. 2.14 Revel 1. 18. Psal 142. 7. Esa. 42. 7. Psal. 51.10 Eccles. 18.1 Mal. 1 〈◊〉 Iudg. 13.18 Psal. 103. 1. Psalm 8. Psal 118. 12. Num. 20.10 Psal. 106.33 Num. 20.12 1 Kin. 8. 65. P Sal. 40.16 Psal. 148. Psal. 118. Exod. 33.21 Revel 4.3 Revel 4.10 Revel 6.10 Math. 5.3 Iam. 4.4 Ioh. 17.16 Revel 3.20 Esa. 41.8 Esa. 63. 16. Col. 2.18 Exo. 33.15 Eph. 2.12 Esa. 26.13 â—udg 9.14 Zach. 4.11 1 Chro. 16.33 Psal. 96.12 Psal. 24.9 Esa. 47.7 Esa. 40.10 Esa. 16.13 Prov. 13.26 Luk. 17. 21. Revel 7.16 Psal. 125.6 〈◊〉 Revel 7.17 Revel 6.11 〈◊〉 Cor. 6.3 Iohn 15.11 Iohn 16.22 Mâ—r. 2.2 Iohn 12.13 Rev. 6.11 Rev. 5.4 Rom. 5.5 Psal. 135.6 Esa. 14.24 46.10 Ier. 42.6 Psal. 49. 20. 73. 22. Esa. 1. 3 Esa. 1.13 Mal. 3.6 Psal. 6.27 Col. 5.9 Psal. 69.9 Psal. 119.105 Iohn 4. 24. Psal 119.66 Psal. 50. 16. Exod. 19.8 Psal. 119.112 2 Pâ— 3. 13. Psal. 14. 3,4 Esa. 1.23 Mic. 〈◊〉 7.2 Rom. 8.21 Esd. 30.33 Cant. 1.10 Cant. 4.13 Ier. 9.1 Exod. 19.6 Ier. 10.23 24.7 Ier. 3.7 Ier. 3.20 Lam. 5â—21 Esa. 40.10 Esa. 4.10 1 Cor. 9.17 Iohn 16.17 Wisd. 11.25 lam 1.18 Math. 5.48 Mal. 3.14 Esa. 61.3 Psal. 104.21 Psal. 147.9 Psal. 65.9 Hos. 2.22 Psal. 78.25 Psal. 145.15 Gen. 2â— 20. Hab. 1.16 Eccles. 6.2 Eccles. 11.1 2 King 7. Deut. 11.14 Esa. 21.12 Psal. 127.2 Eccles. 5.12 1 King 19. 8. Psal. 90. 31. Rev. 10.6 Esa. 60.19 Math. 6.34 1 Tim. 5.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 14.11 Eccles. 5.11 Ecclus. 30.15 Psal. 4.7 Mark 14.3 lam 4.10 Esa. 10.23 Ezek. 16.49 Math. 26.29 Gen. 30.1 Rom. 8.26 â—en 1.x Revel 〈◊〉 Ioh. 8.10 â—oh 1.9 leâ— 8.22 1 Cor. 1â— 44 Luk. 1.6 â—l 18.24 2 Cor. 1.23 5.5 Mich 7.9 Psal. 103.12 Esa. 38.17 â—sa 64.6 Psal. 40. â— Psal. 103. Psal. 136. Psal. 19.11 â—l 15.17 â—od 34.6 Math. 6.12 Lâ—k 11.2 Cal. 6.5 Math. 6.14 Luk. 14.17 â—oh 13 35. Esa. 58.5 Ioh. 22.3 Psal. 16.2 Psal. 18.25 Ezck. 25.12 Exod. 32.3 Phil. 1.15 Psal. 44.22 Acts 21.23 Psal. 68.19 1 Sam. 15.22 Ioh. 1.16 Psal. 25.11 Iob 13.27 Manass. Psal 38.4 Gen. 4 10. Psal. 25.11 Psal. 6.4 Psal. 110.1 Ioh. 11.14 1 lim 2.6 Esa. 53.12 Ioh. 1.6 Psal. 109.7 Esa. 29.13 Heb. 12.29 Ioh. 1.9 Mark 6.5 Math. 18.23 psal 51.4 Psal. 10.4 37.33 Rom. 12.9 Psal. 97.1 2 Sam. 24.13 Psal. 56.4.11 Heb. 13.6 Ier. 15 11. Psal. 51.2 Mark 22.32 Heb. 11.6 1 Cor. 1.8 ler. â—1 9 Ioh. 16.33 Gal. 5.29 Gal. 3.24 Psal. 119 37. Psal. 26.1 2 Psal. 31.3.51 lâ—b 1 11. Iob 1.8 Iam. 1. â— 1 Cor. 10.13 Prov 30.8 Ioh. 17.20 Psal. 68.18 Iam. 1.14 Luk. 22.31 1 Pet. 5.8 Psal. 26.2 Psal. 141.4 Esa. 37.3 Psal. 18.48 Psal. 49.15 Ier. 9.4 Eccles. 6.13 1 Pet. 5.8 Exod. 14.4 Exod. 15.2 Psal. 118.14 Esa. 12.2 1 Sam. 2.30 Heb. 6.11.18 Psal. 16.9 Ioh. 19 2â— Gal. 5.5 Tit. 3 7. Math 22.32 Num. 26.54 lesnua 21.44
the helpe of Abraham For Abraham was Gods Friend and men will doe much for their friends how much more will God This also hath been and is still the ignorant fancy of some men therefore ignorant because Abraham is ignorant of us and knowes us not and seeing while hee lived hee came short by Tenne in helping the Sodomites whom hee knew he is like to come much shorter now in helping of uswhom hee doth not know But would it not be sufficient to pray for the ayde of Angells as God promised Moses that his Angell should goe with him and wee may be sure that God knew well what Assistance would serve Of this Errour it seâ—ms by Saint Paul some Colossians were in danger but wee see Moses would not trust to that helpe neither but flatly refused it It seemes he took Gods offer but as a try all and unlesse God would goe himselfe hee thought it no boore for him to stirre And indeed who can thinke it reasonable for Sonnes to rely upon their Fathers Servants For wee fight not with flesh and blood but with principalities and Powers and seeing we have a Kingdome to assault us wee must likewise have a Kingdome to assist us Neither our owne Forces Nor Succour of Saints Nor ayde of Angells will stand us in stead God himselfe must goe forth with our Armies or wee shall never be able to overcome And if we place the emphasis upon the first word It may then raise our minds to this meditation There are many competitors for this Kingdome to rule over us but above all though the basest of all the bramble satan catcheth hold of us to get it God is the trne Olive tree but he cannot take it upon him unlesse he should leave his fatnesse Hee is the true Figge-tree but he cannot be King over us unlesse he should leave his sweetnesse and that fatnesse and that sweetnesse he left the Father when he gave his Sonne the Sonne when he gave his life and now let all the Trees of the wood rejoyce for Thou O Lord art wâ—rthy to receive all glory and honour and power and the Lord shall raigne for ever And what then shall we render for this inestimable favour in taking us to be his subjects O let us offer him not onely the tenths of our labours but the first fruits of our affections let us open not onely the doores of our lips but the gates of our hearts that this King of glory may come in And when thou vouchsafest O my Lord to come with thy high Majesty under my low roofe and to worke a miracle by having that greatnesse which the world containeth not contained in the little corner of my breast Vouchsafe also to send thy Grace for the Harbinger of thy Glory seeing there can no roome be dressed up against thy comming but onely by thy comming and no place can be reckoned fit for thee untill it be made fit by thee Possesse me wholly O my soveraigne raigne in my body by obedience to thy Lawes and in my soule by confidence in thy promises Frame my tongue to praise thee my knees to reverence thee my strength to serve thee my desires to cover thee and my heart to embrace thee that as thou hast formed me to thine Image so thou mayst frame mee to thy will and as thou hast made mee a vessell by the stamp of thy Creation to serve thee on earth so thou may est make me a vessell of honour by the priviledge of thy grace to serve thee in thy Kingdome In some the world Governes and he who is Prince of this world the divell and this government is a very â—yranny the people here are not Subjects but slaves they have fetters on all their faculties and if they â—oe not feele them it is because they are past feeling The avre of this place is onely Fogges and Mists which both blind their eyes and infect their spirits and makes it their Paradise to be wallowing in puddle He is no true Pâ—nce but an usurper and therfore rules all by force and falsehood He takes upon him to be their Pilot launcheth them out into the maine and then leaves them to stormes and temâ—ests and their Haven is to split against the Rockes So here is no being for thee O my soule thou hadst need to make haste hence and to seeke thee out some better harbour In some the flesh governes and they which be Ladies of the flesh Pride and Lust and this government is a very Anarchy Every base fancy hath an even sway with noble reason Wisdome here is not justified of her children they may speake the language of Canaan but they are all natives of Sodome their eyes are seeled up yet their flight is onely downe hill for they are travelling to the bottomles Pit So this O my soule is no place for thee neyther No resting for thee here seeing here is no rest but all in motion and all motion here is commotion In some the spirit governes and he who is the Father of spirits God himselfe and this government is a perfect Kingdome He hath Majesty for his Crowne Mercy for his seate and Iustice for his Scepter He hath wisedome for his Counsailour Almightinesse for his guard and Eternity for his date He hath heaven for his Pallace the earth for his Footstoole and hell for his prison He hath lawes to which nature assents and reason subscribes that doe not fetter us but free us for by them nature gets the wings of grace and transcends the earth Reason gets the eyes of fayth and ascends up to heaven He hath a yoke indeed but it is easie a burthen but it is light his reward is with him and his worke before him He is established in this soveraignty not by his subjects election of him but by his election of his subjects not as rayfing himselfe to a higher title but as humbling himselfe to a lower calling and as not receiving it from a Predecessor who is before all so never leaving it to a successour who is after all This is the place where my soule shall dwell here will I pitch my Tabernacle Onely O Lord let me be taken into the number of thy subiects and endue mee with the priviledges of thy Kingdome and I will freely and faithfully serve thee for ever Other Lords besides thee have heretofore ruled us but now we will remember thee onely and onely thy Name When we make this petition to God that his Kingdome may come we should doe well to remember a petition which God makes to us My sonne give me thy hâ—art For unlesse we give God our hearts whither can wee thinke this Kingdome should come For if it come to the eares as oftentimes it makes offer at the hearing of Gods Word it findes that onely a Thorough-fare which lies open on every side and no fit place to make a residence in and
of our hearts as if we were now jovning with the Angels in singing their Halleluiah When we say Thy Kingdome come let us raise our thoughts as now offering to set our hands to the petition of the Saints in heaven When we say Thy will bee done Let us fixe our minds wholly as in the solemnity of dedicating our selves to God with all the faithfull upon earth When we say Give us this day our daily bread let us humble our selves as being in state of other creatures and are glad to joyne with them in their common suite When we say Forgive us our trespasses let us thinke our selves enrolled in the company of penitents and as the greatest sinners chosen spokes-men to present their supplication And when we say Lead us not into temptation let us acknowledge our selves in the number and weakenesse of little children and are glad to joyne with them in crying for helpe that the Angell of infants which alwaies beholds the face of God may be imployed by him to worke our deliverance And thus we shall not only goe on the right way in making our petitions but we shall have company also to bee affistants in preferring our petitions And doth not such orderly ranking of the petitions shew Christ to have beene a most skilfull Herauld in spirituall matters seeing they all take their places according to the worth and dignity of the speakers In the first place are the Angels that as at the fall of the first Adam Angels were set at the Entrance of Paradice to keep us out so at the comming of the second Adam Angels are set here at the entrance into Heaven to let us in As therefore this Petition is as the Porter to let in all the other petitions So holy Reverence must bee porter at our mouthes to let in thispetition For when it is said Hallowed be thy Name may it not justly be thought the prayer of Angels of whom it is said that they say and sing continually Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Sabbath not onely say it as their prayer but sing it as their Psaâ—me and chief Delight David did well in offring God to build a Temple to his Name but by whom was Gods Temple built Not by David a man of blood but bâ— Salomon a Prince of Peace so it is well done of us to say Hallowed bee thy Name but by whom doe wee say it must bee Hallowed Not by us Non vox hominem sonat for how should wee Hallow his Name who have prophaned his Image It is a worke for Angels fit only for them to Hallow his Name who have kept â—oly their owne Nature for without a nature of holynesse his Name can never bee truly hallowed And if wee understand it of our selves will it not proove a worke of supererogation seeing wee desire to doe more then is commanded for the Commandement is onely Not to take his Name in vaine and heere wee desire It may be hallowed Unlesse it bee that the commandements being Negative they get something by Christs resolving them into Affirmatives Or is it to shew how much the Law is improoved by the Gospell seeing it is no more in the Gospells phrase to hallow Gods Name then it was in the Lawes not to take it in vaine But what if God have no Name at all then indeed the Commandement will be easily kept but the Petition will bee hardly granted The Name is but a shadow of the Nature as therfore a Body which were Infinite could have no shadow the shadow not beginning but where the Body endeth so a Nature which is Incomprehensible can have no Name the Name being not possible to be given but where the Nature is comprehended But though God have no Name or no knowne Name to expresse him yet hee is not without Name to distinguish him And what is then his Name wee desire may bee Hallowed his Name of Essence or his Name in Relation his Name as it is in himselfe or his Name as it is to us Not his Name of Essence for how can we hallow that until we know it and how can we know it untill the riddle be expounded seeing we know him now but in Aenigmate but his Name in relation as it is to us his Name of Father that is it which seemes most fitly to be here intended For when we say Our Father doth not God by the Prophet Malachie seeme to interrupt us and say If I bee your Father where is my honour for to Hallow him as a Father and as an Heavenly Father Is to honour him to feare him to love him to obey him to reverence him and to adore him But what should be the cause that in the three latter petitions we seeme to be altogether for our selves as appeares by our saying Give us Forgive us Deliver us but in the three former there is no mention of Vs at all as though we were no parties to them Is it not that we are or ought to be more jealous of Gods honour then carefull of our owne benefits and therefore when we say Hallowed be thy Name we dare not say Of us least we should make God a Musicke of too few voices And when we say Thy Kingdome come we dare not say to us least we should assigne his Kingdome too small a Territory And when we say Thy will be done we dare not say by us least we should stint God in the number of his servants But we say Hallowed be thy Name and stoppe there that so no mouth may be stopped from hallowing it we say Thy Kingdome come but Name not whither that so it may be intended to come every whither we say Thy will be done in earth but tell not by whom in earth that so it may be done by all in earth By Hallowing Gods Name we meane not to make it holy for it is holynesse it selfe Nor to make it more holy for it is infinitenesse it selfe Nor to keepe it holy for it is eternity it selfe but to joyne with the heavens in declaring his glory and with the firmament in shewing his handy-worke as then onely hallowing his Name when we name him onely holy and therein consisting our worke of sanctifying him when in him we acknowledge our workes to be sanctifyed To hallow the place wherein it pleased God to stand Moses put off the â—hooes from his feet to hallow the day whereon it pleased him to rest the Iewes put off the workes of their hands and to hallow the Name which he vouchsafed to take we must put off from our tongues all unreverent discourses and from our lives all prophane conversation And as Gods Name is Vnguentum Effusum hath many dispersions in our understanding so our hallowing it must have Linguas dispertitas Cloven tongues to convay it to his hearing his Name of Father must be hallowed by love of Lord by obedience of judge by uprightnesse of almighty by feare and of everlasting by constancy But is there no
therefore commonly goes away as it came and makes no stay there And if it come to the eyes as sometime it offers at the sight of Gods workes It findes them not able to stay long open but must have their windowes shut in so are apt to keepe it out or if they stand open they are apt to let in vanity which this Kingdome likes not and therefore cannot abide to abide there neyther but vanisheth away And indeed these are but Out-places this Kingdome loves to be within us as Christ saith The kingdome of God is within you and we have no place within us fit to make the Seate of a Kingdome but onely our heart and this indeed hath no back doore to let it out as the eare hath nor no percullis to keepe it out as the eye hath but it hath a large entrance and a boundlesse circuit and therefore most fit to give this Kingdome entertainement And yet as fit as it is God will not have it unlesse we give it him and he will not have it so neither unlesse we give it him all for it is against his Nature to have a Partner and he cannot abide to heare of moyities either he must have all or he hath nothing at all to be a piece for God and a piece for the world is to be all for the world to conclude God at all is to exclude him from all Wherefore O my soule mangle not thy heart in giving it to God but give it him all and thinke thy selfe happy that he will take it all for the more he possesseth it the freer he makes it the more hee dwelleth in it the fayrer hee builds it the more raigneth in it the richer he adornes it O my Lord God that thou wouldst come and dwell in my heaâ—ras the owner of it and reigne in my heart as the King of it I should not then envy the Pallaces of Princes nor the kingdomes of the earth seeing I should have within my selfe a Pallace and a Kingdome not onely to equall but farre to exceede them But what kinde of Kings will this Kingdome make us Is it as one saith Rex est qui metuit nihil and indeed there is not such a King to be found amongst all the Princes of the earth for how is it possible they should be without feare who have a sword hanging over their heads continually but by a thred yet such Kings shall we be made by the comming of this Kingdome For whereof should we be afraide Of enemies but they shall be all subdued under our feete Of poverty But we shall hunger and thirst no more Of nakednesse But the Sunne shall not burne us by day nor the Moone by night Of sorrow But all teares shall he wiped away from our eyes Of death but Mors ultra non dominabitur Yet all this will mâ—ke us but negative Kings and meere negation makes not happy for happinesse is a positive thing and puts us in a reall possession of all good things And such happinesse too shall we have by the comming of this Kingdome for wherein can wee thinke doth happinesse consist If in dainty fare we shall eate and drinke with Christ at his Fathers Table If in fine clothes we shall all be cloathed in long white robes If in curious Musicke we shall heare the Quier of Angels continually singing If in light Fulgebimus sicut sol If in knowledge we shall know as we are knowne If in dominion we shall judge the Angels If in joy our joy shall be full and none shall be able to take it from us If in glorious sights we shall see the blessed face of Gâ—d which is the glory of all sights the sight of all glory O happy Kingdâ—me O happy comming O happy we to whom it shall come that we can never be intentive enough in praying never earnest enough in longing that this Kingdome may come But doth not this petition seeme to cast an eye upon the Iewes seeing it is not the Kings but the Kingdomes comming that is here prayed for for their King it was well enough knowne was come knowne by the Wisemens question Where is the King of the Iewes that is borne Knowne by the peoples acclamation Hosanna Blessed is the King of Israel that commeth in the Name of the Lord. Knowne by Pilates superscription Iesus Nazaronus Rex Iudaeorum Thus their King they saw but his Kingdome they saw not for how could they see that which was spirituall with carnall eyes neyther indeed can they ever come to see this Kingdome unlesse this Kingdome come and visit them first And is not this then a fit petition for them also And if we give way to this fancie of exposition it will not goe much a stray from the former seeing the comming of this Kingdome to the Iewes is the immediate Fore-runner of the comming of this King to us that are Christians But it is time now to leave being Iewes and to pray for the comming not onely of the Kingdome but of the King himselfe that seeing in attire of humanity they knew him not and in estate of submission they honoured him not he would now come at length in the brightnesâ—e of his Deity and in the greatnesse of his Soverainety that the eyes which scorned his humility may bee dazeled at his glory and that they which refused the haven of his mercy may suffer shipwracke on the rocke of his justice And to this end we doe all of us set our hands and hearts to that supplication of thy Saints who groaning under the burden of their long deferred hope doe continually with sighes present thee this petition Come Lord â—esus come quickly And if O God thou hast Corne behind to reape which is not yet sowne and stubble behind to burne which is not yet sprung though with patience we will waite the season of thy pleasure yet with prayers we will importune the hastening of thy Harvest and though we be not worthy to open the Seales yet we cannot chuse but be tempering with the waxe that we long for no others comming but thine owne and reckon nothing long a comming but thy Kingdome It is proper to this petition that where all the other have their present dispatches and are put in possession of their suites this onely lives in expectation and is put off with a dilatory answer for God knowes how long yet is as well pleased with this expectation as the others are with their present possessions and therefore may justly be called the petition of hope but hope that makes not ashamed seeing it consists not in the uncertainnesse of the matter but onely of the time Next to the Saints in heaven are placed the Saints on earth for when it is sayd Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven is it not plainely the prayer of the faithfull living seeing Christ himselfe while hee lived on Earth made use of this
where there is no other will done Wee learne by this Petition what it is wee must doe when wee come to Heaven and doth not this make men carelesse whether ever they come there or no for seeing the Will of God is so unpleasing a thing to doe heere how can they thinke it will be any better or be ere a whit mended to doe it there and therefore if there bee nothing gotten by going to Heaven but doing of Gods will they thinke themselves better as they are and would bee glad to tarry heere still where they may doe their owne wills But O my soule is not this to bee starke dead in sinne For it there were any sence of life or any life of sence remaining in us we could not choose but see the beauty and tast the sweetnesse and smell the Odour of doing Gods Will. Sweeter saith David then the hony or the hony combe More beautifull saith Salomon then the rowes of Iewells or then chaines of Gold More fragrâ—t saith hee also then an Orchard of Pomegranats or then Myrrhe and Aloes with all the spices O thou eternall light and life of all things so enlighten the eyes and quiâ—ken the senses of my soule and body that I may both see the Beauty and Tast the sweetnesse of doing thy will I shall not then neede any greater motives of longing to be in heaven then that I may be as able as willing who now am scarce willing but altogether unable to doe thy Will But why doe wee pray that Gods Will may be done in Earth which is done in Earth already and that by Creatures which one would thinke were never able to doe it Hee hath set bounds to the Sea which it must not passeâ— and the Sea as raging as it is and provoked by all the Rivers of the Earth that come running into it as it were for the nonce to make it passe his bounds yet keepes it selfe precisely within the limits He hath appointed the earth to stand still and not to move and the earth though but hanging in the Ayre and nothing at all to hang upon yet offers not so much as once to stirre He hath chargedthe Trees to bring forth fruit and the Trees though even killed with cold of winter and threatned with tempests of the spring yet take heart to come forth and seeme to rejoyce they can doe as they are bidden The very beasts though never so wilde and savage yet observe the properties of their kind and none of them encroach upon the qualities of another And why all this but onely to doe the Will of God And that which may seeme more strange the Flowers come out of the durty earth and yet how neate and cleane Out of the unsavoury earth and yet how fresh and fragrant Out of the sowre earth and yet how mellifluous and sweet Out of the duskish earth and yet how Orient and Vermillian Out of the unshapen earth and yet in what dainty shapes in what curious formes in what enammelings and Dyapers of beauty as if the earth would shew that for all her being cursed she had something yet of Paradise left and why all this but onely to doe the Will of God And why then should there be complaining as though the Will of God were not done in earth O wretched man It is onely thy selfe that is out of tune in this harmony Man that should be best is of all the worst that should bee cleanest is of all the foulest that should be most beautifull is of all the most deformed most full of graces yet most voyde of grace of most understanding to direct his will yet of least will to follow the direction of understanding Man endued with celestiall qualities yet leaves them all to encroach upon the qualities of every beast upon the obscenity of swine in drunkennesse upon the greedinesse of Cormorants in covetousnesse upon the craftinesse of Foxes in fraud upon the cruelty of Tygers in malice as if he would strive to exceede his first parents in transgressing and try whether God had any greater punishment left then casting out of Paradise that if Christ would have served us in our kinde and as we deserve he needed not have gone for patterns to Heaven he might have found patterns good enough for us amongst the meanest creatures of the earth and as he told the Pharisees the Queene of the South should rise up against them in Iudgement so he might have told us the Flowers the Trees the Beasts shall all rise up in Iudgement against Man that we had more need to say O that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountaine of teares that I might weepe day and night then after Trees and Beasts have done Gods Will to come after them all with but onely saying Thy Will be done in earth as it is in heaven But how doe these Petitions hang together or how is not this directly contrary to that which went before For there we desire a Kingdome that we may doe what we list and here we desire subjection and to be at anothers command Yet here is no contrariety for there we desire to raigne over our owne wills and here we desire to be subject to his will and this subjection is our true reigning this service our perfect freedome Or is it not rather a straighter Obligation For by the comming of his Kingdome we may be thought onely subjects at large but by submitting our selves to his will we are servants by vow that seemes to referre to Gods promise to the Israelites Yee shall be to mee a Kingdome of Priests and an holy Nation this seemes to referre to the peoples answere to God All that the Lord hath spoken we will doe And so there is no contrariety betweene the petitions but the latter is a consectary to the former But is it not rather that wee overshoote our selves and make it here a suite to bee made bond-slaves for what is it but slavery when wee can never have our wills but must live alwaies subject to the will of another especially where there is so great an antipathy as betweene Gods Will and ours But O my soule consider how wretched a thing thine owne will is how blessed a thing the Will of God is and be not here a Dogmatist but an Empyricke rather hearken not to thy reason which oftentimes is but a Parasite to thy sence but looke upon experience which rightly discerned will make thee alwaies to discerne the right Hath not misery alwaies followed the doing of our owne will happines alwaies the doing of Gods Will Our first parents left Gods Will to doe their owne will in eating the forbidden fruit and what fruite followed but the utter undoing of themselves and all their followers Cain left Gods Will to doe his owne will in killing his brother and what became of him but that hee became a vagabond lived like a beast and came at last to be killed for a
can men performe as perfect duties as the Angels Indeed not in equality but in similitude Not to doe as well as they but to doe our best as well as they Not that our Vessels can bee as bright as theirs but be as cleane and not hold as much but be as full And even this cleannesse and even this fulnesse not of our selves For what cleannesse can there bee in dirt or what fulnesse in vessels that are full of holes and such we are all of us not onely ex humo but ex limo and Pleni rimarum quenching the spirit as fast as it is kindled all our cleannesse is in him to whom we say Purge me with Hisop and I shall bee cleane all our fulnesse from him of whom it is sayd Of his fulnesse wee have all received Hee onely that hath set us the taske can give us the power and by him wee may attaine to that of St. Paul I can doe all things in him that comforteth me for by the comfort of this Comforter it may be possible to make the petition possible Thy Will be done in earth as it is in heaven But if it be onely in similitude why doe we pray onely to be like the Angels and pray not rather to be like God himselfe as Christ would have us Be yee holy as your heavenly Father is holy Be yee perfect as he is perfect for now wee make a prayer that comes short of Christs precept Is it not that the perfectest patternes that can bee are in both places propounded to us and therefore here where it is matter of obedience the Angels are our patternes of whom Dâ—vid saith Praise the Lord all yee his Angels that doe his Commandement in obeying the voyce of his Word but this patterne God cannot be seeing obedience cannot be where there is no superiour but where it is matter of holinesse or perfection there God must be our patterne and therefore we justly forbeare to speake of Angels where we have a patterne to speake of in God himselfe O Lord God if I cannot bee like thee in holinesse yet let me bee like the Angels in obedience and If I can attaine to neyther let mee at least aspire to both and what I want in power and performance make me to supply with vowes and prayer The time was when Angels might have envyed man for his happinesse but now man hath just cause if any cause can be just to envy Angels for their happinesse for what happinesse can be greater then to be made patternes of holynesse and that by God to the Image of God by the Sonne of God to the Sonnes of God But O blessed Spirits we envy you not but admire you rather for why should we envy you for continuing holy who pitty us for not continuing and not onely pity us but doe your best to relieve us And how can we choose but admire you for patternes who so farre exceed the proportion of patternes Patternes are but examples but you are also Assistants Patternes doe but lie before us but you pitch your Tents round about us Patterns doe but light us to the likenesse but you delight to have us be like you And how then can wee envy you for being our betters who envy not us to become your equals O blessed Spirits we envy you not but admire you rather and willingly not onely accept you for our patternes but under Christ acknowledge you for our Guardians And here now seemes a fit â—lace to sit downe and wonder at the unspeakeable love and bounty of God expressed toward us in these three petitions For by the first we are assured of eternity by the second of a Kingdome by the third to bee like the Angels or if wee like it better to say By the first we are informed what we shall be as Angels By the second what wee shall have A Kingdome By the third what we shall doe The Will of God These are blessings worthy to come from a heavenly Father these are rewards which worthily become a bountifull Master And now let the Swine flesh and blood goe murmure against God that he is a hard Father and a bad Master and that there is no profit in serving him because he gives them not the mire of the world to wallow in as though he had no other way to expresse his favours but by cloddes of earth but doe thou O my soule meditate upon these petitions and in them upon these blessings and in these upon the infinite love and bounty of God and thinke how happy thou art to have such a Father how much thou art bound to love such a Master and thinke not much to love him with thy whole heart seeing he hath blessings to bestow upon thee which cannot enter into thy heart thinke not much to submit thy selfe wholly to his Will seeing his Will is to give thee beauty for ashes the Oyle of gladnesse for mourning that we shall ever finde it a most happy thing for us to say Thy Will be done in earth as it is in Heaven It is proper to this petition that where the other seeme to waite at Gods Throne this onely waites at his footestoole and where the other sing onely the high note Glory be to God on high this seemes to adde a Base saying In Earth as it is in Heaven And it may justly be called the petition of obedience seeing all the other have their ends in injoying this onely hath no end but in obeying Next to these as I may say of the higher House come in the commons and first takes place a generality as it were a corporation for when it is sayd Give us this day our daily bread is it not plainely the prayer of all living creatures whether living the life reasonable or the life sensitive or even the life onely vegetative For of unreasonable creatures it is said The Lions seeke their meate at God and the young Ravens call upon him and he feedeth them And of vegetables it is manifest that though the Corne give bread to us yet God gives bread to the Corne by his dewes from heaven And even the Angels though they have no bodies yet they have their bread too of which it is said Man did eate the bread of Angels and of all together it is sayd All things looke up to thee and thou givest them meate in due season thou openest thy hand and fillest with thy blessing every living creature But as these severall kinds of creatures may be conceived to have their severall waies in making use of this petition so man as the summary of them all partakes with all of them in all the waies of using it He partakes in using it with the vegetables by indigence of Nature Hee partakes in using it with the beasts by appetite of sence He partakes in using it with the Angels by acknowledgement of the Authour and thankesgiving for their preservation as may be thought
the world to come or else will bee concluded for unperfect may wee not very justly justifie it even in this kinde also Let us therefore take a review For though at the first looking wee have discovered nothing yet if wee continue looking as the servant of Eliah did wee shall perhaps discerne a Cloude arrising from the sea of these petitions that will serue to signifie a showre of blessings immediately to follow And we need not stand long a looking for doe not the very first words afforde us a Cloude For when we say Our Father doth it not imply that wee are his children and if the Father alwaies be in Heaven shall the children alwaies be on Earth how then is it true that where hee is we shall be also and that which Christ sayth the sonne abideth in the House for ever For how shall hee abide there if hee never come there seeing therefore Heaven is Gods House and we as children must in our time bee in the house with him we must necessarily at last come to be in Heaven and so one of the blessings is found here which was complayed of to bee wanting in the prayer And when it is savd Hallowed bee thy Name shall not Gods Name eternally bee hallowed If then wee bee appoynted to doe a worke which is eternall must not we be needes eternall that are to doe it and so to our being in Heaven is added eternity another of the blessings complayned of to be missing Let us now come to Thy Kingdome come and will not this afforde us to see the Cloude more plainely For the Kingdome is but in relation to the subjects if therefore the Kingdome bee perfect the subjects must bee perfect also for without perfection of subjects It can never bee a perfect Kingdome and what perfection of subjects could there bee if their should be no other subjects but onely Angels For so there should be but one ranke of subjects which in a Kingdome were a great imperfection To make therefore some other rankes for perfecting of this Kingdome wee also shall bee taken in and then certainely taken in whole and imireâ— both hody and soule for else the Kingdome should rule over but pieces of subjects which in a perfect Kingdome must not bee If then wee bee taken in whole and intire then must our bodies be raysed and joyned to our soules againe and this is our resurrection another of the blessings complayned of to be missing And may we not continue looking still and come to discerne the cloude yet playner For when it is sayd Thy Will bee done in earth as it is in Heaven are not we to doe as much worke as the Angels and if wee doe as much worke may wee not expect as much blessing and they behold the face of God continually and therefore wee certainely if wee doe the Will of God shall doe so to and so wee have found even the greatest of the blessings which were complayned of to bee missing in this prayer And we have found it here where we least expected it Eor indeed these petitions will afford divers waies of drawing forth these blessings from them according as wee take our standing to discerne the Cloude But this which is done may serve sufficiently to cleere this prayer from all imputation of imperfection seeing we have all the blessings now that can be thought of worth the having Eternall life and that in Heaven and that both in body and soule and in them both to enjoy the blessed vision of God which is life everlasting in its exaltation And now if any man thinke that to fetch the resurrection of our bodies and the rest of these blessings is farre fetched and from the Clouds indeed Let him consider how farre it was fetching it from the words of God to Moses I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaack and the God of Iacob and yet when Christ fetched it so farre it was taken for a proofe neere hand and for a Cloude of witnesses And indeede there is a benefit to us by this abstruse expressing for being lesse obvious It is more speculative in the searching and more meditative in the finding and the more it is wrapped up to the sence the more it is dignified to the understanding And though these Petitions may serve sufficiently to afford these Blessings yet there is a Petition behinde which though it make not so great a shew of a Cloude yet may prove to afford as great a showre of blessings as all the former For when we are delivered from all evill then if death bee evill we are delivered from death and to be delivered from death is life everlasting When we are delivered from all evill then if corruption of the body bee evill wee are delivered from that corruption and to be deliverd from that corruption is the very resurrection When wee are delivered from all evill then if restraint from the sight of God bee evill wee are delivered from that restraint and to bee delivered from that restraint is to be admitted into his presence and to enjoy his blessed vision And now this prayer reacheth full as high as Iacobs ladder and so we have ladder enough to carry us to Heaven and prayer enough to obtaine the blessings of Heaven wee are come to the Consummatum est which is not onely a finishing but a perfecting a perfecting in it selfe in being made perfect and a perfecting of us in making us perfect Let us therefore pray this prayer and let us pray that we may pray it seeing it can never bee too much sayd which can never be enough done Wee have now gone over these petitions as they lie in the prayer Ordine recto but doe they not invite us also to a consideration of them as they lie Ordine Inverso and apply hither that of Christ the first shall be last and the last first For the first of these petitions in our praying will be the last of Gods accomplishing and the last will prove the first and they seeme to have a correspondence to Gods favours shewed to the Israelites in their progresse in the Wildernesse For when wee say Deliver us from evill Is it not the first blessing wee receive from God that we are delivered from the bondage wee were in to satan and this was figured by Gods first favour shewed to the Israelites in delivering them from the captivity of Aegypt after many temptations with signes and wonders The next petition is our desire to bee forgiven and to have our sinnes washed away in the blood of Christ and was not this also figured to the Israelites in the Passover a figure of the true Lambe of God which taketh away the sinnes of the World And these two petitions are immediate to one another as the two favours were intermingled to the Israelites For there could not bee a deliverance without a Passover to them because there cannot bee to us The third petition is for our daily
Spirit is willing but the flesh is weake though God be wise yet we are foolish that God sayth of us My people hath no understanding Though God be carefull yet wee are wilfull that it may be savd as well of us as of the Iewes that we are a stiff-necked Generation Though God bee watchfull yet wee are drowsie that Christ may say to us as he sayd to the Apostles Could yee not watch with mee one houre And now if God should leave us to our infirmities and adde his leading to our owne aptnesse of falling into temptations It were impossible that this house of ours which is built upon the sands should ever bee able to stand upright O Lord let thy Spirit leade me for without leading I am afrayd to fall but let him not leade mee into temptation for by such leading I am sure to fall so leade me in the way that I bee not led captive away yet know O my soule and despaire not that if it should so ill befall thee yet Hee which led captivity captive is able to deliver thee But why should we talke so much of the divels tempting us For who is able to come personally and accuse him of any such matter St. Iames sayth Every man is tempted when hee is drawne away of his owne lusts and entised but speakes not a word of any tempting from the divell But may it not be sayd here Telapalam Iaciuntur Clam subministrantur St. Iames seemes to speake of sensible tempting of which our owne consciences can accuse us and which we may easily take notice off in our selâ— but the divell is no such tempter hee is one that will not be seene in tempting he catcheth us as we use to catch a beast by clawing and looking another way he comesnot more close to us then he keepes himselfe close from us and therefore the more dangerous because secret his malice is not known till felt when felt yet scarce discerned It is a skill that passeth our cunning to discerne Inter morbum mentis et morsum serpentis betweene the weeds of corruption growing naturally in us and the seeds of infection cast by satan into us as Christ told Peter Satan hath desired to winnow thee as Wheate and what was this winnowing but tempting yet Peter could not charge the divell with any such matter he found no such winnowing in himselfe nor ever should have done till he had winnowed him all to chaffe if Christ had not prayed for him that his fayth might not fayle For as the winde bloweth where it listeth yet no man knowes from whence it comes so this windy tempter breatheth his suggestions where he listeth yet no man knows from whence they come Our natures are so prone to wickednesse that we may well enough thinke they come from thence yet the Divell that never thinkes us prone enough is never backward to set us forward though by waies and conveyances so secret and hidden that no Iuggler playes his trickes more closely to our sence then he ministers his suggestions privily to our fancies that where Salomon sayth There are foure things too wonderfull for him and which hee cannot know hee might perhaps have added this as a fift the divels way of tempting in the minde of man Although therefore we cannot personally come and charge him with tempting us as our first parents could yet seeing Christ told Peter and Peter hath told us we have reason to take notice of it and give them the credit to beleeve it But may not this petition with great reason be thought unreasonable wee would bee taken for pure silver and can we not endure the tryall we defire to bee accounted hardy souldiers and can we not abide to heare of the battell how unlike are we to David in this For what wee pray against hee prayed for Prove me O Lord and try mee examine my raines and my heart But was this prayer of David an opposition to our petition here he prayed to be tryed in that which was past wee pray not to bee tryed in that which is to come He prayed to be tryed because he knew his owne innocency we pray not to be tryed because wee know our owne frailety When the matter was onely betweene him and Saul he might stand upon his Innocency and justifie himselfe but when it comes betweene him and God he knowes not then where he is himselfe but is fayne to fall a praying Forgive me my secret sinnes and not contented with that which is past he is glad to prevent the time and say Encline not my heart unto any evill thing and so David is as ready to say this petition as wee Lead us not into temptation But is it not strange how we should be come to this Doth not this petition suite very ill with those that went before For by them we have prepared our selves at all poynts for this spirituall warre By the first we have put our selves under Gods colours and goe under his Name By the second we have put on all the Armour of God and have as much as the Kingdome can afford us By the third we have put on a resolution to stand to it what ever happen By the fourth we have victualed our selves for every day as long as the warre lasts By the fifth we have made our peace with God and the world and is it not strange that after all this wee should now shrinke from the battell and be afrayde least God should lead us to it But all this is done as Hezekiah sayd to Esay The children are come to the birth and there is not strength to bring forth that as St. Paul sayth God hath concluded all under unbeliefe that he may have mercy upon all So we may say God hath concluded all under feare and weaknesse that he may deliver all and that we may know and acknowledge that we have no hand at all in it but that our deliverance is wholy and solely the worke of God that we may call him and call upon him with David O thou our deliverer from our enemies We onely have a prayer and a song for all we can doe a prayer of supplication that he will deliver us which is this wee say here Deliver us from evill and a song of prayse for our deliverance which is that that followes For thine is the Kingdome the Power and the Glory A song of prayse for our deliverance but from what and from whom From hell from the grave from the world from our enemies from our friends from our selves but above all from one that makes use of all these against us from the bramble satan who catcheth hold of us to rule over us but thou O Lord art the true Olive tree and thine is the Kingdome from the roaring Lyon that goes about to devoure us but thou art the Lyon of the Tribe of Iudah and thine is the Power from the cruell
Pharaoh that pursues to destroy us but thou art the Lord of Hosts that gettest thee honour upon Pharaohs Host and thine is the glory And for this deliverance from Pharaoh and his Host though but a type of ours Moses long since sung a song so loud that it hath ecchoed from him to David and from David to Esay and from Esay is come to us Thou O Lord art our strength and our song for thou hast beene our deliverance But is deliverance from evill the highest blessing we can reach to by our prayers what becomes then of the resurrection of our bodies and the life everlasting things so much talked off and so highly magnified Are they onely idle names and are there no such things indeed Or are they so little worth the praying for in all this absolute prayer we bestow not so much as a word upon them Or shall we thinke the prayer unperfect seeing the greatest things are left unprayed for and not once named or implyed O my soule take heede let not the weake fancies of thy owne spirit or the strong suggestions of a worse Spirit move such unhallowed doubts within thee For our deliverance from evill shall plainely appeare to bee the highest blessing wee can directly attaine to by our prayers and yet our confidence for the resurrection of our bodies and for the life everlasting shall have foundation enough to stand most firme For the three first petitions seeme chiefly referred to the honour of God in whom all his attributes are equall and therefore in them we goe as I may say upon even gronnd we can finde neither rising nor falling in them we seeme to see nothing that carries any higher than the earth or that tarries any longer then this life and therefore that clause In Earth as it is in Heaven though it be expressed onely in the third petition yet it is by many understood also in the other two but in the three latter which are referred to our owne benefit wee seeme to bee climbing up Iacobs ladder for at every petition we take a steppe higher In the first we begin very low and aske as Iacob did but onely meat and rayment In the second we take a steppe higher and aske a pardon of our faults In the third we goe yet higher and aske an absolute protection from all dangers and deliverance from all evill wherein we may be sayd to have wrestled with the Angell and obtained a blessing for this is the highest steppe we can possibly attaine to in this mortall life But how doth this step reach so high as Iacobs ladder which reacheth up to heaven Marke therefore O my soule for having begun in humility It seemes as if Christ here should say unto us Friend sit up higher for this step of our deliverance from evill seemes to deliver us to Heaven seeing it is contiguous and joynes immediately to the first steppe we shall take in Heaven when all teares shall be wiped from our eyes and they be made cleere to behold the blessed vision of God which is the highest steppe of all and in which consists the summe and summum of our eternall happinesse But why in all this prayer should we have for these things no petition Is it that wee shall have them rather by the participation of Christ then by the intercession rather as sonnes by inheritance then by suit as servants and is as much beyond our prayers as above our capacities Or is it that our deliverance from evill which is the highest steppe we are capable of in this world implies an Adhering to the Deliverer himselfe in the world where we shall be capable Or may we not say that the petition Thy Kingdome come though it goe from us with an onely reference to the honour of God yet it is returned from God to us with this Interence Honorantes me Honorabo and though it reach not so farre as the suite of the mother of Zebedeus sonnes to have one sit at his right hand the other at his left yet hee reacheth as farre as the suite of the thiefe upon the Crosse Lord remember me when thou commest into thy Kingdome But least it should be sayd that we goe about to take the Kingdome of Heaven by violence may wee not make the matter playner by saying that we therefore pray not for the resurrection of the body and for the life everlasting because they are not so properly the objects of fayth which have most to doe in our prayers as they are the objects of hope which is a transcendent to our prayers Fayth indeed prepares us for hope and the things we here pray for for the things we here after hope for but as it is not the fashion of a sonne to pray his father to make him his heire but hee carryeth himselfe dutifully and performeth his obedience and then he doubts not but he shall be heire so it is not our fashion with God to pray for our inheritance which is life everlasting and the Kingdome of Heaven but we pray that as sonnes wee may doe our duties and obey his Will and then we have an assured hope we shall enjoy them Although therefore by Name and in expresse termes we pray here but for the things onely which may bee had here yet by consequent and as in their causes wee pray also for the things which shall be had hereafter For the Graces which are the causes preceding now the blessings which are the effects will necessarily follow that is remission of sinnes and obedience to his Will and an uniting to Christ by the comming of his Kingdome being here obtayned the resurrection of our bodies and the life everlasting and the blessed vision of God will undoubtedly succeed Wee therefore pray onely that all impediments of our owne defects may bee removed and that all graces necessary may be supplyed and for the rest we rest our selves upon God and Fayth seemes here to put us over to hope for we have no more petitions to make but the next thing that followes is that of the Martyr Stephen concerning our eternall life In manus tuas Domine Commendo spiritum meum concerning the resurrection of our bodies that of the Prophet David My stesh shall rest in hope For having the promise of his word and the truth of his promise and the infallibility of his truth for our security though we have not done with Fayth yet wee have now more to doe with hope and thorough fayth are made confident to say in hope I know that my Redeemer liveth and though wormes destroy this body yet I shall see God in my â—esh For we thorough the spirit wayte for the hope of righteousnesse thorough fayth and that being justified by his grace wee shall bee made heires according to our hope of everlasting life But yet at last if it be exacted of this prayer that it must of necessity include also the blessings of