pardon but Gedd replyed Dico tibi I shew thee because thou refrainest not from the house of that prosane wretch thou shalt for thy punishment die in it which fell out accordingly the Earl and others treacherously killing the King at a solemn treat Pyrrhus Sons demanding to which of them he would leave his Kingdom Answered To him who had the sharpest sword Let the swords either of Gideon or of God be viewed Gods is the sharpest and therefore to be most â—eared of all who believes the coming of that Judge who commands his Anointed not to be touched By Baptism the Professor takes pay from Jesus as the Captain of his salvation and by scandalous behaviour he as it were runs from his Colours and by censure is he brought back and placed again in his rank that men beholding may fear and say that God is in her viz. the Church of a truth As Lycon the Philosopher had Ambitio pudor shame and honour to goad his Schollars forward in the practice of vertue so the Church hath honour and a Rod to excite to good behaviour restraining the vicious and encourageing the vertuous 4. By finishing and perfecting the just number of the Elect. Scripture sheweth that the Kingdom of glory shall not come untill the number of these appointed for Salvation be compleated not to speak of that great mystery of the Jews blindnesse untill the fulnesse of the Gentiles be brought in the Elect whether Jew or Gentile are gathered 1. At their natural dissolution 2. At Christs publick manifestation 1. At the Saints natural dissolution Every soul here uncased and divested of the body is a stone added for the perfecting of that house which is above and when the Quarry of eternal appointment hath been hewed out by the Gospel and fitted by death the roof is laid on and the work is finished for time shall be no more and Graces government over the soul is perfected then in glory If that Prayer be a reall History which is recorded for Ieroms and in his works which he made a little before his death for hastning of his glory how pithy is it but the Conclusion much more comfortable there appearing on a sudden after his communicating so beautiful and glorious a light in his Chamber that the sick could hardly be seen and a voice heard saying Come my beloved the time is now wherein thou art to receive a reward for these labours which manfully thou hast undergone for me to which he replyed Behold I come Lord Iesus unto thee receive my soul which thou hast redeemed with thy blood which words though thus uttered by him are still expressed as oft as we say Thy Kingdom come Not that death is to be simply called for or out of impatience as did Iob or Ionah but as Moses desired a sight of God but could not perfectly get it untill he went up to die so we are to understand that Pauls Cupio dissolvi his desire to depart upon saving knowledge is the most speciall comfortable text to a man in his departing said a reverend Prelat in his own Funeral for know we not that every day we breath here we lose one days sight of heavens beauty which we may justly pray to see not to alter Gods purpose but to manifest our longing desire 2. At Christs publick manifestation At Jesus his coming in the Clouds with the train of his holy Angels who are to gather his elect from the four winds from one end of Heaven to the other the dead in Christ rising first then those that are alive caught no all allarmed by a mighty shout with the voice of the Archangel and Trump of God shall the accomplishment of the full â—â—lly or number of the elect be finished At which time the Saints of their prayers of this prayer shall say consummatum est it is come the Kingdom is come the King of glory comes Arise let us go hence and enter into our Masters joy for the Kingdom is come c. But alas how unprepared are we for its coming for the dead consciences scandalous lives malitious complotters the medlers or busie-bodies about other mens matters the hatred and envy that appears in the actions of too many professing Christianity may cause remembrance of that old complaint sine Martyrio persequeris thou persecutes without blood-shed and thou kills under the mask of Religion and thou destroyes the saith of Christ by speaking of him c. This Kingdom hath come before day as upon Iacob and Iohn the Baptist before they were born and at the dawning of the day as upon Samuel and Timothy at noon-tide of the day as on Paul and Elisha and sometimes at the setting of the Sun as upon the converted thief but as it were dark night with us we sleep and fatten in our sins neither fearing nor desiring our Lords coming and though it be come to our Iudah this part of the world yet as the Gergesens we seek by our carefulness its removeal from us Be intreated therefore to throw away our old sins while we have time wash away our spots unravel the knots of our lives study purity that the King may have pleasure in our beauty and let us be the more earnest that the coming of our Lord is nigh He stood before the doors in St. Iames his time we have reason now to apprehend he is is half over the threshold In thy Kingdom come we shew eagerness to be under his dominion subject to his power censured by his Gospel yet by our carnal divisions we evince our aversness unto all and certainly by Amen we confirm our hearts in their rebellion against his Supremacy refusing to be under him for though both Devils and sinners be under the Dominion of God yet because they will not obey they are not said to be in his Kingdom We also bewail in it our straitnesse This world is a prison at best but an Inn wherein the beautifulest Chamber even a Kings presence is so incumbred we may say of it as Seleucus of his Crown that if people knew the vexations under it they would not deign to list it from the ground yet our deeds make apparent that this world is our rest and our choice not the Kingdom of our God having no respect to its government evident in the loosness of our lives and scandalousness of our divisions O God thou hast hardened our hearts against thy fear turn thy self to us again bless our provision satisfie thy poor with bread and cloath thy Priests with righteousnesse that thy Saints may shout for joy expecting the new Ierusalem coming down from God out of Heaven prepared as a Bride adorned for her Husband Thy Kingdom come THere are three graces mainly to be exercised in our petitioning viz. Charity Humility Fervency the first is found in each Line Word
is of the sons of Abraham ought to have alwayes burning upon the Altar of his heart the fire of holy charity and that to be blown up by the example of the Fathers and Testimony of holy Scripture unto which if we look and take heed the zeal for their own salvation and their brethrens glory that all might fear and declare the work of God and wisely consider of his doing is their chief care according to this rule The Multitude of sinners the fewness of Saints in the throng of professours ought to be seriously reflected upon that faith might bring our brethren in the flesh to Sons of the Spirit that living by the Laws of the Kingdom of God the Scriptures they might be accounted as the subjects of it faithful and worthy to possess the inheritance that fadeth not away the harvest therefore being great pray to the Lord thereof that the idolatrous and prophane which like the Syrians fill the countrey may be listed under the Standart of Jesus and united to Israel which are but as a few Kids that the seekers of the Lords face may be many nay may be all for which provoke one another to love and to good works It was an odd saying of Remigius yet a sad one because true that though the Church hitherto endure they being baptized that were her persecutors yet the Devil is not baptized and plagueth the Church not now or not only by the fury of Pagans but by the harshness ill-will and cruelty of Christians which to put an end unto let each man say as one said Et tu Domine Iesus Lord Jesus where is thy wonted kindness and O Father where is the sounding of thy bowels and remember we have but two commands from God one to love God the other man yet these two are but one love shewing without the one we want the other and by not doing the one we forfeit our interest in the other said a wise man Our zeal ought to extend to the utmost confines of the world for a bringing in of many sons and daughters unto this Kingdom in order to which we are to become Orators for a blessing upon Kings Princes c. That by their power upon Parents that by their authority upon Preachers that by their gravity upon Masters that by their industry the Word of the Lord may run and be glorified and that affectionatly and with ardor of mind Remissness sleepiness and dulness in prayer being one cause publickly declared from heaven in a vision of the eight persecution of the Church under Valerianus 4. His glory is in his Kingdom there is our dignity There is an earnest of the Spirit in the believers soul assuring him of glory and an earnest is part of the bargain so that in his conscience he hath a holy assurance that when ever the Kingdom of God shall appear he shall be crowned in it Here we behold the invisible God by that which is also invisible Munda scil mente vel corde a clean heart and a right spirit which argueth our distance and is at best but a comfortable ignorance but let this Kingdom be revealed and the soul being evacuat of all imperfections freed of all contagious principles or objects shall behold it self in its spiritual beauty to be the off-spring of God and as a Son behold his Fathers naked face in his ineffable glory Have we not made his dominion our choice his Son unto whom this Kingdom is given our joy and shall we not with endeared regard crave that its beautifull and powerfull manifestation be no longer retarded by the hypocrisie of some the intemperance of another the uncleaness of a third the blasâ—hemies of many the malicious quarrellings of most and the false slandrings of idle busie-bodies but as the people gathers to Shiloh the Souldiers to their Colours the Birds to the Carcass so ought we in our several capacities urge fervently the gatherings of all to the Lord of Hosts that it might be no longer with Christians as it was with the Manicheans with whom there was nothing rational nothing certain nothing blamlesse all being doubtful scandalous abominable and absurd That being truly and properly a Kingdom where a King will have such to be his subjects and they will have such an one to be their King and for this the whole creation cryeth with us adveniat Thy Kingdom come The Stars in their courses the Saints in their sufferings cry out how long O Lord holy and true because holy in himself and true in his promise therefore say the Saints judge and avenge our blood which expression being doubled shews desiderium vindicandi a desire of this Kingdom which the Ox at the Plough the Horse on the road the Elements in their motions yea the whole creation in its subjection groans for to be redeemed by it from that vanity under which they are in bondage Have we made his dominion our choice and not fight yea fight for suppressing diverting of all those forces Art can contrive Magick fancy Sacriledge Minister the Devil in the multitude of sinners can suggest or sin in the bloodiness of its aims can muster which if we do not let us be self-condemned as unworthy of its enjoyment when it shall be revealed The Romans at their first entry into Britain were much terrified by the valour and to them by the strange way of the British fighting which being perceived by the Standart-bearer of the tenth Legion he cast himself out of the Ship and assaulted his foes crying aloud Fight my companions except you will betray the Roman Eagle into the hands of the enemy for mine own part I will be faithful to the Common-wealth of Rome and to Cesar my General at which shame and courage animating all the Standart was followed a victory obtained and Britain subdued Let this exhilerat this Age whose remissness I might say whose perversness suffers the glory of the Cross of Christ and the government of Jesus to be betrayed to the hands of sin and sinners the zeal of his house being so far from consuming us or from eating of us up that we suffer both it and our selves to be swallowed up by hell and destruction I mean strife and division Consider what this Kingdom produceth which we may call its In-land Commodity and our zeal shall become importunat that consisting in peace righteousnesse joy in the Holy Ghost the two former are the leaves of the door that admits us into the latter for we have first righteousness by our faith freeing us of sin and then peace hushing all our passions then cometh joy by our here expecting and afterward enjoying our reward which three we glimmeringly enjoy in the Kingdom of grace below but shall receive them in their Meridian lustre in that Kingdom of glory above having righteousness without sin iniquity being taken away peace without disturbance
ground withering being scorched with the suffocating heat of intestine supposed heavenly yet really hellish broils In spight of that Gospel-rule of Amity we can curse backbite accuse those that are of not only the same Countrey but of the same Faith with our selves believing in the Lord Jesus that they may be saved from hell which is below yet this is not a guard sufficient to blunt the edge of those deadly arrows even bitter words which from the bent bow of studied malice and the most exact aim of time probability and place is from the arm of prejudice caused to flee to the very whit to the very heart of them whom contrary to the character of a good man they love to malign Because they cannot have the Kingdom of God come according to their vitiated platforms prays not for its advance at all and because of that will pray for their daily bread that they may live to revenge conceited faults purposing never to forgive groaning under a surmised evil so heavily that God hath not nor shall not have any glory by its sending in regard they suffer not patiently nor soberly because they walk not charitably as the Primitive Christians did when they had really Heathens to be their persecuters at which time pro omni statu they prayed for all men How much better Raimundus who dwelt so much about and delighted so much in love that he answered all questions by it as whence he came from love Whither he was going to love c. O! let us desire that brotherly love might begin O! let us desire that brotherly love might begin and next study that it might continue I may say with one Iam saepe dixi fratres frequentius dicere debeo I have often said and must oftner attest let none defraud let none deceive himself he who hateth any one man in this world let him do for God what he pleaseth all is in vain For Paul did not lie when he professed though he gave his body to be burned it should profit him nothing if he wanted charity without which neither Alms nor Prayer doth avail For in Prayer we must observe the pattern in the Mount and say not my but Our Father which art in Heaven which as the rule of all Prayer is next to be enstated in your meditations SECT V. THe Precept being to pray after this manner we must eye our copy and he hath no eyes that seeth not or covers them that perceiveth not by this rule that we are to pray pertinently modestly briefly and Heavenly 1. Pertinently for matter Observe this Prayer and there is not only no superfluous word but each syllable beautifies and every Petition depends upon another First we ask for our Fathers glory in Hallowed be thy Name and then for our own salvation in Thy Kingdom come which shall come to our comfort when we do his will on earth as it is in heaven which we shall have strength to do when we have our daily bread and having been refreshed thereby there is a necessity of praying against sin past in Forgive us our trespasses and in regard the vessels of uncleanness will or may fill as soon as any other it is expedient to pray against sin to come in Lead us not into temptation which may avail much to deliver us from much evil and all this is a reasonable service because it is the Father we pray unto whose prerogative is the Kingdom that should come and the power by which we must expect it shall come for our delivery and therefore the glory should be his for applying all these things unto us Thus hath he shewed thee O man what is good nothing lawful nothing needful nothing honourable is here comitted More then these we should not ask and less then these we ought not to ask being to pray after this manner 2. Modestly for expression The word Fathers the phrase Kingdom have couched in them great mysteries the small expression bread comprehends many different things according to the supplicants place station and calling With a Souldier it will signifie victory with a Traveller safety with the weary rest with the feeble strength with a King Majesty with a Counsellour wisdom with the fruitful it will signify good children and with the barren it imports a fruitful womb Study then the meaning of the words first and the application of them unto thy case next and in the enlargements of thy soul let thy words be alwayes modest and moderat lest in asking abundance thou be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness Neither limit the Holy One of Israel by asking thus much or thus much now and then but be content with the portion given and satisfied with the quantity and quality thereof 3. Briefly for time Our Saviour in this form adviseth against two faults espied in the prayers of some viz. Hypocrisie and Verbosity and had Solomon been in our dayes and had heard the tedious length unto which some Zelotes had drawn their impertinent prayers and the vain repetitions with which they were filled with the vain bablings to which they were to a nauseating length extended to pass their other scandalous behaviour he had enlarged himself upon that advice Let thy words be few the obeying of which may prevent those heartless digressions wilde and idle discourse of such pretended extempore petitioners who were forced through emptiness to go backward and forward like Hounds at a loss and being word-bound knew not how to make an end Be not therefore as that babler Battus non-sensically reiterating the same words again and again unto whose practice in probability the Holy Ghost hath an excellent allusion discharging vain repetitions or more wording then matter requireth and therefore dischargeth an imitation of him in his loquacity Not but that the zealous may his heart not staggering or recoyling mount further that is nearer Heaven by extending his prayers the length of a winters night or Summers day as David or Christ did But the distinction betwixt privat and publick Prayer may inform the intelligent that this rule is necessary in requiring short and full petitions before others but with themselves they my use long yet ought to offer still hearty servent and pertinent supplications For when words perturb the spirit of man it is more than time to break off Sed doles animo c. the groanings of the soul making the more ehement cry as did the heart of Moses the lips of Hannah the blood of Abel 4. Heavenly-mindedness all along From the Dan to the Beersheba of this Prayer there is nothing minded but Heaven from Our Father to its Amen there is nothing as earthly suggested Our daily bread not being asked but as it relates to the doing of his will the coming of his Kingdom the hallowing of his Name of his Name on earth as it is in Heaven we begin at Heaven and end at glory by our Amen Among
two we are directed next to the good things of earth and are to be last craved as appears in the three last Petitions whereof the last is against present evil in Deliver us from evil the fourth is the medium or copula joyning both together for by bread we have strength to ascend in the doing of our Fathers will or descend for the opposing of our enemies force or strength whether in sin or temptations to sin There are likewise who finding all prayer offered for obtaining good or avoiding ill hold the order of this Prayer out thus viz all good being either heavenly is prayed for in the second Petition Thy Kingdom come or spiritual in Thy will be done or temporal in Give us our daily bread but if we reflect upon evil it is either past remembred in Forgive us our debts or to come prevented in Lead us not into temptation or present and then its removal is supplicated for in Deliver us from evil making Hallowed be thy Name to be no distinct Petition but rather a confirmation of all the Prayer Our Saviour adding this in imitation of the Iews who used words of veneration to the memories of them whom Vertue had Nobilitat as we use to say now such an one of pious or happy memory But that they are a Petition distinct from all the other and though a confirmation yet added to the number of all the other is evident For 1. It is in the stile of all the rest more imperativo by way of a holy religious and humble command 2. It is improbable that our Saviour heeded any such custome As touching the precept of seeking the Kingdom of Heaven first which follows after Hallowed be thy Name It is well noted that of things relating to our selves that Kingdom must be first sought by us and is first placed in this Prayer but in things relating to God as his glory daily we deviat from this rule if hallowed be thy Name be not our main great and first design and by consequence our first request Let us behold and admire the blessed and heavenly wisdome of our Saviour who hath taught us to pray in secret and in open audience in so much saith as to behold the Omnipotent Lord to be alwayes by us and yet with so much modesty that like the Heathen we abuse him not with many words though we ask so much so great and so many good and different things that this Prayer is and may be termed a breviary of the whole Gospel and also Legitima Oratio as being the Standart unto which all prayer is to be brought and applied for their tryal for matter and order which when done it appears in general That we must pray for spiritual and heavenly things first before we pray for our food or deliverance from evil we ask for his Glory his Kingdom his Righteousness This Prayer may be observed to begin with glory to end with glory for ever and therefore in the Churches of the Saints according to Law heavenly things are sought after first The word first insinuats principally and the word seek implyes with industry First that is in affection they are to love and desire them most And the scope of our Saviours first Sermon rather presseth a vehemency a priority of love and intention then of utterance and expression as first infers in other places holding out not so much rank or place as zeal and earnestness It is Raven-like to be flying upward and eying the carion carcass of an earthly enjoyment whereas each supplicant like a spiritual Eagle ought to eye the slain the crucified Christ at the right hand of the Father and mount higher giving not the lowest but the highest seat unto him The Emperour Alexander Severus reconciling a discord raised by Cooks and Hucksters against some Christians who had made an oratory or chappel where formerly these had sold their sowls and meat it is better determined he to worship and serve God there in any sort then to put it to other uses as the selling of flesh or fowl If a heathen thought this house which he knew was to perish fitter to serve God then to sell Poultry in ought not men to apprehend the same of their souls which must eternaly endure Therefore sanctifie thy affections and make them rather houses for the service of God then prophane them in turning them victualing-houses to thy self the devil and his lusts There being nothing more worthy of God nor profitable for men then to give him the first place in their respects they calling him Father and putting all other things yea accounting all other things as inferiour unto his honour in that expression Again seek it first that is in appretiation when a house is on fire the Saint himself may â—ry with greater earnestness for water water then he shall cry Thy Kingdom come Earthly crosses like shallow water making the greatest noice whereas heavenly love may be more smooth because more deep David for that matter of Vriah watred his couch but for Absolom he wept in the top of his house Isaac prayed for a son and David for the life of his child earnestly sensible things because such being more apparent to our senses are easily discerned while matters spiritual though farthest out of sight are in the soul regarded with unexpressible dearness and the other once competing with God and the things of his Kingdom our hearts shall manifestly discover that not the world but God hath our most zealous thoughts How did David roar out for his Absolom his Son his Son yet not against his Sin his Sin not that David in the Cabinet of his heart did regrate his sin with less anxiety but flesh seeing what was flesh the Spirit retired into more inward lodgings waiting for a more convenient opportunity which offering it is discernable at first that in regard of dearness God and his righteousness will be laid aside for nothing nay not for Absolom his Son his Son because it is he that giveth salvation unto Kings and delivered David his servant from the burtful sword In a great persecution under Hunericus multitudes being banished by Pagans of old and young an old woman was observed leading a young child willingly to go after them and being demanded why she took the Infant pray for me said she I am a sinful woman and taketh this little boy lest he being lest alone should be a prey to the Adversary of truth and seduced from the ways thereof Preferring Gods honour before Liberty Life or Countrey nay did not Moses chuse rather not to be then live to see it questioned or eclipsed A Bishop of Lincoln journeying with some Company who one morning hasted to their horses for fear of the Pad Robbers being in that very road through which they were to travel From this place said that good man will I not stir untill I have performed my morning devotion to
likewise of a kingdom of men in contradistinction to which we pray Let thy Kingdom come there is a kingdom of darkness is the king therof is the angel of the bottomless pit for confusion of which we pray THY Kingdom come It is that Kingdom which the blood of Christ hath purchased the faith of the Saints expected and that which in the parable of the sheep on the right hand we are invited to enter into and possess It is Regnum Coeleste the Kingdom of Heaven in all its steps advantages and degrees In this as in the former Petition we shall search into the matter and next into the order thereof with the application of both to the rule So pray ye In the matter there occurs to be treated upon 1. The extension of the Kingdome 2. The steps methods whereby that Kingdom comes 3. The zeal that is supposed to be in the Petitioner to have that Kingdom come God hath a twofold Kingdom in the world and its inhabitants one general reaching to the birds even in their falling to the hairs of mens head and their numbering and to the devils in their chaining and this is called the Kingdom of his providence Whence it hath been questioned though upon poor ground whether here we pray for the coming or continuing of this Kingdom of providence For since the soul and body are preserved in their united harmony by his favourable concurrence he acting all creatures for the preservation of our life by their subsisting which by some is attributed to Chance to Fortune to the Moon to the Sun and to any other creature which the ignorance of the true God shall lay before an idolater Christianity being but thin-sowen and Christ not so universally believed upon but that a great part of the world is idolaters and unbelievers Quinsay the greatest City in the whole earth was of late known to have had in it but one Church of Christians in the rest Gentilism sacrificing to the very Devil that he might not hurt Which considered what should hinder our earnest sueing for a more clear manifestation of his infinit authority that all Altars and all hearts may offer up holy sacrifice to that only true God by whom they only live and in whom they shall and may be eternally made happy It was not or but darkly known that the most high ruled in the Kingdoms of men and gave it to whomsoever he will but yet so that he himself governed it by the wisdom of his power and protected it by the wisdom of his government 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thy Kingdom the word importing that Kings are inviolable and not to be hurt or grieved which God is by the idolatrous and superstitious rites of Gentiles and Jews or that Kings are the foundation or upholder of the people which God also is all things being upheld by him and to that purpose is a King a word from the Saxon word Cyning or Cunning which importeth to know and understand and ability to act as we proverbially say a canny man one that can do and act with dexterity and skill in which God is transcendently eminent King-like providing and taking care for all making grass to grow for the Oxe and herb for the service of man Sent he not hail and fire mingled with hail very grievous upon all the Land of Egypt and a pestilence in the dayes of David upon the twelve Tribes It s thy Kingdom implying his Majesty Splendor Tranquility and Honour and may we not desire that by the greatness of his power he would command the air to be healthful and the fire not to be hurtful and that it be known to be his act to all the world as an effect of his unlimited Soveraignty Besides this he is said to have a Kingdom by and in which he rules his Saints and Church in special and relating to his Church triumphant is called a Kingdom of glory relating to his Church militant is called a Kingdom of grace that of grace going along in that of providence and going forward to that of glory we shall speak of them both mutually beginning with that of providence and grace For a safe and prosperous success of our undertakings and affairs for the subjugating of our foes for destroying the power of darkness that we may have no treacherous heart with Iudas nor a covetous with Ahab nor an ambitious with Absolom and that the Kingdoms of the earth may become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ and that such who know him may give him no rest untill he make Ierusalem that is his Church a praise in the whole earth we pray for in Thy Kingdom come At this time regnavit Diabolus the Devil reignes Sin reigns Death reigns and by them mankind hath been taken captive hence we beg that Satan may perish Sin may cease Death may die and that Captivity may be taken captive that we being freed from these may reign quietly honourably and securely under him If he suffer Turks or Tyrants to afflict his Church we call for strength and aid by his providence for grace and power by his Spirit and in both saying before Ephraim Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength why before these three but because these Tribes both mar ched and pirched nearest the Ark a type of his presence and in Thy Kingdome come his rising as a Giant out of sleep in the sight of his Church and march forward to subjugat those 〈◊〉 by his mustered forces that is the ordered Army of his creatures or peovidences or graces of faith love and real that Ephraim and Manasseh without fear may worship the Lord in Benjamin that is in his Ierusalem that is in all holy places The work of Gods hand and his providence about it may lead us to admire but leas◠we should stand in the world as Mary at the grave looking to behold what we cannot find we call for his Kingdom to free us of that sordid vassalage which our parents sin temptation and unbelief have brought upon us to the beholding those invisible riches above pursuing in our thoughts their duration fixation and consolation The world here follows us so closs and grips us so hard that we are put back in our pursuit of those more desirable treasures above so that it is called a striving to apply our thoughts thereto so much as in a wish which imports among many things this one that there must be great pressing and fearing to be over-pressed we pray Thy Kingdom come Anaxagoras affirmed the cause of his birth and coming into the world was to behold the Heavens and the Sun from which the curiosity of some hath picked such a mystery as I am prone to conjecture was never in his thoughts for by Heaven they would give out he understood the power of God which is attributed to the Father and by the Sun
they will have to be signified the brightness of misdom which is Iesus Christ and by heat which is from the Sun they would have love understood which is the Holy Ghost to detect the vanity of such conceits as issuing from Anaxagoras were a vain dispute but certain it is that man was made and the Christian is taught to have his eyes his desires his affections where Christ is at the right hand of God and was begotten and born of the Spirit to love admire and behold the Son Therefore Schools and Colledges where Arts and Principles of knowledge are taught ought to be recommended to the eare of providence that from them by means of Professors and Benefactors as from a Nursery may be removed such plants as may in the garden of God which is his Church refresh his people with their shade and fruit for it was esteemed the saddest persecution when Iulian the Apostat Emperour to impede the Kingdom of the Gospel ordered that no Galilean so he termed believers should be trained up in letters or learning alledging that heathens were killed with their own feathers meaning the pungency of Christian Doctors Arguments That the knowledge of God being spread the longing after Heaven may be discerned that the things present being accounted as nothing there may be earnestness for those which are to come a principle arising from a conscience purged from sin and a soul purified from the earth as St. Pauls was when he groaned to be cloathed upon resteth in the bosome of this Petition Moreover the subjection of all souls unto his will Law and Goverment is intreated for here in Thy Kingdom come the petitioner as the mother of Siserah is panting and asking why is his Chariot so long in coming that deliverance from this present evil world might be hastned that all whether high or low rich or poor old and young might rejoyce together blessing the Lord in the beauty of holinesse For 1 They live in fear of themselves and therefore cry Thy Kingdom come Iob was not in trouble yet he feared they know they cannot think one good thought nor do one good act upon certainty of sins lying at the door and of temptations being within the house distrusting of the strength of age and experimentally apprehending a disease surmising through despondency some cross to attaque them and lastly beholding the severity of God upon them which fall more grace knowledge and a more clear sense of their own salvation is frequently in their mouth that no temptation may surprize them or cause them deviat from truth and holiness Sometimes Curiosity again Vanity too oft Obscenity will affault and the thoughts of the soul here heat the heart there blow it and anone disturb it and by and by scatter and again confound it then rack it and afterwards binds it consequently defile it and corrupt it from which the coming of this Kingdom doth secure it by giving them the gifts of sobriety and of a sound mind purity of speech and sincerity of grace which they would alwayes possesse but that Satan by his frequent and sudden temptations doth hinder them In the croud of cares and fears arising from wars tumults and as they say from wives children and families from sin and natural srailty a soul though strong may be broken crushed and wounded by which that precept recorded to have been given by the Guardian Pastor or Angel among many to that holy ancient Hermes St. Pauls Disciple is good viz. to believe and fear in regard the last without sthe first creats gulfs of despondency issuing from the turbulent sea of perplexity entanglements and doubts for the Spirits overwhelming his nuncius iniquitatis or evil genius like Iobs messengers interrupting mans beloved retirements for Halcyon and serene tranquility in heavenly meditation more frequently with corrodeing and mournful intelligence tending to bitterness and wo then his nuncius aequitatis or good Angel cometh like Ioabs informers Ahimaaz-like with accustomed good tidings nourishing the soul or ravishing the ear with the melodious report of benevolent providence whence it is that even the great judgment-day for the elects sake is hastned and the Kingdom of God every wsy desired 2. They live in love of others and therefore cry Thy Kingdom come With St. Paul they have a desire and their prayer to God is that all Israel may be saved by letting the sound of the everlasting Gospel be heard unto all that dwell upon the earth and to every Nation Tongue and people that Israel and Iudah that is Iew and Gentile may become one and unite in the hand of him who is the arm of the Lord revealed For if we love the Lord we shall obey his Law and love man for this is to enjoy good and to be thought worthy of infinit good things this is the crown of vertue the foundation of Religion and the Kingdom of God there being great and precious promises of the enlarging of the Kingdom of Christ by the accession thereto of the multitude of the Gentiles by revealing the Doctrine of saith the light whereof detecting the unprofitableness of those various modes and forms of worship used by Infidels the not doing whereof indicats one almost that is scarce half a Christian that in its full latitude oblidging us to lay aside passion and self and signifie to the world our desire of Gods removing the dark cloud of atheism or errour and bring all to that due way of worshipping the Father in his Christ by discovering to all the beauty and order of his Kingdom Let us reason a little on Gods behalf and beholding the equity and justice of this duty set our selves to its performance Contemplat upon Gods authority over us and we shall learn submission reflect upon our cumbersome lusts our rigid adversaries our rueful passions our woful calamities our oppressing Task-masters our seducing Teachers our eager disputes our multiplied opinions our divided interests and our probably irreconciliable divisions to pass by the subtilty of the Devil in all we shall be forced not only to pray Thy Kingdom come but with hatred and sorrow acknowledge that other lords besides thee have had dominion over us to save us therefore and to confound them Let thy Kingdom come Our creation possession and future expectation makes discernable the infinit distance betwixt those powers whom we obey and God whom we ought to obey who not only hath authority over us but exerciseth the same in so gentle ample and so affectionat manner that reason should induce us to forsake those intricat labyrinths inconsolat services and filthy undertakings in which and wherein our lusts and hellish masters have and do so deeply engage us and make us swear allegiance devouting our selves unto the Crown of Heaven the Laws whereof being comfortable just good and holy A crook-back was not under the Law to approach to offer bread before the
Lord and therefore let us stand upright and not flectere ad ima as bowed down behold the things of this carnal and perishing world lest we be accounted unfit to approach unto or enter in the Kingdom of God Exoneremus ergo let us therefore cleanse our hearts from the contagion of unclean cogitations and fit our selves for a daily offering up unto Christ prayer and praise as Priests separated by the Spirit for that good work and office and particularly to offer bread I mean the remembrance of the whole Tribes the whole earth for their good It was Sauls question whether the promise or hopes of fields or vineyards made his Guards not inform him of Davids supposed conspiracy and consederacy with Ionathan and truly the largeness excellency the Vineyards and fields the riches and the glory of the Kingdoms of grace and providence ought to provoke us to be earnest for the advancement of the Kingdom of God the protection we have from Angels the heat we receive from the Sun the light we have from the Heavens the prospect we have from the Hills the Flowers we behold from the Valleys the Commodities we have from the Sea the comforts we draw from the Beasts the spiritual consolations we receive from the Gospel shew the advantages we have by his Government and therefore ought to endeavour the removing and fight for the departing of Saul's the sense is easie and the coming of David's Kingdom in pressing for the enlargement of the Kingdom of grace under our Lord Jesus Christ. For though in the Kingdom of his providence we possess such a lot or portion as his wisdom or power giveth and judgeth convenient for us yet remembring that these things we enjoy common with the Swine in the field and the Raven of the air the Fort-royal of our affections are not to be possessed much less commanded by the desire of enlarging temporalities being given but as apt means to uphold our otherwise frail Tabernacle but collecting all our strength animat our zeal for a studious striving for and earnest thirsting after the beautifying confirming enlarging and adorning of our inward man by grace against the approaching of the Kingdom of glory This Age hath many who slight this Prayer in their practice as well as neglect it in their religious exercise they desire the coming of his Kingdom limiting their thoughts to that of Providence desiring the hastning and advancement of those good things they desire to possess yet not contented with their portion by stealing cheating robbing they snatch it impudently out of his hands being impatient that he brings it not unto them and grumbleth that he makes not speed whereas Thy Kingdom come implyes modesty and our waiting upon Gods leasure Let pilfring sinners therefore know that not a snatching but a mannerly receiving is contained in this Petition Hasten not therefore to be rich Eye his Kingdom of Grace we have those so pure in their own eyes so holy in their own conceits that they behold no urgent cause for its more evident appearing Let such know that not sufficiency but a daily exuberancy is contained in this Petition Say not therefore I have enough It is obvious that many concludes the coming of this Kingdom to consist in such tenets or opinions they have imbibed from the Rabbies of some saction to them beloved Let such know that not the following of mens opinions but the knowledge and owning of Gods heavenly dominion is contained in this Petition the great Officers therein under himself being Magistrats and Ministers c. both which are prayed for in Thy Kingdom come Thy Kingdom come THe Kingdoms of Grace and Glory as they are united in this Petition are now to be explicated and first of Grace whereby Christ reigns in the soul which by having the Gospel is nigh unto us and next that of Glory prepared for us before the foundation of the world yet these are not so much two as one differing only as the light conveyed by the window differs from that immediatly flowing from the Sun In the Kingdom of Grace Christ is compared to a Roe standing behind the wall looking forth at the window shewing himself through the lattess the wall is our flesh the window is his Law the lattess is his Prophets but in the Kingdom of Glory the wall is pellucide the window and lattess both removed and the immediat beams i. e. glory of the Father by the Saints viewed and respected By Grace here he hath Servants Kings and Teachers in his Temple and Throne but there in glory there is no teaching because no ignorance no King because no offence and Kingdom implying government and that under a King Christ is King and Head of his Church and God the Father as Jesus is man is the head of Christ Hence we pray Our Father which art in Heaven Thy Kingdom come In which Petition there is something we pray against and something we pray for the latter is for the Churches and our guidance into the Holy of Holies the former is for subjugating Gods and our enemies and all pernicious lusts obstructing our glory to come We pray against the dominion of sin the darkness of nature the prevalency of Satan and the delay of the Saints reward 1. The dominion of sin that its head which is as a Serpents may be bruised and its reign which is tyrannical may be ended all lust being base and ignoble and ineffably cruel domineering more over the soul and making it suffer more from it quam corpus c. then the body doth from diseases for it reigns and brings into eternal death at last fascinating in the mean time and bewitching mens hearts so that but few are sensible of that danger which these Ammonites will bring upon them if longer tolerated and those few again have their souls so entangled that though they have no love to embrace yet they want power to extricate themselves out of sins snare or force to drive it from exercising dominion over them Therefore calls for help against that strong man that by the power of grace and strength of faith and ardency of zeal all from the Spirit of God he may be bound as a rebel against heaven and an usurper over man in forcing obedience to his lusts and rigidly exacting what was never his due viz. love and subjection Thy Kingdom come as it eyes the Church imports that it might be manifest among men and that it might be known to the ignorant but eying Grace it respects the extinguishing of all vice by the power of God that neither devil nor world nor carnal lust nor any sin might have dominion over us but God alone For if we study good works and shine in vertue lust and iniquity shall never overcome us nor the power of hell suppress us restat ergo we ought therefore as in all
full of saith and fear of God dare not open his mouth to sin against him which alone constitutes true wisdom and with these being replenished with hope and charity and and all other vertues Iesus Christ may reign in him and in all other that the Lord Iesus Christ being known of all to be the only begotten Son of the Father and whom they shall visibly perceive coming from Heaven to judge quick and dead and upon that score ought to be known feared obeyed and worshipped of all by addressing to his Kingdom in their belief of the Gospel and swearing allegiance to his Crown in receiving the Sacraments thereof 2. For the Saints felicity eternal Labouring in the earth causeth weariness and makes the work-man eye the Sun to behold its hight there being no cloath capable to dry the eyes of the penitent save the Robe of glory It is here intreated for that tears not only in themselves but in their causes and occasions may for ever be removed from them and never admitted where they are to the interruption of their joy Alexander hearing Anaxagoras evincing the existency of many worlds wept because he had conquered scarce one The believer from the principles of eternal wisdom hath collected the being of a world where shall be no night neither properly nor metaphorically understood the want of which considering his present habitation causeth him with Mary weep yet looking up with a phosphere redde diem Come Lord Iesus come quickly All the possessions Abraham enjoyed were but poor in his eye so long as Childless give any of his faithful sons an extract of earthly pleasures they are contemned because heavenless and St. Paul's Cupio dissolvi I desire to depart senseth this Petition Though this Pronoun THY give the property of this Kingdom unto God yet as the bread we eat is His first and next by saith Ours so is this Kingdom the truth of God having engaged it self in a promise to us that we shall possess it both as his and our inheritance The other Petitions admitt of no demurr no delay and are therefore in our faithful arguing attended with a desire of dispatch for his will must be done now and this day we must have our daily bread but this alone hath the continuation of days in the Court of Conscience and therefore may be called a Petition of hope living in hope yet such an one that maketh not ashamed in regard it is for a Kingdom which will come though for a while it may tarry 3. For our Fathers Kingdom universal When the end cometh Christ shall deliver up the Kingdom unto God that is the Kingdom of his Mediator-ship at which the Kingdom of Grace shall end the Son himself as man becoming subject to the Father that God may be all in all then Heavens Gates shall be shut there being no more to enter and Hell shut Devils rambling being no more to be tolerat the harvest being then gathered and no more seed to be sowen the elect glorified there being no more to be called but God ruling having brought into subjection all that either denyed him or defyed him where begins his Kingdom of Glory For that time wherein God is enjoyed without Ordinances and praised without adversaries sin and death being abolished and an immediat union with God acquired is this Petition offered that the supream dominion of the great God may be hastned and a final close put to all things by folding up of the sheets of time where ends the Kingdom of Providence The changes and mutations the framings as we may call them which attend the Kingdom of Grace have caused it to be called Regnum lapidis the Kingdom of a stone the fixedness perpetuity of the Kingdom of glory is called Regnum montis the Kingdom of the Mountain the other being but as a stone hewen or hewing for that immovable and eternal Kingdom therefore its approaches this Petition is numbred among our dayly prayers Yet for a caution it may be added that this is necessary to be heeded viz. that their cause had need to be good who long for and presse after the coming of the Iudge Remember thy faults therefore implore a pardon be circumspect in thy way purifying thy soul by faith abiding in hope dwelling in love and then call Thy Kingdom come and the Lord will hasten his word to perform it for his own glory to thy comfort Thy Kingdom come WE are now to examine the steps and methods by which this Kingdom comes for coming denots a progressive and an advancing motion our Father having authority over it as the Centurion if he say go it goeth if come it cometh Prepare ye therefore the way of the Lord and make his paths straight In our endeavouring to clear first its motion next uses from that motion Man being in Scripture interpretatively every creature we shall not speak much of his Kingdom of providence wherein his regiment over the creatures is manifested but eying especially that of his Grace and Glory which his goodness is pleased to represent in this prayer with its face and favour towards us c. The coming and compleating of his authority by grace ought to be prayed for upon many considerations its regiment being as yet imperfect impeded and ost obnubiâ—ated It s regiment is imperfect The tallest Christian is but of a low stature and the wisest studieth most to increase in wisdom the utmost that St. Paul could reach unto was with his mind to serve the Law of God his flesh still observing that of sin and every good man being two men and divided in himself ought to endeavour more and more freedom from that law of death There is no Wheat without its Chass nor Rose without its Thorne nor saith without its doubt nor heart without its lust yea the Moon wants not her Spots nor the Sun its Eclipses unto which the Church is compared when in her greatest beauty nor army even with banners without its own care and fear unto which she is also likened when she is most terrible It s regiment is also impeded There are enemies in the coasts possessing strong sorts hindering grace in her noble atchievments Schisms Divisions Heresie Idolatry Scandals Prophanness hinder the marches of the King of Saints as craggy rocks do the passage of Kings of the Nations Saying depart from us that is turn from us which includes a removing of him intended by them that they may remain free This people hath a revolting heart saith the Prophet they are revolted they are gone They say go the other sayes depart both being against his approaches and dominion Pardon the application if we take the wings of the morning and flee to the uttermost parts of the earth Satans power sins law lusts dominion is resisting Christs nearer communion with his Church There shall be sound Pride in Armour
Covetousness in Buff Oppression watching Lust posting Fury thâ—â—tning Malice contiriving and Policy uniting to suppress the Gospel and though it get ground in the conversion of some to the saith of Jesus yet what Hanibal said of the Roman General Marcellus may the Church say of them and the devil their Captain that neither conquered nor conquering will they be quiet yea her case must be sad since the very liâ—e of her peace consists in fighting against these restless adversaries and where overcome yet so desperate is their wrath they with the Gadarens beseech Christ to depart It s regiment is likewise often obnubilated Grace now and then is put to the flight by an army of lusts The Church is said to be a Woman cloathed with the Sun the Moon under her feet that she is a Woman betokeneth her weakness her fruitfulness cloathed with the Sun her protection by and obedience to Jesus Christ the Moon under her feet signifyeth her contempt of all earthly because mutable enjoyments yet for all this pompous equippage she is forced to go to the wilderness for shelter against the Dragons rage and fury The feeling the beholding the hearing of these things will cause sorrow and what consolation is that offered by an Ancient comforting a Christian in sad times It was Pia tristitia beata miseria a blessed melancholy and a pleasant misery to behold the sins of others and weep and to another Plangenda sunt haec non miranda these things are to be be 〈◊〉 for not wondred at yet adds that prayer ought to be made I shall not say that after the fall God appointed our flesh our sinful lusts to rule overus for our punishment as he appointed thorns to arise out of the earth for mans vexation but since the fall lusts and corruption overshadow grace within us to that hight that Peter will curse David fall and Iacob lie to his Father and these weeds are permitted to abide in all until the Kingdom of God come with power which made David call but thou O Lord how long that is in the new Testament-stile Thy Kingdom come The Gospel in its progress is compared by our Saviour to leaven and that workes gradually regeneration to a new birth and man is perfected by degrees the Church to a builing and that advanceth by rule and measure and Wisdom is said to have hewn out her seven pillars which implies addition the new man hath not his proportion by years but by degrees and comes to perfection by distinct gifts and graces he first learns as a child to read the good examples of others then advancing forward he comes to live according to divine Law then he is so in love with Christ that marrying himself to him he would not sin though there were no Law against it growing now strong he can endure and stand out against the worlds troubles and vexations and then growing rich in the abundance of the things of the Kingdom of God he leads a peaceable and contented life then he comes to forget that is not to heed transitory things being wholly intent as aged in grace upon life eternal and now there remains but one step more that is the Kingdom of glory which advanceth towards us by the grace of faith illumination of the soul Discipline of the Church and by finishing the number of the Elect. 1. By the hearing of faith This eyes all the Kingdoms we have spoken of for as by faith we believe that Jesus came to save sinners so we believe by â—aith that the world was created and yet preserved the Father Almighty hitherto working and darkly hinted at in the conclusion of this Prayer For thine is the Kingdom power and glory All that we know of Hell his prison of Earth his Foot-stool of the Clouds his Chariots of Man his Image of Angels his Hosts of Heaven his Pallace of Christ his Son is by the doctrine of Faith for untill it come we are not savingly sensible of the Kingdom of God And the doctrine of the Worlds Creation Mans fall and Christs coming are recorded to have been the Principles of Religion taught in Adams Temple Oratory or place of worship where God dwelt from whose face Cain departed all which shew that it is necessary to believe as firmly that God the Father Almighty made the Heaven and Earth as it is to believe in Iesus Christ his only Son our Lord. The grace of faith is said to be the Kingdom of God within that Kingdom being spiritual and reigning in the hearts of the faithfull while they are in the Kingdom of providence and by which they are nourished and protected untill they arrive at the Kingdom of God in glory where they shall reign as Kings and Priests unto God for ever 2. By the enlightning of the mind This peculiarly eyes his Kingdom of grace As Moses face shined when he was with God under the Law so now God shines in the hearts of his friends under the Gospel he saith now not Let there be light but is himself a light unto his people The Gospel puts a Key in the Converts hand to intuat and behold the mysteries in Christ crucified which others cannot see and also a Lamp to know how far and in what kind for what use and for what end they appertain to him As at the Creation there was a fiat lux Let there be light so in Conversion there is a scias fu thy sins are forgiven thee which is that unction of the Spirit by which all things are known as the Eunuch knew and believed that Jesus Christ was the Son of God and by which also their Conversation is in Heaven having security by God and joy in him for which cause also it is the highest stone in Wisdoms seven Pillars upholding the house that is the Conscience or Soul of man The first whereof being good Will next a sanctified Memory the third a clean Heart the fourth a free Soul the fifth a right Spirit the sixth a devout Mind but the last and highest is an enlightned Understanding By the discipline of the Church Admonitions Reproofs Censures are as military weapons used by the Church for the upholding of this Kingdom of Grace yea a delivery over unto Satan by excommunication which if justly duly and compassionatly done is and hath been found instrumental for the stirring up the authority and power of Grace in the soul of some obdured shame and fear being very efficacious motives where other means are less effectual to perswade a soul to cry Peccavi Father I have sinned as did the incestuous Corinthian One Sigbert King of the East Saxons keeping society and familiarity with a Count or Earl whom holy Cedd had excommunicated for unlawful marriage once by accident met with Cedd as he journeyed to the Counts house and being smitten with shame and fear alighted from his horse and craved
our habitations there being in sure places joy in the Holy Ghost all sorrow and sighing being fled It is proverbially said of the three Princes Electors that the Palisgrave hath the Honour Brandeburgh the Land but the Duke of Saxony the Money but what a brave soyl must that be where every man hath all and if Shells or Pearl cast up by Tides hath made men zealous to attaque the Countrey whence they came should not our own knowledge of such invaluable things as Glory and Majesty durable riches and honour make the weak say I am strong and all of us to quit our selves like men looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God For zeal saith an honourable and learned person unto whose elaborat labours the body of Divinity and all Divines are beholding is the best evidence of a Christian the Spirit of God workes like fire and is the greatest means to draw out the soul for serving of Christ when Isaiah was touched with the fiery coal then he cryed send me he also saith it will save a sinking Church and therefore needful now and adds that it is the glory and beauty of all our services adding a lustre unto them as Varnish doth to other Colours In the Kingdom of our Father Scripturally taken must we eternally abide or for ever be inhabitants in the Kingdom of darkness so that death or life is before us and we must choose whether to be slaves to the Devils objects of fury subjects of torment where fire exerciseth our feeling ugly Devils our seeing the cryes and yelps of the damned our hearing brimstone and our own flesh our smelling and a cup of red wine of fiery indignation our tasting and the thinking upon our own follies and perpetuity of these plagues more and more heating our already enraged souls this I say must be either chosen Or liberty with God to be objects of delight subjects of Majesty in this Kingdom of God whose coming we pray for who hath Majesty for his Crown saith one Mercy for his seat Justice for his Scepter Wisdom for his Counsellour Almightiness for his Guard Eternity for his Date Heaven for his Pallace and Hell for his Prison So that unless this Kingdom of Jesus come to us we shall be for ever in bondage in the bottomless pit for mark this well will we nill we the Kingdom of the Father shall come and the will of the Father be done but in this Petition our desire is to be excited and prepared that it may come to us and we fitted to reign in it Unto which as unto all other works there is nothing so efficacious as zeal There is a vast difference betwixt the being of this Kingdom and the coming of it for where it is it is only in power and justice but where it comes it comes in love and mercy it is every where but it comes only to the Saints upon earth and the glorified in Heaven which should awake us from that spiritual lethargick drowsiness wherein sin and Satan hath lulled us to prosecute our heavenly interest with a more holy vigour that this Kingdom may come to us and we may enter into it In this Kingdom all the glory of the Father is as though we were elder brethren given to us and though we possess on earth what men calls Beauty Gallantry Majesty goods or state yet these are but Colours varnishing a rotten Post to delude our selves for their proper name is Vanity and their sirname Vexation because as a shadow we only see them not hold them and like shadows again they pass away and we see them no more Once the Church cryed out Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth as if she should have said hitherto he hath kissed me by Moses as by Proxy by his Prophets as by Ambassadours but let himself come let him descend and kiss me he sends yet his Ambassadours in the Ministry his Epistles in the Bibles History but these being but as cordials to sick persons we ought zealously to cry Attamen ipse veni make no tarrying O our God Rich Cresus cloathed with all the magnificence his royal Wardrob could afford demanded of the wise Solon if he had ever seen a more beautiful sight yes said Solon I have seen Cocks and Peacocks and truly behold man in all his glory and a Peacock far exceeds him he can sleep with his train whereas Cresus must at night be stript to his shirt and in sleep be as poor as his Foot-man the fashion of this world therefore perishing and passing away it should in a true sense be our pastime to acquitt our selves like Heaven-born souls prizing only solidities daily pray for the approach of our Fathers Dominion and our own glory Let no Zelot hence infer a necessity of disturbing or conclude by rage or fury too often termed zeal to foment division or raise discord in the Kingdoms of this world Kings and Princes being Subjects of the first rank and persons of the highest authority in this Kingdom of God and are indeed to kiss the Son yet are not oblidged to do homage to their Subjects how pretendedly holy soever The Elders cast their Crowns before the Throne but yet they are to have their Crowns to wear their Crowns that they may cast them and not be robbed of that Emblem of Soveraignty wherewith their Father hath adorned their brows in so beautiful a way that besides the appellation Father hath for a sirname called himself King of kings the removing of which from their Thrones were therefore robbing God of the glory of one of his Names and of such an one whereof he boasts Innocent and holy zeal is known by these marks 1. If it be according to knowledge 2. If it be fit and adapt for the person in his doing all duties conform to yea sometimes above his ability as the Macedonians were charitable 3. If it cause diligence in the affairs of a mans Calling idlenesse in our own and busie in other mens matters is not zeal but sin 4. If it cause meekness and humility in things relating to a mans self and fervency in what belongs to God 5. If it be more studious of good works then how to uâ—â—avel knotty questions and contentious debates 6. If it bear it self equally according to the weight of the matter it is exercised about to be zealous to tith Mint and sloathful in doing Justice to be angry at a harmless jest and delight in an ill report is not zeal but hypocrisie that rather eyes the supposed saults or infirmities of others then the real vices in a mans self whereas zeal rather respects its own short-comings or over-runnings in duty or converse And lastly it is alwayes attended with grief and sorrow towards the sinner and hath pity for the offender and in matters respecting God useth such means only as
still King of Ierusalem but his authority and royalty in it is not so great as it is when he enters Biscay where yet he must not by Law enter without a bare leg But this King having a Kingdom and in that Glory and Power and these in a King who is thy Father O thou of little faith wherefore dost thou doubt he will by Power blesse thy small store command thy handful of meal by authority not to decrease and make thy fleshlesse broath giving him the Glory nourish thee and thy son more then the dainties of a King do himself or his royal issue Yet rembember there are degrees of glory even upon earth and though St. Paul can glorifie God in his life yet if his death can produce more glory the will of God is that the lesse cede to the greater so that indeed thine is the glory is a boundiary and limitation for submitâ—ing to his will in his Kingdom and giving him the glory in the utmost extremity since his power can extricate us out of the deepest contrivances of men or Devils Once more this clause is to be reflected upon in each Petition of the Prayer as Hallowed be thy Name thy Kingdom come c. For thine is the Kingdom the power c. One will have In Earth as it is in Heaven joyned to the three first Petitions as Hallowed be thy Name c. In Earth as it is in Heaven and this last Doxology For thine is the Kingdom to have reference to the four last as Give us our daily bread forgive us our debts c. For thine is the power and to do this is for thy glory in regard he is glorified when the fearers of his Name are aided defended honoured as he was when the house of Obed-Edom prospered There is visibly in it Gods soveraignty to make us low it is not thine are the Kingdoms but the Kingdom his being but one and all others but his Vassals which even beastly Heathenish brutish and destroying Nero knew so well that at the re-building of Rome which was suspected to be burnt at his own order Sacrifices were offered to Vulcan and other gods and goddesses Sybillarumque Libri the Books of Heathenish Prophetesses were perused also to have all things more prosperous for the future this God this Father this King being a King in solidum as our learned King doth King-like interpret the words commanding all and in all over all as himself will and all for himself In it there is also Gods eternity to make us fear A Kingdom which we know is to perish a Power that will in time fade and grow feeble would not cause everlasting terrour were it not to be heâ—erodox in history it might be affirmed the Greek Monarchy to be madnesse rather then a reign and though its first Parent Alexander was dreaded and by some adored yet was he not at last contemned scorned and that by his own Mother when for want of hands for want of respect he lay thirty days unburied and got earth but by a stratagem of a friend sic transit gloria mundi so shall the fashion of this world perish and the glory of it become as dung when this everlasting King shall come in power with excellent glory to take an account of the subjects of his Kingdom in order to reward them for ever For thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever BEholding these words as a portion of the Canon the testimony against them being negative and humane and the Latine Fathers rather blame-worthy for ommitting them because not in Luke then the Greek Fathers for preserving of them being found in St. Matthew and if ommitted in some Greek Copies or in the Vulgar Latine the Monkish Amanuensis to magnifie and uphold the honour of the same might cover it as the second Commandment is from the Law because of its boldnesse to discharge Idolatry so religiously observed in the Cloyster though he who speaks most basely if not blasphemously of this Doxology acknowledgeth he found it in all Greek Copies and therefore from its adversary we press its reverence yea St. Paul in mentioning the deliverance from evil fine intervallo with the same breath mentions of a Heavenly Kingdom and of glory for ever and ever Amen But controversies being out of our Province we advance to behold the influence this Coronida hath upon prayer and how easie is it to understand its commands for praying Argumentatively Confidently Thankfully yea Practically also Great things are asked in this Prayer things not to be scann'd by the measures words or conceptious of creatures yet it is evident we are not unreasonable in our demands Bow down thine ear and hear O Lord said the Psalmist for I am poor and needy And Christ the Saviour of the world prays Father I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am FOR thou lovest me and will have us still to pray Thy Kingdom come FOR thine is the Kingdom Power and the Glory for ever Arguments drawn from his Dominion Authority Excellency and Eternity c. But note the reasons are all brought from himself we declining any boon from our own eminency equality or merit and if a Saint plead for mercy because of poverty or holinesse it is not to be dreamed he understands self-worth but his pressure under that exigence unto which God by grace haâ—h made promise of support And moreover it is to be remembred that the mercy is still suited in our prayers conform to the condition we stand under as we are weak ignorant or indebted so still we desire proportionable succour Keep me as the apple of the eye saith David and that hath first the brow the prominency of the brow hair-brow the lids the hair or latches to those lids then the muscles and membranes of the eye signifying that divine and secret protection he then wanted under his manyâ—old extremities from which consideration a judicious Author will have this clause to be esteemed honest and not as a thief to enter into this Prayer from any custom of men a dangerous conceit and may curtail the Bible but in an holy and devout way for a seemly close approved by God and recommended by Christ unto his Church By the way the pertinency of Prayer lyeth in these two 1. By asking relief from our present necessities by ordinary means If a weary Traveller should ask for wind to blow him forward or an hungry Petitioner for food from Heaven or a timorous Pilot for the creating of an Harbour the prayer were impiously ridiculous Our Saviour would not pray for twelve legions of Angels yet with great fervour he urged the removing of the cup. Yea not in these things only but against Alexanders Fate we may call for a decent gathering into our Fathers 2. By craving mercy agreeable to our duration having
with contemplating of Earth This so pray ye to shew it once more renders Heaven the object of our eye and therefore of our heart to be looking to Heaven and pointing to the Earth with the Roman Senator is to become sharers of his deserved scorn and yet how many are there while Heaven is in their mouth flesh fish or ships are in their heart Acting too truly what in the Fable is said of the Wolf when at School for learning to spel Pa-ter Father but being by his Master ordered to put them together in stead of Father said Agnus Lamb thinking on his prey An userer at the same time made the like proficiency and in place of Fa-ther said Pecunia Money But let not this be among you he is in Heaven and hath his eye-lids trying the children of men not but that he is every where but in Prayer he is by design said to be in Heaven that our hearts and minds may be lifted up to the excellency of his dignity and greatness having all things naked and open before him and therefore thy hypocrisie is apparent thy in-side being naked 4. That Prayer is to be quickned by confideing in the All sufficiency of God to give what is asked whether things of Heaven or of Earth By the Heavens and influences therefrom is Earth and Sea sustained he is in Heaven therefore in the Air upon the great Waters And because he can order all for his peoples good we are not to despond and doubt of his soveraignty but let our necessities be known whether for the Wine-press or for the light of the Sun or for the Cattel upon a thousand hills fish in the Sea Fowls of the Air Angels in Heaven or mercy from his bosome for his Son we need not doubt redressing He is in Heaven and thence he gave horns to the Bull hoofs to the Horse teeth to the Lyon finns to the Fish wings to the Bird scent to the Dog motion to the Air coolness to the Water heat to the Fire light to the Sun chain to the Devils strength to the Angels his Image and his Son to man what therefore should make the humble Orator to pray sorrowing as those without hope O thou of little faith wherefore dost thou doubt He is Almighty God walk pray before him and be perfect be confident 5. That Prayer is continually to be qualified with earnest considerations tending to the honour of God while we are upon Earth It is a dishonour for a Prince to have suits made in his presence-Chamber not adequat to the dignity of that room To ask of thy Father in Heaven meat money or cloaths to debauch with the glutton to swill with the drunkard entice with the stallion is a reproach unto his Majesty ask things fit for Heaven and do things like Heaven that it may be known thy Father is in Heaven that is in thee as some expound these words saying Illi sunt Coeli These are Heaven in whom there is Faith Gravity Continency Knowledge and a heavenly life Fulgentius while young had frequently these thoughts fluctuating in his breast Cur sine spe c. Why do I live on Earth without the hopps of Heaven what profit shall the world at last bring me if we love to be merry is it not better to have a good conscience and how much better do they rejoyce that fear nothing but sin and studie but how to keep the Law c. Let us pray for these or the like matters as for the avoiding of judgments for they are revealed against all unrighteous men from Heaven or for procuring of grace for that becomes Heaven And all weighty matters bearing equality with Heaven View the whole fabrick of the Lords Prayer and there is nothing can be accounted trivial or base in it the forgiving of sins deliverance from evil the bread of our necessity the fulfilling of his will the advancement of his kingdom are substantial and solid purposes so is the request that 's first because the chief end of all for the hallowing of the Name of God which being the first Petition as impatient of any longer delay we put a closure to the Preface Our Father which art in Heaven CHAP. II. Hallowed be thy Name THis is the first part of the holy place which our eyes are invited to behold I say invited for otherwise its dazling might not only amaze us but utterly darken those Casements of the soul those balls of light our bodily eyes our souls intelligence What some have observed of all the Petitions may be attested of this one it being 1. short 2. full or comprehensive where by the way their arrogancy may be detected whose popularity made them in publick give this Prayer correctior emendatior abridged or enlarged to the people as their emptiness or vanity gave them occasion or eloqution Let thy Kingdom come in our dayes cryed one Lord lead us not into temptation cryed another equally absurd yet excusable because it might be from ignorance in regard of them whose singularity and pretended holiness ascended the chair and passed an Act of Sequestration upon the Prayer it self discharging it in the Church so far as they could by their total ommission of it or stigmatizing them who used it but for all their eminencies the Lords Prayer is sacred and verily verily where ever the Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached that Prayer that he hath made shall be used for a memorial of him The Petitions like the Precepts of the Law are divided between God and man those aspecting God are first placed as Hallowed be thy Name c. those respecting man then follow as give us our daily bread so that hallowed be thy Name is the first Petition of the first Table in this Law concerning Prayer so pray ye because of which it is first to be considered It shall not be much here debated whether there be six or seven Petitions the Ancients are generally for seven so are the Romish Interpreters and some also of the reâ—ormed The number seven was by the Hebrews called numerus juramenti because Abraham in swearing to Abimelech took seven Lambs for a testimony by others it is called numerus ultionis the number of revenge for he that killed Cain vengeance should be taken on him seven fold By others numerus libertatis the number of liberty the Hebrew servant being liberat the seventh year By others numerus purificationis because the Leper was to be tryed by seven dayes and Naman washed seven times Hence some call it numerus Sacer the holy number God rested the seventh day Iericho was taken the seventh day Christ slept in the grave the seventh day Enos the seventh from Adam was translated We have seven Lamps in Zechariah seven Trumpets and seven Seals in the Revelation and David praised seven times in the day and this hath had so great veneration in
confusion wherein we so lately were labyrinthically and scandalously involved by making desirable peace to be enjoyed only by our more holy Successours c. Themistocles having done great service observing himself noted and pointed at in the Olympick Games as the deliverer of his Countrey is recorded to say This day I am sufficiently rewarded for all that ever I have done for Greece God shall also hold himself really repayed for all offered and possessed mercy if we remitting somewhat of that passionat prejudice against what we have not shall render our selves grateful for what we have and for more sureties sake pursue those things wherein gratitude stands which is in invitation of others to behold the mercy in observing of the poor who stand in need of mercy in a restoring what we have taken from others without mercy in a confessing that all our good flows purely from mercy and because each man complains of the others remissnesse let every one affectionatly mourn to testifie his desire of requiting God that men do not praise the Lord for his goodnesse nor for his wonderful works to the children of men 2. Knowledge in what his mercy hath accomplished in the â—eeds of the Gospel As that the second person died for us and that all the three Persons draws us from the power of Satan to receive the forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified That as peace came down with the birth of his Son so peace and purity was infused by the shedding abroad of his Spirit upon us because of which on earth glory is to be given to God in the highest 3. Love because of that which all his attributes hath designed As a Father we have his love upon us as a King his power exercised about us as we are children we have his Angels ministring unto us at all times his face to refresh us his Spirit to comfort us and at last his bosome to entertain us To love him is to hallow him than which nothing is more equitable fruitful or honourable 4. Abilities for that which in his holy Law is enjoyned We cannot express our obligations nor demonstrat the tye that lyes upon us for spreading abroad his same wherefore this Hallowed be thy Name reflects upon our impotence and confesseth we cannot do it and therefore he must for though the devils and damned glorifie God yet they cannot sanctifie the Name of God no more can any untill there be a new heart created a new spirit infused while the Angels cryed Holy holy holy is the Lord of Hosts all that the Prophet could do was to cry Woe is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips and did not change his note untill his iniquity was taken away and his sin purged which is also prayed for in this Petition And for the continuing of which grace of sanctification and spiritual life or ability we saith a Father pray continually both day and night that by the grace and protection of the most high they may be in us and for us preserved ut qui quotidie delinquimus that as we sin daily we may by the sanctification of the Spirit be daily purged leâ—t we fall from the grace of God The Temple and Utensils thereof when defiled were cleansed and purified from their pollution quae Deo sunt destinata or dedicata vocantur sancta they are holy they are Saints they are righteous who fall not only but even those that fall and rise again washing themselves from their old sins by amendment Of which he was apprehensive who complained that having desires to be happy but his thoughts would not suffer him if such struglings happen in thy breast Reader sentence them to death and if too strong for thee put up thy supplication in an Hallowed be thy Name that the power of God may be discovered in thy infirmity and his strength in thy weakness by dissipating such cogitations His Name in the last place is to be hallowed personally if you eye man comprehending as bound thereunto both soul and body and in this Petition included and performed directly indirectly and exemplarly 1. Directly by a holy and reverend using of his Name The Romanes suffered not their children to swear by Hercules untill they went out of doors to prevent their vain and ordinary swearing The ancient manner of the Hebrews in their Judical swearing was by the Magistrats attesting the witnesse in this form Give glory to God And yet there are profane wits among us who disanulling all bonds interprets oaths to be a point wherein their gentility consists and are so little afraid of a jealous God that their jealousie is lest their comrade out-swear them so both becomes rivals of damnation Men may consult and act for the good of a Kingdoms peace and quiet yet a great man and a holy is mistaken is swearing be not worse then the edge of the sword and the plague thereof beyond that of war And if men will do no more yet let them revere the book they handle and the Gospel that is dayly before them saying Swear not at all c. but let your yea be yea and your nay nay all other being of sin And it is no ill derivation to bring the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth an oath from Orcus that is hell especially considering that even Heathens fancied if any god had swore false or broken his oath having sworn by Styx he was to be punished himself in hell for it nine thousand years for which cause said they Iupiter took the more care how he swore Whither shall we go to hide our faces off this age who hath got such a knack of swearing that it is our livelyhood our trade our pastime our humour as if our being gods i. e. great men wer a plea sufficient to reprieve us from hells torments When these who knew not the God of Heaven would out of reverence even in Markets say no more then By c. forbearing to name the god they thought upon Some will have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an oath to be brought from a word that signifieth to compel and without a necessity there is no naming of the Blood of Christ or Omnipotency of God The Hebrews call an oath Shabugnah from a Root signifying seven hinting thereby both a mystery in it and good advice or deliberat thinking before the taking of it which may be done in these cases Paxfama fides reverentia cautio damni Defectus veri tibi dant jurare libenter And when the peace of our Countrey our own good report or want of witnesses or loss of goods whether our own or trusted to us are in hazard we are lawfully to clear our selves or free our selves by an oath so are we if Authority call us to it or faithfulnesse be expected of us but to inure our tongues to an
worthy of glory but God so they only give to him their praises and their prayers and that upon good reason For 1. Angels will not have his glory and they are intelligent An Angel in the Old Testastament refused an offering and another will not have thanksgiving in the New both commanding them to be performed to God expounding these to be prayer and praise what is Romes meaning or to what purpose are those Prayers and Letany's in that Church Sancte Gabriel Sancte Raphael omnes Sancti Angeli Archangeli orate c. O thou Angel Gabriel Raphael and all ye Angels and Archangels pray for us I like that part of another office better and shall subscribe unto it O Sancta Immaculata Virginitas quibus te laudibus efferam nescio O thou blessed Virgin in what words to praise thee I know not the same I say of praying as either are interpreted Adoration This is not said to infringe the glory of these holy and glorified Saints who are to be honoured with great reverence and their names to be mentioned with great respect and their vertues to be imitated with all indutry but to hallow their names or thier vertues with a remitte or an ora pro nobis we have no warrant because no rule of faith The ground of Romes Doctrine touching the worshipping of Angels is so beastly that it is shameful to publish aâ—resh yet so irrational that it may be profitable to reprint it it was this as we read from a learned venerable Doctor of the English Saxon Church In Apulia vulgarly Puglia a Provicne in Italy in the Kingdom of Naples near the City of Siponia there was a rich man called Garganus having much Cattel which fed in a Mountain of the same name in which herd there was a wanton proud Bull which could not be got home with the rest but still kept the Mountain for which the owner resolving to kill him provided Bow and Arrow but in shooting at the beast the Arrow reverted and turned upon himself at which being amazed he tells his Bishop who did appoint a three dayes fast that God would discover what was signified by the wounding of Garganus when the Arrow was levelled or aimed at the proud Bull On the third night the Archangel Michael told the Bishop scias quia à voluntate Dei hoc factum est that all was done by the appointments of God and commanded the ground whereon the Bull stood to be consecrated and set apart for prayer shewing them under it there was a Cave and in the Cave an Altar and upon the Altar a red Pall or Cloak ibi facite orationes vestras hebete memoriam meam auxiliabor vobis there say your prayer call upon my Name and I shall help you all was searched and all was found and all was done accordingly Haec fuit saith my Author prima causa and this was the first cause or rise that Angels were remembred or worshipped upon earth he must mean by Romes authority for otherwise the same doctrine was taught in but exploded the Church before and from that time to this present are they remembred in the Church c. This is such a Cock and Bull story as the proverb hath it that it needs nay deserves to have no answer but a his And the ground of it being ut legimus as we read so that it may be ture or false and if true nothing in it but what might have been done by the devil and therefore in all respects such practices are to be shunned by worshipping of God for which we have a sure foundation I pass the Fables for so let me call them which the same Author throngs the proper festivities withall for were Peter or Mary upon earth they would undoubtedly blush at the absurdities of their zealous though ignorant prayers and cause Iohn comment upon on his old text Babes keep your selves from idols And Paul upon his let no man beguile you of your reward in worshipping of Angels and not holding the head c. 2. Saints will not have this glory and they are prudent When read we that a Noah prayed to Enos though his piety and translation were notour or that a David prayed to an Abraham or that any Israelite unto or obtained mercy by his holy Ancestors Nay contrary they urged that because of Abraham's being ignorant of them and their being not regarded by Israel God would be their Redeemer his Name being from everlasting 3. The other creatures will not have his worship or his glory and they may be observed Every pile of grasse hath a finger to point up to its Maker in Heaven and day unto day uttereth speech and readeth Lectures of Gods wise government powerful providence and rich mercy At Madrid the upper Rooms of Houses belongs by Law to the King and are not to be used untill they be compounded for by the Inhabitant and to this only wise God the King eternal not only the upper Room which is Heaven doth belong but the lowest pit also for in his hand are the deep places of the earth and ought not to be used by us before we satisfie the Law by praying and praising in doing which we add to the revenue of his glory Ezekiel saw his glory in Heaven Isaiah saw it upon earth and we ought to study the beholding of both for though his heavenly glory we cannot see with that Prophet yet we may perceive something of the appearance of it in his holy Word Heavenly Motions divine Commandments at which sight we are with the other to â—all down upon our faces and with loud cryes bemoan our infirmity vilenesse and uncleannesse His glory upon earth is so clear that he who hath eyes may see it in the clouds which are his Chariots our ears can hear the birds warble in their way the praises of their Maker the fields clap their hands in contemplation of which we are to cry Vnclean unclean for this said Isaiah when he spake of him and saw his glory and thereupon was comforted and purified 4. If we consider either our good or duty we shall own him only for God Reason leads many but profits command all persons it is rational it is profitable to ascribe only glory and honour to our Father For If you eye Conscience he can only quiet that if the Church absolve and the Spirit thereby settle doth the Word of Christ apply and the soul therupon rejoice It is but in his Name they acting but in deputation from him It is he that discovers sin that we may be in our selves nothing It is he that makes us hate sin that before him we may be holy If you eye dependence he only maintains you At first Heaven was made by him the Earth the Sea and all the Creatures therein because saith Nehemiah thou preservest them all the host of Heaven worshippeth thee
the Indian tongue they have learned to speak of Iehovah and avoid many sins and hates and avoids Pawwows that is Witches and Charmers c. Now to pray for a farther binding up of Satan in the conversion of more Indians all Turks Iews were an acceptable work in it self and our duty as Christians that all the worlds inhabitants may cry out with that poor dying Indian Iehovah Aninumah that is O Lord give me Iesus Christ which is equivalent to Thy Kingdom come and that each professor might repell all temptations as one of them did when tempted to Pawwow for a sick person saying I must not break my Covenant and sin against God But now to return to the old world again where Satan also hath his seat which lyeth in wickedness he having in it universal dominion demonstrated by the vanity impiety of its inhabitants for though his kingdom be not natural but malicious his goverment not defensive but persecution bending his power to the damnation of his subjects yet in the opinion of a Father is he a great King strengthning his Kingdom with vices walling it with abominations building castles in it with attrocious acts and furnishing them with Armour of enforced filthiness The Collectors of his Revenue are oppressors of the poor his Officers are seducers deceivers of the simple and honest his Lord cheif Justice is perversnesse In his Court and about his Chamber you have Cuning Rooks by hook and by crook purchasers cheating Merchants covetous Preachers protracting Doctors conscience-hiring Hucksters for his Advocat he hath a Iack of both sides Lawyer He hath also about him forgers of lies contrivers of mischief receivers of bribe reproachers of men because effeminat as woman and for a Page he hath Amictus discoloribus saith my Author a Peacock-tail'd gallant But when the Kingdom of God shall come It shall discover that the world like men brings good wine at the first and afterward that which is worse for sin is Voluptatum est Tormentum the end of our eating is infirmity the end of our living is death and the end of death to all that crucifie not the world is eternity of misery the thoughts of which are suffciently valid to wash the paint from the world to cure the itch of the flesh and to fight or animat us against the tyranny of the devil and then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be within us 4. Against the delay of the Saints reward The vision being for an appointed time must be waited for yet as the hireling for the shadow the watch-man for the morning the weather-beaten Pilot for the Haven the sick for his recovery the weary Traveller for his Inn so doth a Saint long for the end of all designs their enjoyment of God in Christ Their modesty keeps them from saying Arise let us go hence yet the soul of man being easily seduced their zeal inflamed with the thoughts of what they shall possess vigorously enforceth them with a holy seriousness to call Adveniat Regnum tuum Thy Kingdom come That is Lord say to the North give up and to the South restore the dead bodies of thy Saints given them in charge that they and we the time appointed of the Father being come may be caught up to meet the Lord in the air to remain for ever with him The soul being stamped with the image of God betrothed by the faith of God endowed by the Spirit of God redeemed by the blood of God capable of the blessedness of God having nothing to do with flesh longs for the perfect vision and full fruition of the holy place of the holy face of God that mortality might be swallowed up of life The soul is Christs Spouse and conform to her condition hath a threefold marriage The 1. is In her Iustification by faith at which she is feasted by the ablution of sin the attainment of grace the reforming of nature but this is attended through the souls default with many jarrs The 2. is Her Regeneration or Sanctification by hope at which she receives divine consolation heavenly communion and a taste of the glory to come but this is also mixed with fears and doubtings and therefore the third is wished for which is her glorification by charity at which she is entertained with eternal incorruption true glory and the perpetual vision of God and this being the more excellent affectu pio sensu profundo she groans most ardently for it As we pray against these things so there are other matters we pray for such as the Churches soveraignty the Saints felicity and our Fathers universal and sole authority 1. The Churches soveraignty in general The Church is the continent wherein Christ reigns and in it his Palace and his Temple stands which two are oft clouded by foggs arising from open hatred against them or pretended friendship to them casting stumbling blocks in the way of others by disloyal practices as the idolatry of Rome offends the Jew and the heat of the Calvinists and Lutherans in their often debates becometh scandal again to the Papist To clear the air is this Petition put up that all may behold the mountain of the Lords house and the Sun of Righteousness shining thereon that is Christ Jesus before whom the Jews had only Lamp-light by the Law and the Prophets which also shined upon them untill the Baptist who was a burning and a shining light but after that he rose whose Name was the East whose Star arose in the East like a Sun enlightning the world directing to the knowledge of that Triune God all may say of Gospel-rules this is the way let us walk in it that Sanctity Innocency Purity and Piety may lodge in the breast of all and malice and mischief excluded from all The vision of the conversion of the Gentiles to the saith of Christ and to the Churches of the Saints is expressed by the similitude of doves flying to their windows thereby shewing the swiftness zealousness harmlessness and unity doves generally going in flocks that shall be in those Converts and the multiplication and addition of whom unto the saith notwithstanding of the diversity of opinions as natural as variety of feathers or faces is contained in this Thy Kingdom come That all beholding the King in his beauty his Sacraments in their dignity all his Ordinances in their purity may have their souls so influenced as to have all one heart not being dismembered by faction or passion which rather shews men to be inhabitants of several Provinces then fellow-subjects having one Language and united in one Kingdom The Petition therefore importing the accomplishing of that which St. Paul gave once a charge for viz. that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified that is be opened and expounded before learned and unlearned that though we behold one unskilful in knowledge or expression yet being
Syllable of this Prayer yea the very Preface of it Our Father is cloathed with Charity the second is equally conspicuous acknowledging our poverty in the fourth Petition our iniquity in the fifth our infirmity in the sixth c. We shall in the close of this Petition speak of the third and discover the zeal that ought to possesse the heart of the supplicant affixing this unto Thy Kingdom come yet ought it to be understood as appended unto Thy will be done Too much remissnesse and again over eager earnestnesse being equally offensive we shall discover the zeal we speak of the Arguments for it and Cautions concerning it Zeal being a hot impetus or warm affection heating the soul for practising duties governed by sound knowledge and right reason is included in the word Kingdom amplified by the Pronoun Thy and therefore vehement in our wishings and longings for its coming the very word Zeal denotes affections to be as fire that of the Pharisees earnestnesse to compass Sea and Land for a Prosylite was great no good zeal but if pitched upon the right object and mannaged with due circumstances as the love of God heeding the Word of God enflamed with a solicitous care for its advancement and attended with an innocent and holy hatred against its opposers as in David it is both good and great and in Paul it is both great and good It is composed of Love Fear and Anger in this Petition the love of God and the love of man the fear of his own weaknesse and the desire of the down-fall of Satans Dominion is clearly to be beheld It eyes chiefly the propagation of divine glory the Churches edification Satans destruction and the extirpation of all wicked Hereticks and sinners and ought to be in us not only at our prayers but in the whole course and practice of our lives being in every thing a zeal for Gods glory and our own and our Brothers good ought to be in us God hating dulnesse upon the one hand as well as rashnesse on the other Much of this Kingdom S. Paul possessed yet he reached forward unto those things that were before knowing only this that he made proficiency daily the world not yet being ended he pressed forward possessing the things he believed if not in re yet in spe not having them in possession though in reversion he endeavoured an intuition hating that Diagor an-like spirit now in man who declared he knew not whether there was a God or not and if there were was also ignorant of what nature he was With us dulnesse and carelessenesse of many in the affairs of God publisheth their uncertainty of the being and next of the quality of this Kingdom whereas he is only zealous who truly and soundly that is assuredly is acquainted with heavenly matters which in relation to this Kingdom every soul ought to be because of Safety Beauty Charity and our Dignity 1. Our safety for in his Kingdom there is no enemy Here every bramble-lust puts in for dominion over us excited thereunto by the old serpent whereby the spirits of the meek themselves are kept in a perpetual commotion to be liberat from which body of death and freed from that Law of sin consequences of the coming of this Kingdom the devout soul hath active considerations for its fruition and enjoyment Themistocles concluded that the knowledge of having a good neighbour might enhance the price of his house set to sale and the Countrey-fellow hath a Proverb we can live without our Friend but not without our Neighbour What a Countrey must that be where all are good Neighbours and not one evil among them Here we are not to trust in a Brother nor to put confidence in a Guide being sure either of guilt fear or danger every Adam having his Evah and she her serpent yea Iesus himself is not without a Herod who seeks his life But in that other Kingdom we have Christ that true Friend and Brother reigning over us the Forts of Satan our foe being battered and the dominion of Death our terrour being finished and the plotted-for place of Hell our torment being eternally secured from As Labienus at a treaty betwixt Cesar and Pompey cryed out so may the believer say of peace in this world Let us leave off speaking of peace or thinking of a truce untill we have Cesars head that is Satans head bruised and untill his dominion be overthrown 2. Our Stature is in his Kingdom that is our beauty What Zacheus among us by taking thought can add one cubit to his stature The Ark was a Cubit and half high shadowing that imperfection and â—railty attends our gifts and graces and as Children when we want who among us can do more then cry It is true that Noah was perfect but it was in his generation but in the Kingdom of God we shall be perfect men according to the stature of the fulnses of Christ. A Moralist required youth to have Temperance in the soul Silence upon their tongue and Modesty upon their face yet over and above a parent would have his Child have stature and shall we be zealous for Childrens comeliness and tepid in seeking our own perfection which can never be acquired but at the coming of this Kingdom and being with Enoch Candidats for Heaven and Students of Eternity ought we not to affect being Doctorat and set in the Chairs of everlasting bliss It was a shame for the Corinthians that after so much teaching as Paul gave them they remained still babes and not able to bear strong meat It is a note of our childishnesse in the affairs of God yea and somewhat worse that we do not in a holy emulation of the glorified Saints give all diligence if it be possible to attain the resurrection of the dead that is as perfect now as the glorified Saints are in Heaven and denotes causa excitandi studii nostri how we should be stirred up to aim at the same degree of perfection 3. Our Brethren are all in his Kingdom where is our charity Above us are all our Fathers Sons and about us are Adam's posterity the former edgeth our desire to be with them the latter fills us with fear and care for them that they also may be happy the first hath from our Father of the hidden Manna the new wine we have a portion of his bread i. e. the good Word of God but having brethren who hath not heard of the last and hath no prescience of the first and worshipping ignorantly an unknown God brings upon their souls swift destruction we are to have their names upon our heart when we stand before the Lord that unto them also might be given Repentance unto life The legal Priest who was of the sons of Aaron was to have fire alwayes burning upon the Altar before the Lord so the Evangelical also who
are warranted in his Word In short zeal ought alwayes to be attended with mercy for wanting that it is rather fury then true ardour and by not endeavouring mans bettering is anger and envy which aggravats crimes more highly then Gods Word will warrand by making men offenders for a word and contrary puts more force and obligations upon themselves in some precise points then the Scriptures naturally do impose as the Pharisees did upon the Apostles eating of the ears of corn and upon our Saviour for working miracles upon the Sabbath day About the year of Christ 600 we find in old English this Petition thus paraphrased Thou bring us thy michel bliss the whole prayer being in rime sent from Rome by Pope Adrian a native English to be taught the people and about an hundred years after came it to be almost as now thus Thy Kingdom come to having sayes my Author more care to do well then speak Minion-like how ever we may spell this much that the great blessing of eternal life might be transmitted in the preaching of the Gospel to themselves and to us their posterity was the ardent request of our zealous Ancestours and seeing we hold them not so perfect as our selves in their way of worship let us exceed them in fervency by imploring of our heavenly Father to have his Gospel more and more shining among us and continuing it to us and our successors for ever Thus much for the matter of this Petition the order is discernable from what hath been said it following Hallowed by thy Name in regard that the coming of this Kingdom is the most effectual mean therefore It preceeds also Thy will be done for before his Kingdom be erected his will ought to be obeyed and hearts enlightned and we made subjects of his Kingdom God being then only advanced by us when he ruleth in us as an absolute King and we content to be governed by his Laws c. CHAP. IV. Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven THIS is a Petition goes quite contrary to the hair of nature pressing us to beg for that which of all things is most contradictory to our stuborn humour to will being an inclination and consenting of the mind about the doing of those things which are placed in us or pleasing to us and how contrary the things that are in Gods mind are to those which we ardently wish for the most blocked among mortals who have heard the sound of the Gospel may be sufficiently learned To curb or infringe the freedom of our proper will is to enter in at the strait gate and who will easily be induced to prayfor pressure in a throng to give a full swing and free carreer to proper will is to run in a broad path and who readily will not desire to have ample freedom in his own habitation Yet so it is that Christianity resolving to be Mistris over all mens endowments orders that the will of man how lordly soever shall be brought down and tip-toe it no longer but deliver it self unto her hands to be guided and commanded by the will of God We must observe in general that the will of God and God himself are essentially one for in him to be and to will are not different things his goodness is himself so is his power so is his mercy so also is his will Neither are we to difference the Fathers will from the Sons or Spirit for in themselves there is una charitas one love one purpose and one will Yet the Scripture holds it forth two wayes either properly or improperly that is his proper will which is in himself and is himself which admits of no change or alteration and is called by Divines Voluntas beneplaciti the will of his good pleasure that is improperly or metaphorically his will which we find recorded or marked out unto us in his Precepts or Laws as when a servant is commanded to go buy this or that the words signifie that this is the Masters will or Gods will and therefore called Voluntas signi a sign of his will that is a token whereby we apprehend the doing of this or that will be gratefull to him Thy will be done c. Which will of his we know by his injunctions by his prohibitions by his admonitions by his permissions and by his operations his framing of the world is a sign to us that he willed it to be made his Law of honouring his Name hallowing his Sabbath are signs that he would have these things done of both these wills Moses speaks calling the former secret things but this latter things revealed and is that whereof this Petition doth mainly take care that all doing this will of our Father which is in Heaven may be studious of holiness carefull in duties vigilant against temptations c. We shall search in this as in the other Petitions First into the matter and next into the order thereof In the former our discourse is applied 1. to the subject of it the will of God and that to be done 2. To the place wherein it is desired to be done that is in Earth 3. The rule by which we presse that it may be done that is as it is in Heaven To unsold the extent of his will were an imployment wherein Angels might be excused when declaring ignorance because of its impossibility how much more shall man discover his willingness to avoid so dark an abyss wherein Gods nature his works his eternal contrivance concerning Angels and men his eternity and immutability the fixednesse of all his past and future purposes and all the ineffable products of his unâ—ear â—â—able wisdom locked up in the secret Cabinet of his vast conception are concerned We shall therefore endeavour a view of it by reflection as men behold the Sun in a pool of water and passing-by his advice who in the matter of Gods will would have us pitch on these three things 1. What he will do with us 2. What he will do for us And 3. What he will have us to do We shall accommodâ—t our thoughts mainly to this last it respecting the will of God revealed wherein this Petition is and we aâ—â—o most concerned and in discovery what it looâ—s for from us we shall apply all to the Rule so pray yet as it operats upon his commands his chastisements our selfishnesse and our dulnesse 1. It respects his commands and then thy will be done eyes our obedience The felicity of Kings and the honour of Parents consists in that obedience which ought to be given to their Laws and the glory of Christianity is visible by that subjection the soul chiefly designs to those exact precepts by which God hath signified his will unto it as unto his betrothed his begotten his commands being not only for reading but for living and must be walked in for obtaining that great blessedness
are not to quarrel with them nor oppose their good therefore but what can be said propter peccatum venditi sumus we are by our sins separated from God and by judgment he hath divorced us from one another and not praying against evil with and for our Brethren all of us suffer evil from our God as from our adversary because we will not agree with our brother in the way from which evil with all other good Lord deliver us And so much for the Matter of this Petition the Order hath respect unto the whole prayer and is briefly this viz. there is no freedom from evil to be expected without calling upon the Father hallowing of his Name advancing of his Kingdom doing of his Will acknowledging of his Providence craving pardon for our offences watching against temptation all which do so secure us that evil shall not come nigh our dwelling CHAP. IX For thine is the Kingdom Power and Glory for ever IN our entry this Prayer was compared to Ierusalems Temple it had an outward Court here is a Preface a goodly Porch like it having no doors because representing Heaven the words Our Father being open to all Believers There was the holy place here are seven Petitions there was the most holy place here is the conclusion the comparison running not upon all four for thine is the Kingdom Power and the Glory c. Words significant yet ommitted in the Vulgar Latine and generally neglected by the Latine Fathers because as it is thought not recorded by St. Luke from which argument how much of the Gospel must be snatched from and scratched out of St. Iohn because not recorded by St. Matthew yet retained in the writings of the Greek Fathers Chrysostom Theophylact and the Author of Opus imperfectum which passed for the work of the first named Author generally untill the last age and is yet ordinarily bound up with his works The Romish Interpreters put a reproach generally upon this clause thinking it hath stole into the Gospel from a custom of the Greek Church whose Clergy said this when the people uttered deliver us from evil But the dangerous consequence of such conclusions explods the very imagination of such base and blasphemous interpretations and much of the Gospel by it may be adjudged mens conceits not to rake into Montanus his animadverte Erasmus his nugae Barradius his irrepsit and having spoken of that difference betwixt the two Evangelists and the reasons thereof Either this must be a part of the Prayer or most Greek copies must be suspected or which is more this prayer is not perfect as wanting a sorm of Praise and Thanksgiving which makes it so opposit in St. Matthew who registrats the prayer fully that it ought not to be extruded though not found in some copies through prejudice or misunderstanding many having it and learned Interpreters paraphrasing upon it yea Aquinas gives it his interpretation without any reflection upon its being a fondling but as holy Writ though in his text following the Vulgar it be not inserted though yet it be retained in more Authentick and more correct copies the Syriack and the hebrew which were the Originals Being not bound to err with any holding this conclusion as part of the holy Canon and holy Writ we shall of it as of the prayer consider the matter and next its influence on prayer In the first it may be explained 1. As a reason of our praying 2. As a reason of our praying to the Father 3. As a reason of our so praying In the first of these as they are illative and â—ollowing the particle FOR they weigh 1. The Kingdom to â—e his and therefore as subjects the supplicants are to be preserved It is a Kings duty to guard his coasts secure his subjects and protect their goods they having no power of themselves except to say Deliver us from evil For thine is the Kingdom 2. The Power to be his and therefore the supplicants as unable ought to be upheld It is power which makes a King and the higher power being God yea as in our Creed being God Almighty the inhabitants of Earth have recourse to him for bread for forgivenesse for thine is the Power 3. The Glory to be his and therefore the supplicants as thankful ought to be answer'd The beggar receiving a morsel renounceth merit and blesseth his benefactour the Christian knowing whose bread he eats ought not to forget but being religiously thankful bless God for food natural as bread or Physick or spiritual for mercy and forgivenesse or political as freedom of body credit in report or conveniency in house and is retributio divinorum but all the reward expected for bountiful liberality For for hastening of his Kingdom teaching of his will and deliverance from evil his shall be that is thine is the Glory It was said of Gordian the third Emperour that he wanted nothing to compleat a Prince but Age and it was said by him miserable is that King from whom truth is concealed but in the King of this Kingdom there is no apprehension of deâ—ect he clearly knowing all distresses the meanest subject can fall under which is his Glory and can by omnipotence deliver him out of all for his is the Power there being no possibility of avoiding his search and censure for his is the Kingdom Again we pray to him not to Saints or Angels the Soveraignty not being theirs give us deliverance assistance say we to the Father For thine is the Kingdom Peter Mary Gabriel Anna or St. Barbara being but Subjects our Sisters and our Brethren neither is the Power theirs by grace they are what they are but he by nature that is by himself can discharge all debts quench the horest fire restore the dead stop the mouths of Lions framed us in the womb maketh the Heavens as a Canopy above us and hangeth the earth upon nothing under us For which power let him have all the Glory and make our accesse by faith unto him It is said that young Titus the delight of mankind as he is called after worthy warlike exploits was so courted so beloved that it was rumored he intended to rebel against his father but he hasted to confute the calumny and after a great expedition unexpectedly accosted Vespasian the Emperour with a veni Pater veni Father here am I Father here am I as if thereby he had shewed him filial faithfulnesse and bear testimony there was no project of disloyalty against his Syre the Kingdom being his and certainly in the worshipping of Saints there is treachery against the King of Saints he having no Master of requests in Heaven but Iesus nor no name there whereby we can be saved but Christ's of Nazareth There may be a King without a Kingdom without Power and Glory in his Kingdom The King of Spain when all Christian Princes have quit it styles himself
everlasting principles A good man being told that his father was dead was sharp and replyed define blasphemare blaspheme not my father he is immortal and indeed die absolutely we shall not the soul but removes for a while and until it return the body sleeps our eviternity causeth us to eye eternity and because we are for ever to be its pertinent to deprecat evil for ever 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 throughout ages for ever some render it in English for ever and ever the first ever expressing Gods ever-being or that part of eternity which is past pardon the impropriety of the phrase and the last ever that which is to come Touching the confidence this Conclusion creats in the Temple or in the Closet in the breast and soul of the heavenly Orator it is pregnantly seen by applying the several parts thereof unto the several Petitions of the Prayer thus viz. Thine is the Kingdom and therefore God ought and it is for his honour to regard his good Name and therefore let it be hallowed and as a King he ought to look to the observation of his Laws therefore let his will be done and he must being a King look to the wealth of his Subjects and therefore let them have bread It is also the glory of a King to passe by a transgression let him therefore pardon our trespasses he ought moreover to â—ecure his Subjects by delivering them from temptation and ease his Subjects by delivering them from evil the doing whereof can be nothing to him for his is the power nay it shall proâ—ure something to him for he shall have all the glory for ever For ever The King of the Ammonites had once a Kingdom and a Crown but could keep neither Darius in his first message unto Alexander the great stiled himself Rex Regum Consanguineum Deorum King of Kings and Cousin to the Gods with other expressions thought by the Historian flaunting but the event shew'd his folly fear flight poverty and thirst made him know he was but when highest as the grasse the glory of all Kings but being emanations from the glory of this King of whom we treat and like summer brooks shall be dryed up as the story of Darius was his glory alone remaining for ever and praise belonging to him not power to them To Kingdom Power and Glory here St. Peter adds Dominion and Iude Majesty words without multiplication not being able to expresse Iehovah his greatnesse yet these two how eminent soever are comprized in this breviary Dominion being to be found in the word Kingdom and Majesty in that of Glory from which as a fountain all the rivulets of splendor refreshing men or Angels have their first rise as is cleared in the Pronoun THINE Thine is the Glory not only of delivering us from evil but of bequeathing unto us good yea because of his goodnesse being confident of glorious good things for ever his Name God being originally from that act called Good in our Ancestors Dialect Thankfulnesse and Gratitude a constituent of true Prayer and without which it cannot nor ought not to be is so shining in this Epilogue of Thine is the Kingdom c. that a learned Author concludes it to be added purely ut Dei laus finiret preces nostras to evince our Prayers are to end in Praise and generally it is so in these or the like words now as of old in refutation of the Arrian Hereâ—ie the latine Fathers ended their supplications Through our Lord Iesus Christ cui cum Patre to whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be honour and glory for ever and this not only to their own conceptions but to this Prayer taking all means to hammer that heretical doctrine of Arrius which by the Learned is given as a reason for their ommitting of this per oration in their Commentaries and Homilies upon the Gospel However it may be questioned what kind of Prayers these be which want both Praise in their body and in their close but leaving them to the censure of the Scriptures I must declare it provokes a smile to hear how impertinently to say no worse some even in publick end their addresses unto God where after begging plurality or multitude of mercies they end with In hope whereof we give thee praise and remaine as mute as Fishes appending neither Glory nor Amen according to this manner The smell of thy Ointments saith the Spouse to his Church is better then all Spices there is ointment of Contrition a falling down before the Throne in grief for sin committed the soul thereby anointing the feet oâ— Christ. Of Devotion in doing good to all the Saints whereby the body of Christ is anointed And there is also the ointment of Gratulation acknowledging the receipt of invaluable favours wherewith the soul unguents the head of Christ Crowning him King-like by giving to him Praise Honour and Glory for all possessions And in this form of Praise we render â—â—anks 1. For our Denization being Naturaliz'd and made Subjects of his Kingdom 2. For our Information and knowledge of the blessed Trinity and that in Unity included in the expression Father in Heaven that his glory be not given to another 3. For our Expectation or hopes of the world to come for ever being added ut firmius stet that we migâ—â— be strengthned in the perpetuity and immutability and eternity of Gods glory and dominâ—â—n 4. For our Preservation or deliverâ—nce from evil and all evils in which both in and from the womb we might have fallen without his inspection as was that Countrey Boy who being ordered to drive home some Oxen from the Field was benighted and storm-stead by a sudden showre of snow which covering the wayes and stopping passages the Child was inclosed in the Mountains his â—arents seeking him in vain but after two dayes designing to find only his body for burial they found him on a Bank neither covered nor touched with snow and told them he tarried there intending to return home in the evening certainly God was both a Sun and a Shield unto him nay a Purveyour for being asked if he had eaten any thing told them A man whom I knew not came and gave me Bread and Cheese Though all meet not with such portions of wonderful kindnesse yet generally we have such Guardian Providences that if God had not held us by the coat we had perished in our folly in our impiety which ought to be recorded by us both in thankful remembring of it before the Altar and in walking suitably thereunto before men For Prayer must be practised and in an holy life only can we pray daily he having the Kingdom and the Power we as Subjects ought to be faithful and loyal and as Servants diligent and peaceable and that alwayes since he is for ever a word that man cannot fathom a note
other fond reformations aimed at in this Age rich Amen was reduced to a beggerly So be it when yet there was as great difference betwixt them as between the garments of Tamar the harlot whom Iudah defiled and the Virgin-like apparel of Tamar the Princess whom Ammon ravished It is the only Hebrew word in this Prayer and not interpreted by our Saviour nor the Evangelist nec Graecus interpres neither durst the Latine nor Greek Interpreters translate it lest it should be contemned by being made naked since no Language can express its full sense whereof almost all Nations as they say Jesus Christ though Originally Greek and Hebrew sayes Amen as sufficiently understood Is is an oath that what you pray for is your hearts desire it is a wish that what you pray for may be your portion it is your assent that what you hear prayed for it your judgment and therefore in Amen we wish swear believe that the Prayer for forgiving sins of deliverance from evil of giving daily bread is from the power and goodness of your Father and that the Kingdom of his glory and grace is to be advanced by the same power and when by it you are brought to do his will you resolve to hallow his Name in the first and give him the glory in all for ever through Christ who is the Amen and therefore when you pray mind Heaven with Moses let all the people with you say Amen And I say To God only wise be glory through Jesus Christ for ever Amen After this manner therefore pray ye Our Father which art in Heaven c. HAving viewed at a distance the out-works and general form of Prayer it is now seasonable to enter in and behold the special rule of Prayer and the several parts of that called the Lords Prayer unto which the unseasonable and cloudy weather that may be both felt and seen in the Firmament of our Church urgeth our meditation having visibly as once in Egypt in it showres of hail and fire mingled with the hail hence prudentially we are enforced both to make more haste to it and carry longer in it It is called the Lords Prayer because by our Lord composed in this expression After this manner pray ye and by him also imposed in this Precept when ye pray say Our Father c. and to difference it from the Prayers of other holy men as of Moses David Asaph Heman from which it is as really diversifi'd as a week day from the Sabbath for though the Spirit of God made both yet the Holy Ghost hath eminently sanctified and commanded us in Prayer to remember it in this Mandat When ye pray say Our Father c. We have by our Saviour a living and new way a new Command it was thought also by his inscrutable wisdom fit to give us a new Prayer as new Wine for our new Bottles Pray after this manner As the Temple of old so this Gospel-structure consists of three parts 1. a porch or gate which may be called Beautiful in the words of the Preface Our Father which art in Heaven 2. A holy place consisting of the several Petitions in the Body of the Prayer as Hallowed by thy Name Thy Kingdom come c. In which the lights of the Lamps lead us orderly from one Petition to another from wherein his Kingdom is concerned to that in which our obeying the Laws of that Kingdom is related in Thy will be done by which we see the Table of the Shew our necessary bread whence we go forward to the brazen Altar whereon we lay our sin-offering in Forgive us our debts c. and having sanctified our selves as Priests we ascend to the third Part the Holy of Holies For thine is the Kingdom the power and the glory for ever at the end of which or rather the head we have the glory of the Lord in a cloud in this word Amen filling it self and the whole house with the light thereof Of the Preface then next of the Petitions and lastly of the Conclusion let us treat CHAP. I. Our Father which art in Heaven IN these words we have goodness Our Father next greatness which art in Heaven They are the head of the Christians Prayer and like that of the Spouse it is as the most fine Gold and weighs thus much that we should be so circumspect in our walking and living upon earth as to be accounted worthy to posses our Parents Inheritance in Heaven unto whom we pray whence ariseth those duties of lifting up of the heart of the voice of the soul of the eyes unto God They have also in them the Person we pray unto Father the relation we pray under Our Father the place we pray unto which art in Heaven all ushering-in the several Petitions Our Saviour more boni Oratoris as an Orator here patterns and becomes a Patron unto goodly Prefaces whereby our Petitions are proposed with greater gracefulness and sweetness and what shall more readily procure affection than Praise and Praise is placed upon the Porch of this Prayer in that our Lord will have us begin to beg no otherwayes then by calling the great God our Father insinuating praise and love which rule had the Gadarens observed they had not so prophanely besought Christ his Son to have departed from their coasts To have our Prayers quadrat and conform to this holy Preface We shall discover 1. What lyeth couched under this Name Father 2. What reasons might induce our Saviour to give him that Name 3. The special excellencies by which most eminently he merits that Name In beholding the first both thee and I Reader are to behold What astonisheth Angels What makes the Heavens to wonder and the Earth to tremble which flesh cannot express And I said A great Preacher dare no utter yet dare not be silent The Lord grant that I may speak and you may hear this great thing viz. Gods giving himself to the Earth and we our selves to Heaven Both which is granted to be done in these words Our Father which art in Heaven Our Father c. THis Name Father is as the Angels name Secret and wonderful yet with Moses we shall view its back-parts And first of all we may perceive the whole Trinity in nature For the Lord God is a Father God the Son is a Father God the holy Ghost is a Father Or without errour we may understand the first person of the Deity in order sometime called the Father of Rain of Iesus Christ and again the Father of Grace the first having in it some vestigia of his power the second being the express image of his person the third the similitude of his nature and holiness And to him we may cry as to the first person with David Be merciful unto me O God be merciful unto me and also in the same phrase Father We may call to