from his way and liue Turne ye Turne ye from your euill wayes for why will yee die O house of Israel So our Sauiour It is not the will of your Father that is in heauen that one of these little ones should perish To declare this to be his will he rose early to send his Prophets to his people to conuert them to him And our Sauiour in the Gospell doth resemble himself to that good shepherd that went into the wildernesse to seeke a straied sheep to bring it backe to the flocke to the woman that lighted a Candle and swept her house and sought diligently till she found her lost groat Both of them made merry when they found what they had lost Such ioy God hath in the conuersion of a sinner When a profane person becommeth holy when a couetous person turneth liberall when a drunkard becometh sober and a glutton temperate when a swearer feareth an oath a lier loueth the truth when a breaker of the Sabbath is glad when it is sayd to him Come let vs goe vp to the house of the Lord and answereth them My feete shall stand in thy gates O Ierusalem When an oppressor turnes mercifull and a proud man humble and a contentious man quiet and peaceable this is as God would haue it and this is ioy to the Almighty and the Angels of heauen reioyce in it for this is the will of God But in the contrarie our sinnes doe grieue the holy one of Israel grieue not the spirit of God our sinnes do ouercharge him hee complaineth that he is like a Cart ouerladen with sheaues Our sinnes put him into a storme of indignation therfore our conuersion is his will 2 Seeing out conuersion beginneth at the abnegation of our selues that also is the will of God he that will be my Disciple saith our Sauiour must forsake all and follow me Sua suos se as Saint Bernard and none is acceptable according to his wil but he that is a new Creature This maketh a perfect conuersion and this incorporateth vs in the body of the Church for God doth not will our forsaking of our selues and renouncing of the world for our hurt and losse but for our greater good that he himselfe may be our rocke and fortresse our refuge and exceeding great reward 3 The will of God is our obedience to his holy lawes which he hath giuen vs as his couenant that in keeping of them it might goe well with vs. His owne mouth hath reuealed his will in this point O that there were such an heart in them that they would feare me and keepe my Commandements alwayes that it might be well with them and with their children for euer Wherein God is not a seuere exactor of more duetie then we are able to performe but requireth our best endeuour to doe his will and taketh that for pay Neither doth he will this to make profit to himselfe of our obedience but for vs that it may be well with vs and our children for euer 4 The will of God is our holinesse in this obedience that we purge our Conscience from dead workes that we may serue the liuing God That we possesse our vessels that is our bodies in holinesse for they be Vasa animarum a treasure in earthen vessels of great price immortall soules in mortall bodies For this is the will of God euen your sanctification hee giueth the reason of it For God hath not called vs to vncleanesse but to holi 〈…〉 And this was figured in the washings and purifications of the old law and directly commanded by God saying Be ye holy as I am holy But ye are a royall Priesthood Gens sancta 2 The will of God concerning faith is that we beleeue in him and trust him they that know thy name will trust in thee that we cast all our care vpon him that we belieue in him whom he hath sent Iesus Christ and this also for our eternall good For so saith our Sauiour And this is the will of him that sent me that euery one which seeth the sonne and beleeueth in him may haue euerlasting life and I will raise him vp at the last day This is the law of faith and it is the law of life For it is written The iust man shall liue by faith How needfull this petition is that the will of God may be wrought in vs this way by faith we may soone see 1 If we consider our naturall infidelity for the natural man is so far from beleeuing that he hath not the vnderstanding to discerne those things which belong to the spirit of God neither can hee saith the Apostle for they are spiritually discerned And without faith it is impossible to please God This infidelitie must be purged before the will of God can be done by vs and till this be purged the very preaching of the word the meanes ordained by God to beget faith in vs seemeth foolishnesse For it is as much labour lost to preach spiritual things to a man that hath no faith as to vrge naturall reasons to a man that hath no wit for neither of these vessels be open to receiue any of this pretious liquor stopt with ignorance and vnbeleefe 2 We haue reason to aske this of God because faith is his gift and though he suffereth vs to acquire it by little and little by the hearing of the Word yet the word of God is not any better then litera mortua in it selfe except the holy Ghost do worke by it to beget first then to nourish and encrease our faith 3 Because as Saint Cyprian obserueth well Nobis à diabolo obsistitur quo minus per omnia noster animus atque actus deo obsequatur and therefore he addeth Vt fiat voluntas dei à nobis opus est voluntate dei i. e. ope et protectione quia nemo suis viribus fortis est This is a potent aduersarie hath both his temptations to allure vs and his prouocation to vexe vs wee had need craue ayd against him and God hath laid help vpon one that is mightie to giue vs helpe we had need pray for faith to fasten our hold vpon that helpe If either by fight or flight we can put him off and lay hold vpon the hornes of this altar sub hac indulgentia et misericordia saith Cyprian tuti sumus This enemie hath a great aduantage of vs because of the treason of our owne wils for nothing is more prone and propense to euill then the will of man and there is nothing in man that man loues more then to haue his will euen the regenerate man findeth his will wilfull often and vnruly still We had neede to pray for the will of God to put in to correct and direct our wills 3 The manner how we desire this will of God to be done As in heauen so in earth The 3 first petitions that are addressed mainely to the honour of God end at these
beleeuing that he is our Father we pray with assurance of perswasion that we shall preuaile For they that haue the comfortable perswasion of their hearts that God is their God cannot doubt of right and interest in his good and perfect gifts if hee be ours qui se dedit dabit sua In our right wee can call nothing our owne but our sinne for our bodies and soules are not ours glorifie God in your bodies and in your soules for they are Gods Gods in the right of creation And ye are bought with a price so not your owne in respect of redemption And God to shew his right in his Saints maketh them a temple for his holy spirit to dwell in so he taketh possession of vs for himselfe But all our sinnes are ours or Sathans those that grow out of our owne corruption are ours those that are infused in vs by Sathans temptations are his in vs yet our guiltinesse and infection The grace of God which bringeth saluation doth make vs proprietaries in God and calleth him ours The comfort of this interest taketh away feare So God to Abraham feare not I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward This fixing of our faith vpon him to whom we pray doth put it out of question that none is to be prayed to but he in whom we must onely beleeue Indeed we haue no right or interest in any of our fellow creatures but by the interest that we haue in God by the mediation of Iesus Christ Sinne hath both diuested vs of the primitiue right wee had in them and them of the primitiue power that they had to ayde and support one another so that faith carrieth noster to God onely and resteth in him Master Foxe from sufficient testimonie out of Scotland reporteth that in anno 1551. there arose a great schisme in Scotland about the Pater noster whether it might be said to Saints or no. It was deliuered publiquely in a Sermon at S. Andrewes that wee could call none our Father but God onely and presently a gray Fryar tooke vpon him to confute that doctrine in the Pulpit and to proue that it might be said also to Saints And first because we call old men fathers one may therefore much rather call a Saint our Father 2 Because God hath made the names of Saints holy therefore we may say to them Hallowed be thy name 3 Because the kingdome of heauen is theirs by Gods free gift therefore we may say to them adueniat regnum tuum 4 Seeing their will is Gods will else they had neuer come to that kingdome we may say fiat voluntas tua But when hee came to the rest of the petitions his wits failed him and hee beganne to alleadge that they might vse the intercession of Saints to God for daily bread and for forgiuenesse of sinnes and for deliuerance from euill But the three first Petitions which directly are referred to the onely glory of God these he blasphemously applyed to Saints Which gaue occasion of a great schisme in Scotland insomuch as they distinguished their parties by this Shiboleth to whom say you the Pater noster to God or to Saints The people were much distracted with this schisme and in the Abbey Church of S. Andrewes this pasquell was set vp Patres nostrì in Collegio Concludunt idem cum Lucifero Quod sancti sunt similes altissimo Another in english The Fryars would be called Rabbi Magister noster and know not to whom to say Pater noster But after much contention it was at last resolued that it was onely to be said to God This word Our ioyned with Father is vox fidei as you haue heard and directed to one and therefore not to be either communicated with others nor withdrawne from God Our is vox charitatis for it containeth the spirituall kindred of the faithfull who doe all acknowledge but one common father of all one God one Father this is the obiect of our common faith We haue patres carnis our naturall Parents we haue Magistrates and Princes in things temporall Bishops and Ministers in spirituall and all these haue the honourable title of Fathers giuen to them in the law of the fift Commandement but this compellation extendeth not to the longitude or latitude of this fatherhood in the Lords prayer these haue particular references this hath an vniuersall relation to the whole body of the Church and herein God goeth alone away with the name of our Father the other hold by seruice this honour from him onely hee holdeth that in Capite ouer them and their sonnes And herein the Pope encroacheth vpon God with abhominable vsurpation and is by his Parasites stiled Sanctissimus pater and the blinde ignorants that see no further then by his Lampelight and speake no other language then what he hath taught them doe mannerly call him our holy father God hath no honour intire but he comes in for his share with him not the name of Lord God he inuadeth that also It is a knowne and printed blasphemie Dominus Deus noster papa which the glosse vpon the extrauagancie of Iohn 22. doth lewdly giue the Pope True it is that when the Bishop of Rome was an orthodoxe Bishop and maintained the Apostolicall doctrine of the true Church he was called Pappa or Papa of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Greeke word which is Pater And so it was not a proper title to the Bishop of Rome but common to all Bishops as at this day the name of Father is giuen to them But this vnlimited claime to the name in chiefe ouer all not onely the lay people but the very Clergie of the whole Church he hath rather purchased with S. Pauls sword then with S. Peters keyes But he holdeth it now with that absolute right to it that none can be a member of the true Church but he must be his sonne And therefore Gregory the fifteenth in his letters lately sent from Rome to our then most excellent Prince residing for the time in the Court of Spaine doth thus court his Highnesse Truely the armes of papall charity with sighes doe worship the God of mercy and doe stretch them forth for your safety to embrace you a most desired sonne c. I cannot blame him for when the Kings and Princes of England were popish his Holinesse had his coffers much the fuller for it and his Kitchin was the better prouided But one thing I note in that letter that this Gregorie the then Pope doth confesse himselfe modestly farre inferiour to Gregory the first whose name he assumed at his Coronation in sanctitie and vertue although equall in dignity and of the same name I wonder that he should be so open as to confesse a succession in dignity and not in sanctity in seate and not in vertue for this makes it no argument which yet is falsely vrged and his Holinesse forsakes the truth in it He affirmeth that Gregory the great
with Haec mea sunt veterâ—s migrate Coloni Therefore our duty is herein to come vnto God in our prayers for the keeping as well as for the obteining of things necessary For we must as well depend vpon the holy providence of God for keeping that wee haue as for giuing to vs that wee want 6 It is called ours because wee desire that wee may haue the vse of our food wherein wee pray to God for health for what is bread without a stomach if either wee want appetite to it to desire it or stomach to digest it that either we cannot eat it or that it commeth vp againe therefore pray that God by giuing vs the right vse of our bread would make it ours So our bread will strengthen our heart our wine will comfort it our cloathes will keepe vs warme and all the necessaries of life will prosper to vs in the lawfull vse of them 7 Seeing our best right to this bread is by Iesus Christ let vs labour first for him that hee may dwell in our hearts by faith that wee bee rooted and grounded in him for how can he not with him giue vs all things who giueth him to vs When God shall seeke vs if we bee found in him as Christ is Gods so shall we be Let him therefore be in our eare God saith Heare him Let him be in our loue testified by obedience If ye loue me keepe my commandements There is no iuyce nor sappe in any thing that God doth giue man which hee doth not giue through him and for his sake all the nations of the world that eate bread and receiue food from the hand of God without the mediation of Iesus Christ are vnder the generall providence of God as the yong Lions and Beares and beasts of prey are But those that haue the Sunne haue with him the speciall providence of God which ministreth these things to them with fauour and for their good 8 Lastly seeing we pray for our bread we are taught that we must vse no vnlawfull meanes for the supply of our wants all is not ours that wee may inuade if by wicked meanes we get it it is called The bread of wickednesse if wee earne it by vngodly works it is called The wages of iniquity if by fraud it is called The bread of deceipt if we labour not at all it is called The bread of idlenesse if wee haue more then needeth for our selues it is The bread of the poore Let vs take heed we neither take the bread of the poore from them as the Scribes and Pharisees did who deuoured widowes houses nor keepe and with hold from the poore their bread as the rich man did who gaue not the crummes of his table to the poore beggar That is our bread that our necessity craueth not that our sensuality desireth the ouerplus is the poores 5 Daily bread I shewed in the exposition of this word that two things are here desired of God 1 Wee aske panem sufficientiae that wee may not want things necessary for vs. 2 Panem nutritionis such food as may serue by the blessing of God for our nourishment Therefore our duty is to vse the gifts of God wisely and soberly that is to say 1 With contentment 2 Without waste We beare about vs weake bodies that need a daily sustentation our stomachs will call vpon vs euery day for food and so must wee euery day call vpon God for supply thereof that debt our soules owe to our bodies to seeke their meat from God by prayers 1 Wee are taught a contented vse of those things which we receiue from God for if our bread bee sufficient for vs against want if it be wholsome and nourishing wee ought to bee contented with it for godlinesse only seeketh the meanes which may enable vs to Gods seruice and that is alwaies ioyned with contentednesse godlinesse is great riches thus ioyned with contentednesse according to the Apostles rule If you haue food and cannot be therewith content the sinne of Israel not content with the bread of heauen but still murmuring for change destroyed them with their meate in their mouthes 2 We are taught the sober and moderate vse of bread desiring of God bread and foode for our health Sodomes sinne was fulnesse of bread the insatiate gluttonous abuse of Gods good creatures which turnes the bread of nourishment into the bread of surfet and wine that maketh glad the heart of man into drunkennesse This turneth Gods blessings into rods and maketh our bread our disease and this is one of the crying sinnes of our sinfull nation which ouerchargeth vs with iniquity and sometimes makes our fruitfull land barren to scourge our excesse and intemperancie 6 This day 1 This teacheth vs to come euery day to God in our prayers to demand the necessaries of our life God loueth to bee entreated often and therefore Christ hath limited vs to the present time of purpose that we may be still sensible of our wants and of Gods supply that we may be euer praying God may be alwayes giuing we alwayes receiuing by which holy entercourse between God and vs this part of Gods holy worship may still be kept a foote which consisteth in prayer and thankesgiuing prayer to obtaine and sanctifie the gifts of God to vs. Thanksgiuing to acknowledge the authour of euery good and perfect gift to the honour of the bountifull giuer thereof Prayer to shew vs mortall men that we haue many wants which none but God can supply Thanksgiuing to put vs into the society of the Saints in glory whose continuall exercise is to praise the holy name of God So the Apostle ioyneth these two duties of piety and religion Pray without ceasing in euery thing giue thankes for this is the will of God in Christ Iesus concerning you It is the ioy of the faithfull that they may doe this and therefore the Apostle doth put this precept first Reioyce euermore then he biddeth to pray giue thankes Let no man thinke it a griefe or burthen to him to be put to it to come to God for euery thing that hee needeth euery day rather let him reioyce that Christ hath made the way of accesse to his father so easie that the oftner wee come the better are wee welcome to him and the more wee pray the more wee giue him cause to open his hand and to declare his singular loue to vs this reciprocation of our asking and Gods giuing of our receiuing and our thankesgiuing doth so please our God and pleasure vs that no time is spent more comfortably more religiously and thus we shall be euer creeping vnder the wings of God for shelter euer drawing neere to God for his fauour euer seeking his face for his blessings and like the elder sonne in the Gospell we shall be euer with our father and all that he hath shall be ours 2 Praying onely for This day wee shall honour the constant prouidence of God with
we examine you what is meant by the name of God what it is to hallow it what is meant by the kingdome of God and how would you haue it come c. If you doe not vnderstand what you aske of God in these petitions are you any better then those byrds that are taught to speake but cannot vnderstand And doe not the Papists pray to as good purpose in Latine as you in English if you vnderstand not what you aske Therefore for your better information resort to such as Christ hath left in his Church to instruct you and say doce me orare For if you vnderstand not your selues in your petitions neither will God vnderstand you 2 We must pray with reuerence This must be inward of the soule and outward of the body The soule must compose it selfe in holy feare to this conference with God lest when we doe seeke for mercy from him we awake his power and iustice against our selues Our prayer applyeth it selfe that way from whence our helpe commeth and Our helpe is in the name of the Lord who hath made heauen and earth Prayer is called the calling vpon the name of the Lord and David saith holy and reuerent is his name The old law amongst the heathen for their homely gods was Deos castè adeunto There is in God greatnesse which filleth vs with feare and goodnesse which filleth vs with hope the inward reuerence that we must bring with vs to prayer must be a mixt composition of the heart partly put on with hope and partly stopped with feare for all feare will keep vs away from God and all hope will make vs too bold when we come to him To this must be added to expresse this outward reuerence for the body must not sit out in this holy seruice that is the temple of the holy ghost euery whit of it must shew reuerence I deny not but the heart may pray reuerently to God in inward deuotion when no appearance thereof comes abroad in voice in posture in gesture in countenance But ordinarily the prostration of the body or geniculation the lifting vp of the eyes and hands haue beene the expressions of prayer in great examples And the consideration of the great and high Maiestie of God may well stoope vs to these reuerend formes which ought not to be forborne where with conuenience they may be vsed for God challengeth it as a part of his honour To mee shall euery knee bow and he giues it in reward to his sonne that at his name euery knee shall bow and euery tongue shall confesse to him 3 In perfect sense of our want 1 For if we pray for good things wee must feele the want of them and rightly vnderstand that neither wee can well be without them neither are we able to receiue them any where else then from the open giuing hand of God neither can we desire them of him by any meritorious seruice we can performe to him rather wee deserue all ill at his hands malum poenae to reuenge in vs malum culpae Neither can we haue them from him but by way of petition as he hath commanded vs. 2 If we pray against euill wee must feele our selues iustly imbarqued in the feare or smart thereof and that none but the preseruer of man can either preuent the euill that we feare or subuent vs in the euill wee feele none but he can defend vs against it or protect vs in it or deliuer vs from it Therefore we must heartily affect the good that we pray for and perfectly abhorre the euill against which we pray 4 We must pray in feruencie of spirit so the Apostle admonishing vs to many holy duties addeth this Continuing instant in prayer for qui timidè rogat docet negare and therefore hee requireth vs to be feruent in the spirit olla feruens seipsum purgat The prayer of a righteous man auaileth much if it be feruent It is noted in the best example of all that Christ in the daies of his flesh offered vp his prayers and supplications to his Father with strong cries and teares the Euangelist addeth with sweat trickling downe his face of water and bloud which was like the plague of fire mingled with haile amongst the Egyptians for that shower of water and bloud which Christ wept from his agonized body did lay and calme the storme of Gods indignation against sinne and did burne vp and drown the proud Prince of darkenesse that he was neuer able to preuaile against the Church and death was swallowed vp in victory The greatest prayer is that holy fire with which the Church fighteth against Sathan and therefore feruent prayer is by Saint Augustine called Deo sacrificium oranti subsidium daemonibus flagellum They that offer vp to God their prayers in the heate of fury as the two sonnes of thunder let fire come from heauen and consume the Samaritans and that vent the bitternesse of their intemperate spleene in curses and imprecations to Gods dishonour and the breach of charity they do offer strange fire and this offering doth expose the offerers thereof to the fire of Gods fury This feruor is in respect of the holinesse of God 5 We must pray in sincerity of heart not in hypocrisie the sincere heart is in good earnest with God and therefore is importunate resembled therefore to hunger 〈…〉 man which indangereth miscarrying if it be not satisfied There is no way for prayers that come of some double hearts God is one and Cor simplex that is sine plicis is his delight this in respect of the wisedome of God 6 We must pray in faith Let vs draw neere with a true heart in full assurance of faith And Saint Iames Let him aske in faith nothing wauering for hee that wauereth is like a waue of the sea driuen with the wind and tossed for let not that man thinke that hee shall receiue any thing of the Lord. The ground of this faith is the goodnesse and truth of God whose promise bindeth him to grant all that wee aske of him in the name of his Sonne 7 Wee must pray in the mediation of Iesus Christ for if we consider the greatnesse and glory of God it is such that the Angels when they stand before God doe couer their faces with their wings therefore there is no appearing for vs sinfull men in the presence of that glorious Maiestie of our selues but we must goe by the way of a Mediatour to him This was figured in the old law in the High Priest who did beare the names of the children of Israel before the Lord. Aaron was a figure of Iesus Christ who is declared our onely Mediatour for there is one God and one mediatour betweene God and man the man Christ Iesus Quid est dulcius quam genitorem in nomine vnigeniti inuocare Aug. med cap. 5. So much of the world as acknowledge
one God but know not this way to him by Iesus Christ may aske but they shall neuer receiue they may seeke but shall neuer finde they may knocke but it shall neuer be opened to them Christ saith I am the way no man commeth to the Father but by me The Papists doe forsake this way in their multiplicitie of Mediatours for though they beare the world in hand that they acknowledge but one Mediatour of satisfaction that is Christ many Mediatours of intercession that is Angels and Saints the prayers that their Liturgies doe vent declare against them that they inuocate the Father in the mediation of Saints by way of satisfaction forasmuch as they plead with God the merits of Saints and ascribe as much efficacie to the milke of the Virgin Mother of our Lord as to the bloud of her Sonne This in a Booke allowed by authority which concludeth with this blasphemous peremptory prayer to God O Lord thou must pardon mee I cry aloud it is not bloud will serue my turne I long for milke But concerning intercession Christ himselfe hath reuealed no other way but quicquid petierit is patrem in nomine meo and in that we rest 8 We must pray in fit forme of words It is not euery mans abilitie to expresse the desires of the heart in a good composition of fit words wee must neither be ouernice as if we conceiued that God would bee taken with the oratorie and rhetorique of words and sentences with the musicke of fine and choice phrases figuratiue and affected flourishes of humane eloquence neither must we be ouer homely and rude and vnmannerly to sollicite God in such language as wee dare not tender to men sad and serious graue and gratious must our prayers be that they may declare an holy reuerent zeale with true and sanctified iudgement For neither courting with elegancies of wit and speech nor slighting with vnkempt and homely rusticity which with some doth passe for plainenesse doth please our God there is an art of praying as well as of speaking and the Disciples would learne the Grammer thereof We teach children how to aske our blessing how to call for such things as they shall need and we can minister vnto them and no mans owne iudgement without good information can direct him in the great duty of holy prayer which is our inuocation of God our asking him blessing and forgiuenesse our praising of his name 9 We must pray in methode for seeing God is our principall delight wee must first seeke the honour of God and seeing our selues are next to vs wee must let our charity beginne at home and so passe to our neighbours and seeing the soule is more excellent then the body wee must first desire spirituall then temporall gifts as Christ seeke ye first the kingdome of God and the righteousnesse thereof You see that the mysterie of godlinesse in prayer is great and deepe and that we had need to be well directed to doe it aright Many turne this great part of Gods holy worship into sinne by being vntaught or not hauing well learned the doctrine of prayer it will be worth our consideration to take a short notice of the common faults committed in prayer 1 Prayer is of no validitie with God if it come from sinners God heareth not sinners If I regard wickednesse in my heart the Lord will not heare me therefore wee must purge our conscience from dead workes to serue the liuing God Vnderstand this comfortably that it is meant of knowne sinnes vnrepented such as know themselues faulty and doe not vse the best meanes to reforme themselues and to forsake sinnes cannot pray to bee heard In this case are all they that liue in the continuall practise or by the daily gaine of a sinne 2 Prayer is vnacceptable si timida if wee come to God as seruants not as sonnes there is an holy feare that maketh vs come reuerently that is a great ingredient in our preparation to prayer there is a seruile feare which breedeth in vs despaire we pray but haue no hope of successe 3 Si tumida Proud beggars shall bee said nay the Pharisee came proudly to God to giue him an inuentory of his virtues as one saith as if a wounded man should come to a surgeon and shew him all his sound parts and conceale his wound They that demand heauen of God as wages due to the merit of their works pray proudly and they shall haue what they deserue to their shame and smart 4 Si anxia God loues not that wee should come to him in distraction full of the cares of the world for they hinder deuotion the heart that sendeth forth welcome prayers preuailing with God must be established with grace This holy ballast doth make vs steddy our own vanities put vs to the tosse of euery waue 5 Si multiloqua for God loues not babling the iuyce of grace is not prest out with the weight of words it was one of the follies of the heathen by our Sauiour reproued Thou art on the earth he to whom thou prayest is in heauen Sint verba pauca 6 Si nimium festina It was a good old counsell festina lentè nimis properè minùs prosperè Wee must be content to awaite the good leisure of God for the holy one will not be limited I wayted patiently vpon the Lord and he enclined his eare to me and heard me Qui credit non festinat Idoneus promissor est fidelis redditor tu tantum esto pius exactor 7 Si intempestiva There is a season for all things the foolish virgins lost it and they knockt too late And Peter was too soone faciamus hic tria tabernacula Seeke the Lord whilest he may be found 8 Si carnalis If we haue care to the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof As they that being in the chase of some high preferment doe pray God for the successe they desire and their thoughts are fastned on the good meat they will eate the good cloathes they will weare the great traine that they will keep whom they will aduance whom they will oppresse You speed not saith S. Iames because you aske amisse to spend it vpon your lusts if such speed in their suites it is a gift giuen to the owner of it for his hurt And now I thinke you will confesse that it is a great wisdome to be taught how to pray and if you loue your bodies or soules God or your neighbour you will not leaue till you haue learned how to pray 3 They come to Christ to teach them Therein the whole Christian Church was beholding to them for by this meanes we come to an absolute direction for prayer that will hold out and keepe in fashion till time be no more Donec cesset oratio And the word vsed in compellation which is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 praeceptor but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth fit well to expresse the
tendernesse secondly immutabilitie 2 The name of Father putteth vs to search what right we haue to that name 1 There is a generall interest in that name which is communicated to all creatures by which all things that haue being must call God their Father because hee is to them all the author both of their being and conseruation for of him and by him and through him are all things And if Iabal may be called the father of all such as dwell in tents and of such as haue Cattell And Iubal the father of such as handle the Harpe and Organs Because these were the first beginners of these arts amongst men Much more may all things call God their common Father in whom all things liue moue and haue their being But thus God is the father of wicked men of the deuils and of hell as being the Creator of their substances and the author of their being The Church of God doth not vnderualue this interest in God though thus common to all creatures that haue being though the worst and most despised creatures of earth sea and hell doe participate with them therein Who loues the ayre the worse because euill men and noxious creatures hurtfull to man doe breath it in and out and liue by it Who loues the Sunne the worse because it shines vpon the good and bad vpon sweet gardens and loathsome stinkes and dunghils or the raine that fals vpon all grounds Amongst the benefits that wee thanke God for this hath good place wee giue him thankes that when we were not he gaue vs a being It is a great wisedome and it is attained by faith to vnderstand that the world was ordained by the word of God so that the things which we see are not made of things which did appeare And therefore the Prophet calleth vpon the creatures the Angels the hoast of heauen the Sunne and Moone and Starres and Waters c. Let them praise the name of the Lord for he commanded and they were created He also established them The donation of being and the conseruation in being be great fauours and therefore God is called Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 keeping all things This putteth vs in minde to take heed that we turne not the blessing of our being into a curse by corrupting our waies and doing euill in the sight of God It is otherwise with vs then it is with other creatures many of them perish and loose their being Angels and men are created to immortality and they that possesse not the immortality of life and glory shall bee possessed of the contrary immortality of confusion and paine So that the doctrine of our creation doth admonish vs to remember our Creator betimes that we may addresse our whole being to him for we see that all other creatures in their kinde doe serue him and keepe the vse for which they were ordained 2 There is a more speciall interest in this title of Father belonging to men who haue receiued fauour in their creation aboue other creatures 1 For he made man in imagine suâ which he did to no other creature on earth 2 He made him in honour but a little lower then the Angels crowned with glory 3 Hee made him immortall for though his fall brought in death yet the death of Christ destroyed it and the soules of men cannot die and the dead bodies of men shall rise againe to an eternall reunion with their soules 4 He made him to rule And this putteth vs in minde of a great debt of duty to God who hauing vs as his clay in his hand when he might haue made vs beasts or fowles and fishes wormes or flyes he chose rather to make vs men to giue vs the vse of reason discourse and speech Which though it be a gift common to vs with the wicked and vngodly of the earth yet let vs thinke neuer the worse of it for to be a man is to be an epitome a little Mappe of the whole world and there is a way open for men as much to excell men as men generally are more excellent then bruit beasts 3 There is yet a more speciall interest that some men haue in this title to call God Father then others haue which none but Christ can warrant vs to challenge and therefore none but he can teach vs to call God Father in this sense and that is by right of adoption For when we had lost the fauour of God being dead in trespasses and sinnes and separated from the life of God and thereby in a more miserable condition then all our seruant creatures associated also with those rebell Angels that kept not their first estate but forsooke their habitation Then it pleased God to send his sonne first in promises then in types shadowes and in the fulnesse of time in the fulnesse of performance to reconcile vs to himselfe and to purchase for vs an eternall inheritance that we might be called the sonnes of God and enfeoffed in all the liberties of Gods elect children so the Apostle We haue receiued the spirit of adoption whereby wee cry Abba that is father This is the interest of all the faithfull in God and none but the elect doe call him by that name by a iust claime to the graces annexed to that name and deriued from it Rea. 3 This reuealeth to vs a third reason why we call God Father that is to shew that we goe to him in our prayers the right way which is by Iesus Christ for there is no other way to the Father One Mediatour betweene God and man the man Iesus Christ For in this last kinde of gratious paternity God is onely a Father to vs in Christ and for his sake And to shew our faith in God grounded vpon the sufficient merits of Iesus Christ wee seeke the face of God vnder that title which our Iesus hath bought with his bloud which is called the bloud of the euerlasting couenant So that the name of Father giuen to God in this prayer doth teach vs that all the prayers of the Church must be offered vp to God in the mediation of Iesus Christ For we call not God Father by Angels or Saints but by Christ onely therefore we must seeke this Father onely in and by Iesus Christ He himself hath taught vs this for he saith whatsoeuer you shall aske the Father in my name it shall be giuen you The Renegado of Spalato in his last Manifesto doth muster vp heapes of proofes to maintaine inuocation of Angels and Saints against the truth against his owne former auouchments of the contrarie against his owne conscience if he haue any left after his apostacie He laboureth to proue that Angels and Saints departed doe continually pray for vs wee deny it not wee know that there is a communion of charity in the whole body of the Church and doubt not of their perfect charitie who are released hence
There is great cause of iubilation in the Church when the righteous increase therefore there is cause of ioy giuen to the Church when the wicked perish The solution of this doubt dependeth vpon this consideration The enemies of God and of our religion are to be considered two waies 1 As they are the creatures of God and partners with vs of the same nature so they are our owne flesh and no man euer hated his owne flesh thus the persons of all men ought to be deare to vs and their life pretious and their welfare desired 2 As they are by their corruptions turned enemies to God and to his Church so shall not I hate them O Lord which hate thee not their persons but their sinnes their malice against the Church that is odio perfecto odi eos Againe in the destruction of Gods enemies we must consider 1 Who it is that punisheth them for it is the hand of God and this is matter of ioy to the Church it is one of the duties of the Sabbath to reioyce in the operations of Gods hand and this is repeated there for one in the Psalmes for the Sabbath Psal 92.4 Thou hast made me glad through thy worke I will triumph in the worke of thy hands When the wicked spring as the grasse and when all the workers of iniquity doe flourish it is that they shall bee destroyed for euer For loe thine enemies O Lord for loe thine enemies shall perish and all the workers of iniquity shall bee scattered Mine eye also shall see my desire vpon mine enemies c. All which sheweth that the ruine and confusion of Gods enemies is the ioy of the Church as it is the worke of Gods hand for doe we not say Tu Domine fecisti and is it not our prayer fiat voluntas tua and are wee not to reioyce in it when it is done doth not God doe all things well and doe not all things worke together for the good of Gods children 2 We must consider who they be that suffer these are brethren with vs according to the flesh here our bowels yearne and we haue cause to mourne and lament on their behalfe for their sinnes that deserued this iudiciall processe against them He that hath a christall glasse in his hand into which his enemie hath infused poison to destroy him and seeth the glasse broken in his hand discouereth the preseruation of his life by that breaking may he not at the same time be glad that the poison is spilt and sorry that so good a glasse is broken The nature which is impoisoned in Gods enemies is Gods creature if the breaking of this glasse of humane nature doe let the poison fall to the ground is there not cause of ioy for the preuention of that euill and yet cause of griefe for the losse of that vessell by which this worke of mischiefe was to be effected Our elements of which we are composed in the frame of our bodies are mixt and not pure and simple bodies the affections that are in the inferiour part of the soule are also mixt for our best courage is shaken with some feare our hope mingled with some doubt our ioy commedled with sorrow that in the very seruice of God we reioyce with trembling In our intellectuall part our vnderstanding is not cleare of clouds in our spirituall and diuine inspirations by the holy ghost there is aliquid carnis some of the naturall man that eclipseth the light and weakeneth the force of the holy ghost in vs. Therefore as there is cause of ioy so is there cause of griefe in the case of Gods enemies but it is a safe rule alwaies to reioyce in the Lord and to approue admire and blesse the operation of his hands The powder traitours whose zeale of the religion of Rome turned them all into gunpowder and inflamed them to that furie and malice as to destroy the peace and the Religion of this Land with one blast how would they haue ioyed to haue brought forth the mischiefe in full birth which they had conceiued yet the bowels of our compassion were moued towards them to see them dye and suffer the iust reward of their most damnable proiection But the bowels of the wicked are cruell shall I shew you the mercy of a Pope it was Sixtus 5. vpon occasion of the murther of Henry the 3. the French King who in ioy of it being performed treacherously by a Monke set on by himselfe doth make a panegyricall oration in the praise of the Creatour and admireth the excellent worke of God in it quod simplex monachus non mutato habitu nongladio clipeoue armatus ad regem libere penetrauit Is not the folly of this sonne of Belial worthy to be despised that makes this a miracle that a Monke vnarmed and in his own habite wherein no man mistrusted him did commit this treason for so these false Monkes were without suspition admitted to the Kings presence but had he changed his habite and come armed he had beene preuented He reioyceth in the Kings death yet he was no heretique as Rome cals heresie but a sonne of the Pope and he layeth the murther to Gods charge Regem Deus per sacratum virum interfecit the whole oration is extant in print they are all ashamed of it so full it is both of folly and malice Wee may not doe the God whom we worship and serue that vnthankefull iniurie to omit the late fearefull example of his iudgement declared vpon a Popish conuenticle assembled in a priuate meeting to an hereticall Sermon they are blinde that see not the hand of God in it and they that take not warning by it to auoyd the like may tempt the iustice of God to some new execution for he hath treasures of wrath I thinke I speake the charitable thoughts of you all it was a iudgement much to be deplored in respect of them that suffered the same So great a number presently either broken with the ruines of the house or smothered with the closenesse of their owne heapes one vpon another others wounded some dead found some fallen into madnesse We haue cause all of vs to lament the sudden violent death of so many of whom we haue cause to perswade our selues charitably that they had the zeale of God but not according to knowledge and that they were made beleeue that they did God good seruice But how many open Churches did they passe by how many learned Preachers might they haue heard at that time from whose light they might haue borrowed light and in whom they might haue heard Iesus Christ speaking to his Church and declaring the way of saluation they forsooke the houses of God to retire themselues into a chamber where their owne weight was their ruine by the iust hand of God as we must needes confesse for his workes are often secret but alwaies iust Did not the blinde leade the blinde and both fell into the ditch
Ierusalem the spirit of supplications poureth also the spirit of grace to sanctifie the supplications So it is called in Zech. the Spirit of grace and supplications And Dauid can say If I regard wickednesse in my heart the Lord will not heare me Obserue it in Saint Iames his directions Draw nigh to God and hee will draw nigh to you clense your hands yee sinners and purifie your hearts you double minded When God appeard to Moses in the bush and Moses was approaching to him he heard a voyce saying to him Put off thy shoes from thy feete for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground There is no Comming then to God without holinesse without which we may seeke but we shall neuer see the face of God 5 This mention of the heauens here doth put vs in minde of the wisedome of God who of nothing raised vp that glorious frame of those celestiall habitations that high Sanctuary for his owne dwelling for in wisedome he hath made them all Which teacheth vs to beware how we appeare before God in our praiers and holy deuotions not as fooles but as wise Take heed to thy foote when thou entrest into the house of God and be more neare to heare then to offer the sacrifice of fooles They that pray not in wisdome doe offer to God the sacrifice of fooles And Salomon saith God hath no pleasure in fooles There is no folly like to the folly that is vsed in prayer and deuotion when the God of wisedome hath vs in his eye and the iealous God who is tender of his worship discerneth that he is slighted That is one of the sinnes of our time a foolish worship without consideration care or reuerence which turneth our praiers into sinne Hath God any pleasure in the set words of a solemne seruice Did he not blame his owne people Populus hic honorat me labijs suis Dauid admonisheth to sing praises to God with vnderstanding It asketh a great deale of spirituall wisedome to addresse our suites to the Court of heauen where the highest King of glory doth wisely consider all the sonnes of men and beholds with what descretion and wisedome they come before him Take heed therefore that thou forget not our Father to be in heauen Heauen is mentioned for the height of Gods sanctuarie for God is in excelsis which teacheth vs in praier to sublime our soules from the earth and earthly things to an holy eleuation thereto agree those outward formes of lifting vp the eyes in prayer I lifted vp mine eyes to the hills from whence my help commeth Our helpe is in the name of the Lord who hath made heauen and earth And let the lifting vp of mine hands be an euening sacrifice Sursum corda It is the voice of the Church Our Conuersation is in heauen and it is the Apostles counsaile If ye be risen with Christ seeke the things which are aboue and not the things which are below where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God O that I had the winges of a Doue the wings of an Eagle rather to fly high there is the Carcase and thither the Eagles resort Our earthly Parents giue good things to vs but they haue them from hence the bread the fish the necessaries of life Sometimes earthly Parents proue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but our heauenly father is one whose compassion falles not when my father and mother forsaketh me the Lord taketh me vp Doubtlesse thou art our father though Abraham knowes not though Israel be ignorant of vs. Earthly Parents see vs sicke and in prison and in disgrace and in want they can sit downe and droppe their teares and viz their groanes with ours but there is no helpe in them they may be parted from vs by death but our heauenly father shall endure for euer his yeares change not he looked down from the height of his sanctuarie From heauen did the Lord behold the earth to heare the groaning of the prisoners to loose those that are appointed to death 7 The mention of heauen added to the title of our Father doth put vs in minde of his goodnesse for hee dwelleth in that place from which euery good giuing and euery perfect gift doth proceed From whence also we are directed in our Prayers not to aske of this Father that is nothing but good and perfect gifts In temporall benefits we must still haue an eye to the true vse of them to make them serue for spirituall and heauenly vses One thing haue I desired of the Lord that I will seeke after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the dayes of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his Temple Let our eye be vpon the inheritance and the birth-right and for things temporal so far as they may be adjumenta or oramenta to vs to aduance this final desire of the kingdome of God so farre let vs desire and seeke and vse them Who will petition a King for beades and babies and such trifling things feare nto little flock it is your fathers pleasure to giue you a Kingdome Let our wisedome seeke it where it is to be found in heauen where Iesus Christ sitteth at the right hand of his father and maketh intercession for vs. Why should we aske stones where we may haue bread for asking bread of the finest wheat flower Manna Angels bread 8 The name of our father in the heauens doth put vs in minde of the country which we seeke for we are but Pilgrimes and strangers and we haue no abiding City here we are but soiourners as all our fathers were But we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolued wee haue a building not made with hands but eternall in the heauens For in this we groane earnestly desiring to be cloathed vpon with our house which is from heauen that mortalitie might be swallowed vp of life for Whilest we art at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. We are confident and willing to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. We sit here weeping by the riuers of Babel If I forget thee O Ierusalem c. Returne to thy rest O my soule Studie those heauens search and finde out the way to them there is one that is gone before to prepare a place there for vs in the many Mansions of his Fathers house and as the Church sweetely Hymneth He hath opened the Kingdome of heauen to all beleeuers by a new and liuing way which hee hath Consecrated for vs through the vaile that is to say his flesh Conducting vs to Mount Sion the City of the liuing God the heauenly Ierusalem and to an innumerable companie of Angels To the generall assembly and Church of the first borne which are written in heauen and to God the iudge of all and to the spirits of
these 3 When any Creature is ioyned with God in the participation of his incommunicable properties 2. In vita When our conuersation doth not maintaine due correspondence with the honour of God whose name we professe and whose obedience we pretend Againe Euery pollution of the name of God by vaine and idle mention thereof without feare and reuerence is an vnhallowing of this name to Gods dishonour So then Hallowed be thy name is let thy glory bee declared and confest according to the excellent greatnesse and goodnesse of it with all reuerence and feare let it neither be forgotten nor despised nor prophaned by any the greatest or least pollution that may be 3. Who must doe this 1 Christ said to his Father Father glorifie thy name he answereth as you haue heard I haue both glorified it and will glorifie it againe Yet I dare not leaue out this desire in this petition but that we may beseech God that his name may be hallowed by himselfe 2 Christ praieth Father glorifie thy Sonne that thy Sonne also may glorifie thee Neither dare I exclude this in our petition but that we may pray that the name of God may be hallowed by the Sonne of God who best knoweth how to doe it 3 The glorious Angels and Archangels Cherubins and Seraphins continually doe cry Holy holy holy Lord God of Saboath as our Church Hymneth I dare not exclude them in our petition Let my name be hallowed by the celestial armies they are the Churches Sicut in the third petition Sicut in Coelo in terrâ 4 We read that the seperate soules of Gods Saints do not cease night and day praising the name of God and hallowing it with their deuotions I take in them also into this petition let the Saints in glory hallow thy name 5 We finde that the Celestiall bodies the Sunne the Moone the Starres the sublimary creatures all in their kindes declare the glorie of God and make his name glorious therefore I will not leaue out them let the name of God be hallowed also in them let all they that serue him testifie of him It is not Sanctificatu or Sanctificent illi or Sanctificemus nos but it is Sanctificetur and therefore let all things that haue a being doe God right in this 6 But I confesse as this praier is put by our Sauiour into our mouthes it concerneth vs to desire of God that especially we may hallow the name of God For the name of God shall neuer suffer from himselfe or from his Sonne or from his heauenly armies or his ther Celestiall bodies or Terrestiall creatures all the danger of his holy name is from vs. We sinfull men and women doe often thinke often speake vnreuerently of Gods name we be the swearers and lyers and blasphemers and prophane persons that blemish the holy glorie of Gods name so that we had need especially to regard our selues in this suite Sanctificetur à nobis nomen tuum So Saint Cyprianus Petimus a Deo vt nomen ejus sanctificetur in nobis And herein wee honour God desiring to be the vessels of his praise the organs and instruments of his glory here on earth Yet let no man thinke that any thing can be added from vs to the holinesse of Gods name onely we pray that his name which is holy in it selfe may be so both conceiued in our hearts and expressed in our embra'd profession and confession of his name to be so and that nothing may come from vs to blemish and indignifie it 4. Why doe we aske this of God The reason is in sight Holinesse is the Lords none can giue the holy spirit of Sanctification but God only None can hallow or sanctifie but they who are holy prophane persons and Diuels may glorifie God but they cannot sanctifie him God will be glorified euen of his enemies whether they will or no but sanctified hee cannot be saue onely of such as are first made holy The Seraphins in the Prophet I say cry one to another Holy holy holy is the Lord God of hoastes the whole earth is full of thy glory And the foure beasts in the Reuelation rest not night and day saying Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come Vpon Aarons brestplate Holinesse to the Lord. Therefore we must resort to the fountaine of Holinesse for the grace of sanctification that he may first sanctifie vs that we may be made able to sanctifie his name We aske this of God 1 For it owne sake because the worke of hallowing the name of God is a good worke in it selfe So Dauid It is a good thing to giue thankes to the Lord. And this beginneth prayer best to glorifie God for his fauours already bestowed for his owne goodnesse which we performe when we say Hallowed be thy name This is the Confession of praise to his name these be the calues of our lippes Sacrum Iustitiae 2. We aske this of God for our owne sakes for seeing none can hallow the name of God but they that are holy wee doe herein begge our owne holinesse of God both holinesse in our vnderstandings to know God and holinesse in our affections to loue him and holinesse of life to serue him and holinesse of perseuerance to hold out herein to the end 3 We aske this of God by way of confession of our owne impotencie for when we desire him that his name may be hallowed by vs we confesse to him that without him we are notable to doe him that seruice for it is not in man to order his owne wayes and without him we can do nothing we confesse that he worketh all good in vs therefore we goe forth in the strength of the Lord and make mention of his righteousnesse only indeed the holinesse that we should giue to the name of God except wee had it from him would not honour him 4 We aske it of him to declare our loue to him for seeing he is our Father as we invocate him it is a debt that sonnes owe to their Parents to perpetuate their names vpon earth and this filiall regard of his fatherly prouidence we expresse in desiring the glory of his name 5 We aske it of him for their sakes that belong to him that God declaring the glorious holinesse of his name men may trust in him for so Dauid They that know thy name will trust in thee So that this maketh way for the following petitions 5. Why we make this our first petition In respect of our dutie for wee were created to this end that God might be glorified in our bodies and soules and to this we were also redeemed therefore Gods part in vs is our best part and his glory our cheifest good And the truth is that except Gods name be hallowed in all that we say or thinke or doe Nihil rite perficitur His name is put vpon vs in our Baptisme In nomine patris et filij c.
deepe in the blood of Gods Saints he careth not to destroy Christs kingdome to aduance his owne vsurping that power in the world in the name of Christ which himselfe did not assume who said My kingdome is not of this world The Turke the Iew and all the Barbarous nations of the world who liue in the darke to whom the pretious light of the Gospel hath not appeared all professe hostilitie to this Gospell of the kingdom that we may say of it as the Iewes sayd to Paul As concerning this sect we know that euery where it is spoken against But these profest enemies of the kingdome of Iesus Christ are in open hostility against the Church and proclaime warres to it they are the forces of that great king who came against that litle city in the booke of the preacher and besieged it and built bulwarkes against it we can expect no better from them then force and fury There be secret enemies Wolues in sheepes cloathing whose close malice doth put vs into more danger and feare these hide themselues within the Church and carry a semblance of brethren and they are 1 Heretikes that corrode and fret the holy truth of the Gospell with their false doctrines and blasphemous and impious assertions of vntruthes to mis-lead the ignorant into errour and to corrupt their iudgements 2 Schismatikes that disquiet the peace of the Church disturbe the order rankes of Gods wel ordered armies and disfigure the beautie of holinesse setting vs together by the eares fermēting the masse of Christian charity with their gall of bitternesse which they maliciously infuse into the body of that city that is compact together 3 Hypocrites which put on Religion as they do fine garments for shew onely and personate pietie to make the world of opinion that they are holy whereas all their Religion and holinesse is in the eye those are but the outsides of professors and their workes denie and blaspheme the faith of which their mouthes tongues doe make formall profession Against all these we pray that the Kingdome of Iesus Christ may come to vs to reueale to vs the light of Gods truth to establish peace and concord amongst brethren and to declare the true and vnfeined Religion which consisteth in the sincere seruice of our God for where this kingdome is throughly established there truth and peace and sincerity doe shew their faces and lift vp their heads and are exalted by all the subiects of that Kingdome 3 Our naturall corruptions are enemies to this kingdome the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the law of our members resisteth the law of God there is ventus ab oriente which bringeth into vs whole armies of Grashoppers and Catterpillars that is a corruption from our birth which spanneth in our vnderstandings with multiplicity of phantasticall opinions various distraction of our thoughts and filleth the inferiour part of the soule with many vnlawfull desires vnquiet longings for things forbidden wherby our affections are troubled and corrupted with vniust appetite of things forbidden Against these also we pray in the comming of this kingdome that God would rule in our vnderstandings to instruct vs and that God would rule in our thoughts to limit them and keepe them from all wandring distraction and that he would rule in our affections to bridle restraine their loosenesse to correct their rebellion to the spirit of God to awe them to the obedience of God and to sanctifie vs wholly both in our bodies soules and spirits that neither in thought word nor deed we may grieue the holy Spirit of God by whom we are sealed vp to the day of our redemption So that in this petition we pray against the dominion of sinne in our mortall bodies against the pollution of sinne in our immortall soules against all spirituall and carnall wickednesse that the brightnesse of Christs kingdome may driue away the darkenesse of Sathans kingdom in vs that he would enter into vs by his grace and bind the strong man Sathan who possesseth vs by his power and cast him out in his iustice and abide in vs by his mercie For so shall no iniquity haue dominion ouer vs. What need we haue to pray for this as Christ praied with strong cries we may easily discerne for when wee looke about vs and behold what horrible sins are afoot in the world euen all the workes of the flesh Adultery lasciuiousnesse Idolatry Contentions seditions heresies enuie murther drunkennesse and such like all which are the pretious stones in the Diademe of Sathan When wee see how much those are despised that walke conscionably and feare the prophanation of Gods Sabbath by doing their owne workes on Gods holy day and feare the blasphemie of Gods holy name by an oath would faine put off the very garment that is spotted with the flesh When we see the proud esteemed happy and them that worke wickednesse set vp yea them that tempt God deliuered When wee behold corruption in courtes of iustice oppressions of the mighty persecutions of the poore and weake Simony bribery extort on trades of liuing swearing gluttony drunkennesse filthy speaking sins in fashion There is no hope to helpe all this but by the comming of the kingdom of grace to pardon these trāsgressions to conuert these transgressors for this great King is able to set vp a light in our vnderstandings to informe vs in the truth and to shed his loue in our affections to knit vs together both to himselfe and to one another of vs. 3 Saint Cyprian hath a good caution vpon this petition Continua oratione opus est ne excidamus a regno Coelesti this doth bring in the Kingdome of glory into this petition This is our maine ambition to be heires of this heauenly Kingdome and S. Cyprian saith Cauendum ne excidamus a regno Coelesti sicut Iudaei For it is an heauy saying of Christ And I say vnto you many shall come from the East and West and shall sit downe with Abraham and Isaac and Iacob in the kingdome of heauen But the children of the kingdome shall be cast out into vtter darkenesse c. By the children of the kingdome here hee meaneth the Iewes the seed of Abraham to whom the promises of this kingdome came and to whom all the meanes for attaining this kingdome were tendered so that being then the visible Church of God on earth they were in a kinde of possession of the kingdome of heauen but lost it by their disobedience and so left a way open for many to come from the East and West that is for the Church of the Gentiles to come in euen in their place and now till Plenitudo gentium be come in there is no promise of the restitution of the Iewes ad viam regni It is a good note of Saint Cyprian quando cessauit in eis no men paternum cessauit et regnum When they gaue ouer hallowing
his Church and his vpright iustice in the finall confusion of all his enemies Then shall our glory be full when God is all in all and raigneth absolute soueraigne without any eclipse of glory by the interposure of opposition These are the full contents of this petition 3 What duties we learne from hence The proper duties arising from hence doe concerne vs 1 In our reference to our God 2 In the regard of our selues 3 In regard of our neighbours 1 In our reference to God 1 That wee seeke and labour to aduance the kingdome of God by all meanes that God may exercise his power and grace and mercy and glory freely and fully and that neither our ignorance nor infirmity nor iniquity may obscure his glory or resist his gouernment knowing for what wee were made that wee might bee temples of the holy Ghost that Christ might rule in our hearts by faith that wee might glorifie God in our bodies and in our soules because in our creation he gaue vs a perfect being and in our redemption hee accomplisht a full and perfect restitution of vs to his fauour and to all those full benefits which follow the same namely that Christ is made to vs of God wisedome iustification sanctification and finall redemption from all sinne and punishment For this what shall we render to the Lord is not this a debt that we owe to him to seeke the aduancement of his glory all that we can and to set forth his praise 2 In regard of our selues 1 It is our dutie to liue like subiects of this kingdome that is humbled vnder the mighty hand of God to the obedience of his will and stooped vnder the correcting hand with patience to beare his chastenings though for the present they seeme grieuous Contented with the state of life and the proportion of Gods allowance to vs for we resist his gouernment and repine at his administration of the world if wee bee not content with that which he bestoweth on vs resting vpon his holy prouidence in the vse of lawfull meanes for godlinesse and contentednesse must be ioyned in vs and our hearts must not fasten vpon things temporall but wee must looke before vs to the full reward which God hath laid vp for vs. 2 Seeing we liue vnder the kingdome of Gods grace in which we haue the liberty of that holy meanes by which we may grow vp to be perfect men in Christ Iesus We must not turne this grace of God into wantonnesse by abusing it to our owne perdition but like thriftie Merchants make the vttermost of these holy commodities that is Of the free liberty of the Word and Sacraments and of the house of God and his Saints of the ministerie of the Word and the holy writings of learned and pious men set forth for our further building vp to be an house for the Lord. Not in surfetting and drunkennesse not in chambering and wantonnesse not in strife and enuying this is not the way to heauen New creatures 3 Seeing wee liue in expectation of the kingdome of Gods glory our duty is to obserue and remember our latter end and to consider that our whole life is our way to this kingdome let vs therefore hasten toward it to meete it comming towards vs this was Iobs holy Meditation All the daies of my appointed time will I waite till my changing shall come And when death shall come let vs know and beleeue that it is no more but a translation from death to life and Transitus ad Regnum 4 Seeing wee pray for the comming of Gods glory that he may raigne ouer all let vs while we are here begin an heauen vpon earth by praising and magnifying the name of the Lord and practise the new song of the Church here that being admitted into the Quire of the iust we may not cease night and day to glorifie him in heauen where we shall be able to doe it more fully and perfectly 5 Let vs consider that there is no such way to make happy our temporall life as to liue thus in the humble subiection to this kingdome for who shall harme you if you doe that which is good godlinesse hath the promises of both liues and all things turne to the best to them that loue God 3 In regard of our neighbours We must seeke to draw one another to Gods kingdome like those in the Prophet They helped euery one his neighbour and euery one said to his brother be of good courage So the Lord Repent and turne others from their transgressions so iniquity shall not be your ruine And many shall goe and say come ye and let vs goe vp to the mountaine of the Lord to the house of the God of Iacob and he will teach vs his waies and wee shall walke in his pathes O house of Iacob come ye and let vs walke in the light of the Lord this kingdome doth not breed iealousie here is enough for all LVC. 11.2 Thy will be done as in heauen so earth OBserue the coherence of these petitions which are martialed with such excellent wisedome that the first of them is the end which we aime at that God may be hallowed in vs in his holy name and so haue from vs the honour due to him And that this may bee effected in vs wee pray in the second petition for the aduancement establishment and enlargement of Gods kingdome both of power grace and glory And now in this third Petition wee pray that this kingdome of God being erected amongst vs we may by his grace liue in due subiection to it that the Church militant in earth may honour him euen so as the Church triumphant doth in heauen In the handling whereof 1 We must vnderstand what is meant by the will of God 2 Quid hoc est facere 3 How this will is desired to be done as in heauen so in earth 4 What duties are taught herein 1 What is this will of God The will of God is vnderstood two waies 1 As it is in it selfe by which hee intendeth createth gouerneth and disposeth all things according to the good pleasure of his will and so the will of God is both absolute necessitating all euents which hee hath foreseene and determined and of that the Apostle speaketh saying who hath resisted his will and of that Christ saith fiat voluntas tua and of that those holy seruants of God spake who when they could not disswade Pauls going to Ierusalem they ceased saying The will of the Lord be done 2 The will of God is vnderstood to bee that manifestation of his seruice and our dutie which directeth vs what to doe and what to eschew what to beleeue and what to aske according to his will and this is written and reuealed to vs in holy Scripture I dare not with our many English Writers vpon this Petition quite exclude the absolute will of God and limit the Petition onely to
you may not present him with a dwindled withered heart weakned and infirmed with vntimely afflictions but strong and able for his seruice And make a conscience to bestow the strength of your heart vpon him that giues you bread to strengthen your hearts that he may thinke his bread well bestowed for hee loueth not the sacrifices of the leane and lame and blinde and impotent of your flock the best serues him best 2 From this name of bread giuen to the necessaries of life we are taught that we haue no warrant to pray to God for more then what is needfull The sonne of Iakeh doth pray against riches giue mee not riches yet many there be that sell heauen for riches and exchange God for Mammon whose damnation sleepeth not Many there be who study the back what shall I put on not now only what stuffe but in what fashion that I may out shine my equals my betters they make Idols of their bodies and bestow such painting guilding and iewelling of it as if it were immortall their back is their God Many study what they shall eat all the inquisitions of rarities and delicacies that the earth the ayre the sea can afford are congested into their catories and kitchins to please their various palates with change of viands epicuriously satiating themselues with the marrow and fatnesse of Gods good creatures cramming themselues for the Deuils shambles making their bellies their Gods and delighting in their shame I deny not but God doth open his hand and giueth great abundance of all good things crowning the yeare with his plenty and making the earth not onely to bring forth bread to strengthen the heart of man but wine also to make his heart glad and oyle to make him a chearefull countenance for who can controll him doing with his owne as he please and disposing of it where he will But still I say I finde no warrant to aske of him any more then the needfull support of life we may not pray beyond our proportion food necessary for life for therefore do we aske bread of God to shew our desires limited to the meanes ordained by him for our preseruation If any shall dare to passe these bounds let him remember the fearefull example of Israel in the way of their iourney toward Canaan They lusted exceedingly in the wildernesse and tempted God in the desart And he gaue them their request but sent leanesse into their soule These ouer dainty palates that are euer longing for delicacies may make fat bodies but they haue leane soules and when they pray beyond warrant God may heare them and may grant their request but they shall lose by it There was a rich man who liuing was richly and softly arraied delicately fed euery day but hee that heares him pitifully complaining out of hell for a little cold water will scarce desire to be in his coate or to bee of his messe 1 This teacheth vs to be content with bread and to thanke God for it for if wee haue but sufficient for life we haue as much as we aske and so much as Christ our Master who teacheth vs to pray thinkes fit to allow vs to aske of our father which art in heauen 2 Seeing we finde God so rich and plentifull as to open his hand so wide to giue vs more then we aske exceeding abundantly to some more to some lesse Let not vs like children when wee haue any thing giuen vs measure the worth of the gift by comparing it with that which is giuen to others but weigh the gift in and by it selfe and let vs admire and praise the open hand of God who ouer-doeth our demands and maketh our cup runne ouer But because this name of bread doth so limit vs to the demand onely of things necessarie let me admonish you that there is duplex necessitas 1 Necessitas rei which containes onely the supportation of life 2 Necessitas personae which containes the maintenance of vs in our estate of life I conceiue that this petition doth extend to both these for 1 We craue of God all those things without which we cannot liue 2 Wee aske all those things that are conuenient for our estate and ranke that we may not want the meanes to support our persons and estate with moderate decencie befitting our degree but so that if God who lifteth vs vp and casteth vs downe shall thinke it meete to abase vs and stoope vs below the port and state of our place that we now hold we may abate also of our desires and be content with such things as are of absolute necessitie for subsistence in life and therefore 3 We are taught to learne with the Apostle both how to abound and how to want and may not thinke much if there bee mutatio dexitae excelsi For in these things Iobs lesson is to be learnt The Lord giueth and the Lord taketh away in both we must blesse the name of the Lord. 2 Giue Many duties are learnt from this word 1 Wee are taught to vnderstand and confesse our poore and miserable condition who in creation had all things put in subiection vnder our feete as Dauid saith all sheepe and oxen yea and the beasts of the field the fowles of the ayre the fishes of the sea c. and now by sinne haue lost that right to these things which the grace of creation inuested vs in and are now so poore and needy that we haue not bread of our owne to sustaine vs with God gaue man all these things vpon condition of obedience that failing hee hath cancelled that deed of gift and resumed into his owne hands the possession and power of distribution thereof to the sonnes of men Naked came I into the world naked shall I returne saith Iob we brought nothing with vs into the world saith the Apostle and here we finde nothing that we can call ours The earth is the Lords and the fulnesse thereof they that feele the want of these things doe pray with appetite and feruour for them and therefore all of vs euen such as haue most must learne to know their miserable wants and necessities they all lye at the gates of God as Lazarus at the gates of the rich man desiring to be satisfied with the crums that fall from Gods table and except God doe both giue and blesse his gifts to vs wee must perish for want of bread euen they whose Barnes are fullest crammed whose Winepresses breake with plenty whose Tables are ouercharged with prouision whose stomacks are distent with their full feedings such is our misery that we all want both what we haue not and what we haue if God giue not our bread 2 When we say to our father giue which teacheth vs to know the right owner of these things euen hee whom Melchisedech calleth The most high God possessour of heauen and earth To whom else should wee say giue but to him of whom the Apostle saith euery good giuing
God against it Seeing the conscience of our frailties doth awake vs to a more watchfull custody of our heart and obseruation of our wayes Therefore as some sharpe fits of an ague in the spring proue medicinall to our bodies So in our spring of grace our infirmities well considered proue physicke to our soules because they make vs remember whereof we are made and shew vs the vse of those meanes which God hath ordained for our recouery such are hearing of the Word meditation in it prayer to God for his blessing vpon vs and such like holy munitions against Sathan 2 These remaines of sinne doe shew vs what neede we haue of a Iesus to saue vs from them that wee may cry with Saint Bernard O Iesu esto mihi Iesus For if any thing will cast vs down at the feete of God and open our hearts and mouthes to say Our father which art in heauen forgiue vs our trespasses this will doe it when we behold these remaines of euill disposition after our repentance But it is obserued that all this labour which we put vpon men for search of their conscience for confession and compunction for sinne and newnesse of life needeth not Seeing God seeth no sinnes in his elect and they are so reconciled to God that they cannot fall from grace For if they be the sheepe of Christ no man or deuill can take them out of his hand This is a flattering heresie which vnder a colour of establishing the decree of Gods election of grace doth destroy the truth of Gods word and nourisheth sinne The Apostle saith If we say we haue no sinne wee deceiue our selues and the truth is not in vs. If we confesse our sinnes hee is faithfull and iust to forgiue vs our sinnes and to cleanse vs from all vnrighteousnesse If we say we haue not sinned wee make him a lyar and his word is not in vs They obiect from the same Apostle he saith we know that he which is borne of God sinneth not but he that is begotten of God keepeth himselfe and that wicked one toucheth him not Whosoeuer is borne of God doth not commit sinne for his seed remaineth in him and hee cannot sinne because he is borne of God Is the Apostle contrary to himselfe Not so for he declareth what sinne it is of which hee speaketh that he which is borne of God cannot commit All vnrighteousnesse is sinne And there is a sinne not vnto death In which words he distinguisheth sinne from sinne for in the former verse he saith There is a sinne vnto death I say not that hee shall pray for it This distinction cleareth the point for sinne is of two sorts 1 Not vnto death 2 Vnto death When the Apostle saith We make God a lyar and deceiue our selues if we say we haue no sinne hee meaneth that of the sinnes of infirmity which are not vnto death because these the elect of God doe confesse to God penitently and he is faithfull and iust to forgiue them vpon their repentance And when he saith Whosoeuer is borne of God sinneth not neither can sinne hee meaneth that sinne that is vnto death The elect cannot sinne vnto death But when he saith He that committeth sinne is of the Deuill he meaneth such as sinne obstinately and with an high hand and a stiffe neck impenitently which is to death So then to the point of their tenet God doth not see sinne in his elect is a true position cum grano salis if we vnderstand it thus God seeth no sinne in them vnto death no such sinne as either they will conceale from him but they will by confession lay open before him no such sinne as he will punish with aeternall death but hee will forgiue it them But what is the way of their peace Euery man that hath this hope purifieth himselfe euen as he is pure The manner of our purifying our selues is also exprest I will take it as I finde it in the text Whosoeuer abideth in him sinneth not He that doth righteousnesse is righteous euen as hee is righteous Not in aequality as righteous as he but in imitation and by imputation of his righteousnesse This doing of righeeousnesse hee distributeth into the loue of God whom we haue not seene and the loue of our neighbour whom we haue seene This he calleth Keeping of the commandements and doing those things that are pleasing in his fight And this commandement is double 1 Of faith to beleeue on the name of his sonne Iesus Christ 2 Of loue one to another There is also before required on our part our confession on Gods part his absolution Gods absolution consisteth of two parts 1 His pardon of our sinnes that is his releasing vs from the punishment of them 2 His purging and clensing vs from the pollution of them As you haue heard if wee confesse our sinnes hee is faithfull and iust to forgiue vs our sinnes and to clense vs from all vnrighteousnesse He addeth hereunto prayer Whatsoeuer we aske we receiue of him So that to gather vp all into a short compendium thus it is with vs The elect of God are all sinners The way to helpe it is 1 Search and confession 2 Faith in the sonne of God 3 Obedience to the Law of God 4 Prayer to God for pardon of our sinnes And therefore when Christs holy disciples desired him to teach them to pray hee bade them say dimitte nobis debita nostra shewing that they were debtors and not able to pay the debt but needed to desire of God to pardon it And from hence the whole doctrine of repentance from dead works comes which needed not if the elect had no sinne But it is obiected 1 That Christ hath satisfied his father for the sinnes of all the elect for so saith Isaiah He was wounded for our transgression he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was vpon him and with his stripes are we healed And God laid on him the iniquity of vs all What need we then pray for the forgiuenesse of our sinnes which are already forgiuen 2 Remission of our sinnes is one the articles of our faith if we beleeue that our sinne are forgiuen already why doe we yet pray to haue them forgiuen To both we answere That Christ hath indeed answered for all the sinnes of his Church and the elect of God doe beleeue it But this satisfaction of Christ is performed to none but such as both search their heart for sinne and finde it and confesse it and come to him by prayer to aske it Come to me all yee that are weary and heauy laden and I will ease you This coming is by repentance of sinnes by saith of the remission of them and by prayer for the remission of them I confesse that there needeth no more deprecation of the wrath of God to establish the decree of
life may be fit to minister comfort to soules sicke of the leprosie of sinne yet none can purge this leprosie by forgiuing the sinnes and absoluing the sinner from the guilt and punishment of them but the ministers who are called and separated by the voyce of God to that office It is well exprest in the words of Christ for when he speaketh of this power of absolution and giueth it to his Apostles he vseth the same word to them which he vseth in the Lords prayer for in my Text he teacheth vs to say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to them hee saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For as God hath reconciled the world to himselfe by Iesus Christ so hath he giuen to vs the ministery of reconciliation So that the Ministers forgiuing of sinnes is no intrusion vpon the rights of God no impeachment of the honour of God but it is his owne act declared by his own ordinance and by his appointment particularly applyed Yet haue we no warrant to say to our Minister forgiue vs our sinnes but hauing declared to him our repentance we may pray to God for his pardon and desire our Minister by the power giuen to him by Iesus Christ to pronounce it to vs. This power was in the Church long before the comming of Christ into the world as it may appeare by the words of Elihu to Iob. For he speaking of the remedy which God hath ordained for the restoring of sinners saith If there be with him an Angell an Interpreter one among a thousand to shew vnto man his vprightnesse Then hee is gratious vnto him and saith Deliuer him from going downe into the pit I haue found a ransome Obserue Gods ordinance in calling a Minister to bee his Angell or messenger euery man is not fit for this seruice such a one is one of a thousand to him God committeth the office of an interpreter to declare to man his vprightnesse that is to comfort him against the terrours of his sinne by preaching to him the doctrine of Iustification by the righteousnesse of Christ To him is committed the office of deliuering a sinner from the pit that is from hell and that is by absoluing him from his sinnes this is the greatest power that is left vnto any creature vpon earth For to vse the words of the holy Ghost to which of the Angels did God say at any time that he should deliuer a soule from going downe into the pit To the King is committed the ciuill gouernment of vs in policie to the Lawyer the care of our goods and good name to the Physitian the care of our health of body to the Souldier the care of our goods and liues but our soules are committed to the care of the Minister to saue them So saith the Apostle Thou shalt be able to saue thy selfe and those that heare thee which made Saint Ambrose say Nihil in hoc saeculo excellentius Sacerdotibus Our power is to deliuer men vp to Sathan by binding and to saue them from going downe to the pit by loosing of them from their sinnes Master Caluin is iudicious and moderate in this point for he aduiseth sinners that are burthened in their consciences for sinne rather to seeke the remedy in the meanes ordained and setled by God in the Church then any other way which is to exonerate their conscience of the burthen of sinne to some godly learned and discreet Minister of the word Cuius officium est publicè priuatim pop dei euangelica doctrina consolari But such an euen course must be held herein vt tyrannidem abesse velint a se a populo superstitionem Therefore let me admonish you in the holy feare of God to seeke the forgiuenesse of sinnes and the peace of your consciences in the holy and good way which God hath ordained and especially vpon your sicke beds when you are enditing your whole life to God neglect not the establishing of your hearts in the remission of sinnes by confession and absolution Let not a iealousie of Popish superstition discourage you from this for what is there in christian religion which they haue not corrupted but doe you separate the cleane from the vile and forsake not the holy direction of Gods word It is againe obiected if I must onely aske forgiuenesse of God for my sinne why is there mention here of my forgiuing such as doe trespasse against me Is it lawfull for me to aske man forgiuenesse of any sinne I answer that euery sinne that wee commit doth trespasse God being the preuarication of his law but if that sinne doe trespasse our brother also we must goe and be reconciled to our brother for if it be possible so much as lyeth in vs we must haue peace with all men Man may forgiue the offence done by his brother to him but the offence done to the law of God none but God can forgiue I will speake a bold word it is a truth God may forgiue a sinne committed against man so farre as it is a breach of the law of duty and obedience to him without man but God cannot forgiue a sinne done by one man against another except the man trespassed doe forgiue it for there can be no reconciliation betweene God and vs so long as there is warre between our brother and vs. Our Sauiour hath exprest as much When thou commest to offer thy gift vpon the Altar and remembrest that thy brother hath ought against thee leaue there thy gift goe and be reconciled c. It may appeare also in the very case of debt he that is a debter to his neighbour and refuseth to make him satisfaction doth breake the law of the kingdome and is an offender against the King and therefore is the kings prisoner for breach of the Kings law the King may forgiue his prisoner the breach of his law wherein hee is trespassed but he cannot forgiue the debt which hee oweth to his subiect If wee would haue a full forgiuenesse of our sinnes wheresoeuer they offend let vs labour to giue satisfaction but if we meete with harsh natures to whom no reasonable satisfaction is answerable they begge their owne iudgement in this petition for so shall they bee forgiuen as they forgiue and they shall finde God as inexorable and as implacable as themselues are 6 Another duty we learne here in the word nobis for we are taught charitably to pray for the forgiuenesse of one anothers sinnes not of our owne onely We doe not pray God for the pardon of the sinnes of the Angels that fell they kept not their first estate and the holy Ghost hath reuealed to vs that there is no possibility of their reconciliation to God for Saint Peter saith God spared not the Angels that sinned but cast them downe to hell and deliuered them into chaines of darkenesse to be reserued vnto iudgement The God of spirits spared not the spirits that transgressed but the Prophet
thy neighbour say as Rhode did in the acts of the Apostles It is Peters voyce it is the voyce of Sathan Nec vox hominem sonat and put him off with an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let no Pelagian selfe-opiniond betray thee that thou shouldest thinke nulla dei gratia adiâ—tos omnia peccata posse vitare There be two great dangers that we are yet subiect to after God hath in mercy forgiuen all our trespasses past 1 Falling into new sinnes for if Sathan cannot preuaile against vs in one temptation hee will assault vs in another it is said of him that he hath Nomina mille Mille nocendi artes as Dauid though we neuer reade him againe tempted either to adultery or murther yet hee was led into a new temptation to number the people And Peter though he neuer faulted more in denying his Master yet Saint Paul tooke him in the manner for not walking pede recto For our originall corruption hath in it the seed of all kinde of sinnes and many baites being at once in sight it is an hard escape to quite them all 2 The other danger is of relapse for after repentance and pardon obtained we may fall againe into the same sinne with much more danger then before especially such sinnes as custome hath assiduated as a common lyar a common swearer a common drunkard a common breaker of the Sabbath How can we say that any of these sinners that liue in the daily practise of these sinnes doe repent them or how dare they say Leade vs not into temptation when they loue the workes they doe so well as not to part with them Relapses haue so small comfort in holy Scripture as it is obserued by some learned that there is not one example of Scripture in either testament of grace after relapse whereupon some of the ancient Fathers haue gone too farre in denying possibility of grace after recidiuation I dare not goe so farre it is breaking of a bruised reede Master Perkins in his booke of the nature and practise of repentance doth say We finde no example in Scripture of recouery after relapse yet in his booke of the conflicts of Sathan with a Christian nameth two examples one of Abraham who twice said that Sarah was his sister and of Ioseph who twice sware by the life of Pharaoh He also chargeth Dauid with more adulteries also in maintaining many wiues But as in the body so in the soule relapses are full of danger LVC. 11.4 But deliuer vs from euill I Follow the most ancient who make this the seuenth Petition of this prayer for temptation and euill are not all one euery euill is not temptation nor euery temptation euill I distinguish them thus In the former petition we pray that we may doe no euill in this that we may suffer none in the former is malum culpae in this malum poenae is deprecated Both against the deuill 1 Ne doceat malum 2 Ne noceat malo 1 That he seduce vs not against Massah 2 That he torment vs not against Meribah This is like Dauids prayer Deliuer me out of the mire let me not sinke let me be deliuered from them that hate me and out of the deepe waters Let not the water floud ouerflow me neither let the deep swallow me vp let not the pit shut her mouth vpon me To proceede in this as in the former petitions let vs 1 Consider what is meant by euill 2 What we desire vnder the name of deliuerance 3 What duties this petition teacheth vs. 1 What we meane by euill Saint Cyprian Post ista omnia in consummationem orationis venit clausula vniuersas petitiones preces nostras collectâ breuitate concludens He vnderstands this euill here deprecated to reprehend aduersa cuncta quae contra nos in hoc mundo molitur inimicus Quando dicimus liberanos a malo nihil remanet quod vltra debeat a nobis postulari cùm semel protectionem dei aduersus malum petamus qua impetrata contra omnia quae diabolus mundus operantur securi stamus tuti Quis enim ei de saeculo metus est cui in saeculo deus tutor est Saint Augustine saith A malo in quod inducti sumus a malo in quod induci possumus Ludolph a malo praesenti praeterito futuro Augustine againe ab inimico à peccato Saint Ambrose before him vnderstood it so I imbrace my former exposition as most consonant to the course of our prayer and fitted to our necessities 1 Giue vs bread that we may liue 2 Forgiue vs all our sinnes past and present that we may liue well 3 Leade vs not into temptation that wee may preuent sinne to come 4 Deliuer vs from all euils that may afflict and punish vs in the time to come that is 1 A malo quod sumus 2 A malo i. a diabolo 3 A malo quod meriti sumus 1 A malo quod sumus 1 We are so corrupt by nature being borne filij irae that we had need to pray to be deliuered from it not onely as it is our pollution defiling vs but as it is our rod scourging rather our Scorpion stinging vs. Sinne is a burthen Dauid complaineth of it too heauy for him to beare and as we desire to be washed from the filth and pollution of it so desire we to be eased from the importable burthen of it from the terrors of a guilty conscience from the feare of the wages of it for stipendium peccati mors from the shame of it in the world from the griefe of it in the heart for they that hide sinne in the bosome carry all these roddes about them There is no vexation comparable to that of a guilty conscience it maketh the inward man like the furious rage of the sea foaming out froth and filth Isidore tels vs as we shall finde it Conscientia rei semper in poena est This euill is best declared and reuealed to vs if wee doe consider 1 That the holy word of truth hath plainely affirmed that all the elect of God are washed in the bloud of Christ and haue the free and full forgiuenesse of all their sinnes sealed to them by the oracle of truth by God who cannot lye by two immutable things his word and oath 2 That notwithstanding this certaine sealed pardon giuen by God obtained by Iesus Christ yet God for the punishment of sinne doth in his seuere iustice leaue his faithfull seruants to the carke and torment of a guilty conscience which for want of faith to sue out this pardon and to plead it at the court of iustice doth almost leade the distressed guilty person to the gates of hell 1 The euill that here we deprecate is the terrour of the conscience wanting faith to make a comfortable application of all the gratious promises of God to the elect taking them home to our selues 2 Another euill is presumption laying hold vpon these promises without
faith 1 For the want of faith It is true that the faith of the elect cannot faile finally or totally 1 For the foundation of God is sealed with this seale the Lord knoweth who are his 2 The grace of election is the gift and calling of God and his gifts and calling are without repentance 3 Whom he loueth to the end he loueth them 4 His promise I will not leaue thee nor forsake thee 5 His gift he hath giuen the elect to his sonne and no man shall take them out of his hands 6 Christ prayeth for them I pray for those whom thou hast giuen me But the euill that we may suffer herein is our want of faith to beleeue that we are of that number for the conscience accuseth vs and layeth our sinnes in order before vs and sheweth vs the wages of this sinne to be death Iob was in this distresse when he complained How many are mine iniquities and sinnes make me to know my transgressions and my sinne Wherefore hidest thou thy face and holdest me for thine enemy In this distresse was Dauid when he said in the bitternesse of expostulation Will the Lord cast off for euer and will he be fauourable no more Is his mercy cleane gone for euer doth his promise faile for euermore Hath God forgotten to be gratious hath he in anger shut vp his tender mercies What greater euill can there be then this it is vinum furoris a cup of vinegar and gall Dauid was in the very pit when he prayed Let not the deepe swallow me vp and let not the pit shut her mouth vpon me This euill we pray God to diuert from vs that our faith may not faile vs though our feeling doe and because the best of Gods seruants on earth may haue some of these cold shaking fits of feare Christ hath put this petition in our mouthes libera nos a malo 2 Another euill in the state of a Christian is presumption when we make too bold with our God this is not faith but the corruption of it corruptio optimi pessima O keepe thy seruant from presumptuous sinnes so shall I be innocent from the great offences 1 As presumption is a sinne in act we pray against it in Dimitte nobis debita nostra As it is a sinne that we feare to be comming on by our corrupt nature inclining vs to it so we pray against it in ne nos inducas 3 But we must consider presumption as it may bee a punishment a rodde of God to scourge vs for some other sinne and so we pray to be deliuered from it in this petition This presumption whether it build too much vpon the experience of Gods former fauour as Dauid dixi in corde meo nunquam mouebor tu domine c. Or if it let goe the hold that it hath vpon God and rest it selfe vpon some way of our owne as in our Paradise Parents who found a tricke to better their owne creation by being like to God poena est Generally it pleaseth God to punish one sinne by another as wee haue great and full examples Saint Paul saith that the people falling into idolatry Therefore God also gaue them vp to vncleanenesse through the lusts of their owne hearts to dishonour their owne bodies betweene themselues and againe For this cause God gaue them vp vnto vile affections So when Dauid waxed wanton of his peace and prosperity and begunne to forget God God gaue him vp to vncleanenesse to defile his body with adultery and after that to hide it with murther so did he Peter for sinning in presumption of the strength of his faith to resist Sathan God gaue him vp to the deniall of his Master and to maintaine that with swearing and protestation Against this we pray deliuer vs from euill that euill of sinning which draweth on and increaseth sinne till it make it out of measure sinfull for there is such a concatenation of sinnes that if God leaue vs in one sinne and heale not our soules he whose name is Legion because they are many will soone bring in seuen spirits worse then the former 2 A malo i. a diabolo He is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He compasseth the earth to and fro as he confesseth in Iob and he goeth about saith Saint Peter like a roaring Lyon seeking to deuoure and Saint Paul saith to the Corinthians I feare lest by any meanes as the Scripture beguiled Euah through his subtilty so your minde should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ 1 The furie of this violent enemie is to be feared for though his power be so limited that without leaue he cannot hurt vs yet his malice is such to vs that he will neuer giue ouer his prouocation of vs to ill by his temptations and his accusation of vs to God for our offences therefore he is called The accuser of the brethren The Apostle doth expresse him formidable when he putteth a Christian to it to put on the whole armour of God to defend vs against him For the power of Sathan is to flesh and bloud inuincible it cannot resist him whereas the greatest force of flesh and bloud hath beene by flesh and bloud resisted and subdued The great sonnes of Anak the mightie Goliah and his brethren whole armies of valiant men haue beene put to the worst but Sathan was neuer conquered by meere man 2 The malice of Sathan to mankinde is implacable for he hateth God and the image of God in man makes matter of vnreconcileable malignity there is no safety in yeelding to him whom he kisseth he betrayeth for he is a murtherer from the beginning 3 The cunning of Sathan is unmatchable for man he is the old Serpent and he hath his wiles as the Apostle calleth them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fraudulent circumuentions pretensed to be the wayes wherein we ought to walke flesh and bloud cannot ouer-reach him And to aduance his cunning he is 1 Inuisible for he is about vs vnseene 2 He is priuy to all our words and workes 3 He is vnwearied in his watch 4 Not hindered in his passage to and fro being a spirit quicke of motion 5 Assisted with innumerable angels of darkenesse nimble mormies to negotiate for him Who would haue suspected the deuill in the bosome of Iudas Iscariot or in the mouth of Peter yet Adam met with him in the faire-spoken tongue of Euah and was beguiled by him Therefore we haue cause to pray heartily and continually deliuer vs from the euill one 3 Deliuer vs à malo quod meriti sumus we haue deserued punishments of our sinnes here in our bodies in our soules in our goods in our good name in our life the second death euen the nethermost hell against all these we pray Libera nos Domine Generally we deprecate all afflictions of body and minde which follow sinne as the punishment of it for there is no punishment in it selfe good
also telleth vs by his experience Man that is borne of woman is of few daies and full of trouble The best of Gods seruants commonly smart most in these daily grieuances for iudgement beginneth at Gods house Dauid makes great moane often in his Psalmes griefes in his body vnquietnesse in his soule persecutions from his enemies and innumerable vexations S. Paul complaineth of laboures stripes imprisonments shipwrack many perils by land and by sea wearinesse painfulnesse watching fasting hunger thirst cold nakednesse And who is he that walketh conscionably in the feare of God that hath not cause to complaine with Dauid Innumerable troubles haue compassed me about 2 The remedy of this Pater noster libera nos The deliuerance here desired of our father is that copiosa redemptio plentifull redemption which Dauid doth speake of which is By grace of preuention to keepe them off from vs ne ingruant 2 By grace of subuention to support vs in these euils ne opprimant 3 By grace of full deliuerance to remoue them vtterly from vs ne destruant 1 For the grace of preuention Dauid was very neare a shrewd turne when Saul the king threw his iauelin at him So was he when Michall conueied him away through a window that he might escape the messengers which Saul sent of purpose to kill him S. Paul had such a deliuerance In Damascus the Gouernor vnder Aretas the king kept the city with a garrison desirous to apprehend me And through the windowes in a basket I was let downe by the wall and escaped The Scripture is full of examples of this kind and he that obserueth well the course of his own life will find many of these gratious preuentions of euill wherewith the hand of our great deliuerer hath kept off many euils from him Destruction was come euen to the very gates of Niniueh and within forty daies all had perished had not mercy interposed In 88. when Spaine girded on her harnesse against this land and came hitherward with purpose to inuade with the Popes promise to conquer and possesse this kingdome here was the Deuill suggesting the Pope abetting and the Spaniard attempting and God preuenting In 1605 the machination of the powder treason by the sonnes of Belial men of blood the corroboration of the plot by the agents for the Pope the secret abetment of it from Spaine the prosecution of it to the day of destruction lost all their strength and spit their venome vpon themselues in the defeat of their treason the destruction of the traitours and in the perpetuall reproach of Popish religion to all the ends of the world and to the last period of time All this by this preuenting goodnesse of God who kept vs from the euill and would not suffer vs to fall into the pit that they had digged for our soules For this Christ prayed his father Pater si possibile est transeat hic calix And this is that which is promised to the faithfull There shall no euill befall thee neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling He shall giue his Angels charge ne offendas This is the chiefest of Gods deliuerances and the fullest of Gods temporall mercies this also is a common and usuall tendernesse of God to vs to preserue vs from danger but this is neither so sensibly perceiued nor receiued so thankfully as it deserues It may bee we may report our strange escapes with wonder and tell them for newes but we do not commonly giue God the honor due to his name for them by praysing him for them as we ought 2 The grace of subuention in euils This was the fauour that the father did to the sonne in the agony that he suffered in the garden for hee sent to him then And there appeared to him an Angell from heauen strengthening him Christ our louing Sauiour chose rather to be comforted in his sorrowes then to bee kept quite from them for he did vndergoe them for vs as S. Ambrose sweetly saith Suscepit tristitiam meam vt mihi largiretur laetitiam suam and againe Debuit dolorem suscipere vt vinceret And God sent to him his Angell to comfort him in this distresse as Beda saith Sicut propter nos tristis est propter nos confortatur that we might know that so many as are by faith vnited to Christ haue interest in Gods spirituall consolations in the middest of all troubles Thus Saint Paul was comforted aboord the ship in his dangerous voyage to Rome the Angell of the Lord appeared to him and promised him his owne life and all their liues that sailed with him Thus was Noah supported in the deluge of the whole world Lot in the conflagration of Sodome Daniel in the den of Lyons the three Children in the fierie furnace Ioseph in the prison Peter also being in ward Our Father to whom wee pray euen as Ionah from the belly of hell is called the father of mercies and the God of all comfort who comforteth vs in all our tribulations that we may be able to comfort you which be in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we our selues are comforted of God So he himselfe is a comforter and he would haue vs comforters one to another and his Angels be comforters Yet for all this to make vp a full consolation Christ saith I will giue you another comforter and he promiseth his abode with vs for euer This grace of subuention though it doe not quit the afflictions yet it taketh away the euill of them so that the Saints of God are exprest reioycing in tribulations which they could not doe if the euill thereof were not remoued This mercy of subuention if neither charitie nor zeale desire it yet smart and paine will extort it from men for who suffers paine or griefe or losse or infamie but in the pang of the fit he cryeth God helpe me 3 The grace of full deliuerance Many are the troubles of the righteous but the Lord deliuereth him out of them all The snare is broken we are deliuered This fauour Noah and Lot had so had Daniel and the three Children first comforted in tribulations then deliuered from them and Ioseph of whom it is said that they put his feete in the stockes the iron entred into his soule He had the innocency of his cause to comfort him and though for a time he did suffer this affliction in the prison as a malefactor for so we must vnderstand the storie yet after some time of suffering God did giue him fauour in the sight of the Keeper and then he had comfort in his captiuity And as the Psalmist saith he abode there vntill the time that his word came the word of the Lord tryed him The King sent and loosed him the ruler of the people and let him goe free The time when his word came was the time when he interpreted to Pharaoh his double dreame then the word of
Arias Montanus giues this note vpon these words in Saint Matthew Animaduerte lector hanc clausulam non esse de textu he addeth also that in the Greeke Church the congregation doth neuer repeate this clause but when they haue with the Minister said libera nos a malo The Priest onely pronounceth these words quia tuum est regnum c. And learned Erasmus thinkes that these words might be added to the Lords prayer by the vse of the Church as at the end of the Psalmes we added that holy acclamation of Gloria patri filio spiritui sancto yet neither of these Apocryphicall or without diuine authority for Dauid is said to blesse the Lord before all the congregation saying Thine O Lord is the greatnesse power and glory and the maiesty and the victory for all that is in the heauen and earth is thine Thine is the kingdome O Lord and thou art exalted as head aboue all Therefore approuing the vse of this conclusion of the Lords prayer we proceed in it 1 And call it by the name which is giuen to it by the holy Ghost our Blessing of God after prayer this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 We will consider it as a motiue to God to grant vs the requests made in the seuen petitions 3 As it is a strengthening of our faith to aske all these things at the hands of God 1 This is a blessing of God We are said to blesse God when we doe praise him and giue him the honour due to his name So Saint Paul meant it Blessed be God euen the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort And it agreeth well with our duty that we petitioning this father in this prayer for all mercies and all comfort and wrastling with him in our prayer as Iacob did for his blessing vpon vs should also blesse him and praise his name Rea. 1 And for our direction herein we haue our Sicut in coelo in terra for Iohn heard euery creature which is in heauen and in earth and vnder the earth and such as are in the sea saying Blessing honour glory and power bee vnto him that sitteth vpon the throne and vnto the lambe for euer and euer Rea. 2 Let vs consider what Dauid saith Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised We pray in our first petition Hallowed be thy name for the name of God is great and Dauid saith According to thy name O God so is thy praise vnto the ends of the earth thy hand is full of righteousnesse We labour to open that hand by our prayers that we may partake of his righteousnesse therefore to him belongeth praise for his names sake We are created to this end to glorifie God in our bodies Rea. 3 and in our soules and this is the way to honour him ipse dixit Who so offereth praise glorifieth me Dauid often calleth it Sacrificium laudis And he calleth these kinde of sacrifices the sacrifices of righteousnesse These be called vituli labiorum in Hose they are called fructus labiorum confitentium nomini eius by the author to the Hebrewes The Saints of God haue vsed to cast themselues downe at his feete that in their humiliation he may bee exalted when we kneele or prostrate our selues to one that standeth by vs we make him shew high ouer vs therefore when the Lords faithfull seruants come to him to worship they fall low on their knees before him They euacuate themselues and put off all honour and estimation from themselues to giue it all to him this is blessing of God So doe we in this prayer all petition then confession 2 Consider this as a motiue to God to grant the petitions herein contained 1 Wherein obserue that we haue no arguments to induce God to goodnesse towards vs but such onely as are drawne from himselfe and his owne holy and great attributes Therefore Daniel renounceth all respects drawne from himselfe as vnpleadable Wee doe not present our supplications before thee for our owne righteousnesse but for thy great mercies therefore he prayeth O Lord heare O Lord forgiue O Lord hearken and doe deferre not for thine owne sake O my God So Nehemiah in his prayer doth make a contrite confession of his sinnes to God and the sinnes of all the people and his plea for mercy and forgiuenesse and for further grace and fauour of God is the promise of God Remember the word that thou commandedst by thy seruant Moses So we pray remember thine owne kingdome thy power and thy glory when we aske of thee these petitions for we haue nothing of our own worth the remembring for whose sake thou shouldest grant our requests 2 Let vs consider how these may be motiues to perswade our God to heare our prayers we doe herein acknowledge and ascribe to God 1 Kingdome as Dauid saith The Lord is King the earth may be glad thereof he is no tyrant but a King to whom belongeth the procuration of the good of his Subiects Hee is our King of old saith Dauid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He is therefore the breath of our nostrils he is the common father of vs all ruling vs with authority and loue And because thou art our King we pray thee to glorifie thine owne name in thy Church to let thy kingdome come to it To aduance thy will in it To sustaine vs thy subiects with all the necessaries and conueniences of life To seale thy pardon of all our sinnes To keepe vs from the infection of new sinnes from relapses into our old ones To defend vs from the power of the deuill and to saue vs from any thing that may offend and hurt vs. 2 Power is ascribed to God Wherein we appeale to the omnipotency of our Father we acknowledge him able to doe whatsoeuer hee will in heauen and earth So Nehemiah beginneth his prayer O Lord God of heauen the great and terrible God So began Daniel O Lord the great and dreadfull God This confession of Gods power doth incline the greatnesse and might of God to stoope it selfe to vs for power takes no ioy in aduancing it self against weaknes Amongst men there be of those barbarous and inhumane natures which abuse power to vnmercifull tyranny and oppression but when we confesse the power of God we submit to it and thereby moue the God of power to declare the same to our good He hath power in spirituall graces to bestow them on vs that we may serue him in the hallowing of his name his power can extend his kingdome ouer all his power onely can make vs able to doe his will this power commandeth heauen and earth to minister to our necessities He hath power to pardon all sinnes and to preserue vs from temptation and euill Therefore the consideration of our confession of his power moueth him to grant our requests in all