any but to such as are very ignorant or prepossessed with much prejudice For this intends not prayers for the Dead according to the superstitious practice of the Church of Rome nor upon such considerations nor to such purposes as when they pray for Souls departed out of this life But the Saints now at rest from their Labours and bodily endeavours having still potentially at least a spiritual Communion with us and we with them as members of Christs Mystical Body and who having as much right as we to what appertains to the eternal Kingdom are no more to be excluded totally out of our Prayers who yet live then we were out of their Prayers and the Petitions of the Catholick Church before we were born it being to me doubtless that their Devotions were then exhibited on our behalf by the Example of Christ our Head of whom it is testified John I7 I9 that when he prayed for his Apostles he said I pray not for these alone but for them also who shall believe on me through their word This Prayer extends also to the preservation of all other Creatures which being as it were the Sons of God by Creation are said to groan together with us Rom. 8. 20. Even they receive benefit with us by this prayer toward their subsistance and perpetuity which is metaphorically signified by daily bread For a natural Instinct inclines them to demonstrate in some sort that which is equivalent with a desire of what is wanting though they neither know what they lack or whence it comes Even the vegetative Plants and Herbs evidence it by their drooping when they have over-much or too little rain or fair weather and by their refreshment with showres or heat so do the Beasts also when none being present to relieve them they bellow and lift up their voices in their kinde for want of meat For these respects the scope which this Prayer hath in my understanding inclines my desire in the use thereof to extend it to all things and persons that were are or shall be for procuring of whatsoever is therein explicitely or implicitely comprehended as having an Universal Relation For Priviledges there are which the Saints Universally enjoy by a Spiritual Communion not heeded by the world which will be demonstrated more at large by my Meditations upon the twelve Articles of our Faith commonly called the Apostles Creed if God gives me time and means to make it publick and if I recover that part of it which was taken from me and being but short notes to bring things to remembrance will be of no use to those who have them 4. By the right use of this Prayer every Member of Jesus Christ is united in his Mediation the whole agreeing with the Head and with each other in all Requests without contradiction whereof I know not how we could have had an assurance save by this Medium For the speaking it in several Languages Times or Places makes no essential difference or material dis-junction nor do the involuntary mistakes or infirmities of the weakest Members render their Sacrifice unacceptable or ineffectual because he to whom their Addresses are made can and doth reconcile such differences and the whole Body being ingratiated by the dignity of that Head the most ignorant and insensible parts thereof if they separate not themselves willfully and maliciously are partakers of that Faith which is in the whole and of whatsoever is imparted thereto or conferred thereupon by the merit and mediation of their Head and Mediator yea as truely as the Inferiour members of our Natural Bodies whilst they continue in their places injoy the benefits to them pertaining and so far forth as they are capable of them as the Tongue Eyes Ears and Heart though the other can neither speak see hear or understand as these do And the knowledge of this may be a great means of consolation to many a poor weak Member of Christ who is sensible of his personal defects It is also by this participation onely that we make good our affectionate desires and verbal ingagements or promises to pray for our Friends or Relations in their several necessities absent or present which we cannot so often and so particularly remember as we would if it were not done by an Universal concurrence in this mode of praying to our heavenly Father before whom that which was but once prayed for in Faith continues always as if we were always praying it and as if it were the joynt-act of the whole Catholick Church for which respect neither should a due application of this Prayer be neglected or the great advantages thereby vouchsafed be unthankfully heeded Moreover by Christs teaching us in this Form of Prayer to say Our Father and not My Father I do conceive that in all our Desires and Petitions we ought to have still heed and regard to the necessities and welfare of others as aforesaid as well as to our own especially of our Brethren relating to the same Father though for the present they be rebellious children and that we should be wary we seek not the advance of a self-interest by a Publick detriments or to the wrong of any private person or to the infringement of Christian Charity the want whereof makes all Prayers ineffectual to them who shall so pray 5. The Father there meant to whom our Addresses are to be made and said to be in Heaven is the first Person of the Holy Trinity the other two Persons to wit the Son and Holy Ghost being implicitely to be understood as one with him in the same Deity and we being a Brotherhood relating to the same Father warrants the fore-going Interpretation God is the Father of all corporeal and spiritual created Beings and by that Appellative we are incouraged to hope and believe that we shall obtain whatsoever we petition for in this Prayer taught us by his best beloved Son even to the utmost extent thereof though we our selves neither know or can minde all that is comprehended in those words because as it is said Rom 8. 26. The Spirit helpeth our infirmities making intercession for us with groanings that cannot be expressed This Form containeth nothing repugnant to his Fathers Will and Christ hath assured us That whatsoever we shall ask of his heavenly Father in his Name shall be obtained and doubtless it will be no bar to this assurance when we ask according to his own direction yet knowing our infirmities to confirm us in that belief without wavering he hath made it probable by Inferences drawn from our common experience Luke 11. The one from that prevalency which constant importunity hath upon such Friends as have but little sence of our necessities and the other drawn from the good effects which proceed even from our imperfect natural affections who are but earthly Fathers For said he If a Son shall ask bread of any of you who is a Father will he give him a stone If he shall ask Fish will he give
we have cognizance thereof or suspect our selves to have been any way faulty VVe shall arrogate nothing to our own endeavours when we have done the best we can but ascribe all the honour and merit of what is performed to our Heavenly Father and Creator his Son our Redeemer and to the Holy Ghost our Sanctifier who are as it were the Triumvirate by whom this Kingdom is governed When we finde these marks upon us the willingness of our hearts will be accepted as a compleat performance of the whole Law and we shall have an undoubting assurance that this Kingdom is in such a measure within us as will ripen to perfection in due time Al this we may finde implicitely contained in those Benedictions recorded in the Gospel with promises annexed by our Saviour to the qualifications there mentioned Matthew 5. 3. c. Blessed are the poor in Spirit for their's is the Kingdom of heaven Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Blessed are the Peace-makers for they shall be called the Children of God Blessed are they who are persecuted for Righteousness sake for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Blessed are ye when men shall revile you persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsly for my sake Rejoyce then and be glad for great is your reward in heaven so persecuted they the Prophets which were before These are not my words but his even the King of this Kingdom who will make them good and as I said before whosoever shall finde these foresaid marks upon him may be confident that the Kingdom of Heaven is within him The third Petition Thy Will be done in earth as it is in Heaven 1. WHen with perfect assent thereunto in heart as well as in words we can say this Petition our work will soon be at an end for we shall then be called home by our Heavenly Father and there will be no more need of such things as are prayed for in the three following Petitions Let us well consider therefore what we ask for in these words They amount in effect to a true self denial which is the most difficult thing in the world for flesh and blood to submit unto yet may possibly be made easie if it were well considered that it brings with it the greatest advantages that we can Petition or endeavour for by any faculty that we can call our own seeing God who can and doth renew the Will and inclines us thereto when we pray that his VVill may be rather fulfilled then our own hath promised assistance It begins to be easie to a regenerated heart when it knows that GODS Will and Righteousness are one and that our Will and Wickedness also are one as it is meerly our own will and brings us into all the mischiefs which befal both in this world and the world to come if we are swayed wholly thereby In this Petition as in the former we ask together with what tends to Gods glory that which will both prevent our destruction here and procure our eternal happiness hereafter He that knows God as he may do by what he hath manifested of himself and of his goodness toward all Mankinde need never to be afraid to submit his own will to his yea Body Soul and all that is most dear and pretious in his own esteem to be disposed of at his pleasure This knowledge and confidence is ordinarily begotten in most men of understanding by reading and hearing his Word preached but sometimes especially in them whose natural Faculties are defective it is wrought by a spiritual Instinct â—â—isensibly working in the Soul a conformity to the VVill of God which is always the same though to us it seems to change as we are changed He hath not as some say who delude themselves and others by sophisticated distinctions a secret and a revealed VVill contradictory to each other yea so contradictory that they may be rather judged two wills then One This false opinion causes many to be distrustful of Gods good meaning towards Mankinde fearful he will reprobate them when they have done all they can to please him and consequently though they profess the contrary and speak many good words of him blaspheam his goodness imputing that unto him which belongs to the Devil and themselves onely They who make unto themselves such a GOD cannot be better then he and I shall not wonder if they cannot pray heartily that his will may be done 2. To excuse themselves there be some of these who in effect do irreverently say thus unto God in their hearts VVho hath resisted thy VVill Thou knowest that by the sin of our Fathers and by thy eternal Decree of Election and Reprobation the greatest part of mankinde is left in or rather thrown into so sad a depraved condition that we are neither free to will or to do what thou requirest This is impudently to belie and blaspheam GOD For when he said that The seed of the VVoman should break the Serpents head he sanctified the whole humane Nature into a capability of performing so much as he requires absolutely at our hands and hath ever since and will for ever at first or at last so inlighten every man who comes into the world vouchsafing according to his promise such a renewing of the will and such a perpetual co-assistance for askng to perform what shall be accepted for the deed to all them who shall not wilfully malitiously and finally resist his Grace that no deficiency in him can be justly laid to his charge in relation to our misdoings as it will be manifested when all hidden things are discovered at the last judgment Indeed as we are meerly in our depraved Nature we can neither do or will ought that is acceptably good but as we are in grace we may For then to will is freely present with us and our doings perfected by the Merits of Christ yea our misdoings are often by him improved both to his Glory and our Salvation not that we should sin that Grace may abound but that abounding Grace may keep us from sin If we had not a Free will in sufficient measure to do or leave undone to chuse or refuse then were our faculties inferiour to those of beasts which do chuse or leave such means of preservation as are set before them nay were this liberty taken away or quite lost we could not be justly reputed righteous or wicked by our meer personal default in respect of any thing which we will or do or leave undone Wise men do not endeavour to force a Beast to that whereunto he is not naturally inclined much less to that whereunto he hath a Natural Antipathy and destroy him for not doing
much respective meekness which they know is absolutely due unto them and unjustly detained This Benediction Blessed are the poor in spirit implies with what sence of our nakedness and with what spiritual poverty of minde we ought to petition our Father and these words annexed Theirs is the Kingdom of heaven Matth. 5. 3. demonstrate that there is no humane Rhetorick more prevalent with him They will most humbly pray most diligently seek and most earnestly knock that is do all things justly pertinent to an obtaining of what they want who know the supplying of their defects must proceed meerly from the Bounty or Charity of the Giver and that he who will not endeavour for his daily bread so far forth as he is able when he wants it is not priviledged to eat by the Apostles Rule and Practice and what can we do less toward it then humbly to ask it The same Apostle though he did perform the works of his Ministry freely for which things necessary were due from them whose benefit was thereby intended wrought with his own hands to supply what was wanting rather then he would be over burthensome or take ought from them who despising his Ministry made themselves unworthy to be numbred among his Benefactors He to whom we are hereby taught to pray never neglects to give his Children what they have need of unless it be to prevent or cure some other Defects which would have worse consequences then the lack of some necessaries for a while And though he then lets us to bite on the Bridle yet when be findes us to be so sensible of our defects that we reslove to seek unto him he meets us as did the Prodigal Sons Father and is ready to give before we ask I was young and am now older then David was yet can say as truely as he I never saw the Righteous forsaken or their seed begging bread That is I never saw them so forsaken as to be left so comfortless in their greatest wants to make begging their refuge as common beggers do resolving to live Idlely by begging or Healing onely Such for the most part are extreamly wicked in their lives and conversations Cursers Swearers Malitious Envious Rayling and Snarling at each other where they attend for Alms like Dogs quarrelling for bones yea grumbling and returning currish language even to those who relieve them if they answer not their unreasonable expectations Yet these must not be so neglected as they are but as David counselleth wisely to be considered not onely to preserve them from perishing who are unable to provide for themselves but to provide means whereby they who are unable to work may not live in fluttish idleness and carelesness for our heavenly Father denieth nothing to any of his Children but when he knows they ask it to be continued in idleness or to satisfie their lusts rather then to imploy it to his honour and the comfort of their brethren according as they shall be able He feeds the Fowls of the Air though they neither Plow nor Sow but they seek their meat according to the means which he hath given them so to do he likewise Clothes the Lilies and Flowers of the Fields with glorious colours but they without resistance of his Will are passive though not active in permitting providence to act upon them what he pleaseth toward their vegetative being and adorning in which respects they are instanced as I conceive for a symbolical representation of that absolute obedience which is in the Saints and in those Seeds of Grace which are in them to fructifie for Gods Glory and toward their own perfection 4. Moreover the Emphasis which I apprehend to be in these words this day hints unto us not onely this Caution that we take all lawful opportunities to improve Gods daily Blessings and to dispence our Charity as occasions are offered but also not to defer it until another day because we know not what shall be to morrow or whether we have one other day to live Many fair advantages are lost by procrastination never to be recovered and yet through want of consideration many often defer the doing of their duties when they have neither less nor more benefit thereby which demonstrates their sottishness who are thereto inclinable By those words in the Original which are interpreted Daily bread I understand all things whatsoever to be thereby intended and included which are pertinent to the preservation of our Souls and Bodies for Bread is called the Staff of Life and if I thought it needful to be evidenced by particular Texts I could make it appear that not onely all external necessaries are by holy Scripture intended by Bread but that the spiritual nourishments of our Souls are called the Bread of Life Yea Christ Jesus said of himself I am the Bread of Life which came down from Heaven whereof if any man eateth he shall live for ever and the Bread which I will give it my Flesh which I will give for the Life of the world c. I cannot therefore think when he prescribed this From of Prayer but that he intended we should ask this Bread rather then the Common-bread or such outward things as are thereby signified for doubtless he who knew what most concerned us did principally intend this Bread should be prayed for as that which will bring with it all other things necessary both for our temporary and everlasting well-being But O God! how many of us do minde so much eartbly material Bread and those other things which flesh and blood are most affected withall when we offer up this Petition that we have no thought of that Bread which must preserve our souls and bodies to eternal Life How few care to know or heed what is contained in this pretious Catholicon And how is it neglected and underprized as a Form of Prayer fitting none but Ideots and Children even by some pretending to Piety I take in and put forth that which is offered by Meditation upon this Prayer as it comes into my heart and not remembring all that I have written may perhaps insist other while more then once upon the same Notions and Cautions but that I hope shall not be excepted against for such Iterations are very frequent in the writings of the Prophets yet not impertinent in regard as well our heedlesness of what is spoken as the various occasions thereof makes them useful The fifth Petition And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us 1. THis Petition is joyned to the next before it by the Conjunction Copulative AND as this is also to the last Petition by the same Copulative from whence I collect that it would be he little to Our long-lasting comfort to ask and obtain our Daily bread unlels our sins are also forgiven and that we should quickly forfeit again our pardons and be in a worse condition then before though we had plenty of all temporal and spiritual provisions prepared and
considered knowing it required much heed to avoid such mistakes as we might else incur by a negligent use of them But this Form of Prayer which I have now meditated upon is made so plain and so suitable to the whole and to every individual Member of Christs Mystical Body as also to the meanest capacities that it may safely be repeated singly and joyntly in the literal sence Yet I have observed and I think am not therein deceived that God hath permitted many wiser men then I am to be subject to misapprehensions in the duties of Praise and Prayer and particularly in the use of this unquestionable Form and perhaps hath so permitted it thereby to prove and exercise their Humility Patience Prudence and Love which being well considered together with that Christian Liberty which ought to be preserved without Infringement and from over-far inlarging the limits thereof would qualifie the Contest among dissenting Brethren and therefore I have here to that end precautioned so much as I conceive may be pertinently extracted from the subject I have now in hand and it gives me occasion of many particular hints to that purpose For This is a Charm made by the best Physician Which if applyed without superstition Cures and secures T is a Catholicon Compounded for the use of every one In weal and wo in every differing Case For every Change in every Time and Place For each State Person Sex Age and Degree Whether mean high low rich or poor they be Single or Congregated if they pray it Hallowed with Faith and Love as well as say it For said in words it may be yet not pray'd And pray'd it may be though in words not said Who ever therefore shall not be partaker Of profit by it cannot blame the Maker 6 Some overstrictly confine other men within their jurisdiction to their set Forms of Prayers and Worships upon such penalties is are unmercifully destructive to the peace estates relations and persons of those who are by them compelled because their tender unsatisfied Consciences will not permit that complyance which is required lest they should thereby violate that obedience which they believe is owing to a Superior Power and to him who is the sole Judge in all Causes relating to his own Supremacy And if that be unfeignedly their Plea without respect to any carnal self-ends and no unquestionable Evidence produced proving that their Principles or practices tend to the violation of the Moral Law or to the breach of the Common Peace by their default it seems very hard measure to compel them contrary to the Law of Nature or the ancient Priviledges of their Nation actively to submit unto that which is offensive to their Consciences in respect of God and repugnant to that Light which is in them especially when they are questioned upon bare suspitions or by the clandestine Informations of persons having no good report as also before they shall be convinced of erring by better Arguments then compulsion and the arbitrary will and pleasure of those who are neither authorized to judge of matters relating to God alone nor have means to take true cagnizance of such secrets as cannot certainly be known to any but to God himself The consequents of such inforcements are not onely destructive to their persons and Families who are compelled if they submit not or hazzardous to their souls who submit contrary to what they believe in their hearts because they become thereby guilty of that which is abhorred of God to whom also that is unpleasing which is unwillingly performed though it be what he himself commandeth but it is also mischievous or at least unprofitable to the Imposers as will be made probable in what followes To the clean all things are clean and that which defiles one will not defile another if conscienciously acted without any meer carnal and self-end St. Paul said Rom. 14 14. he was perswaded by Christ Jesus That there is nothing unclean in it self yet to him who believeth any thing to be unclean to him it is unclean And in that respect we are exhorted in the same Chapter to follow those things which tend to peace and whereby we may edifie one another without giving just cause of offence to our weak Brethren or of blaspheaming to them who are without or of infringing the Christian Liberty which permitteth the profession practise or omission of things indifferent so far forth as they are honest just of good report among good men and tending to edification in the love and fear of God And it is very considerable that the inforcing such things one way or another produceth one of the most mischievous consequences in the world both to those who compel them and to them among whom they live for when they have constrained men by hope or fear of temporary advantages or disadvantages to destroy their Consciences which makes them men of no Consciences and thereby such as have also no God they do by that imprudence add none to their own Party but such wicked Hypocrites and secret Traytors as otherwhile become a Plague both to those who offered violence to their pretended consciences and to all other good men with whom they have to do for whatsoever Oaths they take whatsoever Covenants they make whatsoever Ingagements they enter into they usually become false and perfidious to those who trusted them as soon as they finde it may be to their particular advantage And I have long observed that those Formalities in Divine Worship which are submitted unto through fear and even those principles of Truth which are professed for carnal ends onely did never make any such to be the better men and I therefore wonder what they hope to get by it who by compulsion make proselytes or Conformists to their Judgement and Practice those who are neither truly serviceable to God to their Country or to whom they are compelled except it be for this end that when such Imposers have services to be done which none but the most damnable Villanes will do they may know where to finde them 7. I am no accepter of Persons or Parties further then I finde them qualified according to the Principles of Love and Truth therefore execuse me though I am bold to say there are some other so unreasonably adverse to all Forms Ceremonies and Customs how expedient soever to prevent disorder and cure Ignorance although not evil in themselves that they can hardly be prevailed upon by any Arguments to conform unto them in their own persons or to allow them to others whose consciences incline them thereunto though they cannot make forth how without some of them they and other men could have so easily been made acquainted with the soul and spiritual existence of Religion had they wanted a bodily form whereby it might be rendred apprehensive These Oppugners of all Formalities in Divine Worship which are not in positive terms commanded though not countermanded in the written Word of God do not well heed
him a Serâ—â—â—… Or if he ask an Egg will he give him a Seâ—â—â—â—… Thereupon he made this Inference If then you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the holy Spirit to him that asketh it Yea he having given his only Son for us when we were his enemies why should we distrust that he will give us all other good things being reconciled unto him by his pretious blood For we have not onely this GOD Almighty to our Father by Creation as all other Creatures have which obligeth us relatively both to him and to them but we are his Children also by Adoption admitted thereunto by Grace through his best beloved Son Jesus thereto begotten by Faith in him and he having drawn up a Petition for us taught us how to exhibit it and warranted us to prefer it unto him as our Father what should discourage us from it or what can reasonably incline us to any other Form or Course The tenderness which we know to be in a good natural Father is a strong Argument to preserve us from despairing to obtain any thing in his power which he knows needful But GOD is more truely our Father then our Fathers in the flesh for without his concurrence in our Generation we had neither been conceived nor born into the world or if his providence had not given us shape nourishment and preservation till the birth and he knoweth and still mindeth what he begets whereas our fleshly fathers seldom minde more then the satisfying of their fleshly desires when they beget us and know not what they beget until they see it brought forth Isaith saith 63. 16. unto God Doubtless then art our Father though Abraham be ignorant of us and Israel acknowledge us not Thou O Lord art our Father our Redeemer and thy Name is everlasting These considerations with the many demonstrations which we have had of Gods infinite Love Wisdom and Power may assure he is neither ignorant of what is best for us nor unable nor unwilling to confer it 6. Though this be sufficiently demonstrated it may be yet further illustrated and ascertained by contemplating this short Preface for to incourage us in this Duty and to increase and strengthen our Faith in prosecution thereof He whom we are to sollicite is said to be Our Father which is in Heaven Not the Father of our Flesh onely the best of which Fathers is both imperfect and partial even in the exercise of natural affections toward his own children neither equally distributing it among them nor able to bestow upon them whom he most loves all those things which he knows necessary nor is wise enough to know what is best for them nor sure of his own being so long as his Children may want his protection or continuing assistance to provide for them whereas Our Father by this Prayer invoked is evidenced by the relative Pronoun WHICH considered with the words next preceding and following it to have an eternal Al-sufficiency to grant whatsoever is asked For this word ART being a Verb of the present Tense comprehending all Time past present and to come denotes that Time if Eternity may be so called which is GODS Time onely and which belongs to none but to him who is Eternity it self For we cannot say truely of or to any other He is or Thou art because before we can speak or think out these words he of whom or to whom we speak is in somewhat changed from what he was though it is not perceived Therefore when Moses asked of GOD what he should answer if Pharaoh demanded who sent him God said Tell him I AM sent thee and when GOD speaketh of himself as GOD the Father in the first Person he said I AM the Lord thy God when he speaketh to his Son the second Person he saith Thou ART my beloved Son c. and when the Holy Ghost the third Person is spoken of it is said He IS the Comforter c. all being in the present Tense which is Eternal This sence being collected by me from the connection of these words in this Preface Our Father which art in heaven much fortifies my Faith in their use and that which I extract from the last word in this Preface adds a little more thereunto 7. For Heaven which is the place of our Fathers residence to whom this Prayer is to be made may somewhat more illustrate his Almightiness and mindes us to approach his Presence with awful reverence though that Appellative may embolden us also in our Addresses Heaven is that Beauty of Holiness Joy and Glory wherein GOD dwelleth It is an Infinite Object supernaturally intelligible whereof I cannot apprehend so much by any natural means to me knowable as by turning my Intellectual Eye into my self to contemplate that unbounded Heaven which appears within me for that receptacle seems to me infinitely more large then that Heaven which I see above me and round about me with corporeal eyes and he who looking that way finds GOD to have therein an habitation shall see more of him and of heaven then by any other prospect whilst he is in the flesh and thereby know more of Hell also if God be not there as in his own place Yet Heaven is improperly conceived to be a circumscribed place the better to suit it to humane Capacities which cannot apprehend Objects beyond the extent of our narrow understandings But so much thereof as is visible may give us intellectual Notions in some degree of his glorious and inexpressible Majesty to whom we pray when we consider That Heaven is his Throne and Earth his Foot-stool as also That the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him and from thence we may infallibly conclude that we can have no secret sufferings oppressions or afflictions whatsoever which he cannot take notice of in his Residency or any Oppressors so powerful or highly exalted that he cannot reach them to deliver us from them in regard he is both Vbiquitary and so Inthroned that neither we or they can be concealed from his Eye or secured from his Hand which is manifested by these words Psalm 139. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit or whither shall I free from thy Presence If I ascend into Heaven thou art there If I descend into Hell thou art there If I take the wings of the morning dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea Even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand uphold me If I say darkness shall cover me even the night shall be light about me c. Which Scripture infers that our Heavenly Father being every where His residence in Heaven is not exclusive to His residence in all other places at the same time For we must not imagine he is so in Heaven as a circumscribed Body is in a finite place as all Created things are or as the soul is in the body which is said to be wholly in the
whole and in every part thereof For though that illustrates GODS being in his whole Creation as the soul thereof and as truely as any similitude can it nevertheless cometh far short of expressing it to our understandings who are so ignorant of our own Beings that most are doubtful whether the soul be in the body or the body in the soul In my private Judgement I think the soul contains the body and was partly thereto induced by this accidental experience A Gentlewoman of my Acquaintance had her Leg cut off close below the Knee who many years after that Leg was buried seemed to be so sensible of motion in her Feet and Toes and of itchings in the Leg and Foot that sometimes before she was aware what she did she would suddenly reach down her hand to scratch the place as if her Leg had still been there and then laugh at her mistake From whence I collect that her soul still extended an animating Faculty to the whole dimension of her body when a part thereof had been long cut off is rather the container of the body then contained therein because though that part had no being wherein that operation might be actually exercised as in a part of the body the soul was as intire as before This digression I leave to be considered by others as their Judgement shall incline them and perhaps it may be of some use 8. Indeed our Almighty Fathers residence in heaven and his universal Presence is unexpressable therefore we must like weaned Children in this and in all other such like Mysteries meekly submit to such illustrations as God hath vouchsafed and makes us capable of without admitting impertinent curiosities contenting our selves with those dispensations which will then be rendred sufficient for us and make that acceptable to him which we shall believe and do upon that account And if we be but as wary as we may be of what he hath revealed to preserve us from worshipping him according to our own Fancies we shall not be guilty of such gross Idolatries or Superstitions as they are who make to themselves graven Images or such spiritual Ideas as may derogate from the Majesty of God and obscure the knowledge of him revealed in his Word to their own confusion and cause others to the hazzard of their Souls and Bodies to sin against their own Consciences by compelling or alluring them to disobey God rather then men which mischieves cannot be avoyded by those who are not at all times careful to examine and try all spirits by the true Standard not onely their own Light and the Lights which are set up by humane Authorities but those Revelations also that seem to be Angelically inspired what Infallibility soever shall be to them ascribed For the Devil can transform himself into an Angel of Light and these later times are so full of Delusions and Impostures that none shall escape them but they who unfeignedly and diligently endeavour thus to do therewith imploring Gods promised assistance and trusting thereupon To these are due the promises both of this life and of that which is to come and they shall obtain their desire at full in due time upon earth or have what is here wanting supplied with a superabundance upon their souls hereafter Other speculative Notions I might express by contemplating Heaven the place of Gods Residence and such as are warrantable by his Word and Spirit but they cannot be yet born and I fear I have already or may in what follows express so much more then some will be pleased withal that I shall loose more Friends then I gain by it but I will discharge my Conscience and Gods Will be done Let other men do so without any sinister self-ends and I shall take no offence thereat This is part of that which I express or implicitely contemplate when I repeat the preface to the Lords Prayer Now I proceed to the Petitions The first Petition Hallowed be thy Name 1. THis Prayer consists of six Petitions The first three do principally relate to the Glory of God Not that he needs our Prayers for the advancement thereof for he being Eternally and all-sufficiently glorified in and by himself these Petitions have the first place in our Devotions for our Avail and for the better preparing way to obtain that which is pertinent to our selves and which cannot in equity be granted until we are in some degree qualified by conforming our wills and affections 〈◊〉 the Minde of God lest the granting of our Natural desires in temporary things before they are sanctified by the obtaining of some spiritual gifts to the abating of that Antipathy which is in us to the purity of Gods Divine Nature might totally obstruct the obtaining what we pray for and be more mischievous then the denyal thereof as questionless all temporal blessings would be if conferred upon us before we shall somewhat sympathize with our Heavenly Father and shew it forth by affecting and seeking the accomplishing of that which he willeth and worketh which Medium if well considered will appear to be both willed and prosecuted by him for our advantage in the composure of this Prayer though the sanctifying of his Name the Advent of his Kingdom and the compleating of his Will seems in terminis to be the whole scope of the first three Petitions For the glorifying the Name of our Father will be an honor to us who are his Children The coming of his Kindom will bring us deliverance from those Tyrants by whom we are oppressed and the fulfilling of Gods Will here on earth as it is in heaven will both free us from their Impostures who impose upon us an obedience to their Arbitrary wills in the place of his and inlarge us from that slavish bondage of sin whereinto we are brought by seeking the accomplishment of our own carnal will Thus all things being done according to Gods VVill Heaven will begin to appear upon Earth where mans wickedness and wilfulness hath begun to make Hell This exceeding Love of God to mankinde in requiring no performances at our hands for the glorifyâ—â—g of himself but what may conduce to our happiness also should move us by his exemplary Love so unfeignedly to love him and one another for his sake that it may be accepted of as a fulfilling of his whole Law For the same Philanthrophy which is evidenced by his vouchsafing this Form of Prayer was manifest also in the Law of the Ten Commandments the first Table whereof relating primarily to himself is as pertinent to that which tends to the preservation and happiness of the humane Nature as that which is contained in the second Table if not more as I have made it evident by my Meditations upon the Decalogue 2. Hallowed be thy Name This is the first Petition and for the better understanding of what is therein prayed for the meaning of these two words HALLOWED and NAME must be explained and made known A Name is that whereby
most Holy yea it is Idolatrous though that adoration be given to a Creature separated from all other by as glorious a sanctification as the Blessed Virgin Maries and the rest of GOD'S most eminent Saints 5. Our Saviour hath wrapt up implicitely our Interest with our heavenly Fathers in this Petition For as in the First Commandment of the Decalogue GODS injoyning us to have no other Gods but himself onely intended thereby our Good as well as his own Glory so did his Son Jesus Christ in teaching us to pray that our Fathers Name may be Hallowed for as by obedience to the first Commandment and separating him and our selves from all false reputed gods with whatsoever else we affect more then God and by ascribing and performing Divine Worship to him alone we shall not onely prevent the ascribing his incommunicable Attributes to base unworthy Creatures abominable Idols and Devils as the Heathen did and thereby avoyd that dishonouring of him by Hallowing persons places or things common into a partnership with the Divinity of God as it is usual with some in these times But we shall also escape thereby many mischievous disadvantages and receive great benefits For mankinde was plunged into manifold perplexities fears despairs and deceiveable hopes by that multiplicity of false gods which the First-times had forged to the inslaving and destruction of their consceiences and persons for they not knowing how to please one of their faigned gods without incurring the disfavour of another it occasioned perpetual anxieties and insupportable burthens by erecting and furnishing magnificent Temples offering frequent Hecatombs and other costly Sacrifices visiting Oracles and Shrines giving rich presents with innumerable other superstitious Ceremonies to pacifie and ingratiate themselves with those Hobgoblings which their own deluded fancies had created and set up to be adored And no fewer are their distractions and the mischiefs on them incumbent in these days who have in another mode Separated Canonized and Hallowed as they call it Persons Places and things common to participate with GOD and his CHRIST in that which is proper and communicable to no other They have consecrated for Saints and presumed to give them Thrones in Heaven who for ought any man living knows may be Devils in Hell They have Hallowed unto them Temples Oratories Shrines Altars and temporary possessions They have made them their Patrons and the peculiar protectors of their Countries Families Persons and Affairs yea and of their Religion though they never professed or favoured it They have separated them from all other and Hallowed them to be their personal Advocates making them equal with Jesus Christ in his Mediatorship yea sometimes preferred them before him They have dedicated unto them days times their goods possessions yea and their Children to pass through the Fire of their superstitious Orders and Observations as the Israelites did their Children to Moloch out of a slavish fear which nevertheless accompanies them to their Graves They have hazzarded and many of them lost their lives by long Pilgrimages inhumane penances and other such like improfitable undertakings thought to be Meritorious which God required not at their hands but abhors them expecting no more but those reasonable Services which he himself hath commanded and may be performed with acceptance through his promised assistance and with ease and comfort both to soul and body in all such duties as he injoyns and in all such trials as he exposeth us unto And when it succeeds otherwise to our temporal or spiritual damage it it because we Hallow such things as are not to be Hallowed and neglect to Hallow GODS Name as we ought to do above all other Names and things yea the Hallowing of so many other Names and things instead of out Heavenly Fathers Name which should singly and solely be separated and sanctified hath been the prime cause of all those many Sects Heresies Treacheries Divisions Quarrels Wars and Murthers among Nations Neighbours and Brethren throughout the World and the respect of Christ to us as well as to the glory of his Father in teaching us to pray for the sanctifying of his Name is an evidence of his great love and Mercy to mankinde The second Petition Thy Kingdom come 1. THis Petition consists of but of three words yet affords much to be considered for every word hath an emphasis which makes their connexion to imply many observable Particulars besides that sence which is plainly expressed to wit that there is a Kingdom yet to come which we ought to pray for The middle word shews that there is such an expectant Kingdom The first word THY that it is his Kingdom to whom we pray The last word COME that it is to be expected I will begin with the word KINGDOM A Kingdom is among men a Government belonging to a single Person whom the Latines called REX Ã regendo of governing and implies one qualified for that Duty We in English call him a King which is a word derived from what is signified by these two Old Saxon words united Kan and Ken that is to be Able and to Know or Power and Wisdom thereby implying that a King who will Govern well ought to be endowed with Prudence and Power For true Wisdom whose Original is the fear of GOD includes Justice Mercy Magnanimity Sanctified policy Constancy Temperance with all other virtuous qualifications and by Powre is intended all means whatsoever whereby those Virtues may be put into execution for discharge of his office that thereby the Kings of the Earth might officiate as much as is possible in imitation of their Soveraign the Supream King of Heaven and Earth I know no people under Heaven except these Nations within our Brittish Isles who have a Word or Title for their Supream Governor in their own Language which so truely constitutes him a Regulated Monarch and whose signification so mindes and obligeth him to Govern accordingly For these words Emperour Grand-Seignior Prince Duke or such-like with those words whereby in the Languages of other Countries they intend him who with us is called a King signifie nothing but an absolute Superiority and priority of Dignity without intimating ought purposed thereby for the welfare of their Subjects as the common interpretations of so many of those Appellations as I know do declare Such Names were at first ascribed either by base flatterers or else assumed to themselves by those who affected and usurped an exorbitant arbitrary Power in the exercise whereof the signification of their Tiles were an incouragement seeming to oblige them to no more then to Govern by their will and pleasure only Whereas the word King in our tongue implies that our Soveraign should be both Wise and Powerful and as wise as powerful Wisdom comprehending Justice Mercy and all other Virtues and our Law presupposing him also so to be at all times because to be otherwise destroys the essentiality of Kingship hath in it this fundamental Maxime A King can do no wrong Such as
that he should immediately expire his soul Yet there was no water entred into the Ship This he told me in such a manner as if he had been then sensible of that distemper by his misapprehension Much more therefore may our Fancies delude us by Spiritual misapprehensions if we be not watie of surprizes especially when such imaginary Objects and false Representations of our frail deluded senses are heightned by that which is cunningly suggested by the Devil Perhaps it will be thought by some that in this and some other Expressions I ramble from the matter in hand But be it known that the way of a Contemplative Soul being like that of an Eagles in the Aire which is the Hieroglyphick thereof tends directly toward what it seeks though it appears not so to the beholders and to what quarter soever it flies minds that Carkas which is the true nourishment thereof 19. Having declared what Kingdom that is which we pray for I will now shew unto whom it belongs which is evidenced by this pronoun THY. It may be collected from what I have already expressed Yet that whereunto my Meditation thereupon leads me will not be useless The word THY implies that this Kingdom is our Fathers to whom we pray Not a Kingdom to be possessed by a single Person whom we know not who perhaps may be a Stranger and a Tyrant or such a one who will suppose as most earthly Kings do that it was conferred upon him meerly for his own sake without respect to the welfare of the people under his Jurisdiction as if the Commonalty of all Nations had been born to no other purpose but to be inslaved to their Will or to be Servants at best to advance their Pomp and to be serviceable to their Lusts But this is not to be feared when this Kingdom shall come We know whose the Kingdom is and who shall Reign over it It is our Fathers Kingdom and that assures us as is before hinted that in praying for it we petition for that which tends not only to our Fathers Honor but to our own Preferment also We have no possibility to be totally freed from the Tyrannies of Temporary Governments and Governours but by the coming of this Kingdom For neither Democracy nor Aristocracy nor a Monarchy regulated nor any other humane Form of Government how often soever we change Persons is free from corruptions or the increase of them likely to have a stop until this Kingdom comes which were it but in respect of that alone will make us partakers of the greatest Temporal Mercy that may be enjoyed upon the Earth next to our deliverance from Sin For so intolerable are the Deficiencies and Oppressions of Supream Governours throughout most Kingdoms of the World in relation both to Temporal and Spiritual Interests that some Nations care not who comes to Reign over them so they may be delivered from their present Tax-masters Yea are contented to be invaded by Strangers to be beaten by their Enemies and to adventure whatsoever they will impose upon them because they believe it cannot be worse with them then it is or probably will be though they have had long time experience that Seldom comes a better This sad condition the Subjects of this expected Kingdom shall be delivered from when it comes Our Father hath made us free Denizens thereof Co-heirs with his Eternal Son and given us Thrones with Him by an unquestionable unrepealable Decree written and signed with the precious Blood of our Eldest Brother whose Love did voluntarily purchase it for us at that dear Rate It cannot be expressed in words to set forth how much he tendred our Welfare in prescribing this Prayer or how strongly it obligeth us to make a thankful and right use of it 20. Thy Kingdom COME The last word in this Petition is not so to be so understood in the Future Tense as if the Kingdom thereby prayed for had not a being heretofore and at this present upon Earth For it is in part already Demonstrated to be otherwise All therefore which will be further necessary to be insisted upon to that purpose resulting from this word COME is to mind us that this Kingdom is not yet so perfectly manifested as it shall be when that long Day is begun in which the great Assize will be holden wherein the King of this Kingdom shall come to Judge the quick and the dead I do already contemplatively behold it approaching by the Eie of my Soul But that Eie is so dim and my Body so frail that my Heart is unable to comprehend much less my Tongue or Pen to express that little which I conceive thereof But of that unutterable mystery I can truly say this that whosoever endeavours to declare in what manner Christ shall come and Reign upon Earth undertakes a work like his who strives to put the whole Ocean into a Nut-shel and that if the glory of this Kingdom were comprehensible by us in this estate wherein we now are it would not be answerable to the expectation I have of it For the most excellent External things which we can either enjoy or know in the flesh are insufficient to illustrate the perfection of it by way of allusion For the clearest Notions of such spiritual Objects which we may attain unto will be dissatisfactory to the Soul until it is in a glorified Body Nevertheless we may be made so apprehensive by Grace and Faith of the Kingdom to come that we may by Patience Meekness Humility and Love wait contentedly for what is promised and be preserved in a constant expectation thereof until it comes whatsoever Clouds are evaporated from Humane Ignorance and whatsoever Mists may be raised by the Devil to make us doubtful thereof And this we are to Communicate to each other so far forth as it is revealed by the Word and Spirit of God to confirm the belief and expectation of this Kingdom For though they were reputed Hereticks termed Millenaries who professed the personal Reign of Christ upon Earth and that according to St. John Rev. 20. 4. the Saints should Reign with Christ a 1000 Years Yet after the Testimony of the two Witnesses was finished which as I conceive was when the two Testaments were compleated with a Malediction upon them who should take from or add ought thereunto Rev. 21. 18 19. that Opinion was received for Orthodox by the Primitive Christians till the Beast which rose out of the bottomless pit made war against them and slew them For many of the eminent Doctors and Martyrs in the first Ages were of that Judgment to wit Ireneus Justine Martyr Tertullian Origen Cyprian and divers other Christians both Learned and Unlearned And I find by examining it that most Heresies sprung from real Divine Truths misunderstood by humane Ignorance and rashness Such Mysteries being like the most excellent strains of Musick in this respect that as when the Voice or a String is under or overmuch strained though but a
to the highest perfection attainable in this life when we can say unfeignedly Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven The fourth Petition Give us this day our daily bread c. 1. NOw I come to those Petitions that immediately concern our selves which we are never so sure to obtain as when we have first sought the Kingdom of heaven for God hath promised it upon that condition and I have had a personal experience of his faithful performance though I have been a very negligent Seeker Therefore that we loose not our labours when we come to be Petitioners for what is deficient as to our solves I wish we might all turn true Seekers In the first of these three following Petitions we ask that which is necessary to preserve our subsistence and well-being in Soul and Body In the second Petition we pray for the pardon of our Debts and Trespasses In the third and last for deliverance from temptations and from those Evils which they may else bring upon us In the few words whereof the first of these Petitions consists many things are offered to consideration First that God our heavenly Father is the general Provider and Restorer of all good and necessary things for we are not taught to pray unto one who hath not wherewith to supply our wants The earth is the Lords with all the fulness thereof He giveth meat unto all Creatures in due season opening his hand and filling them with that which is good None of his Children needs to despair or seek unto his Enemies for relief or to supply their wants by evil or unlawful means For he feedeth Sparrows which are of little value and Lyons and Ravens when they are hungry yea Tyrants and Oppressors how much more then will he feed his own Children when they ask for Bread We are not to pray for it as due by merit but to obtain it in free Alms Nor are we to ask it as the Prodigal Son did his for a Childe's portion For that was intrusted with our First-Parents who spent it and left us more in debt then we had ever been able co pay and liable to have been everlasting Slaves and Prisoners if our Eldest brother had not set us free which obligeth us to perpetual thankfulness and unfeigned Love For the Prodigals Elder brother was not so kinde to him VVe have also obtained besides our share in a joynt Stock personal individual Portions from our Heavenly Father by his Mediation to supply that which we lost in Adam with an invaluable Overplus This we have so badly husbanded by our own defaults and live also among so many Thieves and Cheaters that we are every day in danger to be undone and starved both in Body and Soul if we had not so kinde a Father and so loving a Brother perpetually making Intercession for us It behoves us therefore to be very heedful that we wilfully displease not this gratious Father and loving Brother by preferring the meat that perisheth before that super-substantial Bread of Life which came from Heaven and was broken for our nourishment here upon earth and may be obtained for asking We ought to take heed also that we dishonour him not as our First-Parents did by believing his Enemies or by seeking to them or to such false gods as men often make unto themselves or seek unto him by Saints or Angels not by him accepted for Mediators to obtain our needful Requests to the undervaluing of his Sons Mediatorship lest when we stand in greatest need his and our Father justly turn us away in displeasure as he did the Israelites to those Idols in whom they trusted 2. Then whereas it is said Give us this day our daily bread I take notice from these words this day that we are every day obliged to make our Addresses to God for such things as are daily needful which the Emphasis of the said words imply as also that according to our Saviours counsel we should not perplex our selves with a vexatious caring for the time to come in regard every day brings care enough to provide for the necessities thereof Ye the intended not thereby that we should be negligent in adding our endeavours to Gods providence he offering opportunities honestly to inlarge his gifts beyond the present days want on in laying up that surplusage to make provision for future necessities and contingencies or for those of our Relations or others who are unable to provide for themselves or of getting wherewithall to distribute relief to them for whose sakes he doth make us his Stewards in that which he giveth over and above our daily bread For it is the Will of God that we should make use of the present day without vexations care to husband well our Talents and Callings to improve Gods daily Blessings not onely to supply our personal necessites but that we might have somewhat also of that which God gives us over and above our daily Bread to be dispensed by our hands to those whom he intendeth to relieve by our charity in imitation of his Universal Love who vouchsafeth Rain both on the just and unjust and expects though we should be merciful in the first place to them of his houshold that in their extream wants we should extend our charity even to the worst of men And we finde by experience that benefits and kindnesses to those who knew they had deserved none from us but the contrary rather do work sometimes more upon them toward the reformation of their manners then Reproofs or good Counsel For though we are not to give holy things or the Childrens bread to Dogs yet they who seem worthy of no more regard then Dogs are not utterly to be neglected because many of them have a precious Seed in them hidden from others as appears by the Canaanitish woman who besought him for her daughter vexed with a Devil and by his deportment toward her for after his Disciples had affronted her with disrespect and he provoked her by making shew of neglect also yet he granted her desire with a singular approbation of her Faith John 15. 22. We enough likewise to be heedful that not so much as the Crums or Fragments of what God giveth us may be cast away or spoiled by our negligence or improvidence when we our selves are full because the least of his Mercies are pretious and that which we despise may be both comfortable and acceptable to some therefore our Saviour commanded the broken meat remaining of those few Loaves and two Fishes where with he had fed so many thousands should be gathered up that nothing might be lost 3. I observe from this word Give that we must not onely expect what we ask for of free gift as aforesaid and not as merited but crave it in humility also as needy beggers ought to do for a proud begger is abominable and few will given an Almes to him that asks with insolence and pride nor will beggers always ask that with
Fornace or else he carries them through it into Abrahams bosome as he did Lazarus 3. God is so far from tempting any to that which may bring on them more evil then good that whosoever by ignorance delusion or by both shall without unjust self-ends or malice to others prosecute an unjustifiable design to the loss of his life by the Laws of men if he then did it conscienciously in Zeal to Gods honour believing unfaignedly it was approveable and he thereto in duty obliged truely repenting his other misactings and that so far forth also as he shall be convinced if was evil I am perswaded God will not charge that upon him to his everlasting condemnation though it be a sin in its own Nature For God otherwhile permitteth some of his well-affected Servants to commit sins whereunto they are tempted by their own ignorance or failings and to suffer openly and ignominiously for them that their Brethren may be thereby made the more heedful and that his wilful Enemies may be thereby hardned to their destruction For he often hardens the hearts of wilful Offenders to persevere in those transgression whereunto the Devil the World or their own Flesh hath tempted them because they would not hear know and execute Justice when they might so have done by his counsel and proffered assistance This was exemplified in Pharaoh Saul Jeroboam Jehu and others But it cannot be properly called a tempting by God or a leading them into temptation when he leaves or gives men opportunities after precautions to do those Evils which they had a premeditated resolution and desire to execute of their own accord to fulfil their own Lusts for they need no Temptations from without themselves God tempteth none but for their probation onely to their advantage and then accompanies it with Gratious means to preserve them both from all wicked Actions and those evil consequences which may ensue 4. This is implyed by reading these words Lead us not in this sence as some do which the Original will bear thus Let us nâ—t be so led into temptation but that we may be delivered from the evil consequences thereof I can pray absolutely for this mercy and for all such as are absolutely promised and warranted to those who ask them in Fait But I dare not to pray absolutely for obtaining or for Deliverance from any outward thing which I naturally most desire or fear no not from all temptations prosperities or adversities joy or sorrow life or death save with reference to Gods will for of all these the last excepted I have had experience whereby I finde that through Gods Mercy the worst according to our opinion of them have been as profitable unto me as the best I therefore leave the giving or taking them away to Gods good pleasure and all I absolutely pray for is that they may be directed employed suffered or enjoyed to his glory and my eternal Salvation and to this end we ought always to pray for deliverance from those Temptations which we are led into as well by our ordinary callings as otherwise and to be watchful also left by degrees we are insensibly surprised by adventuring a little and a little further until by presumption we are lost irrecoverably before we are aware I cannot deny but that it was a good prayer of Agur the son of Jaketh which he prayed Prov. 30. Give me neither poverty nor riches and feed we with food convenient for we left I be full and deny the Lord or be poor and steal to the blaspheming of his Name yet I cannot absolutely pray for any more then my Daily bread but leave the rest to Gods Will because I know that by his Grace we may glorifie him both in poverty and wealth in prosperity and adversity and that there are as well advantages as disadvantages in either I am resolved God shall chuse for me as he hath hitherto done and that though he should not provide for me hereafter as heretofore or if I shall increase both my wants and my Enemies by prosecutting what I think to be my Duty I will nevertheless put it unto adventure for though the world more and more forsakes me and my Friends are grown less able and fewer then they were and fewer yet may be considering in what posture we are I will whilst God gives me time and opportunity express all that I think necessary to be said to this Generation pertinent to the glory of God or the welfare of his people when I finde it seasonable whomsoever I may thereby displease if he preserve me as faithful as I desire to be and as I believe he will 5. In the mean time I will prosecute what I know to be seasonable and since there are Temptations which may have evil Consequences in the necessary actions and affairs of this life into which God leads us both for his glory and for our good and in those also which he permits for our probation unless we pray and endeavour for his assisting Grace I desire it may be better considered how dangerous those Temptations are which we wilfully run into of our selves contrary to Gods revealed Will after many precautions counsels exhortations and judgements both threatned and inflicted What will become of them who are nothing bettered but still worse and worse after a frequent intermixture of Judgements and Mercies playing with them like Fies about Candles till their Wings are burnt and continue even then buzzing about them or like Children sporting at the mouth of a Wasps or Hornets-neast with these temptations which will sting them to death Some who began with frugality and being well contented with an honest competent gain had sufficient for their increasing charge being tempted by opportunities whereby they might grow rich by unlawful and dishonest dealings and yeilding to the temptations either Covetousuess being infatiable inclines them to all oppressions whereby it may be fed or else Voluptuousness allures them by one longing to another and by living at the height of their Incomes to satisfie every days lust according to the custom of Prodigals until their longings being endless and Trading or Revenues failing by losses or other contingencies they bring themselves and their Children either to debauchery or beggary or to seek supply by wicked courses Others are surprised by temptations of several kindes whereinto they plunge themselves First they go to Brothel houses with their Companions to see fashions then with others to improve their experience and then alone to try their single strength till they are overcome by the temptation ensnared and destroyed by loathsome diseases in their bodies or by that which is more mischievous to their Souls Some do game at at first but for recreation or to pass away the time until they are so delighted with it that they neglect meat sleep business friends and all other things as if there were no other time well spent That brings on a covetous desire to cheat other men of their Estates by
false play and that Vice continues until meeting with more cunning Cheaters then they themselves are all their own is quite lost and no means of subsistence left except to turn Parasite Pander Marry a rich Whore or steal and be hanged if they have no Friend at Court The Drunkard at first perhaps goes to the Tavern or Ale-house but to drink his mornings draught a while after goes early in the morning and continues drinking till midnight or till the next day at noon Or at first to entertain Friends with whom he casually meets then for neighbourhood-sake then under pretence of the more conveniency to dispatch businesses then oftner to play the good-fellow as he calls it and then every day to be drunk When Dinah went upon a needless idle visit out of curiosity to see and complement with the daughters of the Land where her Father sojourned she was ravished before she returned and horrible murthers and hypocrisie ensued also thereupon So perchance it fares otherwhile with our Ladies and Gentlewomen whose frequent visits proceed not so much from civil or friendly respects as to see and be seen or to a worse intent For though there be seeming passages of kinde endearments among them while they are together as soon as they are parted they oft-times bitterly censute scoff and jeer at each other or prosecute such Feminine designs as occasion many future temptations and evil consequences which might be prevented by a modest and temperate use of their Civil and Christian Liberty in things indifferent and by hearkning with heed to wholesome cautions and counsels given yea though by despised persons for it seems Job thought himself obliged not to contemn it in his Servants nor King Pharaoh to neglect it in Joseph though a poor Prisoner and a Slave When this Joseph went into the house wherein his Mistress was to prosecute his Masters Affairs and his own God then led him into a temptation and preserved him from the evil consequences which would else probably have ensued whereas had he gone thither to spend the time with her in vain complements it is likely the temptation would have prevailed according to her desire But there are some who presume further then any of those aforementioned For when they have so weakned their bodies by long complying with every temptation that their flesh is not able to tempt them as it hath done and the Devil perhaps also thinks himself so sure of them that he holds them not worth tempting these do then create temptations and unnatural provocations to lusts by luxurious meats costly drinks and unclean representations till they become thereby miserable in body and soul loathsome to God and man and make their own flesh which is a Dalilah prone enough of her self to betray them to all destructive temptations and she without whom neither the World nor the Devil hath power to work upon them is made to be more prevalent by evil Custom then she was by corrupted nature to bring upon them irrecoverable mischiefs All premises considered the last Clause of this Petition is daily yea always as much as possible to be minded and offered up with Faith in sincerity especially for deliverance from the Evil of Sin by whose removal all other evils are superseded 6. There are other temptations wherewith our Grand Enemy with his two Confederates the Flesh and the World endeavoureth to ensnare us and are such as may be numbred among spiritual wickednesses These get entrance into those out of whom gross sins are expelled The Root of these wickednesses is double PRIDE and DESIRE which corrupted the Devil and our First-parents in Heavenly places It is written Hebrews 6. 4. to this effect If men are once inlightned have tested of the heavenly gift were made partakers of the holy Ghost relished the word of God and the power of the world to come and then fall away It is impossible for them to be renewed by repentance For they have crucified unto themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to open shame The Roprobation of no small number in the Visible Church springs from hence even of some who have been eminent for their knowledge in Divine Mysteries and in those gifts which tend to the instruction and sanctification of others These are they who may be termed Stars fallen from Heaven or Angels who having forsaken their first Love become Vassals to Antichrist in his Kingdom upon Earth or Slaves to the Flesh Many Saints have been in hazzard of this Apostacy by neglect of the preceding Caution through carnal security yet nave happily recovered before a total falling off by their timely penitence God casting such a look upon them as Christ did on Peter and by their Faith endeavouring and praying unto him acccording to the Contents of this Prayer Many are now in danger also of having that Earth which by good husbanding may bring forth acceptable Fruit to all so cursed that it shall bring forth nothing but Thistles Thorns and Briers which curse they might have avoyded by heedfusness heretofore and be yet delivered from it by performing what is possible as aforesaid and by taking more heed hereafter how they fall into such perilous Temptations 7. But very many are in other modes destructively insnared into spiritual wickednesses by unheeded temptations and in what I next treat of I shall insist upon what will concern some whose condition will be very considerable at this time therefore observe it When they were in their polluting blood without ability to help themselves and without other helpers God casting a pitiful eye upon them and speaking unto them by his Word interpreted and made effectual by the co-operation of the holy Ghost they became so far inlightned as to see how vile they were by Nature and to what misery that would have brought them both in this life and in that to come if GOD who loved us first even when we were his Enemies had not of his own accord provided a Remedy This so wrought upon them that partly out of love to themselves and partly in thankfulness for that mercy they gave him a portion of their Love unto whom all was due and who never leaves them totally to themselves who have once given up unto him their whole heart Notwithstanding this Reserve somewhat resembling that of Ananias and Saphira God not seeming to heed it as he did their hypocrisie these felt such a sweetness in those beginnings of a gratious influence that they not onely endeavoured to increase the Knowledge of God and of his Truth but so also to mortifie the lusts of their Flesh that they attained to an extraordinary outward holiness beyond many other professors of Christianity yea to hazzard also their Liberties and Estates in suffering for their consciences and for reproving Injustice and Impiety This got them so much love among all those good men to whom they were known that they heaped on them many benefits and kindnesses to the recompencing of their
sufferings with a surplusage to the augmenting also of their former poor Estates and Reputations until by degrees they grew rich in superfluities and from being contemptible to be of general esteem which revived in them a gust of carnal delights and accommodations that they began to be weary of those prosecutions whereunto they were ingaged by what they had begun to profess and practise in relation to the honour and service of God And though this secret Apostacy they discovered not openly the Devil discerning it by many Symptoms he and his Confederate the World knowing how useful such persons may be to their ends and to the upholding of their Kingdom tempted them at the first with an addition to their livelyhood in certain whereby they might be freed from depending upon uncertain contributions at the will and pleasure of their Benefactors after that they doubled their favours upon them as they perceived them to operate for their purpose and finding them so to fall away more and more from their Integrity by those temptations that they were likely to be serviceable to whatsoever they should employ them the world then conferred upon them the highest Dignities which she had power to bestow and whereof their qualifications made them seem capable Then these became their servants in body and soul so perfectly corrupted that both the light of Reason and Grace which formerly shined in them were extinguished GOD was quite forgot with what concerned their own eternal happiness and they bewitched with the Pleasures and Preferments of this life repolluted themselves with all gross sins as at the beginning Notwithstanding all this back-stiding so superaboundant is GODS long-suffering and patience that to reclaim some of these before they arrived at the hight of their wickedness and Apostacy he gratiously intermingled Judgements and Mercies first humbling them again by such oppressions and persecutions as they had inflicted upon others pouring such contempt upon them that it forced them to wander where was no way or abiding place and raising storms which caused them to stagger to and fro like drunken men from one resolution to another and brought them to some consideration what they were likely to stumble into and into a fear left the gods whom they last trusted in had either for saken them or were not able to help them This a while reduced them again to a little formal Humiliation but before they had improved it into a true Repentance the World prevented it by supplying what might keep them constant to her Interest and GOD permitting her to prevail for purposes by these unheeded they recovered again their lost temporary hopes Estates and Dignities with an advantage and that makes them so confident our God Almighty so favours them and is so well pleased in all their compliances with Anti-christ in his Mystery of Iniquity that they more malitiously and more furiously persecute them who protest against it then heretofore and are fallen off a degree further form Grace and Penitence This is the condition of many yet even they who have prevaricated in this mode and slipt so deep and so far down into the Whirl-pool of Reprobation may be capable of recovery by Gods Mercy if whilst life continues the can look up again towards him by Faith when the Holy Ghost shall vouchsafe them another Call as sometimes he doth at the brink of Hell yea delivers some of those from the evil of these Temptations if they can heartily joyn with the Catholick Church in this Prayer to which end and to no worse I have offered this to their consideration whom it may concern 9. Some other in a differing manner from these and are as dangerously tempted unto wickedness having a beginning and progress in the Spirit end at last in the Flesh also through defect of due watchfulness and by being unmindful of praying for deliverance from such Temptations These are such as being puffed up with a superficial Knowledge of some Divine Mysteries by External Mortifications by strict observance of the Moral Law by supposed Revelations by frequent Hearing Praying and outward performances of Holy and Pious Duties by their gifts of Preaching Prophesying or doing Miracles or by a constancy in long and extream sufferings or with such-like are so filled with a Spiritual Pride and overweening of their own Sanctity and personal Meritoriousness that they separate themselves from all other Christian Societies with such an affected singularity as may seem to call out like Jehu Come see our Zeal For these presuming themselves only and those who are conformable to their Judgements and Practices to be the Elect of GOD judge all other men to be in a Reprobated condition their Morality and Piety to be but Fruits of the Flesh their Illuminations to be but Ignes fatuis Phanatick Fires and false lights how true soever And forgetting to do to others as they heretofore desired other men should do to them persecute both with hand and tongue as far as their power will extend all those who are not in every punctilio of their Judgment And not a few of these either fall at last into gross fleshly sins which do shamefully bedurt them before they are humbled into an exemplary Repentance or else are hardned into a final Obduracy The pretended Piety of such as these and the evident Prophaneness of others have like two Mil-stones so ground those between them who sincerely profess and practice Honesty and Piety according to their Conscience and Understanding that it hath almost rooted Peace out of the world and begotten so inextricable a confusion that all reasonable men stand at gaze to observe what it will amount unto at the last For since I first knew the world most things are so metamorphosed from what they then were in my judgement that I see little essential difference between the greatest numbers of those who are Phanaticks reputed and those who so repute them yea there is such a change in their Countenances in their Years in their Education in their Habits and in their Deportments both among subordinate Magistrates and those under their Authority In Governours of Counties Cities and Burroughs and those who are to be governed and in Reformers with such as should be Reformed as if the Head and Tail had changed places and would hazzard the reducing all into an Anarchy ere long 10. I have observed other mixt Temptations partly spiritual and partly carnal which it will concern us both to strive and pray against lest they draw us into fleshly pollutions before we are aware One is that strong natural affection which is frequently begotten between men and women by a true esteem of the Piety and Moral Virtues which they mutually apprehend in each other and which had beginning at first without any respect to their bodily Beauties perfections For by long conversing together finding themselves to be reciprocally much edified and comforted by those qualifications it so inflames the natural affection of the best disposed
Caution few men may better give then I for I have had experience of this temptation and that God will prove us until we are quite beaten out of all our vain hopes and fleshly confidences if there were ever any truth and sincerity in our hearts 12. Evil is the last word in this Petition and for deliverance from it is that whereto all the three last Petitions tend for the abuse even of the means of our natural subsistence and of the forgiveness of our Debts and Trespasses will oftentimes have need of that deliverance This EVIL is twofold the Evil of Sin and the Evil of Punishment Of the first the Devil and we our selves only are both Authors and Actors And the Evil of Punishment proceds onely from Gods Justice to give the wicked their reward and from his Mercy to correct and bring those who are corrigible to that contrition which will produce Repentance rendring them capable also of Love and Glory Is there any evil in the City saith a Prophet personating God speaking it which I have not done Meaning the Evil of Punishment This Evil GOD is pleased sometimes to inflict immediately with his own hand sometimes the Devil is his Executioner sometimes wicked men sometimes he makes the Saints instrumental therein by rubbing them against each other to the grievance both of their Flesh and Spirit till like Diamonds they polish each other and sometimes he makes men to be Executioners of his Judgements upon themselves This being part of my Meditations upon the Body of this Prayer I now come to the Conclusion The Epilogue For thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever 1. THis Epilogue or Conclusion of the preceding Prayer is a Doxology implying that Praise or Thanksgiving ought to be inseparable from Prayer the acknowledging of one Mercy being the readiest way to obtain another It is annexed to the Prayer by this causal FOR which gives us a sufficient Reason to incourage our praying unto our Father with Faith unwavering in regard he is not onely our Father but a King also and not without a Kingdom as many have been meerly titulary or a King of a Kingdom not able to secure it self from forraign Invasions or Domestick Rebellions but of The Kingdom which extends throughout Heaven and Earth yea into Hell and whereto all other Kings Kingdoms and States are Vassals and tributaries expellable at his pleasure A Kingdom it is both Powerful and Glorious The Kingdom and King thereof are Eternal It hath no pretenders laying claim thereto occasioning such quarrels as happen in Elective Kingdoms or such mischiefs as are frequent where it being Hereditary the next Heir is a Fool or a Tyrant or both neither regardful of his Duty to God or man yet must be preferred before his Brethren and before all the wisest and uprightest men in the Land though it will be to the destruction of himself and his people All the Laws of this Kingdom All the Prerogatives this King claimeth are so Universally righteous that not one of his Subjects murmures at them Therein are no Customs Prescriptions or Presidents pleadable to infringe their Freedoms or occasioning the renewing of Charters For this Kings Justice Favour and Love are so generally perpetually and impartially extended without exception that they are all Comites Palatini Count Palatines of his Royal Palace admitted unto a Kingship with his best beloved Son in the same Kingdom and invested with his Power and Glory Oh! the inexpressible Love and Mercy of GOD to Mankinde On which of the Angels hath he conferred this Dignity what despicable things are the greatest Kings of the earth in respect of his meanest subject Who that considers this would dread their Frowns or dote upon their Favours so much as to obey their commands in opposition to his whatsoever sufferings exposed unto by their fury in this short life or who that is not grown more brutish then a Beast can be doubtful or jealous that be who provided such unspeakable preferments for his Elect at so dear a rate as the life-blood of his best beloved Son will leave them destitute of any thing they pray for in his Name that is necessary to carry them through this World in prosecution of those services which he sent them hither to perform if they remember he hath promised all necessaries for them who first seek the Kingdom of Heaven and the righteouss thereof And who can be so stupid into whom this Kingdom is entred in any measure as not to pray heartily it may come quickly 2. I had here concluded my Meditations at this present both concerning this Kingdom and this Prayer but I perceive that as well some Subjects of this Kingdom as the Soveraigns and Subjects of Kingdoms upon earth do much mistake their Priviledges and by their Intrenchments on both sides as also by their mutual jealousness sometimes without just cause acting against each other to the destroying of their own peace I have said a little for prevention thereof in my Meditation upon the second Petition but it will be necessary to iterate somewhat to that purpose For the Supream Magistrate supposing all things whatsoever to be disposable at his will and pleasure whether it concerns God or the People in their Estates or Considences are jealous none can be truely Faithful to their Persons or Governments who chuse rather to suffer then obey their Commands though such believe these Commands are repugnant to Gods and though they intend nothing destructive to humane Authorities in ought unquestionably pertinent thereto nor seek to avenge themselves for any real or supposed wrong sustained but leave that to God Their Subjects in like manner yea some of them belonging to Christs Kingdom mistaking the true nature thereof suppose their Freedoms even in spiritual concernments are to be vindicated and established by the temporal Sword in their own hands give occasion otherwhile also of the aforesaid Jealousies and of bringing evil consequences thereby on themselves and others It is true that the temporal Sword belongs to the civil Magistrate whether Monarchical Aristocratical or Democratical for defence of their Countries and Civil Interests and to execute Justice upon Malefactors for preserving Righteousness and Peace within their proper Jurisdictions and between them and their Neighbours It is permitted also to private men for defence of their just Rights and Possessions from unlawful violence but not approveable to avenge their personal wrongs at their own pleasure because it will occasion evil consequences both in Divine and Civil respects Nor is the Sword intended to be in the Supream Magistrates hand to despoil other men of their just Rights or to get a vain honour by Conquests or to exercise it upon the persons of men to inforce their Consciences contrary to their belief in matters relating to God and the Salvation of the Soul For that is meer Turcism and Antichristian Tyranny seldom practised by the worst of Heathens until the Mystery of Iniquity began
to work in regard the propagation and setling of Truth in the Profession and practice of Religion must be endeavoured by the Spiritual Sword and those Instruments which are not carnal Therefore they who profess Christ whatsoever Piety or Zeal they pretend to his honour and Kingdom and yet seek to force other men to believe and practice as they do by persecuting them in Body or Estate are therein confederates with Antichrist and do not that to other men which they would that other men should do unto them It will concern them very seriously to consider this who are lately made sensible of that in their own persons whereof they were insensible in the persons of their Brethren For uncharitable censurings revilings or an Offensive Sword appertains not to the Saints in any private avengement though at sometimes a Defensive Sword may be more needful then their Garments as appears by the words of Christ Luke 22. 36. and then it may be used for their safeguard not to avenge themselves no not to avenge the blood of their Brethren in such manner as many conceive it may For it is said Revel 16. 5 6. that it is He who IS and WAS and SHALL BE that Judgeth them who shed the blood of the Saints and who shall give them blood to drinks as they have deserved And they whom he shall employ to make use of that Sword to do execution upon the BEAST and the Mother of Harlots so far forth as it will be requisite shall be her own Vassals and Confederates St. John also saith Revel 17. the ten Horns or Kings which received power with the BEAST and being of one minde with him in joyning their powers against the Lamb shall hate the Whore make her desolate naked eat her flesh and burn her with Fire God will put it into their hearts to execute his will upon her though until his time cometh they shall outwardly submit unto the Beast and both they and the Whore which rides her dissemble with each other till the day of her utter desolation and then as it is prophesied Revel 15. 3. the Song of the Saints shall be to this effect Great and wondrous are thy Deeds LORD the Saints Almighty King Righteousness from thee proceeds True thou art in every thing Fear'd and glorified O Lord Thou shalt be of every one And of Nations all ador'd For thou holy art alone And thy Judgements every where Fully manifested are 3. This I conceive to be the meaning of that Prophecy and that the power of Christs Word which is called a Sword proceeding out of his month better beseems the Dignity of the Saints then that which is committed to the Hangman and to every Ruffian-like-Souldier though the use of that Sword is honourable when employed as it ought to be The Saints who are often subject to the ignorances and infirmities common to men should well consider as I believe they will what disadvantage it hath been and may be unto themselves and their Brethren to pretend unto the Civil sword until God puts it unquestionably into their hands and mean while betake themselves to that onely which is proper to their Warfare not supposing all the Actions of the Saints recorded in the Old Testament are to be exemplary Rules to us in every thing wherein they did well For though to Josuah David and others the temporal sword was proper to the work they had to do and to conquer that temporal Inheritance which God had given to his people and to avenge him upon his and their Enemies and is so now in their hands to whom it is given to the like purposes yea though under the Law to take an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth and to give rewards to their Enemies according to their Cruelty yet by the Doctrine of Christs Gospel it is not so lawful in our personal and private quarrels for we are thereby taught to do good for evil To seek their welfare who persecute us and not so much as to pray against their persons but onely against their wickedness much less then are we to plot or combine against the Civil Power whereunto God hath subjected us notwithstanding we are oppressed thereby but must wait patiently for deliverance by him in his own way and in his own time This is my private Judgement which having not without Cause declared I leave those who are contrarily minded unto their own opinions until Gods Judgements or Mercies have wrought it out of them For though some perhaps may think it would strengthen the hands of Persecutors and Oppressors if this were generally professed and practised I know this is agreeable to the patience of the Saints and that they who kill with the Sword in avengement of their own Cause to the scandalizing of their Christian Profession and to the exposing others to a destructive suspition shall at last perish by the sword or by somewhat equivalent thereto either in their own hands or in the hands of those Avengers whom God will animate or permit to execute Justice both against private and publick Vsurpers of the temporal sword how politick powerful holy or secure soever they think themselves to be Revel 13. 10. Therefore as it is written in the last words of that Chapter If any man hath an ear to hear let him hear 4. For Ever This word EVER is of a larger extent in this place then it usually hath and signifies as much as Eternally For the Person to whom this Kingdom Power and Glory appertaineth being External so are also his Kingdom Power and Glory whereas when other Kingdoms or any thing else is said to be For Ever we are not to understand them to be Everlasting without end but to continue so long onely as the persons or their Posterity on whom they are conferred shall continue in being and in performing the Conditions whereupon they are granted or during the Term limited and preordained by the Granter to the things granted and this King Kingdom Power and Glory being as aforesaid without Beginning Limitation or Condition premised are Co-eternal The meaning of this word Ever is here to be thus largely taken and the true Nature of it is rightly understood and made use of in that sence by the Professors of our Common-Law here in England as the meaning of our Law For when Lands or Tenements are given and granted by Deed to any man For Ever he hath an Estate therein but during the term of his life onely that being his personal Ever but when it is given and granted unto him and his Heirs for ever they have all a perpetual Interest of Right thereunto whilst the world lasteth and any Heir of his therein surviveth VVith respect to the particulars expressed in these Meditation I do offer up this Prayer to God implicitely by intention though not explicitely in words at all times and having often spoken it in the Original and in the words of our English Translations in Prose I