dren. Otherwife 'tis but a mocking of God to call him Father, while we neglect the Duties, and in effec Difclaim the Relation of Children. Yet alas! there is fo little of this Filial Obedience to be feen, that [Lord have Mercy upon us, and give us leave to break thy Laws] is the Sum of many People's Prayers. To whom God may well fay, as in the Prophet, Mal. 1. 6. IfI be a Father, where is my Honour? And as oft as we use this Prayer, fo oft may God judge us out of our own Mouths, that while we call him Father we are unmindful of the Duties of his Children.

3. If God be indeed our Father, and we his Children, with what Comfort and affured Confidence may we make our Addreffes to him, when we confider that we approach not to a Severe and Offended Judge, nor to a Cruel and Mercilefs Tyrant, nor yet to a Stranger that has no Relation or Acquaintance with us; but to a kind and loving Father, who is always ready to help us in all our Needs! For what will a tender Father deny to his begging Child, that may be for his Good? What will that Father deny to his Sons, who has already granted them to be their Father? If we that are evil, yet as Fathers, give good Gifts to our Children; how much more shall our Father which is in Heaven give good things to them that ask him? Matth. 7. 11.

(2) We are to enquire why we are taught to say, our Father, and not my Father: And that is, because we are to Pray for others, as well as for our felves. And this is very juft and reafonable, fince we alfo reap the Benefit of other's Prayers, both with us and for us, as well as our own. Neither is this requir'd, only when we meet and join in the fame Worship by Praying to gether, but we are alfo to remember thofe that are ab

Quid Pater negabit Filiis, qui jam dedit, quod Pater eft.

fent,

fent, and include all the whole Church of God in our Prayers. As, no doubt, but many of the Bleffings we enjoy, may be owing in part to the Prayers of those whofe Faces we have never yet feen, nor perhaps fhall ever be acquainted with in this World.

And this will teach us,

1. Charity to our Chriftian Brethren in general, wherefoever, and whofoever they be. And therefore we ought never to Pray for our felves with fuch a pri vate Heart, but fo as to defire the like Mercies for all that have the like need.

2. Unity with our Brethren, tho' perhaps we may differ in fome fmaller Matters. Yet tho' we may dif fer in Opinion, we should unite in Affection; to which end we ought ever to remember that we have all one common Father, and are all Heirs of the common Salve tion. And,

3. Humility, and not to exakt our felves above our Brethren; fince we have all one Father, and fuch a one as is no Refpecter of Perfons, but equally kind to all his Children, and how Poor and Mean foever they may be, either in Estate, or Parts, or Credit and Efteem in the World, yet in every Nation, he that feareth God, and worketh Righteoufnefs, is accepted with him, Acts

10.35.

(3.) We are to confider the meaning of these words, [which art in Heaven.] Which are not to be understood, as if God were confin'd to a Place, for he fills Heaven and Earth with his Prefence. Nay, 'tis exprefly faid,

Totamq; infufa per artus

Mens agitat Molem,Virg.

That Heaven, and the Heaven of Heavens cannot con tain him, 1 Kings 8. 27. But God is faid to be in Heaven, because his Glory and Majefty is more appa rent there: And therefore he is faid to have prepared bis Throne in the Heavens, Pfal. 103. 19. Tho' in the Q

fame

fame Verse it is added, That bis Kingdom ruleth over all. And at the fame time that Heaven is faid to be his Throne, the Earth is called his Footstool, Isaiah 66. I.

Now this Confideration, that God is in Heaven, will teach us several things. As,

1. That we ought to appear before him with due Reverence of his Divine Majefty, confidering the Glo rious and Awful Prefence into which we come. And thus Solomon advises, Ecclef. 5. 2. Be not rafh with thy Mouth, and let not thine Heart be hafty to utter any thing before God: for God is in Heaven, and thou art upon Earth, therefore let thy Words be few. If we were to come before an Earthly Prince, we fhould be very careful of our Behaviour in our Addresses to him: And much more ought we to be fo, when we come be fore him who is King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, and infinitely higher than all the Kings of the Earth. Whofe Throne is in Heaven, and his Eyes behold, his Eye-lids try the Children of Man, Pfal. 11. 4.

2. That we may come before him with Confidence and Affurance of Help and Relief in all our Wants and Diftreffes. For he is not only our Father, and therefore willing to help us but in Heaven, and therefore able to do it. We may often Pray to our Earthly Parents in vain, becaufe their Power is not answerable to their Will: But our Father which is in Heaven is able to do for us abundantly above what we can ask or think, Eph. 3. 20. Tho' his Throne be in Heaven, yet his Kingdom ruleth over all. The Earth is the Lord's, and the ful nefs thereof; and he difpofeth of it to whom foever he will. And as he is able to fupply our Wants, fo to quiet our Fears, and deliver us from the worst of Dan gers which our Enemies can threaten us with. The Kings of the Earth may fet themselves, and the Rulers take Counfel together against the Lord, and against bis People: But he that fitteth in the Heavens fhall laugh, the Lord fhall have them in derision: So that tho' the

Hea

Heathen rage, and the People imagine, yet it shall be but avain thing, Pfal. 2. 1, 2, 4.

3. Laftly, This may be a comfort to thofe that are kept from the Publick Service of God in the Affemblies of his Saints, either by Sicknefs, Imprisonment, Eanishment, or otherwife; that God is in Heaven, and (undique ad fuperos tantundem effe via] all places are equally near to it, fo as their Prayers will be heard wherefoever they are. Tho' God be in Heaven, he is not confin'd there, but is nigh unto all that call upon him in truth, Pf. 145. 18. One may fay of a Sick bed, or a Prifon, as Heraclitus did of his Cell, God is prefent even there alfo.

I

The Voice of the Pythian Oracle was: +That God takes as much delight in the Society of his Saints, as in Heaven it felf. But we have a furer Word of Prophecy for it, lai. 57. 15. For thus faith the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth Eternity, whofe Name is Holy, dwell in the high and holy place, with him alfo that is of a contrite and humble Spirit; to revive the Spirit of the Humble, and to revive the Heart of the Contrite ones. Not that we are to neglect the Assembling our felves together in the Houfe of God, as oft as we can; but when we are neceffarily hindred, we need not despair of finding the Prefence of God in any Place wherever we call upon him. And as || Seneca faid (tho' in another Senfe) Which way foever we turn our felves, we fhall find him ready to meet us upon all Occafions. And thus much for the Preface to the Lord's Prayer.

**Eloi 28 évτävda edi. Ipfe Piis tantum, quantum deletor olympo. Quocunque te flexeris, ibi illum videbis occurrentem tibi, nihil ab illo vacat.

LECTURE XXIV.

-Hallowed be thy Name: Thy Kingdom come: Thy Will be done, in Earth as it is in Heaven.

Having difcours'd of the Preface to this moft excel

lent Prayer the laft time, we shall now come to the Petitions themselves, which are the Body of it. And these are Six in Number, of which the three first have Refpect to the Glory of God, and the other three to our own Wants and Neceffities: Or in other words, the former three concern God, and the latter three con. cern our felves. Where we are firft to obferve in general, that those which relate to God are fet before those that respect our felves; as in the Decalogue, thofe Commandments that contain our Duty towards God, are fet before those that contain our Duty towards our Neighbour. And from hence we may learn, that in our Prayers we should have more refpect to the Honour and Glory of God, than our own Profit and Advantage. And accordingly our Saviour bids us, Seek firft the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness, and all these things (hall be added to us, Matth. 6. 33.

But before we come to confider each Petition in particular, it will not be amifs to premise three things concerning them in general. As (1.) That in every thing we Pray for, we are alfo to include the Means for the Accomplishing of it: For 'tis in vain to defire the End, without the Means neceffary to effect it. (2.) That whenever we Pray for any Good, we at the Tame time Deprecate the contrary Evil, and on the othe fide, when we Pray against any Evil, we defire the contrary Good. And (3.) That to all our Prayers we join our conftant Endeavours, as much as in us lies, to

effect