6 ftock of pardoning mercy and patience below infinitude; but thou haft an unfearchable bottomless fountain of power, as well to pardon as to punish. Our temptations unto fin meet us upon every occafion, from without us and from within us, and C we have no wifdom in ourselves to forefee them; no ftrength, nor yet any will to oppofe them; but thou haft infinite power to forefee, to prevent, to divert them, and to deliver from them. The least of evils, armed with the guilt of any one fin, will, like a weight of lead, prefs us into an impoffibility of recovery from it; the enemy of our fouls is converfant within us, and about us, and ready upon every occafion to feduce us into fin, and to torment and diforder us for it; and his power, and ftrength, and fubtility is beyond our power to refift; and indeed he finds us willing captives; but as thou haft authority, fo thou haft power to restrain him, to discover him, to fortify and strengthen us against him, and to deliver us from him; and there'fore I here lay hold of the ftrength of omnipotency < to grant thefe my petitions.' But this is not all. . 6 And the Glory. Omnipotency, though it be one addition of ftrength to our prayers, yet it is not enough. The leper in the Gofpel faid truly to our Saviour, If thou wilt thou canst make me clean; but yet he doth not conclude, thou canft, therefore thou wilt; but thy glory is the great end of all thy works; the end of thy great work of creation', the end of thy Son's coming into the world to redeem mankind 2; the end of thy eternal counfel in electing fome to life, and leaving others 3; it is the only 'tribute that all thy works can give Thee for their being and prefervation, and that which thou accounteft molt dear and peculiar unto thyfelf 4. I am the Lord, that is my name, and my glory I will ⚫ not give to another. And in all thefe my requests I have fought nothing but what conduceth to thy glory. 1 Prov. xvi. 4. Luke ii. 14. Romans ix. 22. Isaiah alii. 8. 48. 11. In granting what I have here afked, do ben. St is ours, but the glory is thine. In it thou hatt the glory of thy mercy, the glory of thy power, the glory of thy bounty and goodness, the glory of thy truth and faithfulnefs; thou haft faid of old, that thy glory fhall be revealed, and that all flesh fhall fee it, that they fhall fanctify thy name 2, that thou wilt fet up a kingdom that fhall never 'be deftroyed, and fhall break in pieces and confume other kingdoms, and fhall ftand for ever, that thy counfel fhall ftand, and thou wilt do all thy plea fure that thou wilt give us a new heart, and a new fpirit, and wilt caufe us to walk in thy ftatutes, and to keep thy judgments and do them 5, that verily we fhall be fed, that though the young lions do lack and fuffer hunger, yet they that feek thee fhall not want any good thing 7. That if we return unto Thee, thou wilt have mercy, and • abundantly pardon 8; that thou art a God pardoning iniquity, tranfgreffion, and fin 9; that thou wilt not fuffer us to be tempted above what we are able, but wilt with the temptation make a way to efcape 10; that if we call upon Thee in the day of trouble, thou wilt deliver us, and we fhall glorify • Thee 11 and yet though thou, the great God of power and truth, haft spoken all this, and wilt do it, yet that thou mayeft have the due acknowledg. ment of our fubjection and dependance upon Thee, "thou wilt be enquired of for this to doit for us 12; and although we are fo finful, that we cannot fo much as deferve thy pity in our greatest mifery, yet for thy names fake, and for thy glory fake, hear us13, for thy own fake 14; and though all the praifes and acknowledgments of thy creatures add nothing to thy Glory; for thine is an effential, infinite, abfo 6 : 1 Isaiah xl. 5. 13 Psalm cvi. §. 2 Isaiah xxix. 23. Daniel ii. 44. Daniel vii. 27. Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27. * Isaiah lv. 7. Psalm xxxvii. 3. 9 Exodus xxxiv. 7. 19 Ezek. xxxvi. 36, 37. • lute, lute, independent glory; yet fince thou art pleased to accept of this our poor and our only tribute, and to take it in good part from thy creature, we will 'thankfully acknowledge thy great condefcenfion to us in accepting of our prayers, and granting our requests, giving us liberty through thy Son to be interceffors for ourselves, for others, nay, for thine own glory and kingdom, and the manifeftation of it.' What fhall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me? I will take the cup of 'falvation, and call upon the name of the Lord.' Give me grace in all my wants and neceffities to fly to Thee by prayer, and in all my fupplies and ' deliverances to return unto Thee with thankfgiving.' For ever. Thy kingdom is an everlafting Kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all ge'nerations 1.' A Kingdom which shall in time break and fubdue all the kingdoms of this world, and the kingdom of Darknefs, Sin, Death, and Satan. ་ And as is thy kingdom, fuch is thy Power, infinite in extent, infinitely more comprehenfive than the vafteft < wants or defires of thy creatures, infinite in duration, inexhaustible by all the fucceffions of time, and of eternity itself. And as is thy kingdom and power, fuch is thy glory, an eternal and endlefs glory; before the birth of time, when nothing had a being but thyself, thou hadst infinite felf-fufficiency, and an incomprehenfible fulness of glory 2.' And when thou didit in time create the world, it did not contribute unto thy fulness of glory, but thou didst communicate and imprint fome of thy glory upon it; and all the glory that thy creatures bring unto Thee, is nothing else but the reflection of thine own glory, a recoil of that beam that came from thy Sun; yet though the glory of thy effence cannot receive any increase by this reflection, yet thou art pleafed everlaftingly to perpetuate this thy reflective glory by the immortal angels and fpirits of juft men made perfect; VOL. I. 1 Psalm cxlv. 18. 2 P John xvii. 3. • to ८ to whom thou wilt, unto all eternity, communicate a fulness of the vifion of thyfelf, according to the measure of their perfected, but finite natures; and 'from that communication of thy glory to them, they 'fhall everlaftingly return glory to thy name; faying, Bleffing, honour, glory, and power, be unto him that fitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb, for " ever and ever. Amen "." THE LORD'S PRAYER PARAPHRASED. Our Father. ETERNAL and glorious Lord God, thou art our Fa ther by Creation, for thou gavest at first being to the common parents of all mankind: thou art our Father by Nature; we owe our own immediate being more to Thee, than we do to our immediate parents; for thou art the Father of our Spirits: thou art our Father by our Prefervation, we could not fupport ourselves in being one moment of time, without the inceffant influence of thy Providence and Goodness: thou art our Father by Adoption, receiving us in a more special manner to be thy children in and through Jefus Chrift. In all the course and paffages of our lives, thou haft manifefted unto us the love, and compaffion, and tenderness, and goodness, and affection, and kindness of a Father; forgiving our offences, healing our backflidings, pitying our weakneffes, fupplying our wants, delivering us from dangers, accepting our weak endeavours to please and serve Thee; providing things neceflary for us, and an immortal inheritance of glory and happinefs. Bleffed be thy Name that art pleased even from heaven to commiffionate us to come unto Thee, and to call upon Thee under that encouraging, comfortable, and near relation and title of our Father; which carries in it the most full and ample affurance of audience and acceptation: for with whom can we expect acceptation or accefs? From whom can we expect the conceffion of |