method how God delivers us from evil. Now that which we pray for in this petition is,

1. That if it shall please God to lead us into temptation, yet that he would not leave us under the power of temptation, but with every temptation he would make way for us to escape, that we may be able to bear it.

2. That if at any time temptation should get the upper hand, and prevail over us to the commission of sin, yet that God would not leave us under the power of that sin, but raise us up again by true repentance, and godly sorrow, that so at last we may be delivered from the great and soul-damning evil of obduracy and impenitency.

3. That God would not only deliver us from gross and self-condemning impieties, but from every evil way and work, and preserve us blameless to the heavenly kingdom of his Son.

4. That he would be pleased not only to deliver us from that which is in itself evil, but from all the occasions, and all the appearances of evil; for these also are evil, if not in effect, yet in tendency.

And thus now I have finished the sixth and last petition of this most excellent and divine prayer of our Saviour. And I nothing doubt but in the discourses I have made of it you have seen verified what at first I affirmed of it-That it is a comprehensive summary of all that we can ask of God, whether it be for supplies for our temporal or spiritual wants; and that all other prayers which we make are but a commentary upon this, drawing that out at length which here is closely wound up in one bottom.

SECTION IV.

THE DOXOLOGY.

We now come to the doxology, or praise; for praise is a necessary part of prayer. This praise now is here ascribed unto God, by ascribing unto him his attributes, "Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever." In which words four of God's attributes are mentioned and ascribed unto him.

I. His sovereignty-" Thine is the kingdom." II. His omnipotency-" Thine is the power." III. His excellency-" Thine is the glory." IV. His eternity—" All these are thine for ever.' The "kingdom" is thine for ever. The "power" is thine for ever. The " glory" is thine for ever. For so this particle "for ever" is to be distributed unto each of the foregoing attributes.

Now in ascribing unto God these attributes, we may consider the eminency and the propriety of them.

The eminency of them in the particle "the;" THE kingdom, THE power, THE glory, denoting to us the highest and the chief of all these: for HIS kingdom is that which ruleth over all; HIS power that which no created power can control; HIS glory such as stains all other excellences, and makes all their light and lustre to be only the shadow of God.

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The propriety of this attribute in this particle "thine;" though others may have kingdoms, and power, and glory, yet these in their eminency belong only unto God; they are THINE, and THINE only, originally, infinitely, and unchangeably.

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Now all these attributes of God are annexed to the petitions of this prayer by the illative particle for;" FOR thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory. And this carries in it the strength and force of a reason, both why we pray unto God, and likewise why God should grant us those things which we pray for. We pray unto God, for his is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever; and therefore he alone is able to relieve and supply us. We plead for the obtaining of those good things which we ask of him, therefore grant them unto us, "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever." This adds strong consolation and assurance to our faith, that we shall be heard in these requests that we present to God. For, 1. His is the kingdom, and we are his subjects, and therefore we may depend upon him as our King for help and protection. 2. His is the power, and therefore he is able to supply and help us, and to do abundantly for us above what we can ask or think. 3. His is the glory, and therefore since what we ask is for his honour and praise, we may firmly believe our requests shall be granted unto us. And, 4. All these are his for ever, and therefore we may rest assured that at no time our prayers shall be in vain but as it is the same unchangeable God, who in former ages hath done great things for, and given great things unto his servants who have called upon him, so he still retains the same power, and the same compassion; his ear is not heavy, nor his

arm shortened, nor his bowels withered; and therefore we may with assurance expect that he will supply our wants, and grant our desires, since the treasures of his mercy are for ever inexhausted. Thus every word is a forcible reason, both to oblige us to address ourselves unto God, and likewise to move him to bestow upon us those good things which we thus ask at his hands. And from hence by the way we may observe two things.

1. That in our prayers we ought to plead with God by weighty and enforcing reasons.

2. That the most forcible reasons in prayer are to be taken from the attributes of God.

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1. That in our prayers we ought to plead with God by weighty and enforcing reasons. Thus God bids us take unto ourselves words, and to turn unto him, Hosea xiv. 2. And thus if we look into Scripture, those prayers of the saints which are there recorded, we shall find them disputes, if I may so call them, as well as requests, and so many reasons urged in them, as if by dint of arguments they would constrain God to yield to their desires. So in Moses's prayer, 66 Why doth thy wrath hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power? Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swearest by thy own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever," Exod.

xxxii. 11—13. And so Joshua pleads with God, "O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies? For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do unto thy great name?" Josh. vii. 8, 9. And so Jehoshaphat, "0 Lord God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?" 2 Chron. xx. 6. And so in the following verses he pleads with God by such powerful arguments as if he would extort mercy and deliverance from him. Now although it be true that all the arguments we can urge, and all the reasons that we can allege, cannot alter the purposes and determinations of God, as to any event that he hath ordained, yet there is this twofold use and necessity of pleading them.

(1.) Because by considering the reasons we have to pray for such mercies, our desires will be the more earnest and fervent for the obtaining of them. It will put spirit and life into our petitions, when we can represent to God the necessity of our asking, which to his mercy will prove a strong motive for his granting.

(2.) Because reasons in prayer do mightily conduce to the strengthening of our faith, and give us great encouragement to believe that we shall certainly obtain what we have so much reason to ask. Now faith and assurance of obtaining our request is a great condition to the acceptation of our prayers; ́ and therefore the apostle commands us to lift up holy hands, as without wrath, so also without