is never necessary, but only upon three accounts. 1. As that which God requires should be employed in his service; for this was a great end why it was given us, that therewith we might bless and praise God: "With the tongue," saith the apostle, "bless we God, even the Father," James iii. 9. 2. When in secret it may be a means to help to raise our affections, keeping it still within the bounds of decency and privacy. 3. In our joining with others it helps likewise to raise and quicken their affections. Were it not for these three reasons, the voice is no more necessary to make our wants and desires known unto God, than it is to make them known to our own hearts : for thy Father which is in heaven, is not certainly excluded from any part of the earth; he is with thee and lays his ear to thy very heart, and hears the voice of thy thoughts when thy tongue is silent and thou mayest, whatsoever work or business thou art doing, dart up a prayer and a winged desire unto him, which shall be as acceptable and effectual as the more solemn performance of this duty at stated times.

Again: Is thy Father in heaven? Thy prayers, then, should be made so as to pierce the heavens where God is. But how can this be done, since the distance between heaven and us is so infinite? This is not to be done by the intention of raising thy voice, but by the intention of raising thy zeal and spirit; for zeal and affection is a strong bow, that will shoot a petition through heaven itself. Let all thy petitions therefore be ardent, and carry fire in them, and this will cause them to ascend to the element of pure celestial fire, from whence thy breast was at first inflamed. When the Red sea was before the Israelites, and the Egyptians pursuing them

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behind, and unpassable mountains on each side, the people murmuring, and Moses their captain and guide in an inextricable strait, we read not of any vocal prayer that Moses then put up; and yet God calls to him, " Wherefore criest thou unto me?" Exod. xiv. 15. A prayer it was, not so much as accented, not so much as whispered; and yet so strong and powerful that it pierced heaven, and was louder in the ears of God than the voice of thunder.

SECTION III.

THE PETITIONS IN THE LORD'S FRAYER.

LET us now proceed to the petitions themselves; the first three of which relate to God's glory, the others to our temporal and spiritual good."

The First Petition.

Of those which relate to God's glory, the first desires the advancement of this glory itself: "Hallowed be thy name." The second the means of effecting it: "Thy kingdom come." The third the manifestation of it: "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven."

I begin with the first of these: "Hallowed be thy name. In the explication of which we shall inquire

First. What is to be understood by the name of God.

Second. What it is to hallow this name of God. Third. What is contained in this petition, and what we pray for when we say, "Hallowed be thy name."

First. What is meant by the name of God?

To this I answer-That the name of God is any perfection ascribed to him, whereby he hath been pleased to make himself known to the sons of men : for names are given to this very intent, that they

might declare what the thing is to which that name belongs. Thus when God had created Adam, and made him Lord of this visible world, he caused the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, to pass before him, as it were to do homage to their new sovereign, and to receive names from him; which according to the plenitude and perfection of his knowledge did then aptly serve to express their several natures, and were not only names, but definitions too. So when mention is made in Scripture of the name of God, it signifies some expression of his infinite essence, in which he is pleased graciously to condescend to the weakness of our capacity, and to spell out himself to us, sometimes by one perfection, and sometimes by another; since it is utterly impossible for us finite creatures to have a full and comprehensive knowledge of that Being who is infinite, for so God is only known to himself, being infinite to all others, but finite to his own knowledge and understanding; and therefore he hath displayed before us his name, to give us some help and advantage to conceive somewhat of him, though his nature and essence are in themselves incomprehensible to us, and shall be so for ever, even in heaven itself. Now this name of God may well be distinguished into two sorts: I. His titles, and, II. His attributes.

I. His titles are his name, and so he is in Scripture frequently called Jehovah, God, Lord, Creator, and the like; and most of these his titles are relative, respecting us; so his name of Creator denotes his infinite power, giving being to all things. Lord and King signify his dominion and authority, in disposing and governing all that he hath made. Father, signifies his care and goodness in providing for his

creatures. Redeemer, his mercy and grace in delivering them from temporal evils and calamities, or especially from eternal death and destruction.

Now these relative titles, though they properly belong to God, yet are they not absolutely essential to him, but imply a respect unto the creatures. And therefore, though before the creation of the world God was for ever the same infinitely blessed Being that he now is, and by the creation of it no accession was made to his infinitely perfect nature, for in him there is no variableness nor shadow of turning, but he is yesterday, and to-day, and the same for ever; yet could he not be called by the name of Creator, or Lord, or Redeemer, or Father, unless in respect of his eternal Son but all these titles result from the relations wherein we stand unto God, of creatures, subjects, and children. These names therefore had their beginning, some in the beginning of time, and some since, and yet they very properly signify unto us that God who is without beginning or end.

As his titles, so his attributes are his name; and these are of two sorts, either incommunicable or communicable.

The incommunicable attributes of God; and these are those which are so proper to the Divine essence that there is scarcely the least resemblance of them to be found in any of the creatures. Such are his eternity, which denotes a duration, as well without beginning as without end for though there are some creatures whose beings shall never have a period set to them, as angels and men, yet there is no creature that never had a beginning of its existence. And so God's infiniteness and immensity, filling all places, and exceeding all, was most excel