An Exposition of the Lords Prayer, Review
Let us now make a Review upon the whole Prayer, and behold the Order of it, as It is the Prayer of the Kingdom; And Firſt Our Father, Who is now in the Heavens, will Rend, and Bow the Heavens; And they ſhall open to Him, as He Deſcends in Jeſus Chriſt, the only Begotten Son; and Receives his whole Adoption, made Conformable to the Image of his Son in His Saints of the Firſt Reſurrection; who put on Incorruption; and the Saints Living Remaining, Changed; And the Creatures alſo waiting for the Manifeſtation of the Son of God are Delivered from the Bondage of Corruption into the Glorious Liberty of the Son, of God; And ſo He Appears the Father of Heaven and Earth as the Father of Chriſt, of whom the Whole Family of Heaven and Earth is Called; So the Whole Creation is Filled with His Glory, which is the Sanctification, or Glorification of His Name, by Himſelf.
Immediately, even together with this Appearance of His Kindom, comes in the Univerſal Holineſs of Jehovah, Written on the Forheads of His Servants, Serving Him; which is His Will done, by His Saints in the New Heaven above, and the New Earth below; and His Enemies Crouching Down at the Foot-Stool of His Feet.
Hereupon follows the Marriage Supper of the Lamb; and the Eating, and Drinking, at His Table in His Kingdom; that is; the Full Communion, with Chriſt the Bread of Life, the Super-Subſtantial Bread, in a Conſtant Uninterrupted Yeſterday, and to Day, the ſame For ever.
At this Supper, as ſo Great a Feſtival for it, There is an Univerſal Reconciliation of God by Chriſt, and of all the Saints, one with another; and of the whole Reſtored Creation, even thoſe Parts, which ſeem'd moſt at Enmity; which is the Univerſal Forgiveneſs, as we are Forgiven; and a Perfect State of Righteouſneſs and Peace in the New Jeruſalem, that there can be no New Offences, under our Great Melchiſedeck, King of Righteouſneſs, King of Peace.
And the Serpent, and his Seed at the Foot-Stool of Chriſt, Eat Duſt, and cannot, ſo much, as Repaſt upon Temptation; For there ſhall be none; And at the ſame Time, the whole Curſe is Remooved; So that Sorrow and Sihgthing Flee away, and are Remembred no more, nor come into Mind.
This Univerſal State of Glory Flows from the Univerſal Dominion, and Kingdom of God, and therefore, it is Thundered out with Everlaſting Hallelujahs; The Lord God; Omnipotent Reigns; Reſounded, and Seal'd with a never Ending Amen.
Thus Our Lord hath given this All Comprehenſive Prayer from, and According to the very Firſt Beginning of His Kingdom in the Preaching, and Power of His Goſpel, all along upon the Hearts of His Servants; unto, and untill His Kingdom in it's Glory.
To this Purpoſe He hath with a Divine Wiſdome drawn the Whole Counſel of God in His Word within it; So that to Pray after this manner is to Pray according to the whole Scope of Scripture, Underſtandingly Referred to every Petition; But Eſpecially with an Eye to the Glorious, and Illuſtrious Appearance of His Kingdom, Concerning which I would Appeal to All; whether theſe things are not the Highest Flights of Prayer, and moſt worthy to be the Higheſt Sence of the Prayer, Our Lord Taught.
The very Form is no further preſcribed, but that our Rule for the Frame of our Prayers ſhould from hence be underſtood; That we ought not to Compoſe Our Prayers to a Superſtitious much Speaking, or to Repetition for Repetitions or much ſpeaking ſake, nor with the Artifices of Feigned, and yet Blind Devotion according to Innumerable Formalities.
The Servants of God Praying according to this Whole Counſel of God in His Word, Pray into, and within this Prayer; For their Prayers are, as it were, Drawn within this Element of Prayer; And when they ſo Pray, they do indeed ſay, Our Father, &c.
The Interceſſion of Chriſt Overſhaddows, Receives, and Preſerves all Prayers according to His Word, as if they Fell into the very Words of this Prayer; ſo that they are all within Gods Gracious Acceptance, and Remembrance, even as this very Prayer of Christ, which in Subſtance they are; and ſhall have beſides the Preſent a Full Anſwer in the Glorious Kingdom of Jeſus Christ; and they are all Bound up within that Great Interceſſory Prayer of Chriſt, John 17.
But becauſe of the Various States of the Church, and of the Servants of Chriſt, the Various Degrees of Light, and Opportunities of Knowledg; Their Prayers have been of a very different Elevation, or Raiſedneſs of Apprehenſion, Faith and deſire with Relation to the Councel of God in his Word for Prayer, according to this Prayer; There are Three Expedients of Divine Grace, as Helps in this Great Concernment.
1. There is ſuch an Unexpreſſible Concatenation, or Lincking all Parts of the Divine Kingdom; that what ever Saint of Chriſt is ſincerly poſſeſſed with any one Principle of it, and Prays according to it, It Allies Him to the Whole; and it ſhall Lead Him into All, ſo far as is neceſſary to His Meaſure, His Stature in Christ; and it ſhall Unite His Prayer, with this Prayer of Christ, according to His Degree of Prayer in it; For even in Prayer one Saint differs from another Saint in Glory: Yet this ought not to ſtraiten, or Abate, but even to Excite the Weakeſt Saint, and to Encourage him to Endeavour an Attainment of the Full Aſſurance of Ʋnderſtanding in the Myſtery of God, and of the Father, and of Chriſt, and in Prayer; according to the whole VVord of God, with as Particular a Reſpect, as may be to this Prayer.
2. Becauſe the Church of Chriſt hath not as yet, in any Age Riſen, but very Little to the Heighth of this Prayer of the Kingdom; And Few Saints in Compariſon Attaind it; The Spirit of God hath Helped them with Inward Grones, which they could not Articulate, or Utter; And ſo Proportionably in all the Abſolutely Neceſſary Points of This Prayer according to the VVord of God, wherein their Knowledg hath been Low, or Wanting.
3. The Interceſſion of Christ Receives the Prayers of All, who Sincerely Pray within this Prayer; And the Interceſſion of the Spirit Joyned with it makes their Prayer Effectual; Though They are not Enlarged in the Spiritual Ʋnderſtanding of this Prayer in its Heighth, and Depth, in its Breadth, and Length.
4. God is pleaſed to Underſtan His Children in their Weak Cries, Abba Father; and in their Loweſt Underſtanding of His VVord in this Prayer; and to know the Mind of His Spirit making Interceſſion according to His VVill; And He knows how to Give them the Beſt Things above any Earthly Parents, even the Kingdom of Chriſt; which they Ask, Seek, and Knock for, above their own Underſtanding; For He Interprets His own Spirit by a Word of theirs into its High Sences; So that they having the firſt Fruits of the Spirit Groan for that Kingdom, and the Large Effuſions of that Spirit init; And ſo cry to Him Night and Day, and God hears them ſpeedily, that is in the very proper Times of the Kingdom of Chriſt; And that Kingdom comes.
And thus this Prayer otherwiſe very hard to be Underſtood in its deſign, even by a Thinking, Conſidering Chriſtian, is one of the moſt Stupendious Mirrors of the VViſdom and Grace of the Goſpel of Jeſus Chriſt; and with open Face ſhews the Glory of Christ; though as yet, but in a Glaſs; till in the Kingdom we ſee All, Face to Face.