The Doctrine of Practical Praying, Analyses · Analysis of the preface
Our Father.
SOme do expound these words as though they were a rhetoricall proeme which we use to win Gods favour. But we use words in our prayer not that God but that we may be moved and affected. First we call him Father: whereof we are first to seek the meaning, and then the use. By the name of Father God alone is understood: For, as our Saviour saith Matth. 23. 9. we must call no man father, because we have but one Father who is in heaven. Joh. 8. 41. We have one Father, which is God: A good profession if it had bene uttered with a good conscience.
Now God is said to be a Father two wayes: byGod a Father two wayes. Creation, and Adoption. By creation, as Isai. 64. 8. So Adam is said to be the sonne of God, Luke 3. 38. and the Angels, Job 1. By adoption in Christ, Fphes. 1. 5. So every believer is born of God, 1. John 5. 1. For to so many as believe in Christ God hath given this priviledge, to be the sonnes of God, John 1. 12. And in this sense is every faithfull man to call God Father.
But here it may be demanded, Whether theQuest. whole Trinitie is called upon in the name of Father, or the first Person alone.
The word Father is attributed unto God twoAnsw. wayes; either essentially or personally. Essentially, when he is so called in respect of the creatures, 1. Cor. 8. 6. Personally, when it hath relation to the other Persons, the Sonne and the holy Ghost. In this place it hath relation to the creatures. So Deut. 32. 6. Isai. 63. 16. But howsoever the whole Trinity is our Father, & so to be worshipped of us, yet this speech is more peculiarly directed to the first Person, the fountain of the Godhead, who is the Father of Christ, Ephes. 3. 14. and in him our Father, John 20. 17. yet so as in worshipping him we joyntly worship the other two, who as they are all one in essence, coequall and coeternall, concurring also in all actions towards us, so they are altogether to be worshipped. O God, thou Father of Christ, and in him our Father, who givest the Spirit of thy Sonne, whereby we cry, Abba, Father, to thee we present our prayers in the name of thy Son, craving the help of the holy Ghost.
The second Person is called our Father, Isai. 9. 6. & so may the holy Ghost, who doth regenerate us, Deut. 32. 6. and to either of them may our prayers be directed, Acts 7. 59. So that our prayer may be directed to any or to all the Persons, 2. Cor. 13. 13. or to two of them, 1. Thess. 3. 11.
We are taught to whom to direct our prayers,1. foreign. namely, to God alone. For seeing our Saviour hath commanded us, when we pray, to say, Our Father, it is1. evident that we break the commandment if we direct our prayers to any to whom we may not say, Our Father, &c. Which title without blasphemy we cannot attribute to any but onelyonly to the Lord, who is our heavenly Father: Jer. 31. 9. Sum Israeli Pater, I am a Father to Israel.
Secondly, whereas by nature we are the children2. of wrath, and yet commanded to call upon God as our Father, we are taught in whose name we are to come unto God: Not in our own names or worthinesse, Dan. 9. 18. for then we shall find him a Judge rather then a Father; but onelyonly in the name and mediation of Christ, Eph. 3. 12. in whom he is our Father, and in whose name he hath promised to grant whatsoever we ask according to his will. It is well said of Calvine, Cùm Deum Patrem vocamus, Christi nomen praetendimus, When we call God Father, we pretend the name of Christ.
3. We are taught that the help of the holy Ghost3. is necessary in prayer. For how should we which were children of wrath dare to call God our Father, or be assured that we be his children? By the holy Ghost, who is the spirit of adoption, & beareth witnesse to our spirits, that we are the sonnes of God, we cry in our hearts, Abba, Father, Rom. 2. 15, 16. For if none can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the holy Ghost; 1. Cor. 12. 3.then much lesse can a man call upon God as his Father in Christ except he be endued by the holy Ghost. We must therefore, as the Apostle teacheth us, Ephes. 2. 18. call upon God the Father in the name of the Sonne by the assistance of the holy Ghost, so shall we, though unworthy and unable to call upon God, in Christ be accepted and by the holy Ghost be enabled to pray according to God.
Here therefore first are they refuted who think11. foreign. they may lawfully direct their prayers either to Angels1. or Saints, to whom the name Father is opposed, Isai. 63. 16. or to their images, saying to a stock or stone, Our father, Jer. 2. 27. If God be our heavenly Father, who is more willing to give good things then any earthly parents, and also all-sufficient, why should we seek to any other, unlesse we can either accuse him of unkindnesse, or object want of power unto him?
Secondly, if God be our Father in Christ, then2. ought we with boldnesse to come unto the throne of grace through him, Ephes. 3. 12. Neither do we need any other mediation then of the Sonne, who is the onelyonly Mediatour as of redemption so also of intercession, 1. Tim. 2. 5. contrary to the doctrine of the Papists, who teach men to use the mediation of Saints: Whereas our Saviour John 16. 26. having commanded us to pray in his name, addeth, I say not that I will intreat the Father for you: for the Father himself loveth you.
Duties in Prayer.
IF God be our Father, we must come 1. In reverence as unto our heavenly Father. 2. In dutifull, thankfull, and sonne-like affection, acknowledging his mercy of Adoption, who when we were by nature children of wrath adopted us to be his sonnes; and if sonnes, then heirs. Behold, what love the Father Rom. 8. 16. 1. … 3. 1.hath shewed on us, that we should be called the sonnes of God. 3. In faith and assurance, not onelyonly that we and our prayers are accepted in Christ, but that our prayers shall be granted unto us of our Father as may be most for his glory and our good.
And that we may come in faith, let us consider, First, that without faith we are no sonnes of his, but children of wrath, Ephes. 2. 3, 12. and if we believe we are the sonnes of God, John 1. 12. and of the houshold of faith. Secondly, that if God be our Father in Christ, he will grant us what good thing soever we ask. For 1. he is affected as a good FatherPsal. 103. 13. towards his children: yea, his love towards us is so much greater then the love of earthly parents as his goodnesse and mercy is greater, Isai. 63. 16. Psal. 27. 10. Isai. 49. 15. Matth. 7. 11. Luke 11. 13. 2. In that he is our Father he hath given us the greatest gift that can be imagined, and therefore will not deny the lesfe. Pater quid negabit filiis, qui jam dedit quòd pater est? What will the father deny to his sons, who hath vouchsafed already to be our Father? For if he have so loved us that he gave his Son for us (that in him we might be adopted his children) how shall he not with him give us all good things? Rom. 8. 32. 3. In that he hath vouchsafed us this great love to be our Father and that we should be his children, he hath also made us his heirs, & provided us an inheritance in heaven. For as he gave his Sonne in pretium, for a price, so he reserveth himself in praemium, for a reward. If therefore it be our Fathers pleasure to give us a kingdome, we need not fear but that he will grant us matters of lesse moment, Luke 12. 32. 4. In sonne-like submission we are to call upon God our Father, &c. Matth. 26. 39, 42. And in this faith we are to rest in the will of our Father, submitting our selves thereto, knowing that he will dispose of us for the best.
Duties in our lives.
IF we call God our Father, we must behave our selves as dutifull and obedient children, 1. Pet. 1. 14. we must walk worthy our calling, Ephes. 4. 1. For seeing we have these promises, namely, that God will be a Father unto us, and that we shall be his sonnes and daughters, we ought to cleanse our selves from all filthinesse of the flesh and spirit, and grow up into all godlinesse in the fear of God, 2. Cor. 6. 18. and 7. 1. Deut. 32. 6. Nonne ipse Pater tuus, &c. Is not he thy FatherM…l. 1. 6. that hath bought thee? We must honour him, we must fear him, 1. Pet. 1. 17. Neither ought we to fear any thing so much as to displease him. We must love him, and Christ his Sonne, John 8. 42. and for his sake our neighbours, as the sonnes of God and members of Christ, and consequently as our brethren and fellow-members, 1. John 5. 1. We are to imitate our heavenly Father, Matth. 5. 45. Luke 6. 36. We must patiently and meekly bear afflictions as fatherly chastisements, Heb. 12. 6, 7, &c. Otherwise we shew our selves to be bastards rather then sonnes. We must trust in him, Psal. 27. 10. Isai. 63. 16.
Here therefore is reproved the hypocrisie of those who using these words do not call upon God in their prayers with sonne-like reverence, faith, affection, submission, nor in their lives behave themselves as Gods children. For though we call upon God as our Father, and yet do not obey him, nor honour him, nor fear him, nor love him, nor follow him, nor submit our selves to his chastisements, nor trust in him, we shew our selves not to be the children of God, but rather of the devil. For our Saviour saith to the Jews affirming that God was their Father, His sonnes ye are whose works ye do, John 8. 39, 48. And John also saith, 1. Epist. 3. 8, 9, 10. He that committeth sinne is of the devil: Whosoever is born of God sinneth not; for his seed remaineth in him, &c. In this the children of God are known and the children of the devil. Whosoever doth not righteousnesse is not of God; neither he that loveth not his brother. See Deut. 32. 5, 6.
Our.
WHen as our Saviour teacheth us to say, Our Father, Give us, &c. he may seem to some to have prescribed a form of publick prayer onelyonly. Otherwise why doth he not teach us to say, My Father, Give me, &c.? But out of verse 6. it appeareth that he prescribeth this form as well for private as for publick prayer. Now he teacheth us to say, Our Father, Give us, &c. that we may learn it to be our duty to call upon God not onelyonly for our selves but also for others.
But for what others? For all men, 1. Tim. 2. 1. (For God is the Father of all by creation.) but especially for the faithfull, to whom G…d is a Father by grace of adoption, and they also our brethren in Christ. We are therefore to pray for the whole brotherhood, which is the universall Church, and the whole company of the faithfull, Psal. 122. 6. O pray for the peace of Jerusalem. For the universall Church, I say, militant upon earth. For unto the present estate of the Church militant our Saviour doth accommodate this prayer: as, that we may do the will of God upon earth as it is in heaven; that he would give us our daily bread; that he would forgive our sinnes, and not lead us into temptation. When as therefore this prayer is used amongst the Papists for the dead, they shew themselves not impious onelyonly but also ridiculous.
Vses concerning Prayer.
FIrst, whereas Christ commandeth us to call God 1.Father not onelyonly of other faithfull and elect but Faith required in prayeralso ours, he requireth in us when we are to pray a true and justifying faith whereby we are perswaded that God is our Father in Christ, and the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry in our hearts, Abba, Father. Therefore that speciall faith which the Papists call presumption, whereby every Christian man believeth that he is adopted in Christ, reconciled to God, and justified by him, and that for his sake both himself and his prayer is accepted of God, Christ requireth in this place. For unlesse I be perswaded that the Lord is not onelyonly the Father of the rest of the faithfull and elect, but also my Father, I cannot in truth call him our Father. Unto prayer therefore we must bring faith, without which it is impossible to please God.
Secondly, whereas Christ commandeth us to call 2.upon God not onelyonly for our selves, but also in the We must pray one for another.behalf of the whole fraternitie, which is the universall Church, Our Father, Give us, &c. he teacheth us to exercise the communion of Saints by mutuall prayers for one another, Ephes. 6. 18. and not onelyonly to have respect to our own good but also to the good of others, 1. Cor. 13. 5. and withall informeth us how we are to be affected towards our brethren when we come to call upon God; that we should desire the same good things for them which we ask for our selves; that we should be touched with a fellow-feeling of their wants, as it becometh those which are not onelyonly the sonnes of the same Father, but also members of the same body, Heb. 13. 3. Therefore as we ought to bring faith towards God, so also charity towards men, that without wrath and dissension we may lift up pure hands unto God, 1. Tim. 2. 8.
But is it not lawfull to say sometimes, My Father, Quest.My God, and to pray for our selves in particular or for some others?
It is lawfull in private prayers to call God thy Answ.Father, so that thou dost not arrogate any thing peculiar to thy self besides or above other faithfull men. For this is the voyce of justifying faith (especially in the time of temptation, when the faithfull man may seem forsaken of God) to apply unto himself in particular that which commonly belongeth to all the faithfull, Psal. 22. 1. Deus meus, My God, my God, &c. John 20. 28. Rom. 1. 8. The Lord instructeth his people thus to call him, My Father, Jer. 3. 4, 19. and Christ his disciples, Matth. 6. 6. Pray to thy Father; and thy Father which seeth in secret, &c.
It is lawfull also to pray for thy self and for others in particular, so as thou forget not to pray for the whole brotherhood of Gods children. For as when we are commanded to do good to all, but especially to the houshold of faith, Gal. 6. 10. we are bound in particular to do good to those whose wants are known unto us: so when we are commanded to pray for all, we are bound in particular to pray for those whose wants are known unto us, and especially for such as do any wayes belong unto us or do desire to be commended in our prayers unto God, Rom. 15. 30. Jam. 5. 14. Ephes. 5. 19. 1. Tim. 2. 1, 2.
Thirdly, whereas we are taught to say, Our Father, 3. An use of comfort, seeing all the Church prayeth for us.Give us, &c. we may gather that this prayer and those that are made to the like effect are the common voyce of the Church and of all the members thereof praying mutually for one another: Which affordeth comfort to every one of us; for although the sense of thy own wants & weaknesse in calling upon God doth discourage thee, yet this ought to comfort thee, that this prayer and the like is the common prayer of the Church and of all the faithfull lifting up holy hands in every place, and praying for thee, if thou be a faithfull man, as well as for themselves. Now the prayer of the Church the Lord who is most gracious unto it is ready to heare, Deut. 4. 7. Isai. 65. 24. and being most faithfull is also willing to perform, Matth. 18. 20. Therefore this serveth, as for instruction, teaching us our duty in calling upon God for one another, so also for our comfort, assuring us that others in like sort pray for us, and that we are partakers of all the prayers of the whole Church and all the members thereof.
Fourthly, the hypocrisie of those is condemned who say with the Jews, John 8. 41. We have all one Father, God; but neither have faith in God, nor charity towards men, nor any fellow-feeling of other mens wants, nor any true desire of their good; who say, Every man for himself, and God for us all.
Vses concerning our lives.
SEeing we have all one and the same Father, Brotherly love required of all that pray.Matth. 23. 9. therefore we ought to embrace one another with brotherly love, Ephes. 4. 3, 4, 6. For if God be the Father of us all, then are we all brethren. Which word of love ought to tie us with the bond of love, and break off all dissension, Gen. 13. 8. Acts 7. 26. Mal. 2. 10. And surely if we love not our brethren, the love of God is not in us: For he which loveth him that begetteth, loveth also those that are begotten, 1. Joh. 5. 1. And, Whosoever saith that he loveth God and hateth his brother, he is a liar, 1. John 4. 19, 20. Therefore where is not brotherly love there is not the love of God; where is not the love of God there is no faith; and who hath not faith is not the sonne of God. Therefore the Apostle saith, 1. John 3. 10. In this the children of God are known and the children of the devil; Whosoever doeth not righteousnesse is not of God, nor he that loveth not his brother. For if those that be the sonnes of God, as all the faithfull are (and we are to hope well of the most when we speak of particulars) be not our brethren, and so we esteem them, then are not we the sonnes of God. For if he be our Father, then his children are our brethren; If the sonnes of God be not brethren to us, then are not we his children. If therefore we shall hate the children of God, how can we call upon him as our Father?
Secondly, whereas all, as well poore as rich, are2. To …each the rich, and comfort the poore. commanded to call God Father, this ought to teach the rich, & comfort the poore. The rich ought from hence to learn humility and not to despise the poorest Christian, seing they are our brethren by the law of nature, and of the same bloud, Acts 17. the same flesh, Isai. 58. and also by our redemption by Christ they are our brethren in him, sonnes of the same Father, and have as good part in Christ, if they believe, as the best, for God is a Father that respecteth not persons, Acts 10. 34, 35. 1. Pet. 1. 17. And in Christ there is no difference of rich and poore, bond or free; but we are all one in him, Gal. 3. 28. To which purpose Paul exhorteth Philemon to receive his servant Onesimus, being now converted, as a brother, v. 17. Let therefore the rich follow the advise, Rom. 12. 16. Example, Job 31. 13, 14, 15. that of the wife 1. Pet. 3. 7. which is to be extended to all Christians, viz. that they be coheirs. Which doctrine doth not favour the Anabaptists; for although in respect of our spirituall estate there ought to be no respect of persons, Jam. 2. 1. neither is there difference of bond and fr…e in Christ, yet in respect of our outward estate the Lord hath ordained superiours and inferiours, &c. and hath established orders and degrees in the outward politie.
The poore also are to comfort themselves with this consideration, that howsoever they be contemned in the world, yet they are dear in Gods sight. God is their Father as well, or rather of them then of the rich, Psal. 68. 6. and Christ their brother: yea, they are members of Christ, to whom what is done Christ esteemeth as done to himself, Matth. 25. The which is to be understood of the godly poore; for otherwise, as their estate is miserable now, so a thousand times more miserable shall it be in the world to come.
Vses of reproof.
THey are condemned that call God their Father,foreign and yet hate the children of God because they are godly, and deride the name of brethren.
2. Schismaticks, who call God their Father, but denie his children to be their brethren. For they which will have God for their Father, must have the true Church to their mother. And these words, Our Father, are the voyce of the Church, and of all that be of the same brotherhood.
3. Again, when we are bid to say, foreign, Our Father, &c. we are taught to direct our prayers unto God immediately, as being present with us. Which confuteth the Papists, who would not have us go directly to God, but to desire Mary, or Peter, &c. to pray for us: whereas this priviledge have all the faithfull, to come with boldnesse to the throne of grace by Christ, Ephes. 3. 12. Secondly, we are to believe that God who is in heaven is also present with us, hearing our prayers: and therefore so ought we to poure forth our prayers as into his bosome, yea though we pray in secret, Matth. 6. 6. Thirdly, we ought to have the eye of faith to see him that is invisible, Heb. 11. so shall we set God before our eyes, and behave our selves as it becometh those that speak to so glorious a Majesty. But most men because they see none present are touched with lesse reverence then if they spake to a mortall superiour.
Which art in heaven, foreign.
HEaven is all that space which is above the earth: Of which are three parts, Coelum Aereum, Gen. 1. 8. Aethereum, Empyreum. The first, Air; in which are the birds, fowls of heaven, and the wicked spirits in heavenly places, Ephes. 6. 12. and 2. 2. The second is that heaven wherein the starres are, which are called the host of heaven. The third is the seat of the blessed and throne of God, called Coelum empy. reum, because of the light, 1. Tim. 6. 16. paradise, 2. Cor. 12. 4. and the third heaven, in respect of the two lower; and in the same sense, the heaven of heavens, Psal. 115. 16. 1. Kings 8. 27. God is all in all. But this place is especially to be understood of the third heaven, which is the place of the Lords habitation, 1. Kings 8. 30.
How is God said to be in heaven, seeing he is everywhere?Object.
If God be everywhere, then is he also in heaven:Answ. But God is said to be in heaven, not that he is included therein, 1. Kings 8. 27. and therefore not circumscriptivè, by circumscription, as the body of Christ; nor definitivè, definitively, as the finite spirits; but he is there and everywhere repletivè, filling all places, …er. 23. 23. but yet so as he is everywhere totus, wholly. But y…t after a more speciall manner he is said to be in heaven: Because there especially he manifesteth his glory; there he is seen face to face; there he communicateth himself; thence he sendeth down his blessings & judgements, Rom. 1. 18. thence he speaketh to men; thence Christ descended; thence the holy Ghost, Matth. 3. thither Christ ascended; there he sitteth; and thence he returneth to judgement. And as the soul is said to be tota in toto & tota in qualibet parte, all in the whole, and in every part all; and yet in respect of the chief operations is said to be seated in the head (as it were) the heaven of this Microcosme; so God, who is everywhere wholly both in the world and out of it, is said to be in heaven: Heaven is his throne, Isai. 66. 1. there he prepared his seat, Psal. 103. 19. there he sitteth, Psal. 2. 4. that is the habitation of his holinesse, &c. Isai. 63. 15. the place of his habitation, 1. Kings 8. 30.
Secondly, when Christ saith, foreign, in the heavens, he meaneth foreign, heavenly, as Matth. 6. 26. And he is called heavenly, because the shallownesse of our minds cannot better conceive of the unspeakable glory and excellent majestie of God then under this name. For nothing more excellent and glorious is subject to our sense then the heaven. Whereas therefore the Scriptures give this title to God, they teach us to ascribe unto him majestie glorious, essence omnipresent, power infinit…, wisdome unspeakable, mercy endlesse.
The sense therefore of these words is this, Tho… that sittest upon heaven as thy throne, glorious in majestie, infinite in essence, power, wisdome and mercy.
Vses concerning prayer.
I. THe adoration of images & reliques condemned,Adoration of images condemned. we are taught to lift up our mind, eyes, hands to God being in heaven. We may therefore say, as Psal. 121. 1. Should I lift mine eyes to images? whence then should I have help? my help is from God. Therefore as Psal. 123. 1. To thee I lift up mine eyes, O thou who dwellest in the heavens.
II. We are taught, not to direct our prayer towards any certain place, as the Jews towards the temple; but we may turn any way towards God in heaven. And if we are not bound to look towards any certain place, much lesse to go on pilgrimage to it.
III. Neither must our minds go on pilgrimage whilest we are praying; but above the earth and all earthly cogitations our minds with our hands are to be lifted up unto the heavens, Lam. 3. 4. Psal. 25. 1. & as at all times, so especially in the time of prayer, our conversation ought to be in heaven.
IV. When we are commanded to call God our heavenly Father, we are taught to abandon all base conceits concerning God, Psal. 50. 13. and to ascribe unto him incomprehensible glory and majesty, infinite power and essence, wisdome unsearchable, mercy endlesse. Majesty; as sitting upon the heaven as upon his throne, the earth being his footstool, Isai. 66. 1. Which must teach us reverence, and not rashly to utter any thing before God: For God is in heaven, full of majestie and glory; and thou upon earth, dust and worms meat, Eccles 5. 1.
Power; that is, Might infinite, omnipotencie; Right infinite, and authority universall. Potentia, Power, Psal. 115. 3. Our God is in heaven: whatsoever he will he doeth. Which must teach us to pray with affiance, being assured that our heavenly Father is able to do for us according to (yea above) our requests, yea above our thought, Ephes. 3. 20. Thus Jehoshaphat, 2. Chron. 20. 6. Art not thou God in heaven, so as power is in thine hand which none can resist?
Potestas, Authority: So saith Jehoshaphat, Art not thou God in heaven? and dost not thou rule over all nations? So Psal. 103. 20. The Lord hath established his seat in heaven, and his kingdome is over all. On him therefore our trust must be reposed, by whose providence and power all things are governed in heaven and in earth. For hereby we learn that the Lord is not onelyonly able in respect of his might, but hath right also to bestow upon us any good thing. Audacter Deum roga, nihil illum de alteno rogaturus, S…neca.Beg boldly of God, seeing thou canst ask nothing of him which belongeth to another.
Infinite essence and omnipresence; for so is the heaven said to be his throne, as that the earth also is his footstool: and so is he in both, as that he is also everywhere and in every place totus. For we may not think that God is farre from us, Acts 17. 27. because he is said to be in heaven, as the wicked imagine, Job 22. 13. but we must acknowledge that he is alwayes present with us, Psal. 139. 7, 8, 9, &c. and, as it is Psal. 145. 18. Deut. 4. 7. near unto us wh…n we call upon him; yea, where two or three are gather…d together in his name, he is in the middest of them, Matth. 18. 20. If theresore thou prayest in secret, the Lord heareth thee, Matth. 6. 6. if in the closet of thine heart without any speech, he heareth the voyce and cry of the heart, Exod. 14. 15. 1. Sam. 1. 13. Assure thy self therefore that thou speakest not into the air or utterest thy words in vain, but that thou pourest forth thy requests into the bosome of the Lord.
Wisdome unsearchable: For as the heavens are high above the carth, so are the Lords thoughts above ours, Isai. 55. 9. We must therefore submit our selves to his will, which is most wise and just: neither let us circumscribe him, but rather resigne our selves unto him, who best knoweth what is fit for us.
Mercy unspeakable; Whereby all these attributes are effectuall to our good. For if earthly parents do know to give good things to their children, much more doth our heavenly Father, Matth. 7. 11.
This therefore must not discourage us, that he sitteth above in heaven in the high throne of his majestie: for though he dwelleth above, …t he mercifully abaseth himself to behold the things which be in heaven and in earth, Psal. 113. 5, 6. He looketh down from the high place of his holinesse, even from heaven doth the Lord look down upon earth▪ that he might heare the mourning of the prisoner, and deliver the children of d…th, Psal. 102. 19, 20. Neither ought his power to terrifie us: for he useth it to our good, Deut. 33. 26. Herideth, or sitteth, upon the heavens for our help. Him therefore, let us exalt who rideth on the highest heavens, Psal. 68. 4.
Here therefore is discovered the hypocrisie of those men who calling upon God as their Father in heaven lift not up their hearts to heaven, but let them lie groveling on the earth; who imagine God to be like themselves, who without reverence speak unto him, or use vain babbling; who trust not in his power, nor acknowledge his presence with them, unreverently behaving themselves because they see him not; that submit not themselves to his fatherly wisdome, nor rest in his mercy and goodnesse.
Vses in our lives.
First, if our Father be in heaven, who also hath begotten us to an heavenly inheritance, then we who are the children of God are in this world pilgrimes from God and from our countrey; and therefore ought not to mindearthly things, but have our conversation in heaven, Phil. 3. 19, 20. Secondly, if God our Father be full of maiesty and power, we ought to fear him and to stand in aw. Thirdly, if omnipotent, let us rest confidently under his protection, neither let the fear of any danger draw us unto sinne; for God is able to deliver us, Dan. 17. And on the other side, let us fear to sinne; for he is able to destroy both body and soul in hell, Matth. 10. 28. If God be omnipresent, let us behave our selves as in his presence, and walk before him in uprightnesse of heart. If our heavenly Father be most wise and mercifull, let us cast our care upon him, in all our necessities depending on him. As for those that are mere worldlings & terrae filii, who neither stand in aw of his majesty, nor trust in his power, nor wa…k as in his presence, nor depend upon his fatherly goodnesse, they cannot but in hypocrisie call God their heavenly Father.
Now if we joyn these two together, of which we have spoken severally, That God is our Father, and therefore willing to heare us; and also in heaven, and therefore able to grant our desires; there will be no place left to diffidence and distrust, seeing God is both willing and able to grant our requests. Therefore we ought not to be distrustfully carefull, but with confidence and assurance that we shall be heard to make our requests known unto God, Phil. 4. 6. seeing, as Fulgentius saith, Deus multus est ad ignoscendum; in hoc multo nihil deest, in quo & omnipotens misericordia & omnipotentia misericors est: God is much in forgiving; in this much nothing is missing, in whom is omnipotent mercy, and mercifull omnipotence. The consideration of either of these may stirre up a man to pray: but if he doubt of either, I see not how he can pray in faith. The leper, Mark 1. 40. being perswaded of Christs power, desireth him to make him clean: the father of him that was possessed, Mark 9. 22. having some good opinion of Christs willingnesse, intreated his help for the dispossessing of the unclean spirit: But because the one was not assured of his willingnesse, the other of his power, they make but doubtfull prayers, If thou wilt thou canst make me clean; If thou canst do any thing help us. But we may be assured of both in our heavenly Father: and therefore are to be encouraged to pray in faith, &c.