Our FATHER. (1) to Our FATHER. (3)

Our FATHER. (1)

HAVING (through the good providence of God) gone over the chief Grounds and Fundamentals of Religion, and enlarged upon the Decalogue or Ten Commandments, I shall now at the close, speak something upon the Lords Prayer.

MATTH. vi.9.

After this manner therefore pray ye, Our Father which art in Heaven, Hallowed, &c.

In this Scripture are two things observable.

• I. The Introduction to the Prayer.

• II. The Prayer it self, which consists of three parts.

• 1. A Preface.

• 2. Petitions

• 3. The Conclusion.

I. The Introduction to the Lords Prayer, sic orate vos, After this manner pray ye.] Our Lord Jesus in these words prescribed to his Disciples and us a directory for prayer. The Ten Commandments are the rule of our Life, the Creed is the summe of our Faith, and the Lords Prayer is the pattern of our Prayer: As God did prescribe Moses a pattern of the Tabernacle, Exod. 25.9. so Christ hath here prescribed us a pattern of Prayer. After this manner pray ye, &c. The meaning is, let this be the Rule and Model according to which ye frame your prayers; Ad hanc regulam preces nostras exigere necesse est. Not that we are tied to the words of the Lords-prayer: Christ saith not after these words, pray ye, but after this manner; that is, let all your petitions agree and symbolize with the things contained in the Lords prayer; and indeed well may we make all our prayers consonant and agreeable to this prayer, it being a most exact prayer. Tertullian calls it breviarium totius Evangelii, a breviary and compendium of the Gospel: It is like an heap of massy gold. The exactness of this prayer appears, 1. In the Dignity of the Author: A piece of work hath commendation from the Artificer; and this prayer hath commendation from the Author; it is the Lords Prayer. As the Law Moral was written with the Finger of God, so this prayer was drop'd from the Lips of the Son of God. Non vox Hominem sonat, est Deus. 2. The exactness of this prayer appears in the excellency of the matter. I may say of this prayer, It is as silver tryed in a furnace, purified seven times; Psal. 12.6. Never was there prayer so admirably and curiously composed as this. As Solomons Song for its Excellency is called the Song of Songs; so may this well be called the prayer of prayers. The matter of it is admirable; 1. For its Succinctness, 'tis short and pithy, [gap], multum in parvo, a great deal said in a few words. It requires more Art to draw the two Globes curiously in a little Map. This short Prayer is a System or Body of Divinity. 2. Its Clearness. This prayer is plain and intelligible to every capacity: Clearness is the grace of Speech. 3. Its Compleatness. This prayer contains in it the chief things that we have to ask, or God hath to bestow.

VSE. Let us have a great esteem of the Lords prayer; let it be the model and pattern of all our prayers: There is a double benefit ariseth from framing our petitions suitable to the Lords prayer. 1. Hereby Error in prayer is prevented: 'Tis not easie to write wrong Copy; we cannot easily err having our pattern before us. 2. Hereby Mercies requested are obtained; for the Apostle assures us God will hear us when we pray according to his Will, 1 Iohn 5.14. and sure we pray according to his Will, when we pray according to his pattern he hath set us. So much for the Introduction to the Lords prayer, After this manner pray ye.

II. The Prayer it self, which consists of three parts.

• 1. A Preface.

• 2. Petitions.

• 3. The Conclusion.

1. The Preface to the prayer: 1. Our Father, 2. Which art in Heaven. To begin with the first words of the Preface.

(1.) Our Father.] Father is sometimes taken personally; Iohn 14.28. My Father is greater than I: But Father in the Text is taken essentially for the whole Deity. This Title, Father, teacheth us to whom we must address our selves in prayer, to God alone. Here is no such thing in the Lords prayer, as, O ye Saints or Angels that are in Heaven hear us, but our Father which art in Heaven.

Quest. In what order must we direct our Prayers to God? Here is only the Father named, may not we direct our Prayers to the Son and Holy Ghost?

Answ. Though the Father only be named in the Lords prayer, yet the other two persons are not hereby excluded: The Father is mentioned because he is first in order, but the Son and Holy Ghost are included, because they are the same in Essence: As all the three persons subsist in one Godhead, so in our prayers, though we name but one [gap]rson, we must pray to all. To come then more closely to the first words of the Preface, [Our Father]. Princes on Earth give themselves Titles expressing their Greatness, as High and Mighty: God might have done so, and expressed himself thus, Our King of Glory, Our Iudge, but he gives himself another Title, Our Father, an expression of Love and Condescension. God that he might encourage us to pray

to him, represents himself under this sweet notion of a Father, Our Father. Dulce nomen Patris: The Name Iehovah carries Majesty in it; the Name Father carries Mercy in it.

Quest. 1. In what sense is God a Father?

Resp. 1. By Creation; it is he that hath made us; Acts 17.28. [gap], we are his Off-spring, Mal. 2.10. Have we not all one Father? Hath not one God Created us? But there is little comfort in this; for so God is Father to the Devils by Creation, but he that made them will not save them.

2. God is a Father by Election, having chosen a certain number to be his Children, whom he will entail Heaven upon; Eph. 1.4. [gap], He hath chosen us in him.

3. God is a Father by special Grace; he consecrates the elect by his Spirit, and infuseth a supernatural principle of Holiness, therefore they are said to be born of God, 1 Iohn 3.9. Such only as are sanctified can say, Our Father which art in Heaven.

Quest. 2. What is the difference between God being the Father of Christ, and the Father of the Elect?

Resp. God is the Father of Christ in a more glorious transcendent manner. Christ hath the primo-geniture; he is the eldest Son, a Son by eternal generation: Prov. 8.23. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. Isa. 53.8. Who shall declare his generation? Christ is a Son to the Father, yet so, as he is of the same Nature with the Father, having all the incommunicable properties of the Godhead belonging to him: But we are Sons of God by Adoption and Grace; Gal. 4.5. That we might receive the adoption of Sons.

Quest. 3. What is that which makes God our Father?

Resp. Faith: Gal. 3.26. Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Iesus. An Unbeliever may call God his Creator, and his Judge, but not his Father. Faith doth legitimate us, and make us of the Blood-Royal of Heaven: Ye are the children of God by faith. Baptism makes us Church-Members, but Faith makes us Children. Without Faith the Devil can show as good a Coat of Arms as we.

Quest. 4. How doth Faith make God to be our Father?

Resp. As Faith is an uniting Grace; by Faith we have Coalition and Union with Christ, and so the Kindred comes in; being united to Christ the Natural Son, we become Adopted Sons: God is the Father of Christ; Faith makes us Christs Brethren, Heb. 2.11. and so God comes to be our Father.

Quest. 5. Wherein doth it appear that God is the best Father?

Resp. 1. In that he is most Antient; Dan. 7.9. The antient of dayes did sit: A figurative representation of God who was before all time. This may cause Veneration.

2. God is the best Father, because he is perfect; Matth. 5.48. Your Father which is in Heaven is perfect. He is perfectly good: Earthly Fathers are subject to infirmities: Elias (though a Prophet) was a man of like passions. Iam. 5.17. but God is perfectly good: All the perfection we can arrive at in this Life is sincerity; we may a little resemble God, but not equal him: He is infinitely perfect.

3. God is the best Father in respect of Wisdom; 1 Tim. 1.17. The only wise God. He hath a perfect Idea of Wisdom in himself: He knows the fittest Mediums to bring about his own designs; the Angels light at his Lamp. In particular, this is one branch of his Wisdom, that he knows what is best for us: An Earthly Parent knows not in some intricate cases how to advise his Child, or what may be best for him to do; but God is a most wise Father; he knows what is best for us; he knows when Comfort is best for us; he keeps his Cordials for fainting; 2 Cor. 7.6. God who comforteth them that are cast down: He knows when affliction is best for us, and when it is fit to give a bitter potion: 1 Pet. 1.6. If need be, ye are in heaviness. He is the only wise God; he knows how to make evil things work for good to his Children, Rom. 8:28. he can make a soveraign treacle of poyson: Thus he is the best Father for Wisdom.

4. He is the best Father because most loving; 1 Iohn 4.16. God is love. He who causeth bowels of affection in others, must needs have more bowels himself; quod efficit tale: The Affections in Parents are but Marble and Adamant in comparison of Gods Love to his Children, he gives them the cream of his Love, electing Love, saving Love; Zeph. 3.17. He will rejoyce over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing: No Father like God for Love; if thou art his Child, thou canst not love thy own Soul, so intirely as he loves thee.

5. God is the best Father for Riches; God hath land enough to give to all his Children, he hath unsearchable riches, Eph. 3.8. He gives the hidden Manna, the Tree of Life, Rivers of Joy, Gates of Pearl: Who ever saw gates of Pearl? God hath treasures

that cannot be emptied, pleasures that cannot be ended. Earthly Fathers if they should be ever giving, they would have nothing left to give: God is ever giving to his Children, yet hath not the less; his Riches are imparted, not impaired. Like the Sun that still shines, yet hath not the less light. He cannot be poor who is infinite. Thus God is the best Father, he gives more to his Children than any Father, or Prince can bestow.

6. God is the best Father, because he can reform his Children. A Father when his Son takes bad courses, knows not how to make him better, but God knows how to make the Children of the Election better; he can change their Hearts. When Paul was breathing out persecution against the Saints, God soon altered his course and set him a praying; Acts 9.11. Behold he prayeth. None of those who belong to the Election are so rough cast and unhewen but God can polish them with his Grace, and make them fit for the Inheritance.

7. God is the best Father because he never dyes, 1 Tim. 6 16. Who only hath immortality. Earthly Fathers dye, and their Children are exposed to many injuries, but God lives for ever; Rev. 1.8. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the last. Gods Crown hath no Successors.

Quest. 6. Wherein lies the Dignity of such as have God for their Father?

Resp. They have greater Honour then is confer'd on the Princes of the Earth; They are precious in Gods esteem; Isa. 43.4. Since thou wast precious in my eyes, thou hast been honourable; the wicked are dross, Psal. 119.119. and chaff, Psal. 1.4. but God numbers his Children among his Jewels, Mal. 3.17. he writes all his Childrens names in the Book of Life, Phil. 4.3. Whose names are in the book of life. Among the Romans the Names of their Senators were written down in a Book, Patres conscripti; God enrolls the names of his Children, and will not blot their names out of the Register: Rev. 3.5. I will not blot his name out of the book of life. God will not be ashamed of his Children; Heb. 11.16. God is not ashamed to be called your God. One might think it were something below God, and he might disdain to Father such Children as are Dust and Sin mingled, but he is not ashamed to be called our God; and that we may see he is not ashamed of his Children, he writes his own Name upon them; Rev. 3.12. I will write upon him the name of my God; that is, I will openly acknowledge him before all the Angels to be my Child. I will write my Name upon him, as the Son bears his Fathers name: What an honour and dignity is this.

2. God confers honourable Titles upon his Children: 1. He calls them the excellent of the earth, Psal. 16.2. or the magnificent, as Iunius renders it. They must needs be excellent who are e Regio Sanguine nati, of the Blood-Royal of Heaven; they are the Spiritual Phenixes of the World, the glory of the Creation. God calls his Children his glory; Isa. 46.13. Israel my glory. God honours his Children with the Title of Kings, Rev. 1.6. And hath made us Kings. All Gods Children are Kings: though they have not Earthly Kingdoms, yet, 1. They carry a Kingdom about them, Luke 17.21. The kingdom of God is within you: Grace is a Kingdom set up in the hearts of Gods Children. They are Kings to rule over their Sins: to bind those kings in chains. Psal. 149.8. 2. They are like Kings, they have their insignia Regalia, their ensigns of Royalty and Majesty. 1. They have their Crown: In this Life they are Kings in a disguise: They are not known, therefore they are exposed to poverty and reproach; they are Kings in a disguise: 1 Iohn 3.2. Now we are the Sons of God, and it doth not appear what we shall be. Why what shall we be? Every Son of God shall have his Crown of Glory, 1 Pet. 5.4. and white Robes, Rev. 6.11. Robes signifie Dignity, and white, signifies Sanctity.

3. This is their honour who have God for their Father, they are all Heirs; the youngest Son is an Heir. 1. Gods Children are heirs to the things of this Life: God being their Father they have the best title to earthly things, they have a sanctified right to them, though they have often the least share, yet they have the best right, and they have a Blessing with what they have; i. e. Gods Love and Favour. Others may have more of the Venison, but Gods Children have more of the Blessing: Thus they are Heirs to the things of this Life. 2 They are Heirs to the other World: Heirs of Salvation, Heb. 1.14. [gap], Ioint-heirs with Christ; Rom. 8.17. They go sharers with Christ in glory. Among Men commonly the eldest Son carries away all, but Gods Children are all Joint-heirs with Christ, they have a copartnership with him in his Riches. Hath Christ a place in the Celestial Mansions, so have the Saints; Iohn 14.2. In my Fathers house are many mansions, I go to prepare a place for you▪ Hath he his Fathers Love, so have they; Psal. 146.8. Iohn 17.26. That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them. Doth Christ sit upon a Throne, so do Gods Children; Rev. 3.21. What an high honour is this?

4. God makes his Children equal in honour to the Angels, Luke 20.36. They are [gap] equal to the Angels: nay, those Saints who have God for their Father, are in some sense superiour to the Angels; for Jesus Christ having taken our Nature, Naturam nostram nobilitavit, hath enobled and honoured it above the Angelical. Heb. 2.16. God hath made his Children by Adoption, nearer to himself than the Angels. The Angels are the Friends of Christ, Believers are the Members of Christ, and this honour have all the Saints. Thus you see the Dignity of such as have God for their Father. What a comfort is this to Gods Children, who are here despised and loaded with calumnies and invectives, 1 Cor. 4.14. We are made as the filth of the world, &c. But God will put Honour upon his Children at the last day, and crown them with Immortal Bliss, to the envy of their Adversaries.

Quest. 7. How we may know that God is our Father? All cannot say Our Father: The Jewes boasted that God was their Father; John 8.36. We have one Father, even God. Christ tells them their pedigree, ver. 44. Ye are of your Father the Devil. They who are of Satanical Spirits, and make use of their power to beat down the power of Godliness, cannot say God is their Father, they may say, Our Father which art in Hell. Well then, how may we know that God is our Father?

Our FATHER. (2)

Resp. 1. By having a Filial disposition. This is in four things▪ 1. To melt in tears for Sin: A Child weeps for offending his Father. When Christ looked on Peter, and he remembred his Sin in denying Christ, he fell a weeping. Clemens Alexandrinus reports of Peter, he never heard a Cock crow but he wept. This is a sign God is our Father: When the heart of stone is taken away, and there is a gracious thaw in the heart, it melts in tears for Sin; and he who hath a Child-like heart mourns for Sin in a Spiritual manner, as it is Sin: He grieves for it, 1. As it is an Act of Pollution. Sin deflours the Virgin-Soul; it defaceth Gods Image; it turns beauty into deformity; 'tis called the plague of the heart, 1 Kings 8.38. It is the spirits of evil distilled. A Child of God mourns for the defilement of Sin; Sin hath a blacker aspect than Hell. 2. He who hath a Child-like heart grieves for Sin, as 'tis an Act of Enmity. Sin is diametrically opposite to God: It is called a walking contrary to God; Lev. 26.40. If they shall confess their iniquity, and that they have walked contrary to me. Sin doth all it can to spight God: If God be of one mind, Sin will be of another. Sin would not only unthrone God, but it strikes at his very Being; if Sin could help it God should be no longer God. A Child-like heart grieves for this, O saith he, that I should have so much enmity in me, that my Will should be no more subdued to the Will of my Heavenly Father, this springs a leak of godly sorrow. 3. A Child-like heart weeps for Sin as it is an Act of Ingratitude. Sin is an abuse of Gods Love; it is a taking the Jewels of Gods Mercies and making use of them to sin. God hath done more for his Children than others; he hath planted his grace, and given them some intimations of his favour, and to sin against kindness, dyes a sin in grain, and makes it Crimson: Like Absalom, as soon as his Father kissed him and took him into favour, plotted Treason against him. Nothing so melts a Child-like heart in tears, as sins of unkindness; O that I should sin against the Blood of a Saviour, and the Bowels of a Father: I condemn ingratitude in my Child, yet I am guilty of ingratitude against my Heavenly Father: This opens a vein of godly sorrow, and makes the heart bleed afresh; certainly this evidenceth God to be our Father, when he hath given us this Child-like frame of heart, to weep for sin as it is sin, an act of Pollution, Enmity, Ingratitude. A wicked Man may mourn for the bitter Fruit of Sin, but only a Child of God can grieve for the odious Nature of Sin. 2. A Filial (or Child-like) disposition is to be full of sympathy▪ We lay to heart the dishonours reflected upon our Heavenly Father, when we see Gods Worship adulterated, his Truth mingled with the poyson of Errour, it is as a Sword in our Bones to see Gods Glory suffer; Psal. 119.158. I beheld the transgressors and was grieved. Homer describing Agamemnons grief when he was forced to sacrifice his Daughter Iphigenia, brings in all his Friends weeping and condoling with him; so when God is dishonoured, we sympathize, and are as it were clad in mourning. A Child that hath any good Nature, is cut to the heart to hear his Father reproached. An Heir of Heaven takes a dishonour done to God more heinous than a disgrace done to himself. 3. A Filial disposition is to love our Heavenly Father: He is unnatural that doth not love his Father. God who is crown'd with excellency, is the proper object of delight, and every true Child of God saith as Peter, Lord thou knowest that I love thee: But who will not say he loves God? If ours be a true genuine love to our Heavenly Father, it may be known, 1. By the effects. 1. Then we have an holy fear: There is a fear which ariseth from love to God; that is, we fear the loss of the visible tokens of Gods presence; 1 Sam. 4.13. Elies heart trembled for the Ark. It is not said his heart trembled for his two Sons, Hophni and

Phinchas, but his heart trembled for the Ark; because the Ark was the special sign of Gods Presence, and if that were taken the Glory was departed. He who loves his Heavenly Father, fears least the tokens of his Presence should be removed, least Profaneness should break in like a flood, least Popery should get head, and God should go from a people. The presence of God in his Ordinances is the glory and strength of a Nation. The Trojans had the Image of Pallas, and they had an opinion, that as long as that Image was preserved among them, they should never be conquered. So long as Gods presence is with a people so long they are safe. Every true Child of God fears least God should go, and the glory depart. Try by this whether we have a Filial disposition: Do we love God, and doth this love cause fear and jealousie? Are we afraid least we should lose Gods presence? Least the Sun of Righteousness remove out of our Horizon. Many are afraid least they should lose some of their Worldly profits, but not least they lose the presence of God. If they may have Peace and Trading they care not what becomes of the Ark of God. A true Child of God fears nothing so much as the loss of his Fathers presence: Hos. 9.12. Wo to them when I depart from them. 2. Love to our Heavenly Father is seen by loving his Day; Isa. 58.13. If thou call the Sabbath a delight. The Antients called this Regina Dierum, the Queen of Days. If we love our Father in Heaven we spend this day in Devotion, in Reading, Hearing, Meditating: On this day Manna falls double. God sanctified the Sabbath: He made all the other days in the Week, but he hath sanctified this day; this day he hath crown'd with a Blessing. 3. Love to our Heavenly Father is seen by loving his Children; 1 Iohn 5.1. Every one that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him. If we love God, the more we see of God in any, the more we love them; we love them though they are poor: A Child loves to see his Fathers picture, though hung in a mean frame; we love the Children of our Father though they are persecuted; 2 Tim. 1.16. Onesiphorus was not ashamed of my chain. Constantine did kiss the hole of Paphnusius's eye, because he suffered the loss of his eye for Christ. It appears they have no love to God, who have no love to his Children; they care not for their company; they have a secret disgust and antipathy against them. Hipocrites pretend great reverence to the Saints departed, they canonize dead Saints, but persecute living: I may say of these as the Apostle, Heb. 12.8. They are bastards, not sons. 4. Effect of love, if we love our Heavenly Father, then we will be Advocates for him, and stand up in the defence of his Truth. He who loves his Father will plead for him when he is traduced and wronged. He hath no Child-like heart, no love to God, who can hear Gods name dishonoured, and be silent. Doth Christ appear for us in Heaven, and are we afraid to appear for him on Earth? Such as dare not own God and Religion in times of danger, God will be ashamed to be called their God; it would be a reproach to him to have such Children as will not own him. 2. A Child-like love to God is known, as by the Effects, so by the Degree; it is a superiour love. We love our Father in Heaven above all other things; above Estate or Relations, as Oyl runs above the Water. Psal. 73.25. A Child of God seeing a super eminency of Goodness, and a constellation of all Beauties in God, he is carried out in love to him in the highest measure: As God gives his Children such a love as he doth not bestow upon the wicked, electing love; so Gods Children give God such a love as they bestow upon none else, adoring love; they give him the flower and spirits of their love; they love him with a love joyned with worship; this spiced Wine they keep only for their Father to drink of: Cant. 8.2. 4. A Child-like disposition is seen in honouring our Heavenly Father. Mal. 1.6. A Son honoureth his Father.

Quest. How [gap] show our honour to our Father in Heaven?

Resp. 1. By having a reverential awe of God upon us; Lev. 25.17. Thou shalt fear thy God: This reverential fear of God is when we dare do nothing that he hath forbidden in his Word; Gen. 39.9. How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? It is the part of the honour a Son gives to his Father, he fears to displease him. 2. We show our honour to our Heavenly Father by doing all we can to exalt God, and make his Excellencies shine forth; though we cannot lift up God higher in Heaven, yet we may lift him higher in our hearts, and in the esteem of others. When we speak well of God, set forth his renown, display the trophies of his goodness, when we ascribe the glory of all we do to God, when we are the trumpeters of Gods praise; this is an honouring our Father in Heaven, and a certain sign of a Child-like heart: Psal. 50.23 Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me.

2. We may know God is our Father by our resembling of him: The Child is his Fathers Picture, Iudg. 8.18. Each one resembled the children of a King: Every Child of God resembles the King of Heaven; herein Gods adopting Children and Mans differ. A Man adopts one for his Son and Heir that doth not at all resemble him, but

whosoever God adopts for his Child is like him; he not only bears his Heavenly Fathers Name, but Image, Col. 3.10. And have put on the new man, which is renewed [gap] —after the image of him that created him. He who hath God for his Father, resembles God in Holiness: Holiness is the glory of the Godhead, Exod. 15.11. The Holiness of God is the intrinsick Purity of his Essence. He who hath God for his Father, partakes of the Divine Nature; though not of the Divine Essence, yet of the Divine Likeness: As the Seal sets its print and likeness upon the Wax, so he who hath God for his Father, hath the print and effigies of his Holiness stamped upon him, Psal. 106.16. Aaron the Saint of the Lord. Wicked Men desire to be like God hereafter in glory, but do not affect to be like him here in grace; they give it out to the World that God is their Father, yet have nothing of God to be seen in them, they are unclean, they not only want his Image but hate it.

3. We may know God is our Father by having his Spirit in us. 1. By having the intercession of the Spirit: 'Tis a Spirit of Prayer: Gal. 4.6. Because ye are Sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Prayer is the Souls breathing it self into the bosom of its Heavenly Father. None of Gods Children are born dumb; implet Spiritus sanctus organum suum, & tanquam Pila chordarum tangit Spiritus Dei corda sanctorum. Prosper. Acts 9.11. Behold he prayeth: But it is not every Prayer evidenceth Gods Spirit in us. Such as have no grace may excel in gifts, and affect the hearts of others in Prayer, when their own hearts are not affected: As the Lute makes a sweet sound in the ears of others, but it self is not sensible; how therefore shall we know our Prayers are indited by Gods Spirit, and so he is our Father?

Resp. 1. When they are not only Vocal but Mental; when there are not only gifts but groans; Rom. 8.26. The best Musick is in consort; the best Prayer is when the heart and tongue joyn together in consort.

2. When they are zealous and fervent: Iam. 5.16. The effectual fervent Prayer of a righteous man availeth much. The eyes melt in Prayer, the heart burns: Fervency is to Prayer, as Fire to the Incense; it makes it ascend to Heaven as a sweet perfume.

3. When Prayer hath Faith sprinkled in it: Prayer is the Key of Heaven, and Faith is the hand that turns it; Rom. 8.15. We cry, Abba, Father. We cry, there is fervency in Prayer: Abba, Father, there is Faith. Those Prayers suffer shipwrack which dash upon the rock of unbelief. Thus we may know God is our Father by having his Spirit praying in us: As Christ intercedes above, so the Spirit intercedes within. 2. By having the renewing of the Spirit, which is nothing else but Regeneration, which is called a being born of the Spirit, Iohn 3.5. This regenerating work of the Spirit is a transformation, or change of Nature, Rom. 12.2. [gap], Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. He who is born of God hath a new heart: New, not for substance, but for qualities. The strings of a Viol may be the same, but the Tune is altered: Before this Regeneration, there are Spiritual Pangs, much heart-breaking for Sin. Regeneration is called a circumcising of the heart, Col. 2.11. In Circumcising there was pain in the flesh: so in this Spiritual Circumcision there is pain in the heart; there is much sorrow arising from the sense of guilt and wrath. The Jaylors trembling, Acts 16.30. was a pang in the new birth. Gods Spirit is a Spirit of Bondage before it be a Spirit of Adoption. This blessed work of Regeneration spreads over the whole Soul; it irradiates the Mind, it consecrates the Heart, and reforms the Life: Though Regeneration be but in part, it is in every part; 1 Thess. 5.23. Regeneration is the signature and engraving of the Holy Ghost upon the Soul. The new born Christian is bespangled with the Jewels of the [gap] which are the Angels glory: Regeneration is the spring of all true joy. At our first birth we come weeping into the World, but at our new birth there's cause of rejoycing; for now God is our Father, and we are begotten to a lively hope of glory; 1 Pet. 1.3. We may try by this our relation to God. Hath a regenerating work of Gods Spirit passed upon our Souls? Are we made of another Spirit? Humble and Heavenly? This is a good sign of Son-ship, and we may say, Our Father which art in Heaven. 3. By having the conduct of the Spirit: We are led by the Spirit; Rom. 8.14. As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the Sons of God. Gods Spirit doth not only quicken us in our Regeneration, but leads us on till we come to the end of our Faith, Salvation. It is not enough the Child have Life, but he must be led every step by the Nurse. Hos. 11.3. I taught Ephraim to go, taking them by their armes. Their Armes, as the Israelites had the Cloud and Pillar of Fire to go before them, and be a guide to them; so Gods Spirit is a guide to go before us, and lead us into all truth, and counsel us in all our doubts, and influence us in all our actions: Psalm 73.24. Thou shalt guide me by thy counsels. None can call God Father but such as have the conduct of his Spirit.

Try then what Spirit you are led by? Such as are led by a Spirit of Envy, Lust, Avarice, these are not led by the Spirit of God; it were blasphemy for them to call God Father: These are led by the Spirit of Satan, and may say Our Father which art in Hell. 4. By having the Witness of the Spirit; Rom. 8.16. The Spirit it self beareth witness with our Spirit, that we are the Children of God. This Witness of the Spirit, suggesting that God is our Father, is not a Vocal Witness, or Voice from Heaven: The Spirit in the Word witnesseth: The Spirit in the Word saith, he who is so qualified, who is an hater of Sin, and a lover of Holiness, is a Child of God, and God is his Father; if I can find such qualifications wrought, here is the Spirit witnessing with my Spirit, that I am a Child of God. Besides, we may carry it higher, the Spirit of God witnesseth to our Spirit by making more than ordinary impressions upon our hearts, and giving some secret hints and whispers that God hath purposes of Love to us: Here is a concurrent witness of the Spirit with Conscience, that we are Heirs of Heaven, and God is our Father: This Witness is better felt than expressed, this Witness scatters doubts and fears, silenceth temptations; but what shall one do that hath not this Witness of the Spirit? If we w[gap]t the Witness of the Spirit, let us labour to find the Work of the Spirit; if we have not the Spirit testifying, labour to have it sanctifying, and that will be a support to us.

Our FATHER. (3)

4. If God be our Father we are of Peaceable Spirits: Matth. 5.9 Blessed are the peace-makers, they shall be called the children of God. Grace infuseth a sweet amicable disposition; it files off the ruggedness of Mens Spirits; it turns the Lion-like fierceness into a Lamb-like gentleness; Isa. 11.7. They who have God to be their Father, follow Peace as well as Holiness. God the Father is called the God of Peace, Heb. 13.20. God the Son, the Prince of Peace, Isa. 9.6. God the Holy Ghost is a Spirit of Peace: It is called the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace; Eph. 4.3. The more peaceable the more like God. It is a bad sign God is not their Father; 1. Who are fierce and cruel, as if with Romulus they had sucked the Milk of a Wolf, Rom. 3.17. The way of peace have they not known, they sport in mischief; these are they who are of a persecuting Spirit, as Maximinus, Dioclesian, Antiochus, who (as Eusebius) took more tedious journeys, and run more hazards in vexing and persecuting the Iewes, than any of his Predecessors had done in getting of Victories: These Furies cannot call God Father, if they do, they will have as little comfort in saying Father, as Dives had in Hell, when he said, Father Abraham, Luke 16.24. 2. Who are makers of division; Rom. 16.17. Mark them which cause divisions, and avoid them: Such as are born of God are makers of Peace, what shall we think of such as are makers of Division, will God Father these? The Devil made the first division in Heaven; they may call the Devil Father; they may give the Cloven Foot in their Coat of Armes; their sweetest Musick is in Discord; they unite to divide. Sampsons Fox-tails were tyed together only to set the Philistians Corn on fire, Iudg. 15 4. Papists unite only to set the Churches Peace on fire· Satans Kingdom goes up by Divisions. St. Chrysostome observes of the Church of Corinth, when many Converts were brought in, Satan knew no better way to dam up the current of Religion, than to throw in an Apple of Strife, and divide them into Parties; one was for Paul, and another for Apollos, but few for Christ. Would not Christ have his Coat rent, and can he endure to have his Body rent? Sure God will never Father them who are not Sons of Peace: Of all them who God hates, he is named for one, who is a sower of discord among brethren, Prov. 6.19.

5. If God be our Father, then we love to be near God, and have converse with him. An ingenuous Child delights to approach near to his Father, and go into his presence. David envyed the Birds that they built their Nests so near Gods Altars, when he was debarred his Fathers house; Psal. 84.3. True Saints love to get as near to God as they can: In the Word they draw near to his Holy Oracle, in the Sacrament they draw near to his Table; a Child of God delights to be in his Fathers presence; he cannot stay away long from God; he sees a Sabbath day approaching and rejoyceth; his heart hath been often melted and quickened in a Ordinance, he hath tasted the Lord is good, therefore he loves to be in his Fathers presence, he cannot keep away long from God. Such as care not for Ordinances cannot say Our Father which art in Heaven: Is God their Father who cannot endure to be in his presence?

VSE I. Of Instruction. See the amazing goodness of God that is pleased to enter into this sweet relation of a Father. God needed not to adopt us, he did not want a Son: God did not want a Son, but we did a Father; God showed Power in being our Maker, but Mercy in being our Father: When we were enemies, and our hearts stood out as garrisons against God, that he should conquer our stubbornness, and of enemies make us children, and write his Name, and put his Image upon us, and bestow

a Kingdom of Glory; what a Miracle of Mercy is this? Every adopted Child may say, Even so Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. Mat. 11.26.

2. Br. or Infer. If God be a Father, then hence I infer, whatever he doth to his Children is Love.

(1.) If he smiles upon them in Prosperity it is Love: They have the World not only with Gods leave, but with his love. God saith to every Child of his, as Naaman to Gehazi, 2 Kings 5.23. Be content take two talents: So saith God to his Child, I am thy Father, take two talents. Take Health and take my Love with it; take an Estate and take my Love with it; Take two talents. Gods Love is a sweetning ingredient into every Mercy.

Quest. How doth it appear that a Child of God hath Worldly things in love?

Resp. 1. Because he hath a good Title to them. God is his Father, therefore he hath a good title: A wicked Man hath a civil title to the Creature, but no more; he hath it not from the hand of a Father; he is like one that takes up Cloth at the Drapers, and it is not paid for; but a Believer hath a good title to every foot of Land he hath, his Father hath setled it upon him.

2. A Child of God hath Worldly things in love, because they are sanctified to him. 1. They make him better, and are Loadstones to draw him nearer to God. 2. He hath his Fathers Blessing with them: A little blest is sweet; Exod. 23.25. He shall bless thy bread and thy water. Esau had the Venison, but Iacob got the Blessing: While the wicked have their Meat sawced with Gods Wrath, Psal. 78.30, 31. Believers have their Comforts seasoned with a Blessing. It was a secret Blessing from God made Daniels Pulse nourish him more, and make him look fairer, than they that ate of the Kings Meat, Dan. 1.15.

3. A Child of God hath Worldly things in love, because whatever he hath is an earnest of more: Every bit of Bread is a pledge and earnest of glory.

(2.) God being a Father, if he frown, if he dips his pen in gall, and write bitter things, if he corrects, 'tis in Love. A Father loves his Child as well when he doth chastise and discipline him, as when he settles his Land on him; Rev. 3.19. As many as I love, I rebuke. Afflictions are sharp Arrows, saith Gr. Nazianzen, but they are shot from the hand of a loving Father. Correctio est Virtutis gymnasium; God afflicts with the same love he gives Christ; he doth it to humble and purifie: Gentle Correction is as necessary as Dayly Bread; nay, as needful as Ordinances, as Word and Sacraments. There is love in all; God smites that he may save.

(3.) God being a Father, if he desert and hide his face from his Child, it is in love. Desertion is sad in it self, a short Hell, Iob 6.9. When the Light is withdrawn, Dew falls: Yet we may see a Rainbow in the Cloud, the love of a Father in all this. 1. God hereby quickens grace; perhaps grace lay dormant, Cant. 5.2. it was as fire in the embers, and God withdraws comfort to invigorate and exercise grace. Faith is a Star sometimes shines brightest in the dark night of desertion; Ionah 2.4. 2. When God hides his face from his Child, yet still he is a Father, and his heart is towards his Child; as Ioseph when he spake roughly to his Brethren, and made them believe he would take them for Spyes, still his Heart was full of Love, and he was fain to go aside and weep. So Gods Bowels yearn to his Children, when he seems to look strange; Isa. 54.8. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee. Though God may have the look of an enemy, yet still he hath the heart of a Father.

3. Br. or Infer. Learn hence the sad case of the wicked, they cannot say, Our Father in Heaven; they may say Our Iudge, but not Our Father; they fetch their pedigree from Hell, Iohn 8.44. Ye are of your Father the Devil. Such as are unclean and profane, are the spurious blood of the Old Serpent, and it were blasphemy for them to call God Father. The case of the wicked is deplorable, if they are in misery, they have none to make their moan to; God is not their Father, he disclaims all Kindred with them▪ Matth. 7.23. I never knew you, depart from me ye that work iniquity. The wicked dying in their Sins, can expect no Mercy from God as a Father. Many say, he that made them will save them, but Isa. 27.11. It is a people of no understanding, therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them. Though God was their Father by Creation, yet because they were not his Children by Adoption; therefore he that made them would not save them.

VSE II. Of Exhortation: To perswade all who are yet strangers to God, to labour to come into this Heavenly Kindred: Never leave till you can say, Our Father which art in Heaven.

Quest. But will God be a Father to me who have profaned his Name, and been a great Sinner?

Resp. If thou wilt now at last seek to God by Prayer, and break off thy Sins, God hath the Bowels of a Father for thee, and will in no wise cast thee out. When the Prodigal did arise and go to his Father, his Father had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: Luke 15.20. Though thou hast been a Prodigal, and almost spent all upon thy Lusts, yet if thou wilt now give a bill of divorce to thy Sins, and fly to God by Repentance, know that he hath the Bowels of a Father; he will embrace thee in the Arms of his Mercy, and seal thy Pardon with a Kiss. What though thy Sins have been heinous? The Wound is not so broad as the Plaister of Christs Blood. The Sea covers great Rocks: The Sea of Gods Compassion can drown thy great Sins; therefore be not discouraged, go to God, resolve to cast thy self upon his Fatherly Bowels; God may be entreated of thee, as he was of Manasseh, 2 Chron. 33.13. He prayed unto the Lord, and he was entreated of him. Manasseh made the streets run with Blood, yet when his eyes ran with Tears, Gods Fatherly Bowels began to melt, and he was entreated of him.

VSE III. Of Comfort: To such as can upon good grounds call God Father: There's more sweetness in this word Father, then if we had ten thousand Worlds. David thought it a great matter to be Son in Law to a King: 1. Sam. 18.18. What is my Fathers family, that I should be Son in law to the King? But what is it to be born of God, and have God for our Father.

Quest. Wherein lies the happiness of having God for our Father?

Resp. 1. If God be our Father then he will teach us; what Father will refuse to counsel his Son? Doth God command Parents to instruct their Children, Leut. 4.10. and will not he instruct his? Isa. 48.17. I am the Lord thy God, which teacheth thee to profit, Psal. 71.17. O God thou hast taught me from my youth. If God be our Father he will give us the teachings of his Spirit: The natural man receives not the things of God, neither can he know them; 1 Cor. 2.14. The Natural Man may have excellent notions in Divinity, but God must teach us to know the Mysteries of the Gospel after a Spiritual manner. A Man may see the figures upon a Dyal, but he cannot tell how the day goes unless the Sun shine. We may read many Truths in the Bible, but we cannot know them savingly till God by his Spirit shine upon our Soul. God teacheth not only our Ear but our Heart; he not only informs our Mind, but inclines our Will; we never learn till God teach us. If God be our Father he will teach us how to order our affairs with discretion, Psalm 112.5. how to carry our selves wisely, 1 Sam. 18.5. David behaved himself wisely; he will teach us what to answer when we are brought before Governours, he will put words into our mouths, Matth. 10.18, 19, 20. Ye shall be brought before Governours and Kings for my sake, but take no thought how or what ye shall speak: For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.

2. If God be our Father, then he hath Bowels of Affection towards us: If it be so unnatural for a Father not to love his Child, can we think God will be defective in his Love? All the affections of Parents come from God, but a spark from his flame. He is the Father of Mercies, 2 Cor. 1.3. he begets all the Mercies and Bowels in the Creature: His Love to his Children, is a Love which passeth knowledge, Eph. 3.19. it exceeds all dimensions, it is higher than Heaven, it is broader than the Sea. That you may see Gods Fatherly Love to his Children; 1. Consider God makes a precious valuation of them; Isa. 43.4. Since thou wast precious in my sight: A Father prizeth his Child above his Jewels; their names are precious, for they have Gods own name written upon them; Rev. 3.12. I will write upon him the name of my God: Their Prayers are a precious perfume, their Tears God bottles, Psal. 56.8. God esteems his Children as a Crown of glory in his hand; Isa. 62.3. 2. God loves the places they were born in the better for their sakes, Psal. 87.6. Of Sion it shall be said, this man was born there; this and that Believer was born there: God loves the ground his Children tread upon. Hence Iudea, the seat of Gods Children and Chosen, God calls a delightsome Land, Mal. 3.12. It was not only pleasant for Scituation and Fruitfulness, but because Gods Children, who were his Hephsibab or Delight, lived there. 3. He chargeth the great ones of the World not to prejudice his Children; their Persons are sacred: Psal. 105.14. He suffered no man to do them wrong; yea, he reproved Kings for their sakes, saying, Touch not mine anointed. By Anointed, is meant the Children of the High God, who have the Unction of the Spirit, and are set apart for God. 4. God delights in their company, he loves to see their Countenance and hear their Voice, Cant. 2.14. he cannot refrain long from their company: Let but two or

three of his Children meet and pray together, he will be sure to be among them, Matth. 18.20. Where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am in the midst of them. 5. God bears his Children in his Bosom, as a nursing Father doth the sucking Child. Numb. 11.12. Isa. 46.4. To be carried in Gods Bosom shows how near his Children lye to his Heart. 6. God is full of sollicitous care for them, 1 Pet. 5.7. He careth for you. His eye is still upon them, they are never out of his thoughts. A Father cannot always take care for his Child, he sometimes is asleep, but God is a Father that never sleeps; Psal. 121.4. He neither slumbereth nor sleepeth. 7. He thinks nothing too good to part with to his Children: He gives them the Kidneys of the Wheat, and Honey out of the Rock, and Wine on the Lees well refined, Isa. 25.6. He gives them three Jewels more worth than Heaven, the Blood of his Son, the Grace of his Spirit, the Light of his Countenance. Never was there such an indulgent affectionate Father. 8. If God hath one Love better than other, he bestows it upon them; they have the cream and quintessence of his Love. He will rejoyce over thee, he will rest in his love, Zeph. 3.17. God loves his Children with such a love as he loves Christ; Iohn 17.26. it is the same love for the unchangeableness of it: God will no more cease to love his Adopted Sons, then he will to love his Natural Son.

3. If God be our Father he will be full of sympathy; Psal. 103.13. As a Father pityeth his Children, so the Lord pityeth them that fear him. Ier. 31.20. Is Ephraim my dear Son? my bowels are troubled for him. God pityes his Children in Two Cases.

• (1.) In Case of Infirmities.

• (2.) Injuries.

(1.) In Case of Infirmities: If the Child be deformed, or hath any [gap]odily distemper the Father pityes it: If God be our Father, he pityes our weaknesses, and he so pityes them as to heal them; Isa. 57.18. I have seen his wayes, and will heal him. As God hath Bowels to pity, so he hath Balsam to heal.

(2.) In Case of Injuries. Every blow of the Child goes to the Fathers heart; when the Saints suffer, God doth sympathize; Isa. 63.9. In all their afflictions he was afflicted: He did as it were bleed in their Wounds. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? When the foot was trod on, the head cryed out. Iudg. 10.16. Gods Soul was grieved for the children of Israel. As when one string in a Lute is touched, all the rest of the strings sound: When Gods Children are stricken, his Bowels sound. Zach. 2.8. He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of my eye.