And now we have greater Encouragements and stronger Reasons to ask all these Things of God, if we confider that he is our HEAVENLY FATHER.

For whofe Honour (in the first place) should be fo dear to us as His, who made us out of nothing; who hath given us our Being; and who hath begotten us again to a lively Hope of immortal Happiness by the Refurrection of Jefus Chrift from the Dead? These are Benefits infinitely greater than we can receive from our Earthly Parents.

Whofe Dominion and Kingdom fhould we wish to prevail against all Oppofition, but His, who governs all Things by infinite Goodness?

To whofe Authority fhould we defire to fubmit our felves abfolutely and unreservedly, but to His, whofe Will is always juft; whofe Commandments are ever righteous, which is not always true of Earthly Parents; who hath it in his Power to protect us in our Obedience, and to reward us for it, which they have not always, and to reward us with infinite Bleffings, which they never can?

Óf whom should we daily ask all Things neceffary to our prefent Well-being, but of Him, that is always able and always willing to do what is beft for us; who is our conftant Refuge; who can never fail us? When my Father and my Mother forfake me, then

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the Lord will take me up, fays the Pfalmift, Pfal. 27. 10. When all Human Means fail, His Power and Goodness is not at a ftand. Upon whom should we depend but upon Him, to whom all Things must be subject whofe is the Earth, and the Fulness thereof; who is the Proprietor of the whole World?

Of whom fiould we more chearfully and humbly ask Pardon, than of Him whom we have most ungratefully offended, but who is yet infinitely pleased with our return to our Duty; who hath proclaimed himself the Lord God merciful and gracious, longfuffering, abundant in Goodness and Truth, keeping Mercy for Thousands, forgiving Iniquity, and Tranfgreffion and Sin? Exod. 34.

6, 7.

Laftly, To whofe gracious Protection fhould we conftantly commit our felves, that we may be preserved from Evil, but to His, who fully understands the Measure of our Strength; who perfectly knows what we are able to bear, and is able to confider our Infirmities under all our Temptations, to proportion our Trials to our Abilities, and to deliver us in all our Straits and Neceffities?

And thus you fee, that in all Respects the Invocation, which our Lord hath taught us to begin this Prayer withal, is fuitable to every Petition which he hath taught us to ask in the Prayer, all the Things we defire

in it being fit for us to defire of our Father' which is in Heaven.

So that our Lord hath not only taught us to believe that God is our Father, and given us Boldness to call him fo, but moreover hath taught us what is proper for us to ask of him, because he is fo; and therefore we may farther conclude that in this Prayer he hath encouraged us to apply to God in all our reasonable Needs, because there are none fuch which we may not freely ask our heavenly Father to fupply.

Moreover I obferve, that he hath not only taught us to ask of God what is fit for us to ask, because he is our heavenly Father, but thro' every Petition he hath instructed us what Duty we owe to him, as to our Father.

In the firft Petition, Hallowed be thy Name, we exprefs our Reverence to his Majesty.

In the fecond, Thy Kingdom come, our Love of his Goodness, and our Defire to live for ever with him.

In the third, Thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven, our Subjection to his Authority, our Obedience to his Commands.

In the fourth, Give us this Day our daily Bread, our Dependance upon his Providence, Care and Bounty.

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In the fifth, Forgive us our Trefpaffes, as we forgive them that trefpafs against us, our Hope in his Mercy, and our Belief of his Word.

In the laft, Lead us not into Temptation, but deliver us from Evil, we express our Truft in his Power, and Wisdom, and Goodness, in the Grace of his Providence, and in the Grace of his good Spirit.

Now all these are Duties that we owe to our heavenly Father.

So that this Prayer of our Lord hath not only taught us what we are Ato sk of God, but what we are to Be our selves.

In the laft place, I ought not to omit what I think is by all obferved, and well observed, that the beginning of the Prayer, with the Prayer it felf, implies and teaches the Charity of praying for one another, even in our private Prayers, because our Lord hath taught us in them to say OUR Father; and therefore fome of the Ancients accounted this a Prayer that ought to be used by every Chriftian in his private Devotions, that he may not omit praying for the Catholick Church.

And truly it feems to me that there is that Fulness of Senfe in Fewness of Words, that Plainnefs and Simplicity, thofe edifying Inftructions, eafy to be understood by all, not beneath the Confideration of any; there is that Excellency in this FORM of

PRAY

PRAYER upon all Accounts, that it every way appears to be worthy of its AUTHOR and I will add, that the Matter of it, if there was nothing elfe to induce my Belief, fhews plainly enough that it was intended for a Prayer to be used by the Church of Chrift while the Earth fhould endure, and not only for the First Difciples of our Savi our, before the Holy Ghoft was given them. They that are made to believe this, do not well confider that the Divinity and DoAtrine of this Prayer doth not look as if it were calculated for the Weakness and Imperfection of Novices, but rather for the Inftruction and Devotion of the moft Perfect Chriftians. And setting afide thofe Paffages in it, that respect our finful, frail, and mortal Condition in this World, it is a Prayer that may be faid by the Angels in Heaven. And while we live here in Houfes of Clay, and are encompaffed with Temptations and Infirmities, there is no Prayer which can better express our Senfe of God's Goodness towards us, to whom our Saviour hath taught us to apply our felves, as Children to their Father, nor our Emulation of the Purity and Perfection of the bleffed Spirits above, while we defire that God's Will may be done on Earth as it is in Heaven, nor can more effectually excite all thofe good Affections which make up inward Devotion, as I have shewn by thofe plain Confiderations, which G 2

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