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both it and them for his own honour, and the

his name.

glory of "After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name." Verse 9.

Thy kingdom come: thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." Verse 10.

"Give us this day our daily bread." Verse 11. "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." Verse 12.

"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil; for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen." Verse 13.

"For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you." Verse 14.

"But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." Verse 15.

A short form, and but few words, but of excellent composition. And truly happy are those, who live so in their conversation, that they may, when they use them, do it without falsehood, or deceit; enjoying the answer of peace in the practice of them, and the sense of grace influencing the soul.

1st. "Our Father who art in heaven." The great Creator is indeed our Universal Father, hath made us all, and all nations, of one blood; but there is another, a nearer relation than this, to be a child of God by regeneration; for otherwise, if we live in an unregenerate state, in our natural sins and lusts, all which are of satan, then Christ says, "Ye are of your father the devil; and the lusts of your father ye will do;" a strong reason; but in another place, "Whosoever shall do the will of my Father who is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother." It is into this relation that the soul ought to come, that can truly and religiously say, "Our Father," &c.

2d. "Hallowed be thy name." Do we sanctify the holy name of the God of the whole earth? Do we religiously observe to fear and serve him? Do we profane his awful name, by taking it in vain, and living

in sin and vanity? Which, instead of hallowing and sanctifying his name, is to dishonour and reproach it on our part, though he will hallow and honour his own name in justice and judgement, on profane and ungodly livers, at the last day, when he shall come to judge the quick and the dead by Jesus Christ; God will not be mocked; such as every one sows, such shall they reap, whether sin unto death, or righteousness unto life.

3d. "Thy kingdom come." His kingdom is a kingdom of righteousness. Happy souls! who seek the righteousness of it betimes, and continue in it to the end. If this kingdom come, satan's (which is a kingdom of sin and unrighteousness) must needs fall.

Oh! that the rising generation might be strong to overcome the wicked one, and to be instruments to pull down his kingdom, and promote the kingdom of God, and his Christ; and if we do not believe that satan's power and kingdom may and ought to be destroyed in us, how can we pray without hypocrisy for the coming of God's holy kingdom? Believing we must live and die in sin, is a great support to satan's kingdom, and a great hindrance of the coming of the kingdom of the dear Son of God.

4th. "Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven." Most certainly the will of God is punctually and perfectly done in heaven: hardly any who makes use of this blessed form but believes it; but this is the misery of many souls, to believe it not possible for them to do God's will here on earth, as it is done in heaven. So that such pray in unbelief, or without a true faith; as the apostle says, "What is not of faith is sin." Is it not also a kind of charging Christ with commanding that which cannot be done? It is worthy our sedate consideration. He hath sown grace, and ought in justice to reap it from all mortals. The great sower, Christ, sows in all sorts of men or grounds: the grace of God appears to all men, and teaches them to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, to live soberly, and righteously, and godly, in the present world. But antichrist teaches that it cannot be done here on earth as in heaven.

5th. "Give us this day our daily bread." We not being capable, without his blessing, of procuring our bodies or souls bread, either natural or supernatural; and because our souls cannot live without the last, no more than our bodies without the first, therefore we ought to pray to our heavenly and most holy Father for both, without doubting: and this should be done daily, either in words, holy sighing, or spiritual groans, the Almighty knowing the language of the soul in the one,

as well the other.

6th. "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." Or, as one of the evangelists hath it, "Our trespasses, as we forgive them who trespass against us:" which is to the same end and purpose. For if a debtor is indebt. ed to us, and happens, through some accident or other, to be insolvent, and hath not wherewith to pay, we are to forgive him, else how can we expect God to forgive us. For we are all his debtors, and have nothing (that we can call our own, in a religious way) to pay that great debt, which we owe to him, our mighty creditor; who might lawfully cast us into an eternal jail. But, Oh! his infinite mercy and love is very great to us, poor mor. tals and he would have us to imitate him, and forgive one another, as we expect he should forgive us. And since offences and trespasses will come, we must for give, and the more freely, when the person offending sues, by humble petition, to the offended for it. Then if we forgive not, neither will our heavenly Father for give us our trespasses.

7th. "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from all evil; for thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen."

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That is to lead us into truth and righteousness, which is the same with leading us out of sin, and out of temptation for we pray to be led out of it, by praying not to be led into it: seeing we are not to understand that the Almighty will tempt any man to evil. "If (says the apostle) any man is tempted, let him not say that he is tempted of God, for God tempteth no man, but he is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust."

hough he doth sometimes permit and suffer us to be npted, and when we fall into divers temptations, and cape them, we have cause to be joyful, and thankful at we are delivered out of them, and to give the glory God, who is the great preserver of men whose "is e kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. men."

"Moreover, when ye fast, be not as the hypocrites, a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces, that ey may appear unto men to fast; verily, I say unto you, ey have their reward." Verse 16.

"But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and ish thy face." Verse 17.

"That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy ther which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth secret shall reward thee openly." Verse 18.

Christ would have all our works of piety, virtue, and arity, all our religious duties, done in the divine love, d filial fear of God, and not for vain glory, or ostenion and truly, without we expect our reward from en, there is no need of an outward, hypocritical show, such extraordinary duties, as that is of fasting, when ily called to it, and truly performed; which the Jews ere much in the practice of: but being formal hypoites (many of them) in it, our Lord reprehends them, d warns his own hearers to shun the like deceit; and ls them, if they fast secretly, their heavenly Father ill reward them openly: yet we must not be open sinrs, nor private ones neither: for open or public sin damning, if not repented of, and forsaken, as well as ivate deceit.

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Lay not up for yourselves treasure upon earth, where oth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break rough and steal." Verse 19.

"But lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where either moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do ot break through nor steal." Verse 20.

"For where your treasure is, there will your heart e also." Verse 21.

Earthly treasures are very apt to take up the mind, and to draw it from heaven, and because Christ would have his children to be in heaven with him, in tender love he adviseth them not to lay up for themselves riches or treasure on earth. If it be said we lay it up for our children, it may be said also, it is the same snare for them, as to the parents, and sometimes a greater; and when it is gotten, it is liable to many casualties, and creates a great deal of care and trouble; wherefore Christ tenderly adviseth to seek after, and lay up another treasure, of another nature, in another, a safer and better place, which will not be liable to the like casualties of the former treasure and place, and urgeth us to it, with this great reason; "For where your treasure is, there will your hearts be also." Oh! may every true christian's treasure and heart be there forever.

"The light of the body is the eye, if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light." Verse 22.

"But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness: if therefore the light which is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness." Verse 23.

It is not good to look on men nor things with an evil eye; but singly to look on one's self and others, in the fear of God, having a single and singular eye to his glory; and then being enlightened by his divine light, we shall discern between good and evil; whereas if there be any double dealings, or looking or thinking; or if ungodly self be in the bottom, and not the glory of God; then our light is turned into darkness, and that darkness will be very great; as it is said in the holy scriptures, a double minded man is unstable in all his ways so that our Saviour's doctrine is good; to have a single eye, and to avoid all double dealing.

"No man can serve two masters; for he will either hate the one and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other: ye cannot serve God and mammon." Verse 24.

We cannot give our hearts to God, and to this world, and the things of it also, so as to set our affections on

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