but taking up the Crofs, which is indeed the Sum of all.

2. It is farther remarkable, that whatever be faid of other Sins and Omiffions, as, may be viz, that they may be fo qualified as to be conftrued Sins of Infirmity, and fuch as may be confiftent with a State of Salvation, yet no fuch thing can be faid of not forgiving where ever it is found, it does directly and Infallibly fet a Man out of a State of Grace, and a Condition of being pardoned. What can be plainer than this, If ye forgive not Men their Trefpaffes, neither will your beavenly Father forgive your Trefpaffes?

Laftly, I oblerve from this Repetition, that whereas the Prayer, Forgive us as we forgive, might fcare a malicious and spiteful Perfon from ufing it, becaufe he may be fenfible that he doth not forgive, and therefore, by ufing this Petition, he should but bring a Curfe upon himself, rather than obtain Pardon of God, our Saviour, left a Man fhould be tempted to think himself secure if he ufed not the Lord's Prayer, and fo confequently fays not the Petition, has plainly made his Condition, as he does not forgive, to be unpardonable, whether he repeats thefe Words in the Lord's Prayer, or whether he lets them alone. For he does not fay, If ye ufe this Petition your heavenly Father will not forgive you, unless ye for

give, but he fays abfolutely, If ye forgive not, neither will your Father forgive your Trefpaffes.

And do not think that this is a Condition you make to your felves, which you may release your felves of when you please; for I tell you plainly it is a Condition of God's making, and you must be under it, whether. you like it or not.

And thus much concerning our Saviour's repeating what he has taught us to add to that, Petition, Forgive us, which I have taken notice of; and I counted I could not difcourfe, fo fully as I ought to do, upon that Petition in the Prayer, Forgive us our Tref paffes, as we forgive them that trespass against us (tho' I infifted upon it with great Urgency as it came in order) unless towards the Close I urged the Petition again from our Lord's Repetition of the Condition of obtaining it.

And I defire you to add thefe latter Confiderations to what you heard before concerning the Petition it felf. If this be done, they, ray by the Grace of God prove effectual, not only to reftrain the Angry and Malicious. from doing of Injuries, whether by Word or Deed, but alfo to conftrain the Injured to forgive; tho' the Truth is, they that are moft forward to do Evil are the hardest to forgive any Unkindness they fancy is done

them.

them. But these Confiderations will ferve on both fides if they be laid to Heart, they will make you to forgive and love one another, as you defire that God for Chrift's Sake fhould forgive you. This is all I fhall fay to this Matter.

And now I fhall conclude this Difcourfe upon the Lord's Prayer with two Obfervations, one concerning the Prayer it self, the other concerning our Ufe of it.

Concerning the Prayer it felf, viz. that it is a full and copious Prayer, not only containing much Senfe in few Words, but fo containing it,as to give us a Scheme of Practical Religion in thofe very Words whereof the Petitions confift; and therefore it will not be easily forgotten, what Things have nevertheless been faid, even of the Lord's Prayer, by pretended Spiritual Men, that feparate from our Communion, efpecially fo long as the Pretence goes on ftill. According to thefe Men the Lord's Prayer was (and is ftill) a Staff for the Lame, a Form to those that wanted the Spirit of Prayer, Milk for fuch Babes as the Difciples were when our Lord taught them to pray, and might serve well enough for Childrens Prayer, till they were able to go alone without Crutches. So far as thefe and the like wife Expreffions were levelled against the Lord's Prajer, as it is a Form, I fhewed in a great measure the

Vanity of them in fpeaking to the Words, When ye pray, fay Our Father. But fo far as they were defigned to derogate from the Prayer, as Such a Form, I confidered them not, leaving the Excellency of the Form, which all Chriftians that love and fear God fhould use, to be collected from the feveral Petitions of it.

I think I may say that I have not strain'd any one Paffage in this Prayer beyond the natural Senfe which the Words themselves offer; and I believe you will confess that this Prayer does abound with such a Variety of Requests and Inftructions to answer all our Needs; that it requires much, tho' not difficult Confideration, to understand them thoroughly. Can we believe therefore that these Men ever confidered the Excellent Matter of this Prayer? Or rather is it not plain that they are fuch as the Apostle fpeaks of, who know not whereof they affirm? They talk much of their Spiritual Gifts. Now one would think a much lower Degree of them, than they pretend to, might have qualified them to confider the Profitable Variety of this Prayer, and to conclude that there is an Excellency and Loftiness in it above the Reach of Children, tho' there is a Plainnefs in it too, to make it useful even for them. But furely it is not for the Credit of their Way, that if they can make a Pro

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a Profelyte, one of his first Spiritual Attainments is to contemn the Lord's Prayer.

2...Concerning the Ufe of this Prayer. I do not think it neceflary for every Man to have all the profitable Confiderations at once prefent to his Mind when he prays, which I have offered to you from this Prayer, and there is good reafon for it, for I do not think it poffible; but yet I fay we muft pray with Underftanding; and the general Senfe of each Petition is all that is abfolutely neceffary to be apprehended in order to that when we pray. But if you ask me, To what End then have I offered to you those several particular Explications? I answer, for this End, viz. to furnish you with Meditations when you do not pray, or before you pray; and this will make the Ufe of the general Petition to be in effect a Prayer for all thofe particular Bleffings under it, which I had in my Mind before. For if I am convinced that all these Particulars are contained under the general Petition, and are to be prayed for, why, I pray for every one that I thought of before, when I come to the general Petition. In like manner the Motives to Earnestness, which I urged, are to be confidered before, to make me Earneft; and if I am fo, when I pray, it is owing to thöfe Confiderations, tho' many cannot well be in my Mind ar once when I pray; only if there be one efpe