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"we earnestly beg that we may be made meet for, and then "admitted into that happy society, that we may worship thee "in a more perfect manner than we are capable of doing in "this imperfect state. May all the powers and faculties of our souls be renewed, and influenced by thy holy Spirit, that we may have our conversation in heaven, whilst we are here "below, and in all things, may be enabled to approve ourselves "thy children, have a constant sense of duty, and the manifold "obligations thou hast laid us under, that we may love, de"light in, and submit to thee in all things, and have a fervent "zeal for the honour of thy name as becomes thy children, "that we, together with all thy faithful servants, may be under "thy safe protection here, and be received to thy glory here"after."

QUEST. CXC. What do we pray for in the first petition?

ANSW. In the first petition [which is, Hallowed be thy Name,] acknowledging the utter inability and indisposition that is in ourselves and all men to honour God aright, we pray that God would, by his grace, enable and incline us, and others, to know, to acknowledge, and highly to esteem him, his titles, attributes, ordinances, word, works, and whatsoever he is pleased to make himself known by, and to glorify him in thought, word, and deed; that he would prevent and remove atheism, ignorance, idolatry, profaneness, and whatsoever is dishonourable to him; and, by his over-ruling providence, direct and dispose of all things to his own glory.

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AVING considered the preface to the Lord's prayer, the next part of which it consists, is petitions; and these are six, which are laid down in this method.

1. We are taught to pray for what concerns God's glory, which is the highest and most valuable end; and therefore ought first to be prayed for: And this is the subject-matter of the three first petitions.

2. We are directed to pray for what respects our own advantage, which is contained in the three last petitions, in which we are directed to pray for outward blessings, as in the fourth petition, and then for spiritual, without which outward blessings would afford us no relish or savour, nor render us truly happy. These spiritual blessings include in them either forgiveness of sin, and this we pray for in the fifth petition; or our being sanctified and delivered from the prevalency of corruption and temptation, together with all the evils that sin exnoses us to; this we pray for in the sixth petition. That which

we are more particularly to consider in this answer, is, what we are taught to pray for in the first petition, which is contained in these words, Hallowed be thy name. By the name of God we are to understand every thing, by which he is pleased to make himself known to his creatures, as when he discovers himself in his divine perfections, which are either essential or personal, absolute or relative; and in his glorious. titles, as the Lord of Hosts, the God and Rock of Israel, the hope of Israel, the God that cannot lye, the Father of mercies, the God of all grace and glory, the preserver of man; which have all a tendency to raise in us the highest veneration for, and esteem of him. He has also made himself known by his ordinances, words, and works: These are the subject-matter of this petition; and when we pray that they may be sanctified, we are not to understand hereby that they may be made holy; but that the holiness and glory thereof may be demonstrated by him, and that we may be enabled to adore and magnify him agreeably thereunto.

Now the name of God may be said to be sanctified either by himself or by his people in different respects; accordingly,

I. We pray that God would sanctify, that is, demonstrate the glory of his own name, or proclaim and make it visible to the world, so as to excite that adoration and esteem which is due to him. His name, indeed, has been eminently glorified in all ages, in the various methods of his providence and grace; whereby his power, wisdom, and goodness have been illustrated in the eyes of angels and men; and, in all his works, he has appeared to be a God of infinite holiness: We therefore pray that he would continue to glorify these perfections, and enable us to improve the displays thereof to our spiritual advantage.

This is a subject of the highest importance, without which we cannot give to God the glory due unto his name; therefore, as praise is joined with prayer, it is necessary for us to take a view of the various ways by which God has manifested the glory of his holiness. We might here consider how he did this in his creating man at first, without the least blemish or disposition in his nature to sin, and enstamped his own image upon him, which principally consisted in holiness, which was the greatest internal beauty and ornament that he could be endowed with.

But that which we shall principally consider, is, how the holiness of God is demonstrated in his dealings with fallen man. His suffering sin to enter into the world, was not inconsistent with the holiness of his nature, since his providence, as has been observed elsewhere, was not conversant about it, by VOL. IV.

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bringing any under a natural necessity of sinning; and therefore there is not the least ground to charge him, with being the author of sin. We now proceed to shew how the holiness of God was glorified in the dispensations of his providence towards fallen man, and in the methods he took in order to his

recovery.

1. The holiness of God was glorified, or he sanctified his great name, in the dispensations of his providence towards fallen man, before he gave him any hope of salvation. It can not be supposed that this rebellion against, and apostacy from God, should not be highly resented by him; accordingly we read of his proceeding against the rebel as a judge, charging his crime upon him, and passing sentence pursuant to the demerit of his sin; and all the miseries that we are exposed to, either in this life, or that which is to come, are the result of the display of his holiness, as a sin-revenging Judge. As soon as ever our first parents sinned against him, he charged the guilt thereof on their consciences, and thereby filled them with a dread of his wrath: Hence proceeded an inclination to flee from his presence; and when they heard the voice of the Lord coming to call them to an account for what they had done, they were afraid.

This is God's usual method in dealing with sinful creatures: He first convinces them of sin by the law, and awakens the conscience, so that his terrors are set in array against it round about, before he speaks good and comfortable words by the gospel: And by this means he sanctifies his name, and thereby discovers his infinite hatred of all sin: but we shall principally consider,

2. How God glorifies his holiness in the method he has taken to deliver man from that guilt and misery, under which he had brought himself. The terms of reconciliation and salvation, were such as tended to secure the glory of his justice; and therefore he insisted on a satisfaction to be given, without making the least abatement of any part of the debt of punishment that was due for our sin; and accordingly he spared not his own Sen, Rom. viii. 32. but delivered him over unto death, and obliged him to drink the bitterest part of that cup which was most formidable to nature, and which, had it been possible, he would fain have been excused from drinking; therefore he is represented, by one of the evangelists, as praying, that God the Father would take this cup from him, Mark xiv. 35. 36. and by another, that he would save him from this hour, John xii. 27. Nevertheless, he expresses the utmost resignation to the divine will; and being sensible that this was an expedient to glorify the holiness of God, he does, as it were, give a check to the voice of nature, and submits to bear the punishment he

came into the world to suffer, how terrible soever it might be ; and therefore says, Father glorify thy name, q. d. ver. 28. take what method is most expedient to demonstrate the glory of thy holiness let the whole debt be exacted on me, I am willing to pay the utmost farthing: Upon this God says, by a voice from heaven, I have glorified it, and will glorify it again; = that is, in every step that has been, or shall be taken, in order to the bringing about the work of redemption, I have hallowed my name, and will do it hereafter. And, in this respect, God's holiness was glorified in finishing transgression, making an end of sin, bringing in everlasting righteousness, and also in the impetration of redemption, by our great Mediator and Surety.

3. God has sanctified his name in all the methods which he has taken in the application of redemption, in the various dispensations of his providence and grace towards his church and people; and in order hereunto, he has determined, that if his children forsake his law, and walk not in his judgments; if they break his statutes and keep not his commandments, he will visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes, Psal. lxxxix. 30, 32. And this is done to manifest the glory of his holiness: Though he is pleased to pardon their iniquity for the sake of Christ's righteousness; yet they shall know, by experience, that he hates it; and therefore, whatever be his designs of grace, with respect to his redeemed ones, as to the event thereof, they shall, notwithstanding, find that their sin shall not altogether go unpunished, though this punishment be not of the same kind with that which was suffered by Christ, from the hand of vindictive justice demanding satisfaction. Moreover, God has sanctified his name, in that he has connected sanctification with salvation; therefore he has said, Without holiness no man shall see the Lord, Heb. xii. 14. He first makes his people holy, and then happy; every mercy that he bestows, is a motive or inducement to holiness; and all the ordinances and means of grace are made subservient to answer this end.

Here we may take occasion to observe the various methods, whereby God has sanctified his name, in all his dealings with his church, in the various ages thereof, both before and since our Saviour's incarnation ;

(1.) Under the legal dispensation. The people, whom he chose out of all the nations of the earth, and called them by his name; among whom he designed to magnify his perfections in such a way, as argued them to be the peculiar objects of his regard above all others, as he designed to make them high in name, in praise, and in honour; these are styled an holy people, Deut. xxvi. 19. and elsewhere, holiness unto the Lord, Jer. ii. 3. and the wonderful things that he did for them in

destroying their enemies, when he brought them out of Egyptian bondage, gave them occasion to celebrate his name, as a God glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders, Exod. xv. 11. and the worship that he established among them was such, in which he expressly required holiness, both in heart and life; and when, at any time, they cast a reproach on his perfections, or defiled and debased his holy institutions, he testified his displeasure against them in the highest degree: Of this we have various instances in the judgments which he has executed on particular persons for not performing what he had commanded, with the greatest exactness, in those things which related to his worship: Thus when Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire, they were devoured, before the Lord, by fire from heaven, Lev. x. 1, 2. And, when David was bringing the ark of God to Jerusalem, we read, that Uzzah put forth his hand to take hold of it to prevent its falling, when shaken by the oxen, which he, doubtless, did with a good design, and it is therefore called an error, rather than a presumptuous sin; yet it is said, that the anger of the Lord was kindled against him, so that he smote him that he died by it, 2 Sam. vi. 6, 7. this being contrary to an express law which God had given, that the sons of Kohath should bear the ark, but they should not touch it, or any holy thing that was covered, lest they die, Numb. iv. 15. And elsewhere we read, that some of the men of Bethshemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the Lord, were smitten,89 that fifty thousand, and threescore and ten of them died, 1 Sam. vi. 19. inasmuch as God had forbidden that any should indulge their curiosity, so far as to look on the holy things on pain of death, Numb. iv. 20. And he also threatened the children of Israel with death, if any of them who were not appointed to minister in holy things, came nigh the tabernacle of the congregation, so as to perform that service which they were not sanctified or called to, since this was reckoned no other than an instance of profaneness in them. And if Aaron himself, whose office was to go into the holiest of all to perform the yearly service, in which he was to make atonement for the sins of the whole congregation, presumed to do this, at any other time but that day which God had appointed, he was to be punished with death, Lev. xvi. 2.

And, when any thing was brought into the worship of God, contrary to what he had instituted, which was reckoned no other than a profaning it, God hallowed his own name, by pouring forth his wrath on those who gave occasion to, or complied with it. Thus when Jeroboam, set up calves in Bethel and Dan, made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi, ordained feasts like those which God had appointed; and, in many other instances, corrupted his wor

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