less and dissolute, when they are in danger, and cannot deliver themselves, will stretch out their hands toward heaven, and call upon God for relief. If a man will learn to pray, saith another proverb, let him go to sea. But how true soever it be, that danger will cause us to pray, it doth not however teach us the right nature of prayer; the mind is too much agitated and disturbed by danger, to draw near to the true God with deliberation and faith. Danger doth not teach the afflicted person for what things he ought to pray, in what method, and with what motives he ought to propose his requests: "We know not what we should pray for as we ought," saith the apostle, Rom. viii. 26. Danger causeth him to cry at random to an unknown God: but who the true and adorable God is, and in what manner he ought to address him, this danger will not discover to him. When "the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken, and the mariners were afraid; then they cried every man to his god," and therefore to his idol, Jonah i. 4, 5. If a man shall learn to pray aright, and in a manner that is acceptable to God, he must have an expert teacher. When a person will apply to his prince for relief in a civil danger and distress, he finds himself fearful, and abashed, because he knows not with what titles be ought to address his prince, or how, and in what manner he ought to propose his request to him: he will therefore betake himself to some person, who is more skilful than himself, and obtain a petition of him, that he may present it to his prince. Thus believers also have their teacher, who teaches them to pray, and composes a petition for them, that they may present it with their requests to the God of heaven. "The Spirit," saith Paul. "helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us, with groanings which cannot be uttered," Rom. viii. 26. The disciples of John the baptist were fain to learn of their master how to pray and the disciples of Jesus, knowing their needs, and the necessity of prayer, but not the right method of praying in a manner which is acceptable to God, desire also of their Lord, "that he would teach them to pray, as John taught his disciples." Jesus was too good to deny their request, and he therefore composes a most perfect prayer for them, and “saith to them, when ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name," &c. Luke xi. 1-4. In this prayer he teaches them with what confidence and reverence they ought to address God, what matters they ought to ask of him, in what method they

ought to propose them, and with what motives they ought to enforce their requests.

We must speak at present only of the address of prayer, and inquire with the instructor concerning this,

I. Why believers, when they pray, must address God as "their Father," and then,

II. Why they must consider him, in their approaches to him, as "in beaven."

1. The Lord doth not send the children of God to the saints, but directly to their Father. The people of God were also to turn from the saints to the Lord, as their Father: "Doubtless thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not thou, O Lord, art our Father," thus they spake, Isaiah lxiii. 16.

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Although the essence of God, and also the Son and the Holy Ghost may be called Father, and ought to be worshipped, nevertheless we must understand here, with the instructor, by the Father the first Person; for he saith, in order to explain this. that God is become our Father through Christ." This is also according to the word of God, which teacheth us that in the economy of grace the first Person hath undertaken to exhibit the majesty of the Godhead of the whole Trinity in his Person, as the Son should accomplish the work of redemption, as Mediator, and thus as the Father's servant, and the Holy Spirit should render the elect partakers of the redemption. Therefore the first Person must be considered as the fountain of all grace, from whom we derive all things through the Son and the Holy Ghost: "We have one God, even the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things," saith the apostle, 1 Cor. viii. 6. Although we ought to worship the Son and the Holy Ghost, as well as the Father, we may nevertheless not end in the Son, or in the Holy Ghost: but we must proceed through the Holy Ghost and the Son to the Father, and end in him: "For through Christ we have an access by the Spirit unto the Father," according to Eph. ii. 18. Even the Son and the Holy Ghost pray to the Father for and in believers, as Christ and his servant Paul teach us, John xiv. 16. Rom. viii. 26, as the Son and the Holy Ghost do also receive all things of the Father for believers. Therefore Jesus saith, John xvi. 13-15. "The Spirit of truth shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak and he will show you things to come: he will glorify me; for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you." The apostles therefore called upon the first

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1 Cor. i. 3. 2 Cor. 1 Pet. i. 3. 2 John vrs. 3.

Person under the name of Father, Rom. i. 7. i. 2. Gal. i. 3. Eph. i. 2. iii. 14. It is true, the Son and the Holy Spirit are in heaven, as well as the Father. Yet the Son was sent as Mediator by the Father out of heaven upon earth, and was "exalted again by the right hand of the Father, as his Vicegerent, to his throne, that he might be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins," Rev. iii. 21. Acts v. 31. Thus also "the Holy Spirit is sent forth" by the Father through the Son "into the hearts" of believers, and cries" in them, "Abba, Father," Gal. iv. 6. But the Father is, and abides in heaven, upon his throne, and the Son and the Holy Ghost receive all things from him, and therefore the first Person is called heavenly Father, Matt. vi. 14. xviii. 10, 14, 19. On this account the words of James must also be understood of the first Person: "Every good gift, and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights," James 1. 17.

That God is the Father of Christ by an eternal and inconceivable generation, this we have shown in our explanation of the thirteenth Lord's day. But here believers call him their Father, not so much on account of creation and preservation, for in this respect he is the Father of the ungodly also; but he is the Father of believers by grace through Christ, in and through whom they may draw near with their prayers to God who is their Father by regeneration, by a spiritual marriage with the Son of God, and by adoption, as we have shown upon the ninth Lord's day.

Behold, O believers, what manner of love the Father hath bestow. ed upon you, that ye should be called the children of God. Ye, and no others, have a right to address him, as your Father, and to expect all good things of him. God is indeed the Father of the sinner, who is still in a state of nature, by creation, and he bestows therefore many good things on him; for "God is good to all, and his mercies are over all his works" but the unconverted sinner, having forfeited all things, and being "without Christ, an alien from the commonwealth of Israel, and a stranger from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world," as the apostle speaks, Eph. ii. 12, hath no right at all to address God with confidence as his Father in Christ. When he doth it, he lies, and his confidence is vain. If he will call upon God as his Father, he must earnestly seek to be regenerated, and to obtain his Maker for his husband, that he may be able, and may have a right to cry Abba, Father. That Spirit is indeed the Spirit of faith, which appropriates and owns God as a Father, and causeth us to address him as

such; either by a direct act of faith, by which a person receives the Son, and thus also the Father in him, and draws near to him with confidence upon his invitation; or by a reflex act of faith, by which the soul, observing her believing outgoings toward God, perceives that God is her Father, and "goes thus with boldness and with confidence to him through faith in Christ," as Paul speaks, Eph. iii. 12. Heb iv. 16. x. 18-22.

Every believer hath liberty, with Elihu, and with the church, to address God as his Father, Job xxxiv. 36. Jer. iii. 4 19. But Jesus requires that believers in general, gathered from among Jews and Gentiles, should with one heart and with one mouth call God their Father. They are indeed all children of God in Christ Jesus, and have all an equal right to the Lord: the minds of all tend with their desires to one Father, the same wants and desires urge them all to their Father's throne, and their souls are knit to each other in love, as brethren, so that they cry jointly to him, as children of one Father. Therefore when the believer is about to pray, he must from his heart forgive every injury that hath been done to him by his brother, and banish his displeasure out of his heart, that he may unite himself to him in love, and appear thus with him before the throne, especially, when he agrees with his brother touching any thing that they shall ask." Such an agreement of two persons is indeed effectual: "that thing," saith the Saviour, Matt. xviii. 19, "shall be done for them by my Father which is in heaven." There is no reason to doubt but that God the Lord was the Father of the believ. ers under the Old Testament in the Messiah, who was to come. For they had the adoption," Rom. ix. 4. They were also called the children of God, Exod. iv. 22. Deut. xiv. 1. God called himself "their Father," Deut. xxxii 36. Isaiah Ixiii. 16. xiv. 8. But although they were in a much happier condition than the heathens, yea, than all the outward prefessors among the Israelites, they were nevertheless, like minor "children, under tutors and governours," of the law of ceremonies, "the rudiments of the world, and they differed in nothing from servants, though they were lords of all." But believers of the New Testament, being delivered by the coming of Christ from the law, have like those who are of full age, outgrown those tutors and governours, and have a greater boldness, and a more abundant measure of the spirit of adoption, by which they can "cry, Abba, Father," as Paul teacheth, Gal. iv. 1-6. And even now yet the sonship of believers is not perfect, since they have not yet the full possession of all their inheritance, but will obtain it first in the blessed resurrection ;'for "they wait yet for the adoption of children, even the redemption of their bodies," as we read, Rom. VOL. II.

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viii. 23. But Jesus chooses that they should cry unto God as their Father, in order that they may obtain their inheritance gradually.

Believers are then exhorted to address God, as their Father, not because he is willing to become their Father, and to show them all fatherly kindness, if they will perform their duty aright, as the Pelagians speak; but they must address him thus, because he is already become their Father through Christ, for he is their Father by regeneration, by a spiritual marriage with Christ, and by adoption, before they perform their duty aright. The Lord God" predestinated them to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ from eternity, according to the good pleasure of his will," without any respect to their duty, and from his own free choice, according to Eph. i. 5. Surely, no sinner can, nor may address God with boldness, as long as the Lord is not his Father. A believer, who is yet unexperienced, and is not sufficiently assured that he is in a state of grace, will indeed entreat God to become his Father, but this proceeds from the weakness of his faith, and he will not see, nor attend to his right exercises, while he is praying; for he views himself as too deficient and sinful, and he will cry therefore with the publican only for grace, Luke xviii. 13.

But why doth the Lord Jesus require that we should address God particularly as our Father? It would surely be right to call him Lord, God, Almighty, Wise and Good: for believers both of the Old and New Testament have addressed him thus. It is true; but when our Saviour teacheth us to worship God as Father, he doth not thereby condemn every other mode of address; but he chooses that we should address God as Father particularly in this short pattern of prayer not only because all other titles of honour, that can excite confidence and reverence, are comprehended in the words, "Our Father which art in heaven;" and because in whatsoever manner we address God, we must possess a childlike disposition toward him, and consider him as a Father: but particularly because when we call God our Father, we express the nearest and dearest relation, that subsists between God and believers, and this enables them to pray to him with suitable dispositions. For,

1. Thus they become bold, and consequently able to draw near to him in a familiar manner, and to exercise a sweet fellowship with him by prayer We can indeed have a greater boldness toward our father, than toward our lord and judge. In order that he might induce the Israelites to call on him freely, after they had provoked him greatly, he saith, Jer. iii. 4, "Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth?"