Our Father.
SOme do expound these words as though they were a rhetoricall proeme which we use to win Gods favour. But we use words in our prayer not that God but that we may be moved and affected. First we call him Father: whereof we are first to seek the meaning, and then the use. By the name of Father God alone is understood: For, as our Savi∣our saith Matth. 23. 9. we must call no man father, because we have but one Father who is in heaven. Joh. 8. 41. We have one Father, which is God: A good profession if it had bene uttered with a good consci∣ence.
Now God is said to be a Father two wayes: by* Creation, and Adoption. By creation, as Isai. 64. 8. So Adam is said to be the sonne of God, Luke 3. 38. and the Angels, Job 1. By adoption in Christ, Ephes. 1. 5. So every believer is born of God, 1. John 5. 1. For to so many as believe in Christ God hath given this priviledge, to be the sonnes of God, John 1. 12. And in this sense is every faithfull man to call God Father.
Page 232But here it may be demanded, Whether the* whole Trinitie is called upon in the name of Fa∣ther, or the first Person alone.
The word Father is attributed unto God two* wayes; either essentially or personally. Essentially, when he is so called in respect of the creatures, 1. Cor. 8. 6. Personally, when it hath relation to the other Persons, the Sonne and the holy Ghost. In this place it hath relation to the creatures. So Deut. 32. 6. Isai. 63. 16. But howsoever the whole. Trinity is our Father, & so to be worshipped of us, yet this speech is more peculiarly directed to the first Person, the fountain of the Godhead, who is the Father of Christ, Ephes. 3. 14. and in him our Father, John 20. 17. yet so as in worshipping him we joyntly worship the other two, who as they are •…ll one in essence, coequall and coeternall, concur∣ring also in all actions towards us, so they are alto∣gether to be worshipped. O God, thou Father of Christ, and in him our Father, who givest the Spirit of thy Sonne, whereby we cry, Abba, Father, to thee we present our prayers in the name of thy Son, craving the help of the holy Ghost.
The second Person is called our Father, Isai. 9. 6. & so may the holy Ghost, who doth regenerate us, Deut. 32. 6. and to either of them may our prayers be directed, Acts 7. 59. So that our prayer may be directed to any or to all the Persons, 2. Cor. 13. 13. or to two of them, 1. Thess. 3. 11.
We are taught to whom to direct our prayers,* namely, to God alone. For seeing our Saviour hath commanded us, when we pray, to say, Our Father, it is* Page 233 evident that we break the commandment if we direct our prayers to any to whom we may not say, Our Father, &c. Which title without blasphemy we cannot attribute to any but onely to the Lord, who is our heavenly Father: Jer. 31. 9. Sum Israe∣li Pater, I am a Father to Israel.
Secondly, whereas by nature we are the children* of wrath, and yet commanded to call upon God as our Father, we are taught in whose name we are to come unto God: Not in our own names or wor∣thinesse, Dan. 9. 18. for then we shall find him a Judge rather then a Father; but onely in the name and mediation of Christ, Eph. 3. 12. in whom he is our Father, and in whose name he hath promised to grant whatsoever we ask according to his will. It is well said of Calvine, Cùm Deum Patrem vocamus, Christi nomen praetendimus, When we call God Father, we pretend the name of Christ.
3. We are taught that the help of the holy Ghost* is necessary in prayer. For how should we which were children of wrath dare to call God our Father, or be assured that we be his children? By the holy Ghost, who is the spirit of adoption, & beareth witnesse to our spirits, that we are the sonnes of God, we cry in our hearts, Abba, Father, Rom. 2. 15, 16. For if none can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the holy Ghost;* then much lesse can a man call upon God as his Fa∣ther in Christ except he be endued by the holy Ghost. We must therefore, as the Apostle teacheth us, Ephes. 2. 18. call upon God the Father in the name of the Sonne by the assistance of the holy Ghost, so shall we, though unworthy and unable to Page 234 call upon God, in Christ be accepted and by the ho∣ly Ghost be enabled to pray according to God.
Here therefore first are they refuted who think* they may lawfully direct their prayers either to An∣gels* or Saints, to whom the name Father is opposed, Isai. 63. 16. or to their images, s•…ying to a stock or stone, Our father, Jer. 2. 27. If God be our heavenly Father, who is more willing to give good things then any earthly parents, and also all-sufficient, why should we seek to any other, unlesse we can either accuse him of unkindnesse, or object want of pow∣er unto him?
Secondly, if God be our Father in Christ, then* ought we with boldn•…sse to come unto the throne of grace through him, Ephes. 3. 12. Neither do we need any other mediation then of the Sonne, who is the onely Mediatour as of redemption so also of inter∣cession, 1. Tim. 2. 5. contrary to the doctrine of the Papists, who teach men to use the mediation of Saints: Whereas our Saviour John 16. 26. having commanded us to pray in his name, addeth, I say not that I will intreat the Father for you: for the Father himself loveth you.
Duties in Prayer.
IF God be our Father, we must come 1. In reve∣rence as unto our heavenly Father. 2. In dutifull, thankfull, and sonne-like affection, acknowledging his mercy of Adoption, who when we were by na∣ture children of wrath adopted us to be his sonnes; and if sonnes, then heirs. Behold, what love the Father* hath shewed on us, that we should be called the sonnes of* Page 235 God. 3. In faith and assurance, not onely that we and our prayers are accepted in Christ, but that our prayers shall be granted unto us of our Father as may be most for his glory and our good.
And that we may come in faith, let us consider, First, that without faith we are no sonnes of his, but children of wrath, Ephes. 2. 3, 12. and if we believe we are the sonnes of God, John 1. 12. and of the houshold of faith. Secondly, that if God be our Father in Christ, he will grant us what good thing* soever we ask. For 1. he is affected as a good Fa∣ther towards his children: yea, his love towards us is so much greater then the love of earthly parents as his goodnesse and mercy is greater, Isai. 63. 16. Psal. 27. 10. Isai. 49. 15. Matth. 7. 11. Luke 11. 13. 2. In that he is our Father he hath given us the great∣est gift that can be imagined, and therefore will not de•…y the lesse. Pater quid 〈◊〉 filiis, qui jam 〈◊〉 quòd pater est? What will the father deny to his sons, who hath vouchsafed already to be our Father? For if he have s•… loved us that he gave his Son for us (that in him we might be adopted his children) how shall h•… not with him give us all good things? Rom. 8. 32. 3. In that he hath vouchsafed us this great love to be our Father and that we should be his children, he hath also made us his heirs, & provided us an inheritance in heaven. For as he gave his Sonne in pretium, for a price, so he reserveth himself in praemium, for a reward. If therefore it be our Fathers pleasure to give us a kingdome, we need not fear but that he will grant us matters of lesse moment, Luke 12. 32. 4. In sonne-like submission we are to call upon God Page 236 our Father, &c. Matth. 26. 39, 42. And in this faith we are to rest in the will of our Father, submitting our selves thereto, knowing that he will dispose of us for the best.
Duties in our lives.
IF we call God our Father, we must behave our selves as dutifull and obedient children, 1. Pet. 1. 14. we must walk worthy our calling, Ephes. 4. 1. For see∣ing we have these promises, namely, that God will be a Father unto us, and that we shall be his sonnes and daughters, we ought to cleanse our selves from all filthinesse of the flesh and spirit, and grow up into all god∣linesse in the fear of God, 2. Cor. 6. 18. and 7. 1. Deut. 32. 6. Nonne ipse Pater tuus, &c. Is not he thy Fa∣ther* that hath bought thee? We must honour him, we must fear him, 1. Pet. 1. 17. Neither ought we to fear any thing so much as to displease him. We must love him, and Christ his Sonne, John 8. 42. and for his sake our neighbours, as the sonnes of God and members of Christ, and consequently as our brethren and fellow-members, 1. John 5. 1. We are to imitate our heavenly Father, Matth. 5. 45. Luke 6. 36. We must patiently and meekly bear afflictions as fatherly chastisements, Heb. 12. 6, 7, &c. Other∣wise we shew our selves to be bastards rather then sonnes. We must trust in him, Psal. 27. 10. Isai. 63. 16.
Here therefore is reproved the hypocrisie of those who using these words do not call upon God in their prayers with sonne-like reverence, faith, affection, submission, nor in their lives behave themselves as Page 237 Gods children. For though we call upon God as our Father, and yet do not obey him, nor honour him, nor fear him, nor love him, nor follow him, nor submit our selves to his chastisements, nor trust in him, we shew our selves not to be the children of God, but rather of the devil. For our Saviour saith to the Jews affirming that God was their Fa∣ther, His sonnes ye are whose works ye do, John 8. 39, 48. And John also saith, 1. Epist. 3. 8, 9, 10. He that committeth sinne is of the devil: Wh•…soever is born of God sinneth not; for his seed remaineth in him, &c. In this the children of God are known and the children of the devil. Whosoever doth not righteousnesse is not of God; neither he that l•…veth not his brother. See Deut. 32. 5, 6.
