A PrafJical Expojition . !hall be added to us_; _YCt betc out Saviour places the.Perition ~or Temporal Ble!lings before the Two Petmons w~ prefent to God for Sptrttual Blcfimgs ; and this Order bath feemed fo ftrange and mcongruous to fame, that hereupon alone they have been moved to affirm that this Bread which we here ask is not any Temporal Good Thing but the Bread of Life, even Jefus Chti!l hirnfelf, as !hall be !hown more by and by. Now this Order doth not1mimate to us that Earthly Bleffings are better and more confiderable than Heavenly, or that they !hould have the Preference in our ERet:ro or Dcfires, (I hope there _are none of us ~o brutilh, nor fo far dtgenerated intO Beans, as to account the poor EnJoyments of thts Lite more valuable than the P<Hdon of Sin and tbofe Spiritual Mercies that are in a Tendency to Eternal Life and Happinefs. j But, . Firft, Our S.wiour uferh tb.is Method in his Prayer, in Conformily to the Method. of Divine Providence towards us, which firft gives us Life, and the Neceffities of it and then orders us Sphirual and. Heavenly Bleffings, as an Accdfion, and happy Addi: tion~ to thofe natUral Good Thmgs he beftows upon us. Stcondly, Becaufe we are ufually more fenfible of our Temporal than of our Spi~ ritual Wams, our Saviour therefOre doth by degrees raife up our Ot'fires by the one to the other; for feeing we are commanded to pray for the Supply even of our Temporal Neceffitles, ~hich are but trivial in regard of the Ncceifities of om S1uls, we cannot but be convmccd that we ought to be much mort: earnefi and importunate with God for Spiritual Me:acies than for Temporal, by how much more our Spiritual Wants are more important, ?. nd of vafier confequence, !ban our Temp0ral. When therefore thou comtH to this Petition, think with thy !Cif~ 0 Cbri}lian, if! mufi pray fervently and affe£\i onarely fo1 my daily Bread, which can on!) nouri!h my vile Car· · cafe for a few fhon Years, a Carcafe that mufi, notwithfianding all thefe Recruits, fbortly moulder into Duft, and irfelf become Meat for Worm~, how much more im· portunate ought I to be for the Pardon of my Sins, and ~thof~;.; Spiritual Mercies and Bleffings, withou[ which my Precious and lmmonal Soul muft ere1nally peri(h? Since Chrift hatb commanded us not to labour, and by Ccnfi:quence not to pray, for tbat Meat wbich perijheth~ with any comparative Indufiry and Earnefi:nefs to our labouring and praying for that whicb tnlfurtth to Eternal Lift. And thus much concerning the Order of this Petition. In the Petition irfelf we have, Fir/f, The Matttrofit, or that which we pray for, GlveusBrtad. Secondly , The Kind or Quality ofit, called here doily Bread. Thirdly, Our Right and Property in ir, Our Ja,-ly Bnad. Fourthly, Tb~ Limitationofic in refpefl of Time, Give it us this Day. Of all thefo briefly. Firft, The Matter of this Petition, or that which we pray for, and that is Bread, Give us our Bread. By Bread here is meant all Temporal and Eanbly Bleffings, that contribute eitherto our Being, or to our Well-being, in rhisLift". And becauf~ we have need of very many Things for our prefent Subfiftence, as Food, Raiment, Habi· tation, and each of thcfe comprehended many other Necdfaries in them, all which would have been wo long particularly to enumerate in this Compendious Prayer, therefore our Saviour bath fumm'd them up in the Word Bread; figuratively denoting all kinds of Provifions neceffary for this Natural Life, whereof Bread is the moll: . ufual and the rnoft ufeful. And cherefore as when God fpeaks of a famine, he calls it a famine of Brta~, Jlmos. 8. u. Not as if a .scar~i.ry of Bread were. r.he only Dearrb intended by 11, but that there fhould be hkewtie a wane of all Thmgs requt· fire ro the Suftentation of Life. So here, when Chrifi: teacheth us to pray- for our Daily Bread, this Phrafe extendetb to all Things conducible to maintain Health, or to recover ir, to preferve Life, or to prolong it. Some indeed think this too·rnean and fordid a Requeft to be preferred to God, acd would not have any of the low Conveniences of this prefem Life to have any Place in a Prayer, all whof~ other Partsar~_fo Spiritual and Heaven_ly, and l~e whole fo lhort and compendious; where the Permons are iO _few, they will not b_elleve any o~ theD:l !hould be fpent fo trivially, as to beg that whtch, though they n;ught nor at~amt yet they might be ecernally Bleffod and Happy, and chcrefore they mterprer thiS. Word Bread in a Spiritual ~enfe, and tak_e it fol the Food of tbe So~ I, where~y n IS nou· ri!hed unto Eternal Ltfe; and efpectally for our Lord Jefus Chnll, who tS called the Brfad
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