Of Perftvera11ce in Prayer. ~· Secondly, .As the tjficient caufe of our Ptayers is the Holy Cihoft, fo the only Objea of Go~ u 1ke our Prayers is God; for it is a rcprefentation of our Wants and Dclires unto him ~;~e~ ~f Now God .may be confider'd cithet: cftC:ntia\ly or perfonally, and under·both refpett~ effc~tially we may dtreCt our Prayers unto lum• .cndptrfonally t011fider'd, . 1 , Firft, If we cou{ider ·the Pe1[01u of. the glorious Trinity, fo they are all adorablnvith .AU rhe . this Afl of divine Worjhip. None wtll deny but that we may direa our Prayers unto ;;;~~/n/1; God the Father; and th~t God the Son may be diftintl:Iy pr.1yed unto, we have an .veto be uncontr011lable In~ance tn ~ha~ of St. Stephett, Acts 7·. )_9• Lord 'Jefus, receive my pray'd'u 11 • Spirit; yea, and th~s AdoratiOn.Is du~ not.onl~ ~o the Dwmc Nature ofChrifr,.which to. was from all Etermty t~e fame m ~emg, 111 MaJefl:y and Glory :with the Father; but it is alfo du~ unto Chr.l~ as .Med~ato~, as. God-Man, and fa lus. humane Nature is alfo joined m the parUclpation o~ this h1gh Honour, through Its union to the Divine Nature: The very Angels m Heaven are commanded to adore him as GodMan, as Mediator, Heb. I. 6. ~Vhen he hringeth in hf".s firft begotten into tbe World. that is, when h~ brought him into the \V<:>rld a~ Man, h~ faith, and l~t a/J the .Angel; of God roorjl1ip hun. Indeed we no where ID Scnpture, as I remember, have exprefs mention made of any Prayer direc:ted to the Holy Ghojl, yet whofoever allows him to be God cannot deny him this VVorfnip of PrJyer; if we mufr believe in him we may then certeinly call ur:on h~m_, as the.Ap-oftle a~gues, 1!-om. 10. 14. yea, we have an Inftance of the Seraph1ms g1vmg Praife unto him, w h1ch is one part of Prayer Jfa. 6. 3· They cned to one another, holy, holy, bOty is the Lord God of /-lofts. This God i~ rhe fame who in Verfcs to, I 1. bids the Prophet fay to the People, Hear ye indeed but uuderftand net 1 make r?e He~rr of this Peopl~ far, .make their ~a-;s heavy, and jhut their Eyes, lMfl they bear w1th r~m; Ears and fee n:1th the1r EJes. Thts ts that God whom the Seraphims adored, and this IS that G~d tliat fpake to the Prophet; and the Apoftle quoting this ¥cry place out of.Ifa:ah, tells us, .A£1-s 28. 25. that it was the Holy Gheft fpake; ~o that by comparmg; thcfc two Places togc.ther, you fee plainly that the Holy Ghoft ts God, and that he zs to be adored by us with the fame Worfhip that "we worfuip the Father, and the Son, for the Holy Ghqft is the Lord God of 1-Jofts · which St. Paul refers to the Holy Ghoft, well fpake the 1-Joly Ghoft concerning them: Thus if we confider God perfona\ly, each Perfon in the Trinity may well be Ehe Objetf of our Prayers. 2. Secondly, Confider God cJfemia!iy, and [o we arc alfo to direff our Prayers to him. God e.ffen~ Now to confider God cfferui~tly is to have the Eye of our Faith fixed upon his rillllJ Hro Attributes, not upoa his Perfon, to confider him wlu:n we pray to him, not be prtyed as Father, Son or Ho!J Ghoft, but only as an infinitely glorious, wife, powerful unra. gracious God, and the like; to look upon him as a rnoft pure Effenc..: whofc Pre~ fence is every where, whofc Prefen(e and Goodnefs is over all Things; to con- .ceive him to be an infinite Being altogether unconceivable, this is to confider God ejfcntially. Now this Notion of God is equally common to all the Three Perfons, and therefore this is the moft fit and congruous way when we come to God in Prayer to reprefent befote us his .Attributes. We need not feledout any one Perfon in the Holy Trmity, F4thcr, Son or Holy Ghoft to direCt our Prayers unto, unlefs it be in fome Cafes wherein their particular Offices are more immediately t:oncerned; but when we pray to him who is Almighty, who is All-wife, infinitely Holy, infinitely Juft and Merciful, we pray at once to the whole Trinity, both to the Father, Son and Holy Ghofl. So when we pray according to that holy Form thali Chrift hath taught us, Our Father which Art in Heaven, Father there Uenotes not only God the Father, the fi.rft Perfon in the Trinity, bl:lt it is a relative Attribute belonging equally to all the Perfons in the Trinity. God is the Father of all Men by Creation and Providence, and he is efpecially the Father of the Faithful by Regeneration and Adoption: Why now as thefe Actions of Creation , Regeneration and Adoption arc common to the whole Trinity., fo alfo is the Title of Father common to the whole Trinity; God the firft Perfon is indeed eminently called the Father, but that is not in rcfpeC\: of us, but in refped: of Chrifr his only begotten Son from a\1 Eternity; in refpefr of us the whole Trinity is our Father which art in He~tven, and when we pray fo, we pray both to God che Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghoft, to all the Three Perfons; yea, and it may feem very probable tha! when Chrift Prayed, M•tth. 26. 39· F.,her, if it be poffible let rh" Cup
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=