ousness: there it shall be at home and in quiet; no spoiling nor robbery in all that holy mountain.

For Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

This pattern, we know, is the line under which all our prayers ought to move: all our requests are to be conformed to it, and are certainly out of their way, when they decline and wander from it. And if we observe it, we may clearly perceive, it is a circular line; (as indeed the exercise of prayer is a heavenly motion, circular as that of the heavens ;) it begins and ends in the same point, the glory of that God to whom we pray, and who is the God that heareth prayer. In that point this prayer begins, and here ends in it; so that our requests which concern ourselves are cast in the middle, that all our desires may move within this circle:-though the things we pray for, concern ourselves, yet, they are not to terminate in ourselves, but in Him who is Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End of all things. We are to desire, not only the blessings of this life, but the blessedness of the life to come, more for His glory than for our own good.

This is genuine and pure love to God, in the pardon of our sins and salvation, to rejoice more in the glory of Divine mercy, than in our own personal happiness. Thus it shall be with us, when we shall be put in possession of it, and we ought to aspire to that measure of the same mind which can be attained here, while we are in the desire and hope of it.

For thine is the kingdom.] Though this clause is left out in divers translations, and wanting in some Greek copies, yet, it is so agreeable to the nature of prayer, and to the perfection of this prayer, that we ought not to let it pass unconsidered.

There is in it an enforcement of our prayer; but especially, it is a return of praise. Good reason we should desire earnestly the sanctifying of Thy name, and the coming of Thy kingdom, and obedience to Thy will, seeing these are so peculiarly due to Thee, namely, kingdom, and power, and glory. And seeing

Thou art so great and rich a king, may we not crave with confidence at Thy hands, all needful good things to be bestowed on us, and that all evil may be averted from us; that we may find Thee gracious to us, both in giving and forgiving; and as in forgiving us the guiltiness of sin, so, in freeing us from the power of sin, and preserving us from the power of our spiritual enemies that would draw us into sin? We are under Thy royal protection, we are Thy subjects, yea, Thy children, Thou art our King and Father; so that Thy honour is engaged for our defence. Whatsoever sum our debts amount to, they are not too great for such a King to forgive; they cannot rise above Thy royal goodness, and whatsoever be our enemies, all their force is not above Thy sceptre: though they be strong, too strong for us, yet, Thou art much more too strong for them, for power is Thine. And this we know, that all the good Thou dost us, will bring back glory to Thy name, and it is that we most desire, and that which is Thy due; the glory is Thine.

Thus we see, all our grounds of argument for our requests, are in God, none of them in ourselves: as we find this in the prayers of the Prophets, For Thine own glory, and For Thine own name's sake. There is nothing in ourselves to move God by, but abundance of misery; and that moves not, but by reason of His bounty; so still, the cause of His hearing, and the argument of our entreating, are in Himself alone. Were it not thus, how could we hope to prevail with Him? Yea, how durst we offer to come unto Him? It is well for us, there is enough in Himself both to encourage us to come, and to furnish us with motives to persuade Him by, that we come not in vain. Moses had not a word to say for the people in themselves: such was their carriage, his mouth was stopped that way; yet, he doth not let go this, What wilt thou do with thy mighty Name? It is true, they have trespassed, yet, if Thou destroy them, Thy name will suffer. Lord, consider and regard That. And we know the success of it. Thus, a Christian for himself may plead: Lord, I am most unworthy of all those things I

request of Thee, but, whatsoever I am, thou art a liberal and mighty king, and it is Thy glory to do good freely; therefore it is that I come unto Thee: my necessities drive me to Thee, and Thy goodness draws me, and the poorer and wretcheder I am, the greater will be thy glory in helping me.

But it is withal, an extolling and praising of the greatness of God, and so we are to consider it.

Thine is the kingdom. Other kings and kingdoms there be, but they are as nothing, they deserve not the naming, in comparison of Thine. They are but kings of little mole-hills, to the bounds of Thy dominion. The greatest kingdoms of the world are but small parcels of this globe of earth, and itself all together, to the vast circumference of the heavens, is as nothing -loses all sensible greatness. This point which men are so busy dividing among them with fire and sword, what if one man had the sovereignty of it all? He and kingdom both were nothing to Thine; for sea, and land, earth, and heaven, and all the creatures in them all, the whole, all is Thine. Thou art Lord of heaven and earth, and therefore, the kingdom is Thine. As all other kingdoms are less than Thine, so, they hold of thine, Thine is supreme: all the crowns and sceptres of the earth, hang at thy footstool. All kings owe their homage to this great King, and He disposeth of their crowns absolutely and uncontrolled as He will. He enthrones and dethrones at his pleasure, throws down one and sets up another: as we have a great monarch confessing it at length upon his own experience, being brought down from his throne, on purpose to learn this lesson, and was seven years in learning it. Dan. iv. 34.

The power. The creatures have among them several degrees and several kinds of power, but none of them, nor all of them together, have all power; this is God's. He is all-powerful in Himself, primitively powerful. And all the power of the creatures is derived from Him: He is the fountain of power. So that, whatsoever power He hath given unto men, or any other creature, He hath not given away from Himself: it is still in Himself more than in them, and at His pleasure He can call it

back, and withdraw the influence of it, and then they remain weak and powerless. And when He gives them power, He useth and disposeth of both them and their power as seems him good. Therefore, His style is The Lord of Hosts. He can command more armies than all the kings and princes of the earth: from the most excellent, to the meanest of the creatures, all are His trained bands; from the host of glorious spirits, to the very armies of grasshoppers and flies. And you know, that as an angel was employed against the Egyptians, so likewise, these contemptible creatures were upon service there too, and being armed with commission and with power from God, did perform the service upon which they were sent so effectually, that the wisest of heathens were forced to confess, This is the finger of God.

This is the Lord to whom we address our prayers, who can not fail in any thing for want of power, for He doeth what He will in heaven and in earth.

The glory. In these two consists mainly the eminency of kings, in their power and their majesty; but they exceed not the meanest of their subjects, so far as THIS King surpasseth the greatest of them in both; Psal. xciii. 1. Clothed with both majesty and strength. They are often resisted, and cut short of their designs for want of sufficient power, and are (the best of them) often driven to straits; sometimes men, sometimes money or munition, or some other necessary help is wanting, and so their enterprises fall behind. But this King can challenge and defy all oppositions: I work, says He, and who shall let it? Isa. xliii. 13.

And as their power, so, their majesty and glory is infinitely short of His. He is the King of Glory, as the Psalmist styles him, Psal. xxiv. 10, alone truly glorious, both in the excellency of His own nature, and the extrinsical glory that arises to Him out of His works. Of the former, we can know but little here, for that light wherein He dwells, is to us inaccessible (1 Tim. vi. 16.); but this we know, that He is infinitely above all the praises even of those that do behold Him. Likewise, how

unspeakable is that glory which shines in His works, in the framing of the whole world, and in the upholding and ruling of it from the beginning! In which appear the two former that are here ascribed to Him, His kingdom, and His power; and so, this third, His glory, springs out of both. Then if we consider the glorious attendance that is continually about His throne, as the Scriptures describe it to us, it drowns all the pomp of earthly thrones and courts in their highest degree. See Rev. iv.

For ever. This kingdom, and power, and glory of God, besides their transcendent greatness, have this advantage beyond all other kingdoms, and power, and glory, that His are for ever and ever, all other are perishing, nothing but pageants and shows that appear for a while, and pass along and vanish. It was a wise word of a king, (especially at such a time,) when he was riding in a stately triumph, and asked by one of his courtiers, thinking to please him, What is wanting here? he answered Continuance. Where are all the magnific kings that have reigned in former ages? Where is their power and their pomp? Is it not past like a dream? And not only are the kings gone, but the kingdoms themselves, the greatest in the world have fallen to nothing; they had their time of rising, and again of declining, and are buried in the dust. That golden headed image had brittle feet, and that was the ruin and break of it all. But this kingdom of the Most High is an everlasting kingdom, and His glory and power abide for ever.

Not only things on earth decay, but the very heavens wax old as a garment, says the Psalmist, but Thou, O Lord, art still the same, and Thy years have no end.

Ref. 1. It is a thing of very great importance, for us to have our hearts established in the belief of these things, and to be frequent in remembering and considering them to know that the kingdom is the Lord's, that He sovereignly rules the world and all things in it, and particularly, the great affairs of His Church: that He is the mighty God, and therefore, that there is no power, or wisdom, or counsel of men, able to prevail against Him; and that in those things wherein His glory seems