Hallowed Be Your Name

1. The coherence.

Thus much of the preface: now follow the petitions. They be six in number: the three first, concerne God, and his glorie: the other three concern our selues. The three former petitions, are againe deuided into two partes: the firste concernes Gods glorie it selfe, the other two, the meanes, whereby Gods glory is manifested, and inlarged among men. For God his name is glorified among men, when his kingdome does come, and his will is done.

Question. Why is this petition, Hallowed be your name, set in the first place? Answere. Because Gods glory must bee preferred before all thinges: because it is the end of all creatures, and of all the counsels of God. Proverbs 16:4. The Lord has made all thinges for his owne sake; yea, euen the wicked for the day of evil. And from the order of the petitions heere ariseth a worthy instruction; namely, that every one in all thinges they take in hande, are to propound to themselues, and to intend the glory of God. The reason is this. The end which God has appointed to all our doings, we are to propound to our selues: but God has appointed that the highest end of all our doings shuld be his glorie: therfore, our hearts must be set to seeke it first of all. That God will have his name glorified by us, appeareth in this; that he punisheth those which of obstinacie, set themselues to dishonour him, or by negligence did not sanctifie him, when they should have done so. Herod sitting in his royaltie, made such an oration that the people cried, the voice of a God and not of a man: and immediatly the Angel of the lord smote him, because he gaue not the glory to God (Acts 12:23). And Moses because he did not sanctifie the Lord in the presence of the children of Israel, therefore, he came not into the land of promise; yet he did but faile in doing of it. Thus wee may see by these punishments, and also by the order of the petitions, that it is our duties to prefer the glory of God before all things else.

Quest. Whether are we to prefer the glory of God before the saluation of our soules? Answer. If the case stand thus, that Gods name must be dishonoured, or our soules condemned: we must account the glory of God more pretious than the saluation of our soules. This is manifest in the order of the petitions. The petition that concernes Gods glory is first, and the petitions that concerne directly our saluation are the fift and sixt. Where by we are taught, that before God should want any part of his glory, we are to let soule and all go, and let God have all his glory. This affection had Moses (Exodus 32:32). When he said, Either forgiue them, or if you wilt not, blot my name out of your booke.

In this petition, as also in the rest, we must obserue three things; the first is; the mening of the words the second, the wants which men must learn to bewail, the third, the graces of god, that ar to be desired.

2. The meaning.

Verie fewe among the people can give the right meaning of the wordes of this praier. They pretend, that seeing God knowes their good meaning, it is sufficient for them to say the wordes and to meane well. But faith being one of the groundes of praier, and there being no faith without knowledg, neither can there bee praier without knowledge, and therefore, ignorant men are to learne the right meaning of the words.

Name.

Name in this place signifieth:

- 1. God himselfe. 1 Kings 5:5. He shal build an house to my name. - 2. His attributes, as his iustice, mercy, &c. - 3. His works creatures and iudgments. - 4. His word.

For God is knowne to us by al these, as men are knowne by their names; and as all a mans praise and glorie lies in his name, so all the glorie of God is in these.

Hallowed.

To hallowe is to feuer a thing from the common vse to som proper and peculiar end: as the temple was hallowed, that is, set apart to an holy vse; and the priests were sanctified, that is, set apart to the seruice of God. And all that believe in Christ are sanctified, that is, set apart from sin to serue God. In like manner, Gods name is hallowed, when it is put apart from al abuses to an holy, reuerent and honorable vse, whether we think, speake, or vse it any maner of way.

Question. How can a sinful man hallow Gods name, which is pure and holy in it selfe? Answer. We do not here pray that we might make Gods name holy; but that wee might bee meanes to declare and make manifest to the world by the right vsage of it, that it is holy, and pure, and honourable. The like phrase is vsed (Luke 7:39). Wisedome is iustified of her children; that is, acknowledged and declared to be just.

The scope therefore of the first petition is an earnest desire that we might set foorth Gods glorie, whatsoeuer become of us; and it may be expressed thus. O Lord, open our eies, that wee may aright knowe you, and acknowledge the gretnes of your power, wisdom, justice, and mercie, which appeares in your titles, worde, creatures, and judgements: and grant that when we vse any of these, we may therein glorifie you, and vse them reuerently to your glory.

3 The vvantes which are to be bevvailed.

1 The wants, which we in this place are taught to bewail, are especiallie foure. The first is, an inward and spirituall pride of our hearts: a sin that none, or very few can see in themselues, vnlesse the Lord open their eies. When our first parentes were tempted in Paradise, the deuil told them, they should be as Gods: which lesson not onely they, but we have learned: and we conceiue of our selues as litle gods, though to the world we shew it not. This hidden pride, when other sinnes die, it begins to get strength and to shewe it selfe: and it appeares in vaine thoughts, continuallie on every occasion ascending in the minde. As maye appeare in the Pharisie, whose thoughts were these, when he praied thus within himselfe: O God, I thank you that I am not as other men, extortioners, vniust, adulterers, or euen as this Publican, &c. And as this was in him, so it is in us till God give grace: for so that men may have praise and glory in the world, they care not for God his glorie, though it be defaced. Wee must therfore learn to discerne this hidden corruption, and to mourn for it: for it doeth poison and hinder al good desires of glorifying God, so long as it may preuaile in the hart.

Secondly, we are taught here to bewail the hardness of our hearts: whereby we are hindered from knowing God aright, and from discerning the glory of God in his creatures. The disciples through the hardness of their hearts could not see God's power, in the miracle of feeding many thousands with a few loaves, though themselves were instruments of it, and the food did increase in their hands (Mark 6:52). Our redemption, what a wonderful work is it, but how few consider of it, or regard it? If we see a man have more wit, wealth, or honor than we have, we straight wonder at him: but beholding God's creatures, we see nothing in them, because we do not go higher to acknowledge the love, power, wisdom, and justice of the Creator. And this is the cause why God's name is so slenderly honored among men.

The third corruption, is our great ingratitude: for the Lord has made heaven and earth, and all other creatures to serve men: yet he is the most unthankful of all creatures. Bestow many jewels, or a king's ransom on a dead man, he will never return any kindness; so men being dead in sin deal with God. Commonly, men are like the swine, that run with their groins and eat up the mast, but never look up to the tree from where it falls. But the godly are with David, to feel this want in themselves, and to beseech God to open, and as it were, to unlock their lips, that they may endeavor to be thankful to God (Psalm 51:15).

The fourth, is the ungodliness and the innumerable wants that be in our lives, and the sins committed in the world. Mine eyes (says David) gush out with rivers of waters, because men keep not your laws (Psalm 119:136). The reason is, because he which lives in sin reproaches God's name: even as an evil child dishonors his father. Now some will say, that this cannot be, because our sins cannot hurt God. Yet they are a cause of slandering God's name among men: for as we honor him by our good works, so we dishonor him by our offences. "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your father which is in heaven" (Matthew 5:16).

4 Graces to be desired.

The graces to be desired, and to be prayed for at God's hand, are three. The first is, the knowledge of God: that is, that we might know him, as he has revealed himself in his word, works and creatures. For how shall any glorify God before he know him? Our knowledge in this life is imperfect. Moses may not see God's face, but his hinder parts (Exodus 23). We may see God as men do, through spectacles, in his word, sacraments and creatures (1 Corinthians 13:12). And therefore, as Paul prayed for the Colossians (Colossians 1:10) that they might increase in the knowledge of God, so are we taught to pray for ourselves in this petition.

A zeal for God's glory. The zeal of your house has eaten me up (Psalm 69:9). My heart shall utter, or cast up a good matter; I will speak in my works of the king (Psalm 45:1). Here the Spirit of God borrows a comparison from men thus: as he which has somewhat lying heavy in his stomach, is never at quiet till he have cast it up, even so the care and desire to glorify God's name, must lie upon a man's heart as a heavy burden: and he is not to be at ease and quiet with himself, till he be disburdened, in sounding forth God's praise. Luther says well, that this is *sancta crapula*: that is, an holy surfeit: and it is no hurt, continually to have our hearts overcharged thus.

A desire to lead a godly and sincere life, as before God's majesty. We see men that are in some great calling under honorable personages, will so order and behave themselves, as they may please and honor their masters: even so must our lives be well ordered, and we are to labor to walk worthy of the Lord (as Paul speaks) that we may honor our heavenly Father.