for there wee shall bee exchanged into his image c. Thus the truth stands cleere That the naturall man as a naturall man and before hee bee renewed by grace can and may will both naturall good and a morall good But to will a spirituall good in that measure as that it may bee acceptable to God hee neither can nor may For howsoever he may preach distribute the Sacraments give almes pray and meditate yet are these not acceptable For the naturall man knoweth not the things that are of God 1. Cor. 2. Hee is dead in his sins and trespasses Ephes 2. Hee hath not the sonne of God and therefore can have no life in him 1. Iohn 5.12 Hee hath not the spirit of God in him and therefore cannot be the child of God Rom. 8.14 And finally although his workes were finished from the foundation of the world yet is hee but a stranger from the life of God For till his person bee first acceptable in Jesus Christ his workes shall never be approved Last of all a Sathan hath a will and as man hath a will so God also hath a will And to him chiefly and above all yea most truly and most properly is the liberty of will ascribed For hee willeth that which is good and that most freely most solely most absolutely and most perfectly because continually Gods will then yea and his revealed will being holy righteous and just in it selfe and of it selfe is that only which wee crave in this Petition But thou wilt perhaps aske me may I not say my will be done No no for as God is primumens primum agens so is he also Liberrimumens Liberrimum agens Hee is the first essence and the first agent and hee is the freest essence and freest agent that ever was No creature in heaven or in earth hath either a being action or will but that which is duely and truely subordinated to his Essence action or will Wouldest thou then crave a reason why thou must not intermixe thy will with Gods will The reasons are these 1. As thou art a naturall man there is great enmity betwixt thy will and Gods will The Apostle tells us this Rom. 8. The wisedome of the naturall man is enmity with God Hee saith not only that it is an enemy to it but enmity it selfe Now we know that it is more to be enmity then to bee an enemy for an enemy may bee reconciled but enmity never 2. It is not good that wee say my will bee done For if we get our will wee would many times will the things which would tend to our destruction Thus the children of Israel willed and desired Quailes in the wildernesse and they got their will but not their well For when their meat was in their mouth it came out at their nostrels 3. If wee got all our will wee should many times sinne against God willing the things which hee willeth not and nilling the things which he willeth Thus did Israel will their returne to Aegypt against the will of God leading them to the land of their rest And thus they would have a King and got one in Gods anger Thus I may say boldly that mans will should not bee sought but Gods For mans will differeth more from the will of God then the heaven differeth from the earth For it is mans will to live in wealth and prosperity but God willeth it not knowing that want is better for us For when wealth maketh mans wit to waver and prosperitie maketh him to misknow God want maketh him wise and with the prodigall child reclaimeth him from his errour Secondly wee would alwayes live at randome and be free from the Crosse but God willeth it not for hee knoweth that without the yoake we are but wilde heifers But when the Crosse is on our backe it will teach us to keepe his law Finally wee desire to live long and see many dayes God willeth it not And therefore cutteth off the thred of our life sometimes in the morning sometimes in the noone-tide and sometimes in the evening of our dayes And by so doing preventeth the growth of sinne in us Sometimes shutteth our eyes from seeing the evil that is to come and sometimes draweth us away from the love of the world that wee may bee invested with our Masters joy Thus by all these palpable documents hee cleerely teacheth thee to submit thy will to his and both in wealth and in want to say Not my will but thy will be done And truely till this time come and till thougrow up to this measure of grace A Scholler thou may be in the Schoole of grace but a perfect man in Christ Jesus thou art not For he that would be his Disciple must deny himselfe and take up his Crosse and follow him dayly The totall summe then of this part of the Petition is this O Lord since by nature we are created to thy image and since in that estate of our integrity we were sufficiently enabled to doe thy will But now since by our fall wee are so debilitated weakned as that we can neither know thy will nor doe it Wee runne to thee in the secret and sincerity of our soules And we begge of thee that by the grace of thy spirit thou wouldest so reenable us and strengthen us againe that thy will may not only bee done by us but also upon us That is to say that we may not onely doe that which thou commandest us in thy word but also patiently beare whatsoever crosse or calamity thou shalt bee pleased to exercise us with And so having ended the first part of the Petition wee come to the second The first part was materiall the last is formall Formatur we craved that Gods will might be done in us and upon us For manner we crave that his will may be done in earth as it is in Heaven To come then to the consideration hereof Whilst our Redeemer prescribeth unto us the matter of Gods obedience he prescribeth it in two subordinate periods of consideration 1. In the place thereof 2. In the patterne thereof The place hee will have it done on earth The patterne As it is in heaven We will first looke to the place of this obedience And it is earth By earth many divers men have meant many things diversly Tertullian by earth said our body was meant and by heaven our Soule Because our bodies are of the earth and earthly and our Soules a spirituall and celestiall substance And the ordinary glosse following Tertulltan writing on this place by the earth have understood the flesh and by the Heaven the spirit So that they make the meaning of the words to bee Let the flesh and the lusts thereof be subdued to the Spirit and the good motions of the same Cyprian by earth understands the unregenerate and such as doe not know God and by Heaven just men to whom God is knowne and by whom he is obeyed And he makes the
this is one and the chiefe that his heart is become earthly and muddy in the beginning hee had a body earthly and from the earth but his soule was celestiall and from above not onely in respect of essence but also in respect of the faculties and the qualities of these faculties now by his fall his soule is made like his body though not in essence or faculties for they are still spirituall yet in respect of the qualities of these faculties for the understanding of the naturall man knoweth nothing but the things of the earth his affections delight in nothing but that which is earthly and his will practiseth nothing but that which is of the earth and in the earth but these things ought not to bee so wee are come from home and are returning thither againe Doth it become a pilgrim whilst he is in the way to be overtaken with the pleasures of the way no certainly for if hee bee in love with the pleasures of the way hee shall never attaine to his journeyes end Do you not remember what is written in prophane stories concerning Theseus and Atalanta a woman of exceeding swiftnesse who being overtaken with the love of the golden balls which Theseus let fall by the way lost the race and the reward of it But why do I cite a prophane story looke to the word of God and the truth therein contained there you shall finde Iudges 7. That the Lord chosing out an army for Gedion to overthrow Midian he first sent away the fearfull and faint hearted which were two and twenty thousand then hee sent away those who fell downe on their knees and dranke water which were nine thousand and seaven hundred so that there remained of all the host of Gedion but three hundred to overthrow their enemies and these were such as stooped not downe to inebriate themselves with the waters of the river but snatched at them onely with their hand refreshing onely the tip of their tongues and continuing their journey It should bee so with us in using the things of this life wee should use them as though wee used them not hee that rejoyceth should not bee over-joyed in his rejoycing and hee that is in griefe should not bee over-grieved in his sorrow He that hath should not be proud hee that wanteth should not dispare 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and moderation should bee showne as men knowing that the fashion of this world perisheth Let us therefore bee like Iacob Gen. 28.20 And like Christs disciples Ioh. 6. Labour not for the meat that perisheth And like Israel Hos 2. Secondly wee have here a second lesson which serveth for our instruction and I pray you consider it Man if hee want he murmures he grudgeth and repines It was the errour of Israel in the want of water to murmure against Moses in the want of bread and of flesh So that his heart was grieved Rachel in the want of children could murmure and say to Iacob Give mee children else I die And Abraham himselfe in his barrennesse could say to God Eliazar my servant shall bee my heire So hard and indured are the hearts of men till God both make them see and feele the force of his care and providence towards them neither is the discontentment and grudge of men cleare in the example of these Fathers but also in our own daily and quotidian practice the poore man is no sooner fallen from his estate then through distrust of the providence of God hee must steale the sick man is no sooner in the bed of his disease but hee sends for a wisard to see if hee can recover The man that is wronged hath no sooner received his affront or word of reproach but straight his sword must bee his judge and decider of his quarrell and his owne hand must censure that which hee can neither digest nor cast up againe But tell mee O man from whence proceeds this thy folly wantest thou is there not a God in heaven of whom it is said The eyes of all things do looke up and trust in thee O Lord. Art thou sicke is there not a God in Israel in whose hands are the issues of life and death Art thou wronged knowest thou not that vengeance is the Lords and he will repay For it is a righteous thing with the Lord to render tribulation to them that trouble us and peace unto us in the day of rest Why do wee then in the day of our trouble wrong both our selves and our sufferings by our precipitations Knowest thou from whence this thy precipitation floweth because thou knowest not I will tell thee It floweth absolutely from the want of the sight of thy sinne If thou knewst wherefore thy goods were taken frō thee wouldst thou murmure No. If thou knewst wherefore thy health was taken from thee wouldst thou grudge No. if thou knew from whence thy wrong came wouldst thou repine No. All the distemper cōmeth from this thou knowst not the cause of it Thy sinnes that are not forgiven thee are the cause of all thy calamity If thou hadst but truly repented thee of thy sinnes and by faith gotten the assurance of thy pardon I will assure thee thy captivity should have bin redeemed thy righteousnesse should have shined as the Sun at the noontide of the day but as long as thou hast neither gotten thy sins pardoned thee nor hast pardoned others their sinnes against thee it is no wonder though thou say to God Give mee this day my daily bread and get it not for it is sure that the Lord heareth not nor accepts of sinners for as it is true that the seede of the righteous man was never seene to beg his bread for want so on the other part it is as true The candle of the wicked shall be put out and another man shall take his charge The evidence hereof is cleare in Israel in the dayes of the Judges Looke to Sheba and Iesabel Thirdly and lastly as it rebuketh us for the dirty and muddy quality of our hearts and instructeth us in the true cause and occasion of our wants so it teacheth us how to use the creatures aright or rather how wee should examine our selves aright after the use of the creatures when man sitteth downe to use the creatures of God Three things are required of him Premeditation sobriety examination Premeditation in acknowledging his unworthinesse of them for in themselves they are the good creatures of God as well as thou art yea in some respect they are better then thou for though thou wert created to a more glorious image yet by their innocency they have kept a more glorious station for thou hast sinned and not they and they subject to vanity not because of themselves but because of him who hath subdued thē under hope Sit never downe therefore O man to thy dinner without preponderatiō Whē thou seest the creatures of God set before thee know and remember they lived once as thou
commeth out of the mouth of God And Beza taking the word litterally out of the Greeke for that Bread which is able to adde to our substance So that the true and native signification and sense of this petition is this Lord give us the supplement of our necessities both for matter and for manner For matter our bodies are earthly and drawing neere to the earth stand in need of daily support support us therefore daily with Bread And for manner because little will content nature suppose our desires bee extravagant give us that which may refresh nature and maintaine this our natural life For if wee get food and rayment we ought therewith to bee content Now this being the interpretation of the word the uses arising therefrom are worthy of our remarke also Vse The uses that are drawne from the consideration of the words are two-fold viz. For rebuke and for instruction It serveth for rebuke to the Church of Rome whose schollers I meane the Rhemists following St. Hierome in his interpretation have interpreted the word and hold fast for it that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth onely signifie supersubstantialis or supersubstantiall bread But I would enquire of them to what use this obsolete and obscure word should be used amongst them Are not the words of greatest familiarity of greatest force also Yes surely For God who had sundry times and in divers manners made himselfe knowne unto the world of old by his Prophets and Patriarkes under types shadowes figures and tropes he hath now in the end of time made himselfe manifest to the world in Jesus Christ his Son who was the image of the invisible God and the ingraven forme and character of his person and that in such a plenty and purity of revelation that none can bee excused by reason of ignorance for If our Gospell bee hidde it is hidde to them that perish in whom the God of this world hath blinded the eyes of their mindes So seeing then even there where people sate in darknesse and in the shadow of death if God have made a true light to our eyes why should they bee termes of ambiguity and phrases of darknesse to obscure and eclipse the light and sun-shine of Gods truth by keeping up from the people the word of God and giving them the service of God in a strange tongue I know wherefore this can serve but for one or two causes either that they may shew themselves heires to the Scribes and Pharisees whose chaires they claime For they locked up the key of knowledge they neither entered into the Kingdome of God themselves neither would they suffer others to enter Even such are the followers of the Church of Rome at this day they sit as they alledge in the chaire of Moses and Peter but with any of Moses traditions or of Peter his sanctions they will not trouble so much as their little finger and fearing least any should enter into the Kingdome of God to their greater crimination too like blinde guides they keepe their people in blindnesse and by the obscurity of words so eclipse and obscure the truth that unawares Millions of soules are by them ledde captive unto distruction Vse Neither doe they in this alone expresse themselves to build the sepulchers of their fathers the Scribes and Pharisees But what is more they really doe expresse themselves to be the sonnes of their Father the divell who knowing assuredly that nothing in the world can bee so forcible to extract a blessing from the hands of God as Prayer Nor any thing so strong and powerfull to binde up the hands of God from correcting and judging us as is the frequent and familiar confabulation and Prayers of his Saints Hee therefore labours to withdraw men altogether from prayer or else if he cannot get their mouthes stopped but that they must pray then hee will have them praying in an unknowne tongue that their table may be turned to a snare and their prayers to sinne It is a wonder to see what folly is amongst them they will not go out of doores without a crosse about their neckes as if it were an Antidote against whatsoever danger either spirituall or temporall And yet there is none sheweth himselfe a greater enemy of the Crosse of Christ For howsoever in word they confesse him yet in their idolatrous practise they deny him and having a name that they are living in effect they are dead Yet this is not all such an overruling power and soveraignty hath the Prince of darknesse got on them that when their conscience is opened to see their sin and their affections lead them to God to deprecate the remission of their sinne hee tongue-tyeth them that they cannot speake to God And if they speak at all it is but a rapsody of idle words numbred out upon their Beades as if God delighted in much babling or Sathan could bee conjured with tale and number only of Pater nosters But foole that thou maist know that God is a Spirit and will bee worshipped in spirit and truth If thy service be spirituall and sincere though weake yet it is welcome For the bruised reed hee will not breake and the smoaking flaxe bee will not quench But if thou dally with him in a Tautalogie of unknowne words all is in vaine because hee will cast backe the dust of thy sacrifice in thy face for praying to him with thy tongue when thy understanding is without fruit Againe as it serveth for rebuke of the Church of Rome so it serveth also for instruction to us of the true and pure Church and that in these three respects First in the matter of our true understanding Secondly in the matter of our true content And thirdly in the matter of our true desire I say first that in this word we have a lesson given us to enforme our understanding For whilst wee goe to God and seeke of him Daily Bread wee cannot but instruct our selves in the sense of our daily want Who is hee that hath a house and a daily raine drop in it but will goe to the Slater and make him repaire it Who is hee which hath a ship which is leaking but will goe to the carpenter and have it repaired both with timber and calfatting Or hee that hath a wounded body who will not goe to the Physitian and daily dresse his wound and binde it up againe till it bee cured It is even so with us in the matter of our spirituall wants Wee dwell here in Tabernacles and houses of clay This day there is a droppe in the roofe to morrow a balke of our timber is cracked and the third day there is a crevis in the wall To whom shall wee goe but to the Master of the worke and that daily that by our daily necessities wee may daily have our recourse to him and in our daily approaches confesse and acknowledge his daily providence Wee are also Mariners and wee are wounded men Who shall make
the sonnes of men and the children of nature And to testifie that God is the God of Order and not of confusion he hath in his wisedome set a distinction amōgst his creatures by way of soveraignty three manner of waies 1. He hath given a Kingdome and soveraignty to the celestiall bodies 2. He hath given and established a Kingdome and soveraignty in man 3. Hee hath given a Kingdome and soveraignty to man The soveraignty and Kingdome given to the celestiall bodies is two-fold Of influence and of dominion The soveraignty of influence is acknowledged in nature and by all the children of nature For not only doe these celestiall bodies expresse their influence on the earth the sea and the fruits thereof But also on man and the naturall body of man For man having his body composed of the temperature of the foure Elements Fire Ayre Earth and Water it doth sensibly feele the influence of these celestiall bodies in the mutation and alteration of his health and constitution And as God hath given a soveraignty of influence so hath he likewise given a soveraignty of dominion For it is written Gen 1.16 Hee made two Great lights the Sunne the greater light to rule the day and the Moone the lesser light to rule the night As he gave a Kingdome and soveraignty to the celestiall bodies So did he also establish a soveraignty and Kingdome on man For hee gave unto him soveraignty and dominion over the fishes of the Sea the fowles of the Ayre and over every living thing that moveth on the earth Neither did hee alone subjugate the unreasonable creatures unto him But what is more hee did by his wisedome establish a soveraignty to man amongst men and the sonnes of men For amongst them he hath in his wisdome appointed some to be Masters some to be servants some to be Parents some to bee children some to bee husbands some to bee wives some to bee Judges some to be people some to bee Ministers some to be hearers some to bee Princes and some to bee subjects And in all of these what hath hee done but imprinted in man the Characters and vestiges of his owne primacy and authority For as he is God ouer all and in all blessed for ever So hee hath given unto man as the chiefe and soveraigne of his creatures a chiefe and soveraigne authority not only over his fellow creatures but also over his fellow Brethren that in man as the little world man might perceive the soveraignty of God the creator and Soveraigne of the whole world Last of all he hath set and established a Kingdome and soveraignty in man and that was the Kingdome and soveraignty of the image of God in man For as some celestiall bodies have a Kingdome over the inferiour bodies As man hath authority over the creatures and his fellow Brethren So God hath a Kingdome in man wherein the soule of man is that throne whereon he doth sit The conscience is Gods immediate deputy his assessors are the light of knowledge and understanding writing out a law his Sheriffe or Justice of peace is the will The common people whom he ruleth are the affections Now in all of these being composed and drawne up to an universall bulke and incorporation the image of God stood in man For as man was created the immediate King of the world So God did let him see that hee was his immediate King and Superiour And least that at any time hee should waxe proud and evanish he established a spirituall Kingdome in man Both that he might bee subdued to him that made him and that he might learn to rule aright the Kingdome concreded unto him This then is the Kingdome of man a Kingdome over his fellow creatures a Kingdome over his fellow Brethren a Kingdome over his innated affections Sathan also hath a Kingdome now will you enquire what that Kingdome is It must be answered it is no true Kingdome it is but a tyrannick usurpation like that of Ieroboam the sonne of Nebot who made Israell to sinne or like that of the Bramble who became King of the trees of the forrest That it is no true Kingdome it is cleere out of these severall instances And the instances of his usurpation are foure 1. His inauguration 2. His Vassalls 3. His government 4. His remuneration or reward His inauguration in the first place doth cleere this For he is neither borne to bee a King nor chosen to bee King Not borne a King for hee is but a creature and there is no true King but the Creator who is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords And as he is not a King by birth so also he is not a King by election for none have chosen him to be King over them Yea all that he possesseth he doth possesse by Tyranny Hee said to Christ in the day of his temptation All these are mine But he lied for the earth is the Lords and the fulnesse thereof in it Sathan hath not one foot breadth but what hee either robs or usurpes 2. His Vassalls shew also his illegitimation for as it is in the Kingdome of God so is it also in the true and lawfull Kingdomes of men In Gods Kingdome as he giveth a law so they obey and say Thy Will be done in earth as it is in heaven He is the shepheard they are the flock His sheep heare his voice and they will not follow a stranger In the Kingdome of Sathan it is otherwise they are all children of disobedience howsoever conspiring an evill yet unto every good worke they are reprobate Of whom the true Christian may say as Iacob said of Simeon and Levi They are brethren in evill but in their secret let not my soule come and my glory be not thou joyned with their Assembly 3. In his government how ruleth he I pray you Not as a true soveraigne but as a trecherous usurpator Hee hath no part in man but that which he hath stolne For he steales First light out of the understanding then true desire out of the affections and thereafter full authority and commandement out of the will Where I pray you had hee ever place since his fall but what he stole He stole away by a lie the heart of Eve from God the heart of Cain from his brother the heart of Cham from his father the heart of Esau from his blessing the heart of Ieroboam from his God and the heart of Iudas from the Saviour of the world Yea now he is amongst us and he is likewise stealing either our hearts from the word by sleepe or the seed of the word out of our hearts that it may not take root and bring forth increase to our peace 4. His usurpation is knowen in his remuneration and reward A true King rewards answerably the service of a good subject and when hee findes his coffers emptie hee will coyne occasions to gratifie his faithfull servant God acclaimes this to himselfe as a
wee know this to be the defect and weaknesse of our children that hardly or seldome can they bee brought to put on their apparell or say their prayers till first they get the promise of their breakfast it is so with us in the way to heaven all the promises of God concerning our felicity there which in themselves are so large and infinite that neither hath the eye seene them or the eare heard them or can the minde of man understand them Yet all of them of what quality or number soever they bee can never lead a man to the earnest pursuit of those things that are eternall unlesse hee get a palpable possession of those things that are temporall But as David said This is our death I saysecondly he hath done it for a demonstration of the riches of his mercy towards us letting us see that hee will passe by many of our infirmities and overlooke many of our weakenesses ere hee want us So pretious a thing in the eyes of the Lord is the Soule of a man that hee will give much for it ere hee want it looke to the Father looke to the Sonne to the Holy Ghost looke to the elect angels to the Saints departed to the senselesse creatures and looke to sathan himselfe and all shall teach you that nothing on earth is so pretious as the soule of man And if our soules and the redemption of them bee a matter of so great excellencie doe you thinke that God will want it for a meale of meat no no farre bee it from us to thinke so for will hee that feeds the fowles of the aire and clothes the lillies in the field be forgetfull of us No surely a haire of our head shall not fall to the ground but by his providence and if any shall fall it is not for want of his favour but for the weaknesse of our faith I say thirdly it is done to shew us the true refuge unto the which we should all leane in the day of our want whether bodily or spirituall and that is onely to God For will wee looke to the things of this earth in the day of our bodily want from whom shall we seeke them but from God for it is hee that heareth the heaven and maketh the heaven to heare the earth and the earth to heare the come and the come to heare Israel If hee heare thee all shall heare thee but if hee stop his eare all shall bee deafe and dumbe to thee For the eyes of all things do wait and depend on him While he openeth his hand they are filled with his blessing But if hee over-cloud his countenance they are sore affraid and perish Now this being the reason of the coherence I come to the Petition wherein six things are remarkable First what we crave Bread Secondly of whom wee crave it of God for wee say Give Thirdly to whom wee crave it and it it not in the singular number to mee or to thee but in the plurall number Vnto Vs Fourthly what a bread it is that we crave a Daily bread not a dainty bread Fifthly whose bread is it that we crave not our neighbours bread but our owne Our And sixtly for what time it is that wee crave it not for the morrow but for to day Give us this day our daily bread Whilst I looke on the thing that is petitioned Bread It is requisite that I search what is meant and understood by it The Ancients and Fathers of the Church have thought diversly of it Tertullian lib. de Orat. Cap. 6. will have by this bread Christ himselfe to bee meant and saith that there is nothing can have a more orderly progresse then that after we have sought the honor of Gods name the advancement of his Kingdome and the obedience of his will to seeke also the bread of life by the which wee may bee enabled to do those things And this is Christ himselfe saith hee for of him it is written I am the bread of life Ioh. 6. Athanasius lib. De humana natura suscepta Tom. 1. doth by the word bread understand the Holy Ghost and for proofe thereof bringeth the words of this very Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our daily bread for hee saith God hath taught us in this present time to seeke that bread for our entertainment whose first fruits shall preserve our soule in life to the life to come Augustine writing of the sermon of Christ in the mountaine Tom. 4. lib. 2. cap. 7. pag. 349. by bread doth understand the bread of the Sacrament or else the bread of Gods word by the which our soules are kept in life to the obedience of his statutes But with reverence let me say that Tertullians opinion meaning by bread Christ cannot stand with the due order of this prayer for then it were tautologick for that was sought in the petition Thy Kingdome come Againe Athanasius his interpretation cannot bee received whilst by bread hee meaneth the holy Ghost for of him wee receive but the first fruits in this life But of this bread we many times receive both satiety and surfeit Last of all I cannot subscribe to Augustine in this his opinion nor to the Rhemists his followers who by bread here understand the bread of the Sacrament for if it were so I see no reason wherefore they should debarre the laicks from eating thereof one licenciating the use thereof to the Priests whilst God calleth it our bread and our daily bread and alloweth to us both the use and the daily use thereof It resteth then that the truth bee cleared and so it shall by taking the words literally and under the name of bread by understanding bakers bread yet not so strictly but that figuratively also under it we may cōprehend all things requisite for the maintenance of this our naturall life such as are strength of body by nourishment health by Physick warmnesse by apparell sufficiencie and correspondencie to our labours and finally all the meanes and helpes that leads to these things as Christian magistracie peace in the land and seasonable weather So that Ambrose looking on the large extent of the word bread sayeth of this Petition Haec postulatio maxima est corum quae petuntur For since as man cannot live without bread so his bread cannot quicken him except he have a stomack to disgest and when his stomack is able hee cannot get it unlesse the earth afford it and the earth doth not afford it except it be laboured and it cannot bee laboured except there bee peace amongst men and in the very time of peace mens travels cannot be profitable unlesse God send both the first and the latter raine Therefore saith hee in this one word of bread many things are couched yea all things that are requisite for the entertainment of our life The meaning of the words being thus interpreted let us make some use of them Their use is twofold Vse For the word serves first for rebuke and
secondly for instruction It serves for rebuke to the Church of Rome who by the imposition of their extraordinary and unnecessary fastings hope to enter into the kingdome of God But to those I say yet not I but Jesus Christ for me Fooles and hypocrites you make cleane the outer side of the cup and the platter but within all is foule and full of ravening Foole dost thou thinke that the kingdome of God standeth in meate and drinke or in apparell No no it standeth in righteousnesse peace and joy in the holy Ghost What careth God I pray thee for a bit of meat that goeth into thy belly or for that rag of clothes that covereth thy nakednesse When he is hungry will he tell thee or when hee is thirsty will hee that thou shouldest give him drinke or if he were cold or naked would hee begge the use of thy garment No surely those things are not for him but for us and for our use Hee made our bodies of the earth earthly hee hath breathed the breath of life in our nostrils that by it wee may live in the body he hath given us also the use of his creatures for the preservation of that sparke till hee recall it What is it then should make man so bold to inhibit the use of that thing which God hath licenced or what art thou O man that darest pollute that which God hath sanctified to thee Well hath the Apostle Paul fore-prophesied of thee that in so doing thou hast a shew of godlinesse but in effect thou hast denyed the power thereof for these things may have a shew of wisdome in a will-worship and neglect of the body but in effect they are but the rudiments of the world and the ordinances and traditions of men for they hold not of our head which is Christ Jesus I graunt indeed it fareth not with the soule and the body as it fareth betwixt an evill matched man and his wife the thing that the one willeth the other willeth not and if any neighbour shall pacifie the strife with reason hee hath gained a soule It is even so with the matter of fasting if whilst the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit fighteth against the flesh wee can beate downe our bodies and bring them in subjection it is more then requisite But if wee shall think hypocritically by so doing to merit or procure to our selves the Kingdome of heaven wee deceive our soules and our labour is in vaine for the kingdome of God standeth neither in meat drinke or apparell but in righteousnesse peace and joy in the Holy Ghost Vse 2. And as it serves for rebuke of the Church of Rome so doth it also for instruction to our reformed Church and that in a twofold manner for it teacheth a lesson to the rich man and another also to the poore man It teacheth the rich man to eschew covetousnesse for if God give him bread hee giveth him all that hee oweth him wee cannot bee content till our table be richly decked and our cup overflow but alas these things ought not to be so for we came naked into the world and naked we shall returne againe If wee get therefore food and rayment it becomes us therewith to be contented Nature is not curious in herd yet nor chargeable in her fare shee can say with the Poët Vivitur parvo bene all that she craveth is but bread and water a clout to cover her nakednesse and a hole to hide her head in when God sendeth more she can use it with sobriety when God denyeth it shee can bee thankfull and say with Iob The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken c. And when she seeth the best chear in the world set before her she accounteth it all but bread The crummes of the rich mans table was bread although refused to Lazarus and the rich mans sumptuous fare was but bread Daniels pulse and water was bread and the Kings royall fare was but bread the huskes of the swine was bread to the prodigall child and his fathers feast was but bread Thus the true christian in all things is content hee canne bee abased and hee can abound he can bee hungry and he can bee full he can want and he can have Philip. 4. And in the midst of his fulnesse hee is carefull of nothing so much as that the Lord send not a leannesse upon his soule Secondly as it teacheth the richman to measure the things of this life not by the ell of his desires which have no end but by the ell of nature which is short soone contented so from this the poore man hath a lesson of content When hee looketh to his neighbour and seeth him better cloathed better fed better followed and better favored then himselfe truly nature would grudge and murmure in a naturall man But if thou bee a christian let mee exhort thee in the name of Jesus whose name is called upon by thee represse these fond imaginations Consider that God hath taken nothing from thee but what hee gave thee And that in wisdome hee holdeth thee short of those things that hee himselfe may be thy portiō Blessed art thou if he be so to thee It may be for a time thou hunger and thirst but thou shalt bee satisfied and it may be for a time that thou mourne and weepe but thou shalt be comforted The way to procure thy content it not to measure thy want with other mens wealth No no but looke to the woe that their wealth hath bred them and consider how ease and fulnesse of bread hath made their hearts fat and hath lulled them into the lethargie of a giddie minde whilst by means of thy want God hath preserved his life in thy soule Wouldst thou then change estates no doe not if thou be wise for they who possesse those things stand in slippery places they seldome or never leave their owners without a fall How many this day are in hell who would goe naked to bee partakers of the garment of righteousnesse who would be still hungry to get a poore crumme of the booke of life and dye a thousand deaths for thirst to get one drop of that water that could coole the heate of that flame which they sustaine but oh they cannot obtaine it they have lost their time and their judgement is sealed While therefore thou hast time in time redeeme the time for the daies are evill and if thou get food and raiment learne therewith to be content and if thou be greedy of any thing in the world be greedy of grace for if thou hast the grace of God thou art richer then Cresus because thou hast Christ who when hee was rich became poore that in his povertie thou mightest be made rich LECT 11. Give us this day our daily bread THe second thing considerable in these words is the person of whom wee aske this and it is of God for whilst in the preface wee say Our
As we are weake in judgement to understand so are we weake in power how to mannage not only the things that are of God but also the things that are of men That wee cannot mannage the things that are of God it is cleere out of this example David and Israel did purpose to bring up Gods Arke out of the house of Abinadab in a new cart 1. Chronicles 15.13 But because they thought themselves able enough to follow that businesse without Gods direction Looke to Perez Vzzah by the way Looke also to Israel fighting against Benjamin And as it is in things concerning God so is it in things concerning us for howsoever we have understanding to know what they are yet we want wisedome to mannage them aright Looke to Israel who did sow much and reaped little who did eate and were not filled who earned wages but could never get a purse to keepe them in And in a word except wee get both judgement to discerne of the creature aright and power to make a right use of it Wee may say concerning the first our counsells are caryed headlong for wee meete with darknesse in the day And for the second we may justly say with Peter Wee have fished all the night and yet have caught nothing In the last roome whilest wee are commanded to goe to God and to say to him Give Wee are taught to know how to use the creatures aright and that three manner of wayes First by travell secondly by prayer thirdly by charity By travell because man must eate his bread in the sweate of his brow In his innocency he was ordained to delve in the garden of God When hee fell the earth was accursed for his sake And let him travell as he liketh yet in the sweat of his brow hee shall eate his bread and in the use of a lawfull calling he hath only reason to expect an answerable blessing I say secondly hee must pray for let him toile never so much except he pray he shall not speed For it is written Nisi Iehovah frustra and these two are surely knit together labour and prayer For as sighing without expectation and expectation without sighing as prayer in a tempest without toiling and toile without prayer and as in a Sermon information of the understanding without working on the affections and travell on the affections without information of the minde is all in vaine So also in things temporall neither will our travell alone nor our prayer alone serve our necessities but travell and prayer conjoyned together make up the worke of our reliefe Thirdly it teacheth us how to commiserate others in their necessities For there are many who like Nabal cannot yeeld to David or like to the rich glutton cannot pity Lazarus or like a Iezebel feeding foure hundred false Prophets and yet can suffer Eliah to starve But in this O man thou art deceived For thou canst not get it till thou say to God Give And when hee giveth it thee it is to this end amongst many that thou maiest not refuse him who saith to thee Give nor that thou hide not thy eyes against thy owne flesh For a cuppe of cold water shall not want a reward Adde to these our owne use in sobriety neither pampering our bodies to surfeit like the rich glutton nor disrespecting them by nigardice but using them in sobriety For the belly is for meate and meate for the belly but God will destroy them both Vse Now having spoken a little concerning the person of whom wee crave these things and the reasons thereof make wee some few uses thereupon which are foure First it serves to confute the common opinion of Chance Secondly of merit Thirdly it treades downe our pride And fourthly it rebuketh our distrust and dispaire I say first it confuteth chance For howsoever the greater part of the world bee ignorant of the wayes of the most high and attribute either their prosperity or adversity to chance or fortune yet let the Christian know that this proceeds from the ignorance that is in them For there is neither chance nor fortune in the world but that God who by the word of his power made the world by the word of his providence governeth it and by the word of his good pleasure shall ruine it hee dwelleth in the heavens and doth upon the earth whatsoever hee will that man may know that he it is who woundeth and bindeth up againe who killeth and maketh alive and who having exalted bringeth down againe to the dust and to the dung hill and that beside him there is no God even besides him who is the God of Jacob and the holy One of Israel Secondly it confutes merit for who art thou O man that darest bee bold to bragge of thy merit canst thou by thy merit or the power thereof make one haire of thy head white or blacke canst thou make the Sunne to shine or the raine to fall upon the earth to give her increase No thou canst not How much lesse art thou able to pay a ransome for thy owne soule No no alas thou canst not It may be thou saist that thou art rich and increased with goods c. but Lord open thy eyes to see thy pouerty and nakednesse and with a temptation the Lord give the issue to beare it I say thirdly that this word serveth to tread downe our pride for of all the creatures of the world man is borne the weakest and the most wretched Other creatures fall no sooner from the belly of their damme but they can goe eate and are covered Man is borne weak wretched unable to walke unable to eate and unable to cloath himselfe And when he hath gotten all that hee can possesse under the Sunne what hath hee but what he borroweth He borroweth food from the earth clothes from the beasts riches out of the Mynes of the earth wine and oyle from the trees And yet hee is proud as though all were his owne But foole that thou art why art thou so miscaryed Naked thou camest into the world and naked thou shalt returne againe If thou have therefore food and rayment waxe not proud for it is but a borrowed spoile thou art proud of and if God shall strippe thee naked of them thou shalt know that all was but vanity and that it is a foolish thing for man to rejoyce in any thing but in this that his name is written in the booke of life Last of all it rebukes with a moderate griefe for the want of the things of this life We are to day strong to morrow weake to day beautifull to morrow deformed to day honourable to morrow despised to day rich and to morrow poore And in all these our estates no further changed then our minds are As long as the Halcyan dayes of our ease and prosperity do last we over-joy our joyes and we say with David Our estate shall never bee moved But if God change our portion our minde is straight
of his person could onely and absolutely say unto him My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee and say to us for our comfort I goe to my Father and to your Father and to my God and to your God shewing us that by nature wee are without hope and without God in the world but that in him wee have a fellowship with God and are made partakers of the divine nature And now as in the preface hee would not suffer us to go to God unlesse wee were first incorporate and made members of his mysticall body so here hee will not suffer us to begge any thing at his hands whether temporall or spirituall but that wherein we must represent the necessities of our brethren as well as our owne and supplicate their reliefe as well as our owne In a word as in the preface hee taught us how wee should draw neere to God begge a blessing with Iacob under the garment of Esau So the use wee should make thereof should be a due remembrance of that Christian communion and fellowship wee have one with another in him rejoycing with them that rejoyce and mourning with them that mourne and remembring them that are in bonds as if wee our selves were afflicted in the body Secondly I say that we are taught so to say to make us submit our selves to the providence of God For there are many in the world upon whom God hath bestowed both riches and wealth in abundance and they have no sooner received thē but straight they forget both God as the giver and their brethren as fellow owners of their portion And of this sort of men it is that the Prophet Hosea speaketh whilst hee reproveth Israel and Judah for sacrificing to their owne nets To the end therefore that man may know that hee hath nothing but what God giveth him and that God giveth it to him to this end that hee should communicate to the necessities of them that want hee will not suffer him to say Give mee but Give us Would you see the truth of this cleared in a naturall and domesticke example Looke upon the Mariner when hee goeth to sea his ship is fraughted by some owners he is ladened and her wares are full The tide offereth occasion and shee is towed out to the road to wait upon the winde shee lyeth there a good space and findes no winde Would you know what maketh her want winde so long I can tell you because she prayeth for nothing but for her faire winde If her sailes were filled shee careth not whose be empty nor whose voyage be crossed But tell mee O man hath God in his ever-ruling providence nothing to doe but to serve thee and thy appetite alone No no hee hath more to serve then thee and therefore in his infinite wisdome he sometimes sendeth thee a faire and prosperous gale of winde sometimes againe hee maketh the winde to blow contrary that thou mayest learne in the sense of thy owne weaknesse to rest content on his providence and with a contempt and disdaine of thy owne selfe-love to rejoyce as much at the good of thy brother as if it were thy owne and to greeve as much at his losse as if the losse redounded to thee equally with him Last of all in this direction wee have a square rule limiting to us the use of the creature which is this as in the begging of it wee should bee faithfull so in the managing thereof wee should bee charitable It was the errour of Naball to possesse a well covered table to himselfe but to forget David and his distresse It was also the errour of the rich man in the Gospell to crye peace to himselfe and to the rich glutton to forget the necessities of Lazarus But were these things tolerable and approved of God No nothing lesse for wee are all members of one body and wee should communicate one to anothers necessities and that in love I say first we are all members of one body for where have you seene at any time the members of one body forgetfull or senselesse of the indigence of another if a thorn do but pricke us in the toe all the body hath a sympathy and fellow feeling with it the tongue can complaine the eye can search for it and the hand can pluck it out againe It is right so with us in our spirituall incorporation Wee are all parts of the mysticall body whereof Christ is the glorions head Is it seeming then that any one part shall suffer and the other shall have no sympathy or fellow-feeling No surely for it is an evident testimony that wee are not of the body unlesse we have that fellow sense that is here required Looke to the example of the politicall body and to the example of the waters running through the whole veines and chanels of the earth And learne with Augustine to say that God Per eum qui habet juvat egentem per eum qui non habet probat habentem But what is more thou must not onely give him for the reliefe of his necessities but also thou must give him a love and sincerity of affection for if thou should give all that thou hast to the poore unlesse thou have love it is all abomination in the presence of God for our wealth of it selfe it is not a blessing unlesse charity animate quicken and give it motion Vse Now out of al this which hath beene said there ariseth to our instruction two things remarkable the first rebukes the miser the second rebukes the proud I say first we have here a lesson of rebuke to the miser the worldly worme the earthly wretch and that for 3 causes first for that hee is a murtherer secondly for that he is a perverter of the ordinance of God and thirdly for that hee is a foole I say first he is condemned here as a murtherer for while God hath ordained meat for the belly and the belly for meat hee starves in his misery and for a miserable preservation of an handfull of dust hee kills his body which should have an habitation to the holy Ghost I say secondly that the miser and the wretch is a perverter of Gods ordinance for God hath said In the sweat of thy browes thou shalt eate thy bread now the miser can toile and turmoile himself in sweat and in blood sometimes to get a peece of bread but when hee hath gotten it hee cannot for the heart of him make use of it nor take of it to serve his owne necessities I say thirdly he is rebukeable as a foole and why because out of a diffident care of his body hee killeth his soule for whilst hee distrusteth the providence of God towards him manifested in the widdow of Sarepthas barrels hee hoardeth up treasures against the last day which in the fulnesse of time shall eate up his flesh as it were a fire Secondly it rebukes the proud for if God but once distinguish us one from another
sole title and precinct of his endowment but also the title and sole reciprocation hee craves of us and that both in the matter of his obedience and of our content and desires In the matter of our obedience hee will have it to day To day if you will heare his voice harden not your hearts And of our desires Give us this day our daily bread and reasō good it is that it should speake so for by so saying first hee pares the covetous mans nailes Secondly hee bindeth up the prodigalls hands and cutteth downe the Epicures vaine hope I say First by this word hee pares the covetous mans nailes for hee will pare them himselfe hee lets them grow that hee may scrape and scratch and gather together without satisfaction of desire without wearying in travell He riseth early in the morning and goeth late to bed at night and all the day long eates the bread of sorrow as if his belly was like his heart triangular and uncapable of satisfaction but foole that he is what is this he doth knoweth hee not that wee are but here to day and away to morrow for All flesh is grasse Care not therefore for the morrow but let the morrow care for it selfe for this day hath enough of its owne griefe Et magno apparatu breve iter vitae non instruitur sed oneratur Secondly God by this word bindes up the prodigals hands for it is the desire of many men in the world to have God giving them not one peece this day and another peece to morrow as we stand in need of it but wee will have al our portion together as the prodigall child said Father give mee my portion that befalls mee and when hee got it you know what became of it God therefore being wiser then wee will not cast all our patrimony in our lap together but like a wise father will give us our estate but peece peece and will see how we imploy the little hee lendeth us that hee may make us Lords over much and wee may every day honour him in the suit and request of his supply Lastly hee cutteth the vaine hope of the Epicure who like an atheist makes covenant with death and an agreement with hell and saith with the whore in the Revelation I am a Queene and shall see no mourning To this man God cries here as hee cryed to the rich man in the Gospell saying Foole this night they shall take thy soule from thee so here hee cryes to the Epicure This day thou shalt dye and shalt not see the morrow by one dayes disease I will beat that soule of thine out of her cittadell Watch therefore and pray for yee know not at what houre the theefe will come One day is too long to dwell in the tents of Kedar but in the presence of the Auncient of dayes there is fulnesse of joy and at his right hand there are pleasures for evermore LECTIO 14. And forgive us our trespasses IN handling of this Petition wee have two things to consider the coherence or dependence of this Petition with the former and next the tenour and force of the Petition it selfe The coherence is evident in the conjunctive particle and. For whilst in the last petition Our Redeemer Christ Jesus teacheth us to begge of him things meete for the maintenance of this our naturall life hee packed up the Petition in some few words of necessitie so here knowing that man is too much addicted to set his heart and fixe his affections upon the earth and the things thereof in a snatch as it were hee recals us againe to the consideration of the soule and teacheth us to hunger and thirst for righteousnesse and the life and well being of the soule For what shall it availe a man if hee winne the whole world and lose his owne soule In a word by the conjoyning and tying of this petition to the former I can resemble our Saviour to nothing better then to a wise and skilfull Pylot who seeing his company sicke and weary with continuall stormes at sea when he knoweth hee is neere any land letteth his sick and faint hearted company go on shore to refresh themselves to get the aire of the land to take in new victuals and provision to serve the necessitie of their succeeding voyage but if hee finde them to begin to be enamored with love of the land and the pleasures thereof straight wayes hee sendeth a boat on shoare reclaimes them frō the surfet of their pleasures telling them that if any amongst them would bee at home at his owne Countrie hee must come aboard againe for it is not the dallying with the pleasures of a strange country that will bring him home to his owne soyle It is even so with our Saviour in these words for in the first three Petitions wee were set to sea and commanded to saile home to heaven for whilst man honours Gods name advanceth Gods kingdome and doth Gods will what is hee doing but sailing through a stormy sea to a good harbour and a quiet haven of rest now because while men have lanched out to the sea of the world and are sailing homeward many crosse windes and boisterous stormes hinder them by the way Christ like a discreete and mercifull pylot and master of our ship in the last Petition giveth us this day our daily bread sets us on shoare and lets us play a while in the free aire and refresheth us with the pleasures of nature giving us leave to satiate and satisfie our selves with such provision as the necessity of this our naturall life required at our hands but knowing very well the nature of man that when hee getteth leave to play with the world hee will take a large inch to the ell and that in stead of satisfying his necessitie hee will inebriate and surfet himselfe therefore in this Petition And forgive us our trespasses hee shootes a boat after them and calls them to come home and to come aboard againe for feare that by playing too long with the world and the pleasures of the shoore they lose the opportunity of their voiage homeward for as the wisdome of the world is foolishnesse with God so the love of the world is enmity with God and whosoever is a friend of the worlds is an enemie of God Iames 4. vers 4. And this I take to bee the reason of the coherence of this Petition to the former Vse Let us now looke upon this tye and particle of conjunction that wee may learne something from it The uses and observations which arise here-from are these First it teacheth how to use the things of this world Man since the fall of the first Adam hath brought nothing into the world with him but an uncircumcised heart and a body of sinne dwelling in his flesh and from thence as from a bitter roote of corruption floweth nothing in all his conversation but fearfull and rebellious transgressions amongst the which
livest now and what reason had God to bring them from afarre and take their life from them and to give thee liberty to use them but his mercy and not thy merit his favour not thy deserving that the sense hereof may teach thee that his grace is every way his grace though thy sin be out of measure sinfull Adde hereunto that as prepremeditation is requisite before their use so sobriety in their use for it becomes us not to sit downe and glut with them as if wee had nothing to do but to fill our bellies and satisfie our desires No no meat is ordained for the belly and the belly for meat but God will destroy them both And he that hungers but for the food that perisheth may satisfie himselfe for a while but in the end hee shall both hunger and thirst and shall not bee satisfied at all This was the advertisement that our Master Christ Jesus gave to his Disciples Take not care for your belly what you shall eate or for your back what you shall put on for your heavenly Father knoweth whereof ye stand in need before you aske and he will not suffer you to want the thing without the which you cannot serve him Use then the things of this life soberly for thou hast more thē thou broughtest into the world with thee thou hast more then thou usest well and thou hast more then thou canst take out of the world If thou get therefore food and raiment learne therewith to be content Thirdly before thou rise from the table examine thy selfe and see wherein thou hast made thy selfe unworthy of the succeeding use of his creatures by the abuse of those which thou hast received For I will assure thee when man is full hee waxeth wanton and the plenty of his table maketh him oftentimes fall into those sinnes which the hungry heart falleth not into Is was not in the time of Noahs sobriety that his nakednesse was discovered but in the time of his excesse It was not in the time of Lots sobriety that hee fell into incest but in his excesse It was not in the time of Ammons fasting that hee fell before Absolon but in the time of his feasting When God therefore hath filled our bellies with good things let us not rise without due examination of our owne hearts to see wherein wee have sinned Let us with Iob sacrifice every morning after our festivities for it may bee that the fulnesse of our cups hath made us blaspheme our God as it was with Israel they sate downe to eate and to drinke and rose up to play and they felt the wrath of God upō thē in the fatnes of their bodies in the leannesse of their soules Since therefore God hath coupled these things together let no man put them asunder but let all flesh in trembling examine himselfe and when hee hath said Give us this day our daily bread let him withall adde And forgive us our trespasses Now I feare I spend too much time in the description of the dependance and coherence of this petition with the former and of the uses arising therefrom It resteth now that wee come to the Petition it selfe In which two things are remarkable a supplication and a covenant or condition by which the supplication is sealed first the supplication is Forgive us our trespasses the condition sealing the covenant is As wee forgive them that trespasse against us We must return to the supplication it selfe in which five things do subordinately offer themselves to our consideration First what wee are by nature sinners Gods debters Secondly what wee aske concerning our naturall estate in sinne and that is pardon and forgivenesse Thirdly from whom it is that wee aske this pardon and it is neither from Angels in heaven nor man on earth but from God our Father in Jesus Christ whose habitation is in heaven and who hath given us in his Sonne the hope of the same inheritance Fourthly wee have to consider the interest wee have unto this sinne that wee crave to be pardoned and it is Ours Fiftly and lastly wee must consider the extent of this our supplication and it reacheth not onely to our selves alone but also to all our brethren and fellow-members of the mysticall body of Jesus Christ and therefore wee say not Forgive mee but forgive us and this I thinke is the true and lively anatomy and opening up of the first part of the Petition the other wee shall weigh and examine when we come to it The first thing considerable here is our estate condition by nature which is two waies expressed first in the essence thereof next in the denominatiō the one privatly couched in the bosome of the other the other publique manifesting the death of mans misery the essēce of his misery is that hee is a sinner The true title indigitatiō of that his estate in sin is that it maketh him to be Gods debter But to return our estate by nature is not essentially set downe here but by way of denomination for here Matthew saith Forgive us our debts while St Luke saith in his 11. Chap. Forgive us our sinnes Now to returne to the consideration of this our naturall estate it is here set downe two wayes first by denomination and then by confession It is denominated a debt it is confessed whilst wee begge pardon for it The denomination is a debt many titles and names of signification are given to sinne in Scripture Sometimes it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and here it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All of these words important enough to signifie and expresse the depth of that misery into the which man by sinne hath fallen Yet none doth more truly expresse his misery then this that by sinne hee is become Gods debtor but thou wilt say O man How comes it to passe that by sinne man is made Gods debter seeing God neither requireth sinne of man nor is sinne a debt due to God But to answer this I would have thee to know that there are divers sorts of debts which man oweth there is a naturall debt which man oweth there is a spirituall debt and there is a civill debt which hee oweth The naturall debt is that which hee oweth to death and shall pay it will hee nill hee for wee came all of us into the world but upon this condition that wee shall goe out of it againe for dust wee are and to dust wee must returne for it is appointed for all men once to dye and after death judgement shall come Our earth must returne to earth and our spirit to God that gave it Finally this earthly house of our tabernacle must bee dissolved c. And this is called the first death which is nothing else but a separation of
the soule from the body for a time till God reunite them both in glory The Spirituall debt is that which man oweth to the God of nature and it is twofold either the debt of obedience or the debt of punishment The debt of obedience is the debt of righteousnesse Rom. 8.12 The debt of punishment is called the second death to the which man is bound for satisfaction of the justice of God in case of not performing and paying of the debt of righteousnesse The debt of righteousnesse is truly and properly called debt The debt of punishment is but figuratively and improperly so called and that for two causes first in respect of the antecedent and next in respect of the consequent In respect of the antecedent righteousnesse which we should have obeyed and in respect of the consequent punishment which is due to him that disobeies as it is written Tribulation and anguish shall bee c. There remaineth a third debt that man oweth and it is mixed for it is partly religious and partly civill Religious when according to the prescript of the word of God wee give reverence to whom wee owe reverence feare to whom we owe feare and love to whom wee owe love civill when wee render to every man that which wee have borrowed remembring that it is a blessing to owe nothing unto any man and the curse of the wicked that he borroweth and payeth not againe Psal 87. LECT 15. And forgive us our debts IN the end of our last Sermon wee looked on the words of the Petition it selfe wherein wee found foure things considerable First what wee are by nature sinners and debters to God whereof wee have spoken in our last Sermon Now it remaines that wee go forward to consider the other three parts and first of the pardon of our sinne Forgive In handling of which word I purpose not with Salmeron the Jesuite to dispute concerning the propriety of the word and to search whether it had beene better to have said remitte then as it is here dimitte I will onely according to the received approved custome of the Church speake of the word as it implyeth a pardon free remission of our sins which are our spirituall debts For never did man speake in so naturall a dialect as this is for all the other conditions displayed the condition and temper of his faith this the condition of his nature these implyed the good he hoped for this demonstrates the present misery body of death under which hee lyeth sigheth and groaneth desiring to be eased and to speake truly what can bee more acceptable unto God then the confession of sinne and the suit of pardon Did not our Redeemer in the dayes of his flesh call upon all them that were weary and ladened to come to him that hee might give them ease of their burthen rest to their soules Whilst therefore hee shall see us acknowledge our burthen confesse our debt shall we not be welcome to him O know this O man for thy cōfort the sheepheard never rejoyced more in the recovery of his lost sheepe nor the woman of her lost penny nor the father of his lost sonne then God is well pleased and glad of thy returne to him ready to forgive thee thy debt if in humility thou canst but acknowledge it for it is written Blessed is the man that confesseth his sinne and forsakes it but hee that hideth his transgression shall not prosper Well then seeing wee have in the first word confessed our burthen and debt let us now come to the second and consider our desire of pardon and release Forgive Debts are released and forgiven two manner of wayes either freely by pardoning the debtor or else legally by exacting the debt and so acquitting it Againe this legall release and acquitting of debt is two wayes first when the debt is paid by the true debtor Secondly when it is satisfied not by the true debter but by him who became suerty for him to this effect it is that Iustin telleth us Inst l. 3. tit 30. Tollitur omnis obligatio solutione ejus quod debetur non tamen interest quis solvat utrum is qui debet an vero alius pro eo Now shall we looke on mans sinne as it maketh him Gods debtor and enquire how it is forgiven I answer O man thy sinne is forgiven thee both ingenuously and legally Ingenuously because freely and voluntarily Legally because thy debt is paid though not by thy selfe yet by thy suerty Jesus Christ who hath done all suffered all and paid all that it be hooved thee to doe to suffer and to pay for the satisfaction of the justice of God hee did it for thee and thou hast done it in him But that this may be the more cleare and the termes of our pardon may bee the more distinctly known let us consider the debt of sinne as it is severally imposed upon three severall sorts of persons to wit the reprobate Angels and men on the elect amongst the sonnes of men and on the Sonne of God for the lost sons of men Now according to the diversity of the imputation of this debt so is the release and pardon thereof diversly and severally graunted the reprobate Angels and Sonnes of men have the debt and burthen of sinne imputed to them but the pardon and release of sinne neither doth nor ever shall appertaine unto them for with them the Lord doth and shall deale in the severity of his justice for ever for they shall bee cast in prison where they cannot come out till they have paid the uttermost farthing And because they cannot pay they shall not be forgiven The elect sonnes of men who are chosen vessels of mercy and appertaine to the covenant of grace by vertue of their election had the debt of their sins imputed to them when as they were borne dead in their sinnes and trespasses and were strangers by nature from the life of God as well as the children of wrath but now blessed bee God through Jesus Christ our Lord the release and pardon of our sinnes for that which was impossible to the law in so far as it was weak because of the flesh God sending his owne Sonne in the similitude of sinfull man and that for sinne condemned sinne in the flesh that the righteousnesse of the law might bee fulfilled in us who walke not after the law but after the spirit Lastly the Sonne of God had the debt and burthen of of sinne imposed upon him not of his owne sinne for hee that knew not sinne was made sinne for us And with him God hath dealt with such rigour of his justice that hee came from Bosra with red garments hee hath trodden the wine-presse of the Father alone and in the anguish and bitternesse of his sorrow cryed out My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee If wee shall looke to the persons to whom this release and pardon of sinne is promised and
of Jesus and as the weight thereof pressed the Sonne of God downe to the grave and then if thou dare come and call sinne veniall I hope thou wilt not when it turned the moisture of Davids body to the drought of summer when it made Ezechiah chatter like a swallow and mourne like a dove when it made Iob that hee could not swallow his spitle was there any word of a veniall nature in sinne no no no such thing The Saints of God have not known this dialect nor spoken in this Idiom it is but the voice of him that is dead in sinne and trespasses The Lord learne us to see our sinnes aright and then surely wee shall confesse that our sinnes are not veniall but mortall Secondly as this serveth for the rebuke of our neighbour Church in Rome so it serves also for our comfort and consolation whom God hath delivered from the yoke of that bondage and the night of that darknesse for tell mee O man what greater consolation can come to the soule of the Christian burthened with the weight of sinne then to say thy sinnes are forgiven thee but such is the force of these words Forgive us our debts for as in the word of debt he sheweth the weight of our misery so here in the words of forgivenesse hee sheweth us the riches of his mercy Was it not I pray you a great worke a work passing the capacity of man when God created the world he made all things of nothing whē nature telleth us that of nothing nothing can bee was it not a great worke to call for light out of the midst of darknesse and by the power of a naked word to make a glorious splendor of light shine out of the midnight of darknes Finally was it not a great worke to animate a peece of clay and by blowing on the dust of the earth to make it a living soule All of these were great indeed as workes of creation but as it was said behold a greater then Salomon is here so is there here in the matter of our redēption a worke greater then all these for loe he made not all things of nothing but of that which is worse then nothing sinne for sinne is nothing but a privation Hee brought light out of darknes but here a greater light out of a greater darknesse for when wee sate in darknesse and in the shadow of death hee made a great light to arise unto us for in his light hee made us to see light hee animated our clay and breathed the breath of life in our nostrels being dead in sinnes and trespasses hee quickned and begot us to the hope of immortality finally here is that worke passing in excellence and eminent above all humane admiration that wee being his debtors for tenne thousand talents not having one farthing to pay him hee hath freely forgiven us all our debt to the admiration both of man and Angels when the Angels who fell have not obtained a way of reconciliation hee hath found out for poore man a way of peace insomuch that what man could not pay hee hath freely fully and finally released requiring nothing of man but that hee should in sincerity say Forgive and it shall bee forgiven him Now what more could hee doe to thee O man or what lesse could he require of thee What more could hee do to thee then lay downe his life for thee and what lesse could hee require of thee then that in true sorrow forthy sinne and in full assurance of his mercy thou shouldst come unto him and say Forgive mee that so thou maist be forgiven The word in it selfe is so full of comfort I cannot as yet passe by it There is another place in Scripture that lookes so like to this place like Hippocrates two twinnes they are borne together they live together and dye together The place is the 12. of Matthew Come to mee all yee that are weary and laden and I will ease you There as the Saviour and Redeemer of the world and the true Physitian of soules that are sicke hee desires him that is spiritually sicke to come to him and he promiseth to ease him and give him rest but upon a condition that hee feele his sore and acknowledge his burthen Now it is remarkable that hee first promiseth ease and then rest first ease from the cōmanding power of sin next rest frō the condemning power of sin It is even so here that the spirituall Physition of our sick wearied soules leadeth us to bee sensible of our soule that by sinne wee are made Gods debtors and lyable to his judgements In the next place the cure of this our disease is given for wee shall no sooner confesse and acknowledge our sinnes to him but hee shall forgive it But you will say to mee what is this that hee forgives mee I answer looke to the place of Scripture immediately before cited see there what he promiseth to ease thee of as also all these things he here promiseth to forgive thee hee promiseth there to ease thee of all thy burthen of sinne of the law of affliction Of sinne for the burthen of it is as a talent of lead Zach. 5.6 And David saith it is a burthen too heavy for him to beare Of the law for it is a yoake which neither wee nor our fathers nor our forefathers were able to beare Act. 15. Of affliction for it is a weighty crosse and hee that follows Jesus Christ must take it up and follow him daily Of sinne while he not knowing sinne was made sin for us Of the Law whilst hee was made of a woman and made under the law Of affliction not by taking all afflictions from us but by sanctifying them unto us both in their nature and their end Their nature whilst hee maketh them testimonies of our adoption their end whilst he by them keepes us to eternall life for as the lyon that killed the Prophet kept still his dead body so afflictions may well kill the naturall man yet they do keepe the life of God in our soules Now know then for your comfort that what there hee promised to ease us of here hee promiseth to forgive and to forgive is more then to ease for a Physitian will ease his patient for a while of a hard binding which afterward he will binde againe And a master will ease his servant of the taske of captivity and slavery but afterwards hee will imprison him And finally a beast will be eased of his burthen for a while but afterwards it will be imposed and laid upon him but such is the great and rich depth of the mercy of our God what hee easeth us of that hee forgiveth us for while hee giveth pardon to man and speakes peace to his soule he pardoneth not as man pardoneth neither giveth he peace as man giveth peace My peace I give you my peace I leave with you not as the world giveth peace give I
some men into temptation and out again and others he leadeth not onely in Temptation but also leaveth them in it To this I answer Tu homo à me petis causam ego quoque homo sum sed audiamus ambo Apostolum dicentem O home tu quis es melior est fidelis ignorantia quam temeraria scientia Quaere merito non invenies nisi poenam O altitudo Petrus negat latro credit O altitudo tu disputa ego credam tu ratiocinare ego mirabor sed cave ne dum doctores quaeras presumptores invenias August de verb. Apost Serm. 20. So then the answer is full Even so O Father because it hath so pleased thee For hee hath mercy on whom hee will have mercy and whom hee will he hardeneth LECTIO 21. But deliver us from evill VVEe have already spoken of the first part of this Petition which was deprecatory wee come now to speake of the second part which is supplicatory and contained in these words But deliver c. For explication whereof there are foure things considerable 1. Our captivity 2. Who and how are they captives 3. The deliverance or release 4. The deliverer or redeemer Our captivity is evill The captives are imported in the word us the release in the word deliver the deliverer must bee understood God the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost Before wee enter into the delineation of the first to wit our captivity it is requisite that wee looke a little on the tye by which these words are knit to the former And for clearing hereof wee must know that as it is in the matter of physick or military art so it is in the spirituall diseafes or conflicts of the soule True physicke hath two parts the one is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first preserveth our health by good dyet and so preventeth our diseases before they come the other by medicine expelleth and purgeth away diseases after they be come It is so in the diseases of the soule The preventing grace of God leadeth us not into temptation The fellow-working or second grace delivereth us from evill Againe as it is in the discipline of warre here on earth so it must bee with the soule In a battell and conflict on earth our Generall and Leader must first be carefull that wee fall not before our enemy And secondly if we fall and be taken captive it is his part to bee carefull to pay our ransome and deliver us from the captivity and tyranny of our enemie It is so with us also in the spirituall fight and conflicts of the soule Our leader should not onely be carefull that wee get not the foile but also if wee bee put to the rowte and taken captives of our enemies it becommeth him to be carefull to redeeme and ransome us out of the hands of all those to whom wee were prisoners and captives I hope now by these two similitudes you understand the conjunction and tye that is betwixt this part of the Petition and the former For if we shall looke upon our selves as being sick and diseased in soule two things are requisite for our health and cure First our physician should prescribe us a dyet whereby our disease may bee prevented This is done and prescribed in the words Lead us not into temptation The other thing which the Doctor of our soules oweth us is medicine potions plaisters and purgations to cure us of the sicknesse we are falne in and this he promiseth to do unto us whilst he delivereth us from all evill Againe wilt thou looke on thy selfe as a souldier in the field of Jesus fighting against the spirituill enemies of thy soule thy leader Christ Jesus promiseth thee two things First that though thou stumble before the enemy yet thou shalt not fall This hee promiseth in these words Leadus not c. Secondly he promiseth that if at any time thou fall and get the foile and be taken captive and prisoner yet he will not let thee dye in prison no hee will redeeme thee and ere any of thine enemies sinne death or condemnation tryumph over thee he will lay his owne life downe for thee and his heart blood as a ransome for thy deliverance and this hee promiseth in these words But deliver us from evill Vse Now from this in a word it is evident that man by nature is a wofull and dolorous creature sicke and diseased dead in sinnes and trespasses and so much the more heavily sicke and desperately diseased that hee militateth against his physician yet the reason is hee feeleth not the soare and like one transported in the fury of his passion hee cannot tell where his paine holds him But here is the riches of the mercy of our God and physician hee preventeth us with his cure and not onely that but also prescribeth helpes against our recidivations and relapses This the woman of Samaria felt when shee knew not the grace of God nor who it was spake to her by seeking a drinke of pure water he prevented her and gave her a drinke of the well of the water of life Thus he prevented the man at the poole of Bethesda Thus hee prevented us all in the loines of our first parent Adam where art thou And againe when our father was an Amorite and out mother an Hetyte when our haire was not cut nor our nailes pared when wee were wallowing in our blood and were neither washed with water nor softened with oyle hee came by and preventing us with his love said to us live and made us live and only because of his word commanding us to live and therefore wee lived Seeing then whilst wee are sicke and diseased in soule hee preventeth us with his unexpected cure seeing also whilst wee are taken prisoners hee preventeth us with our undeserved ransome what are wee that wee should either proudly reject or faithlesly distrust the Ocean of his goodnesse There bee some I know that hearing of this preventing grace will proudly lay this conclusion that they will continue still in sin that grace may abound But knowest not thou O vaine man that the long suffering patience of God should lead thee to repentance and that if thou tread the blood of the covenant under thy feet that blood which speaketh better things then the blood of Abel to the righteous shall speak judgemēt to thee even a judgement intolerable incurable Know again thou that art weake in faith that that sicknesse and disease cannot befall thy soule that should make thee distrust the Physician whose love hath prevented thee with an unexpected cure Whilst hee was in our flesh hee quickned three sorts of dead the Centurians daughter the widows sonne and Lazarus three dayes dead and all to make thee strong in faith Why wrongest thou him first in his justice by sinning against him and next in his mercy by distrusting his goodnesse No no beleeve him under hope and aganst