17.12 A Glorious high Throne from the beginning is the place of our Sanctuary Yea not only his Throne but that which might seem more despicable his very Foot-stool is Glorious Esa 6.13 I will make the place of my Feet Glorious Now this Essential Glory of God is both immutable and incomprehensible First The Essential Glory of God is immutable the same for ever no addition can be made unto it nor no diminution from it for before there were ever any Creatures extant God was the same Glorious Being that now he is Our Praises and Acknowledgements can no more contribute to this Glory than the Eye that sees the Sun can increase the Light of it for God's Attributes that are his Glory are no adventitious accidental things that may be assumed or laid aside at pleasure but they are all as necessary as his Nature is And therefore though he be said to cloath himself with Light and Glory as with a Garment yet is it a Garment that cannot be put on or off But whatsoever God is in any one moment of Eternity the same he is from all Eternity unto all Eternity He is the Lord who changeth not and with whom there is no variableness nor shadow of turning Indeed there are some Titles in God's Style which seem not to have been always appertaining to him and in respect of his Eternal Being may appear as new Stars in the Heavens and argue some alteration and change in his Glory as to be Creator the Lord and Governor of this World which he was not from all Eternity nor could be till the Creatures were formed But here we must carefully distinguish between the Absolute and Relative Attributes of God His Absolute Titles and Attributes are such as belong unto him simply without depending upon any respect or reference to any thing without and besides himself and so he is Infinite Eternal Wise Holy and Merciful in himself and was so for ever before there were any Created Objects unto which or upon which he might manifest these his Attributes But now the Relative Titles of God have a time wherein they began and wherein they shall likewise cease as to be a Creator and Preserver of the World as it now stands wherein though there may be daily mutations yet God is the same immutable because these are only extrinsecal denominations and arise merely from that change that is made upon the Creature not from any change that is made in God for still his Power is the same whether he exert it in Creating or no His Wisdom is invariably the same before he manifested it in the Government of the World as since and in all the mutations that he brings upon the World he is still the same immutable and unchangeable God Only as those who Sail think the Shore removes when it is but the Ship So are we subject to the same mistakes and are apt to think God is changed when only our selves are changed that he moves from not being a Creator to be a Creator when in Truth we only move from not being Creatures to be Creatures And therefore when we say God is now a Creator which once he was not it implieth no more change in God than it would in any Object which now is seen which before was not seen and this is only a different external denomination that makes no real change in the thing But it may be these Speculations are too abstruse and therefore I shall not detain you longer in them Secondly As the Essential Glory of God is immutable so is it also incomprehensible for it is infinite and the entire perfection of the Deity It is the very Face of God and therefore Exod. 33.15 When Moses desired God to shew him his Glory God Answers him in the 20 verse Thou canst not see my Face for there can no Man see my Face and live And although the Angels in Heaven and the Spirits of Just Men made perfect have brighter and more radient discoveries made unto them of the Glory of God than any that we can bear yet neither they nor any other Creature can possibly comprehend the full Latitude and utmost extent of that Glory any more than it is possible for a finite thing to contain what is infinite And hence it follows that when the Scripture promiseth us as one great part of our Reward that we shall see God as he is 1 John 3.7 We must not understand it as if ever we could arrive to such a capacity as to see and know God as he is in his infinite Essence for God's Essence being altogether indivisible to know God essentially were to know him comprehensively to know him as much as he is to be known in himself that is to know him as much as he knows himself which is impossible for no finite Understanding can comprehend an infinite Object And yet our sight and knowledge of God shall so far surmount those dim and glimmering discoveries which here he makes of himself to us that comparatively the Apostle might well call it a seeing him as he is and a knowing him as we are known by him And thus much for the Essential Glory of God which is himself and his own Infinite and Eternal Excellencies and Perfections But besides this Secondly There is another Glory of God and that is his Declarative Glory which is nothing else but that visible Splendor and Lustre that reflects from his Essential Glory upon the notice and admiration of his Creatures So that there is a very great difference between God's being Glorious and being Glorified God is always equally Glorious in himself so he was before the Foundations of the World were laid Before ever there were any Creatures to Celebrate his Praise But he is Glorified by his Creatures declaring and setting forth the infinite Excellencies that are in his Essence We cannot set any new Gems in his Diadem which did not shine there before but when we observe and admire those several coruscations of his Attributes which appear in those various methods that God takes to manifest them then are we said to give Glory unto God His Holiness is always the same but when we endeavour to imitate it then we Glorifie it His Power is always the same but we Glorifie it when we depend upon it His Mercy and Goodness is always the same but we are said to Glorifie it when we praise and extol it And therefore God tells us Psal 50.23 Whoso offereth Praise Glorifieth me We can add nothing to God by all the Glory that we ascribe unto him but then we are said to give him Glory when we admire and adore and celebrate those Glories that are in him And so St. John 12.28 Christ prays Father Glorifie thy Name that is make thine Essential Glory the Glory and Brightness of thine Attributes conspicuous to the World to which Request there was an Answer returned from Heaven I have both Glorified it and will Glorifie it again that is
and winnow us sometimes to his own defeat but too often to ours And in this fence there is no Temptation that befalls us but God leads us into it And therefore it is very observable that whereas in 1 Chron. 21.1 It is said that Satan provoked David to Number Israel yet in 2 Sam. 24.1 it is said the Lord moved David against Israel to say Go number Israel and Judah here one and the same Temptation is attributed both to God and to the Devil but it must be understood under a diverse habitude and respect Satan Tempted him effectively God only permissively And thus God may be said to lead every Man into Temptation whom he suffers to be Tempted When therefore we pray that God would not lead us into Temptation we pray that he would not permit the Devil to approach near unto us nor to cast his Fiery Darts at us but that he would put a hook into the nose of that great Leviathan and so bridle and restrain his Fury that he may not be able to assault us These now are all the ways that I know of how God may be said to lead Men into Temptation Either by offering them objects and opportunities by his Providence which may correspond with their inward Lusts and Corruptions and as it were entice and call them forth Or else by permitting Satan and wicked Men to Tempt us Or lastly by withdrawing from us the influences of his Grace and Holy Spirit and leaving us under the power of Temptations when they do assault us But for any proper effective or persuasive Tempting of Men to sin this is infinitely abhorrent to his Pure and Holy Nature in which sence St. James tells us James 1.13 Let no Man say when he is tempted that he is tempted of God for God cannot he tempted to evil neither tempteth he any Man But though God cannot thus Tempt any Man without a stain to his Infinite Purity and Holiness yet he may lead Men into Temptation either Providentially or Permissively or by substracting his Grace whereby they should stand And yet at last justly punisheth them for sinning And this is no unrighteous thing with God for he lays no constraint upon the freedom of our Wills but we sin freely and of our own accord Now although God can easily keep us from all assaults and attempts of our Spiritual Enemies yet he permits us to be Tempted by them for most Wise and Holy ends As First He leaves these Canaanites to molest us to teach us the Wars of the Lord to make us continually Watchful to breath and exercise our Graces to administer matter for our Conquest and occasion for our Crown and Triumph Secondly To convince us of our own utter inability to stand of our selves without his help and assistance thereby engaging us to depend upon his Arm and to call for Divine Supplies and Succours Thirdly To Glorifie both his Justice and Mercy His Justice in giving up wicked Men to the rage of Temptaons to be hurried by them from sin to sin till at last they put an end to the Succession of their sins in Eternal Damnation And his Mercy in succouring of and supporting and delivering his Children out of all their Temptations And therefore when St. Paul prayed to be freed from the buffettings of the Messenger of Satan God answers him My Grace is sufficient for thee my strength is made perfect in weakness 2 Cor. 12.9 When the Devil presumes he hath so well laid his Temptations that it is impossible for the People of God to escape his Snares yet God finds a way for their deliverance out of them all For God holds the great Tempter under a powerful restraint so that he cannot touch us beyond permission and commission And therefore that place in Revelat. 2.10 is very remarkable to this purpose Fear none of those things that thou shalt suffer behold the Devil shall cast some of you into Prison that you may be tried and you shall have Tribulation ten days How many restraints are here mentioned to be put upon that malicious Spirit He shall cast into Prison whereas he would willingly cast into Hell or at least into the Grave It shall be but some of you whereas his spight and rage is against all the Children of God And it shall be but for ten days but for a short time neither the Place the Number the Time all limitted and that with such a restraint that all the Pride and Rage of the Devil shall not be able to exceed it Fourthly God permits his own Children to be Tempted that by their Victory over Temptations he may confound the Malice of Satan and commend the Excellency of his own Ways and Service This highly honours God and shames the Malice of the Devil when we are neither terrified by Sufferings nor induced by the Pleasures of sin from the course of our Obedience for this evidently declares That we are True and Loyal to our Great Sovereign That we more fear his Eternal Wrath and Displeasure than those light Afflictions that are but for a moment and that we find more true Joy and solid Delight in his Service than in the ways of Sin and Vanity And therefore God calls us forth as his Champions puts his Cause in our hands and bids us resist manfully for the Credit and Honour of Piety and then le ts loose Satan upon us whom if we can but Conquer which certainly we shall do if we but seriously resolve it God and Angels who from the Theatre of Heaven are Spectators of the Combat give us their Applause and will hereafter give us our Crown See how God Glories over this baffled Devil and upbraids him with the Victorious Constancy of his Servant Job God had before commended the Integrity of Job Chap. 1.8 Hast thou considered my Servant Job that there is none like him upon the Earth a perfect and upright Man one that feareth God and escheweth Evil. To this that Malicious Spirit fullenly replies Doth Job fear God for nought thou needest not Glory in his ready Service and Obedience when he is so well paid for it no wonder he is so Pious and Devout when he gets so well by it but leave him a while to me to take from him those enducements that make him so Pious and Holy and I will undertake that even this perfect and upright Man shall curse thee even to thy Face God accepts the Challenge on his Servants behalf Satan and Job enter the List the Devil buffets him sore destroys all his Cattel ruins his House kills his Children yet Job shrinks not for all this but wrestles naked with his Adversary and foils him See now how God rejoyces at his Champion's Victory and upbraids the Devil with his shameful overthrow Chap. 2. 3. Hast thou considered my Servant Job that there is none like him in the Earth a perfect and an upright Man one that feareth God and escheweth Evil. God repeats the same Character and
Creatures Redeemer his Mercy and Grace in delivering them from Temporal Evils and Calamities or especially from Eternal Death and Destruction Now these relative Titles though they properly belong unto God yet are they not absolutely essential to him but connote a respect unto the Creatures And therefore though before the Creation of the World God was for ever the same infinitely Blessed Being that he now is and by the Creation of it no accession was made to his infinitely perfect Nature for in him there is no variableness nor shadow of turning but he is yesterday and to day and the same for ever yet could he not be called by the Name of Creator or Lord or Redeemer or Father unless in respect of his Eternal Son But all these Titles result from the Relations wherein we stand unto God of Creatures Subjects and Children These Names therefore had their beginning some in the beginning of time and some since and yet they do very properly signifie unto us that God who is without beginning or end Secondly As his Titles so his Attributes are his Name and these are of two sorts either incommunicable or communicable First The incommunicable Attributes of God and these are those which are so proper to the Divine Essence that there is scarce the least foot-steps or resemblance of them to be found in any of the Creatures and such are his Eternity which denotes a duration as well without beginning as without end For though there are some Creatures whose Beings shall never have a period set to them as Angels and Men yet there is no Creature that never had no beginning of its existence And so God's Infiniteness and Immensity filling all places and exceeding all which was most excellently set forth in that most significant yet unintelligible Paradox of the Heathen Philosopher That God was a Circle whose Centre was every where but its Circumference no where His simplicity also excluding all Composition and Mixture which no Creature doth for take the most simple of them as Angels and the separate Souls of Men yet they are at least compounded in their Essences and Powers and Acts for the Power of Understanding is not the Soul nor the Act of Understanding the Power therefore in these there is one thing and another But it is not so in God but whatsoever is in God is God himself being one most pure and simple Act. Hence follows his immutability and unchangeableness there being nothing in God which was not from all Eternity And in the same rank are his Omnipotency and All-sufficiency his Omniscience and Independency and the like which are incommunicable Attributes and cannot without Blasphemy be ascribed unto any of the Creatures Secondly There are other Attributes of God that are communicable and are so called because they may in some Analogy and Resemblance be found in the Creatures also so to be Holy Just Merciful True Powerful and the like are the Names of God and yet may be ascribed to the Creatures So in that most Triumphant Declaration of his Name to Moses Exod. 34.5 6 7. we find that the most of the Letters that compose it may be found in some degrees even among Men the Lord proclaimed his Name the Lord God Merciful and Gracious Long-suffering and Abundant in Goodness and Truth forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin Now this Name of God Merciful and Gracious Long-suffering and Abundant in Goodness which he seems so much to delight and glory in and which he adorns with such fair flourishes he himself would have us to own and intimate Luk. 6.36 Be ye merciful as your Father is merciful To aspire to a resemblance with God in his incommunicable Attributes and Name is a most horrid and blasphemous Presumption a Pride that cast the Devils from Heaven to Hell But to aspire to a resemblance unto God in his communicable Name is the tendency of Grace and the effect of the Spirit of God conforming us in some measure to his Purity and making us partakers in this sence of the Divine Nature And therefore it is press'd upon us Levit. 29.2 You shall be Holy for I the Lord your God am Holy And Mat. 5.48 Be ye therefore perfect as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect Now these communicable Attributes of God though they may in some respects be found in the Creatures yet then are they properly the Names of God when they are applyed to him free from all those Imperfections with which they are necessarily attended in the Creatures Abstract them from all Imperfections and we may apply them to God as his Name Now these Imperfections are of two sorts either Privative or Negative A Creature is then said to be Privatively imperfect when he falls short of what he ought to be And so are the best of Men imperfect in this Life Merciful they are but still retain a mixture of Cruelty Patient they are but still they have Impatience mix'd with it Holy they are but yet not Spotless as the Law requires them to be And therefore in ascribing Holiness Mercy and Patience unto God we must be sure to separate from them all such Imperfections as are found in us through the mixture of the contrary Corruptions with those Graces otherwise they will be so far from being the Name of God that they will prove Blasphemous Derogatives from him neither is this enough but we must remove all Negative imperfections also Now a Creature is said to be Negatively imperfect when though it hath all the perfections that is due unto it or required from it yet it hath not all perfection that is possible or imaginable Thus the Holy Angels and the Spirits of just Men in Heaven although they are made perfect so as to exclude all Privative imperfection their Holiness and their Graces there being as perfect as they should be and as God requires from them yet have they a Negative imperfection that is there is some perfection of those Graces and of that Holiness further possible which they have not nor is it within the Sphere of their Natures to attain unto in which sence it is said Job 4.8 He chargeth his Angels with Folly that is not as if they wanted any Wisdom or Righteousness that was due unto their Natures but they had not all that Wisdom that was possible and so were at least Negatively imperfect In all perfections of the Creatures whether Angels or Men be they never so great or excellent there are Three imperfections that will necessarily attend them First That they have them not originally from themselves but derivatively from another who is the Author and Embellisher of their Natures Secondly That they have them not unchangeably but may not only increase but decrease yea or utterly lose them Thirdly That they have them not infinitely but in a stinted and limited measure Now in all the communicable Attributes of the Divine Nature remove from them these Three Negative Imperfections and then apply them
be every way perfect perfect in the full Number of its Subjects and every Subject perfect in his entire and compleat Reward his Soul made for ever Blessed in the Beatifical Vision of God and his Body made unconceivably Glorious by the redundancy of that Glory that fills his Soul and both shall remain for ever with the Lord. And thus you see what the Kingdom of God is both universal and peculiar the Kingdom of his Power and the Kingdom of his Grace and that as it is Militant here on Earth both Visible and Invisible and as it is Triumphant in Heaven The next thing in order is to shew how this Kingdom of God is said to come This Word come implies that we pray for a Kingdom that is yet in its Progress and hath not yet attained the highest pitch of that perfection which is expected and desired for that which is yet to come is not as yet arrived to that State in which it is to be And therefore we do not so properly pray that the Vniversal Kingdom of God should come for his Dominion over the Creatures is actually the same and shall be so for ever But more especially we pray that the peculiar Kingdom of God should come and that as to both parts of it Militant and Triumphant Now this peculiar Kingdom is said to come in Three respects First In respect of the means of Grace and Salvation for where these are rightly dispensed I mean the Holy Word and Sacraments there is the Kingdom of God begun and erected and therefore we find it called the Word of the Kingdom Matth. 13.19 Secondly In respect of the Efficacy of those means when all ready and cordial Obedience is yielded to the Laws of God then doth this Kingdom come and the Glory of it is advanced and increased Thirdly In respect of Perfection and so it comes when the Graces of the Saints are strengthned and increased when the Souls of the Godly departing this Life are received into Heaven and when the whole Number of them shall have their perfect Consummation and Bliss in the Glorification both of Soul and Body after the General Re-surrection And thus we have seen how the Kingdom of God may come In the next place we must enquire what it is we pray for when we say Thy Kingdom come I Answer There are various Things lie couch'd under this Petition as First We pray that God would be pleased to Plant his Church where it is not according to his Promise giving all the Nations of the World to his Son for his Inheritance and the utmost parts of the Earth for his Possession That the dark Places and Corners of the Earth that are yet the Habitations of Cruelty may be illustrated with the Glorious Light of the Gospel shining into them That God would reveal his Son to those poor wretched People that sit in Darkness and in the Region of the Shadow of Death and would rescue them from their Blind Superstitions and Idolatries and from the Power of the Devil who strongly works in the Children of Disobedience and would translate them into the Kingdom of his dear Son especially that he would remove the Veil from the Heart of the Jew upon whom a sad Judicial Hardness hath long lain that they at length may be brought into the Unity and Fulness of Christ's Body We pray that all the World both Jews and Gentiles may be gathered into one Sheep-fold under Christ Jesus the great Pastor and Shepherd of Souls so that as God is one so his Name and Service may be one throughout all the Earth And thus we pray that Christ's Kingdom may come in respect of the means of Grace and Salvation Secondly This Petition Thy Kingdom come intimates our earnest desire that the Church of Christ where they are planted may be increased in the Members of the Faithful That those who are as yet Enemies to the Name and Profession of Christ may be brought into the Visible Church and that those in it who are yet Strangers to a powerful Work of Grace may by the effectual Operation of the Holy Ghost be brought in to be Members of the Invisible Church And thus we pray that God's Kingdom may come in respect of the Efficacy of the means of Grace Thirdly We pray that all the Church of Christ throughout the World may be kept from ruine that they may not be over-run with Superstition or Idolatry That God would not in his Wrath remove his Candlestick from them as he hath in his Righteous Judgment done from other Churches which were once Glorious and Splendid We pray likewise that God would make up all Breaches and compose all Differences and silence all Controversies and cut off all those who trouble the Peace and rend the Unity of the Church breaking it into Factions and Schisms which are the most fatal Symptoms and Portenders of God's withdrawing himself and carrying away his Gospel and giving of it to another People who will better bring forth the Fruits of it which are Peace Meekness and Love And if in any thing Christians be diversly minded that God would be pleased to reveal it unto them and that whereunto they have attained they may walk by the same Rule and mind the same Things And thus we pray that Christ's Kingdom may come in respect of its perfection and entireness Fourthly It intimates our humble Requests to God that his Ordinances may be purely and powerfully dispensed Hence as I noted before the Word is called the Word of the Kingdom Matth. 13.19 that is the Word whereby we are brought into the Kingdom of Christ here on Earth and fitted for his Triumphant Kingdom in Heaven It is the means of our New Birth the Seed of our Spiritual Life And as a Kingdom cannot be well established or governed without good Laws so for the Government of his Kingdom Christ hath established Laws which are contained in the Records of the Holy Scriptures And as his Word is the Law so his Sacraments are the Seals of his Kingdom for so every believing Partaker God doth under his Seal confirm the grant of Heaven and Eternal Salvation And therefore in this Petition we pray also that God would give his Church able Ministers of the New Testament that may know how rightly to divide the Word of Truth and to give every one his Portion in due season And that he would be pleased to accompany the outward Administration of his Ordinances with the inward Operations of his Spirit which alone can make them effectual to turn Men from Darkness to Light and to bring them from the Power of Satan unto God That the whole Number of God's Elect may in his due time be brought in by the means which he hath appointed and sanctified for their Conversion and Salvation These are the chief and principal things that we beg of God for the Church Militant when we say Thy Kingdom come viz. that it may attain a perfection of Extent
tacitly condemn it and the Law-maker also of Injustice and thereby reflect a most intolerable disparagement upon God preferring the will of Satan and of our own Lusts before his most Holy and Righteous Will But when we endeavour to yield Obedience to his Commands and pray that we may be able to do it with more diligence and constancy this as it pleaseth so it glorifieth God for by so doing we acknowledge both his Sovereignty and his Equity his Sovereignty in that he may require of us what he pleaseth and his Equity in that he requireth of us nothing but what is most just and fit And therefore our Saviour tells us John 15.8 Herein is my Father Glorified that you bring forth much Fruit. Thirdly Our own Interest is deeply concerned in it For through Obedience and doing the Will of God it is that we come to Inherit the Promises Revel 22.14 Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have a Right to the Tree of Life and may enter in through the Gates into the City And therefore to pray that God's Will may be done by us is but to pray that we our selves may be fitted and prepared for Eternal Life and Glory unto which we can no otherwise attain but by Holiness and Obedience O think but to what an Excellency doth Grace advance the Soul even in this Life and makes Christians as much above other Men as other Men are above Beasts That when they are employed about the foul and nasty Offices of sin hurried by their vile Passions unto vile and base Actions raking in the Mire and Filth of all manner of uncleanness and defiling their Soul with those Sins which will hereafter Damn them Thy work should be all Spiritual consisting of the same pure Employments that the Holy Angels and Glorified Saints in Heaven spend their Eternity in Consider what an high Honour and Priviledge it is that you should be admitted to attend immediately upon the Service of the King of kings You are called to wait about his Throne his Throne of Grace to which you have always free access to converse and commune with God by maintaining Fellowship with him in the performance of Holy Duties which is a Dignity so high that Humane Nature is capable but of one preferment more and that is of being removed from one Throne to the other from attending on the Throne of Grace to attend on the Throne of Glory And then think O Soul if it be possible to think what neither Eye hath seen nor Ear hath heard neither hath it nor can it enter into the heart of Man to conceive Think how transcendently Blessed thy Estate shall be when the Will of thy God which was here thy Duty shall there be thy Nature When thy Obligation to do it shall be turned into a happy necessity of doing it When all thy Thoughts and Affections shall be center'd in God for ever and not the least motion of thy Soul shall so much as twinkle or waver from the Eternal Contemplation and Fruition of the Infinite Deity And therefore this our Eternal Happiness being wrapt up in doing the Will of God it highly concerns us to pray That it may be done and to endeavour to do it on Earth so as that at length we may attain to the perfection of doing it in Heaven And this is the First thing that in this Petition we especially and absolutely pray for viz. That God's Will of Precept may be done by us on Earth Secondly It is more doubtful whether we are simply to pray that God's Will of Purpose should be done And that First Because the Will of God's Purpose is secret and unknown and therefore cannot so immediately concern us in point of Duty For secret things belong to God but revealed things belong to us and to our Children Deut. 29.29 Secondly Because this Will of God shall within the periods set by his Eternal Decrees have its most perfect and full accomplishment For though his Revealed Will may be resisted and hindered yet neither Men nor Devils can hinder his secret Will and the Purposes of his Counsels these shall take place mauger all their spite and oppositions and therefore it seems not altogether so proper matter for our Prayers Again Thirdly Many things come to pass by the Will of God's Purpose which we ought not to pray for yea which we ought to pray against As not to instance in God's Will of permitting the sins and wickednesses of Men which beyond all exceptions we ought to deprecate Let us but consider common Charity obligeth us not to pray for any evil of Suffering to befal either our selves or others and yet we know that it is often-times the Will of God's Purpose to bring great and sore Judgments upon Kingdoms and upon Families and Persons And if we may indefinitely pray that this Will should be done this would be nothing else but to pray for the Death and Ruine of many thousands whom yet the Revealed Will of God commands us to pray for and to desire all Good and Prosperity to them But yet notwithstanding all this we may doubtless pray that the Will of God's Purpose may be done so far as it brings to pass those things which we are obliged to pray for by the Will of his Precept We may pray that God's Will may be fullfilled in giving Peace and Prosperity and good things both Temporal and Spiritual unto others and to our selves but simply and absolutely to pray That this Will should be done in whatsoever it respects would be as often a Curse as a Prayer Since as I told you before there is no evil comes to pass whether of sin or punishment but it is by God's Will permitting the one and effecting the other But you will say do we not find frequent Examples in Scripture of Holy Men who have Prayed that God's Will might be done even in the bringing to pass that which was evil Thus Ely when Samuel had denounced fearful Judgments both against himself and against his House It is the Lord says he let him do what seems good unto him 1 Sam 3.18 And so David when Persecuted by the unnatural Rebellion of his Son Absalom If he say thus Behold I have no delight in him let him do as seems good unto him 2 Sam. 15.26 And thus the Disciples when upon Agabus's Prophecy what Afflictions should happen unto St. Paul at Jerusalem they would have perswaded him from going thither but could not prevail conclude all with this The Will of the Lord be done Acts 21.14 And thus likewise our great Example the Lord Jesus Christ himself when he had prayed that the bitter Cup of his Passion might pass away from him he seems to correct himself and make another Prayer Not my Will but thine be done Luke 22.42 Although he knew this Will of God could not be done without his own most extreme Sufferings nor without the horrid sin and wickedness of his Murderers But
Operation nor Device in the Grave whither we are going And certainly if ever we would do the Will of God in Heaven we must accustom our selves to do it here on Earth Here we are as Apprentices that must learn the Trade of Holiness that when our time is out we may be fit to be made free Denizons of the New Jerusalem Here we are to tune our Voices to the Praises of God before we come to joyn with the Heavenly Choire Here we are to learn what we must there for ever practise And thus I have done with the Petition it self Thy Will be done in Earth The next thing observable is the proportion of it As it is in Heaven But you will say Is it not utterly impossible while we are here on Earth and clogg'd with Earthly Bodies and encompassed about with manifold Infirmities Is it not impossible ever to attain unto a Celestial and Heavenly Perfection in our Obedience I Answer True it is so but yet this Prayer is not in vain for it teacheth and engageth us to aim at and endeavour after the perfect Holiness of Angels and the Spirits of Just Men made Perfect We are commanded to be Holy as God is Holy and to be Perfect as our Heavenly Father is Perfect whose Perfection is impossible for us to equalize Yet these excessive commands have their use to raise up our endeavours to a higher strain and pitch than if we were commanded somewhat within our own power As he that aims at a Star is likely to shoot much higher than he that aims at a Turf Thus though it be a thing altogether impossible for us in this Life to attain to an Angelical perfection in our Obedience yet the command that obligeth us to it and our Prayers for it are not in vain because by our utmost endeavours after further measures and degrees of Holiness we may very much assimilate our Obedience to that Obedience that is yielded to God's Will in Heaven it self and therefore this Particle As is rather a note of similitude than of equality But though our Obedience on Earth cannot be equal to the Obedience that is yielded to God in Heaven yet we pray that it may bear as much similitude proportion and conformity unto it as is possible for us to attain unto while we are here in the Body And therefore that we may the more fully understand what it is we pray for when we present this Petition to God Thy Will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven we shall briefly enquire how the Holy Angels and Blessed Spirits do the Will of God in Heaven And First Their Obedience is absolutely perfect and that both with a perfection of Parts and Degrees They do all that God enjoyns them not failing in the least Tittle of Observance and therefore they are said To follow the Lamb wheresoever he goes Revel 14.14 Hence it is ascribed to them as their proper and peculiar Character Psal 103.20 Bless the Lord ye his Angels that excel in strength that do his Commandments hearkning to the voice of his Word And again they do the whole Will of God with all their Might with all their Mind with the greatest Intention that is possible even to an Angelical Nature never are they remiss in their Service or slack in their Attendance but are continually Blessing and Praising of God standing ready to receive and execute his Commands and Commissions Now when we pray that we may do the Will of God on Earth as it is done in Heaven we pray for this Heavenly temper that we may bear an Universal respect unto all God's Commandments no more sticking or pausing at any thing that God requires of us than an Angel or a Glorified Saint would do But infolding all our Interest and Concerns in God's Glory might respect nor value nothing but what tends to the promotion of that This is to do God's Will as the Angels do it in Heaven Secondly Their Obedience is cheerful not extorted from them by violent constraints of Fear or of Suffering but it is their Eternal Delight and their Service is their Felicity And thus should we pray and endeavour to do the Will of God with Alacrity and Cheerfulness not being haled to it as our Task but esteeming the Commands of God to be as the Angels do our Glory and our great Reward But alas how infinitely short do we fall of our Pattern we think the Sabbath long and Ordinances long and tedious and are secretly glad when they are over And what should such as we are do in Heaven where there is a Sabbath as long as Eternity and nothing but Holiness there And therefore we had need pray earnestly that God would now sit and prepare us for the Work of Heaven while we are here on Earth for else Heaven will not be Heaven or a place of Happiness unto us Thirdly The Will of God is done in Heaven with zeal and ardency and therefore it is said Psal 104.4 That God maketh his Angels and Messengers a Flame of Fire And have not we abundance of need to pray for Conformity with them in this respect also We do the Will of God so coldly and indifferently that we our selves scarce take notice of what we are doing We often bring Sacrifices to God and either bring no Fire with us but are frozen and dull or else offer them up with strange Wild-fire and usually are heated more with Passion and irregular Affections than with Holy and pious Zeal And Fourthly The Will of God is done in Heaven with celerity and ready dispatch they are quick in executing the Commands of the great God and their Lord and therefore are said to have Wings and to fly Esai 6.2 And this expression of Wings and the flying of Cherubims and Angels is frequently mentioned in Scripture only to intimate to us the expedition they use in the Service of God But alas how dull and slow are we how long do we consult with Flesh and Blood and are disputing the Will of our Sovereign Lord when we should be obeying it When we are clearly convinced that such a Duty is necessary to be done how many delays and excuses and procrastinations do we make being willing to stay the leisure of every vile Lust and vain Impertinency thinking it then time enough to serve God when we have nothing else to do Certainly this is not to do the Will of God on Earth as it is done in Heaven where upon the first intimations of God's Will they take Wings and execute it speedily Fifthly The Will of God is done in Heaven with all possible Prostration Reverence and Humility And therefore it is said Rev. 4.10 that the four and twenty Elders fell down before him that sat upon the Throne and Worship him that liveth for ever and ever and cast their Crowns before the Throne Crowns are themselves Ensigns of Majesty but here they cast their very Crowns all their Dignity and Glory at the
a Discerner of the Thoughts and intents of the Heart doth strictly prohibit and condemn these callow unfledg'd motions of our Hearts to be Concupiscence the sad effects of Original sin and the fruitful cause of all actual And therefore if we would be delivered from evil we have very great cause first to pray that we be not led into Temptation For some Temptations do almost so inseparably follow one upon another that this will be our best security against those secret desires and wouldings and first smatterings and rudiments of wickedness which else the compliance of our corrupt hearts with Satan's Temptations will certainly betray us unto Hence it is that when God in Scripture frequently dehorts us from sin he extends the prohibition to all Temptations and Occasions of sinning Yea those things which in themselves considered may be lawfully and innocently done by us yet because they may prove Snares and Temptations to us we must as carefully refrain from them as we earnestly desire to keep our selves far from sin And therefore it sufficeth not the Wise Man to command If sinners entice consent thou not Prov. 1.10 but that thou mayest be sure not to consent thou must order thy Actions and Converse so as that thou mayest not be enticed by them in the 15. verse says he Walk not thou in the way with them refrain thy feet from their path And so we have the same Counsel given us by him in another Chapter that we may not be inveagled by the allurements of a strange Woman be sure to avoid all occasions thereof Prov. 5.8 Remove thy way far from her come not near the door of her House And again Prov. 4.14 15. Enter not into the path of the wicked and go not in the way of evil Men avoid it pass not by it turn from it pass away Here is earnestness even to a tautology as some may prophanely think but Sacred Writ can admit of no such thing But there are so many expressions heaped up signifying the same thing only to denote how great the necessity of avoiding Temptations and Occasions to evil is to those who desire to avoid the sin We have treacherous and deceitful hearts within us that have often betrayed us when we have trusted them And I beseech you call to mind when you have emboldned your selves to venture upon Temptations and sinful Occasions being confident and fully resolved not to yield to them Have you not often been surprized and led away Captive contrary to your Hopes contrary to your Intentions contrary to your Resolutions contrary to the vain Confidences with which you were before possess'd Methinks former experience should make you cautious never again to trust those hearts with such opportunities and advantages for wickedness since they have been so often already treacherous and deceitful to us Venture them not therefore upon Temptations for what security have you that a sinful heart will not sin yea and betray you to commit those great abominations which possibly you cannot now think of without horrour and shivering And thus much I thought fit to note to you from the connexion of this part of the Petition with the former Lead us not into Temptation but deliver us from Evil. In the words themselves we have two things chiefly considerable The thing that we pray against and the Person to whom we pray That which we pray against is Evil that we may be delivered from it The Person to whom we pray is God our Heavenly Father That which we pray against is Evil. Some limit this word Evil only unto Satan making the sence to be deliver us from the Evil one founding this Interpretation upon that Article that is joyned with the Original Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but this is not always descretive but sometimes indefinite as for instance Matth. 12.35 and many other places And therefore considering the Comprehensiveness of this Prayer we ought to allow the Word a large extent and to comprehend under it First Satan whose proper Style and Epithete it is to be called the Evil one and so we find this black Title given him in Scripture Matth. 13.19 The wicked one cometh and snatcheth away that which was sown And 1 John 2.13 19. You have overcome the wicked one He is the wicked one eminently and singularly He is the chief Author of Evil his Temptations are all unto Evil his delight is only in Evil he is the Father of all those that do Evil. And therefore this is the most proper and significant Character of the Devil But yet it is also ascribed unto Men according to their resemblance of him Secondly All other Evils are here meant whether they be of sin or sorrow whether they be Transgressions or Punishments and that either Temporal punishments in those Judgments which God inflicts upon sinners here or Eternal Judgments such as he hath threatned to inflict upon them hereafter From all these we pray to be delivered but the greatest of all these is Sin For First It is greatest in the Nature of it as being the only thing that is contrary to the greatest Good even God for in all other things else in the World there is something of Good even as much as derived and participated of God And so the very Devils themselves have a Metaphysical Goodness in them as they are Creatures and have received their Beings and Powers from God who is the Author of nothing that is Evil. But Sin hath not the least ray or footsteps of Goodness in it but is only defect and irregularity And that alone which as his Soul always hates so his Hands never made Secondly It is the greatest Evil in the Effects and Consequences of it It once turn'd Glorious Angels into hideous Devils and tumbled them down from Heaven to Hell filled the World with Woes and Plagues brought Death and Diseases and a vast and endless sum of Miseries into it it torments and terrifies the Conscience kindles Hell-flames exposes the Soul to the eternal and direful revenges of the great God and is so perfectly and only Evil that the worst of things here were they free from the Contagion of Sin would be excellent and amiable To pray therefore against the Evil of Sin is to pray against all other Evils whatsoever for the Devil the Evil One cannot hurt us but by Sin And no other Evil can befall us but for Sin God inflicting them as the due Guerdon and Reward of our Transgressions Sin therefore being the chief and Principal Evil and all others but retainers to it I shall at present speak only of God's delivering us from Sin Now as there are Two things in Sin which make it so exceeding Evil the Guilt of it whereby it Damns and the Filth of it whereby it Pollutes the Soul so God hath Two ways to deliver us from it First By removing the Guilt already contracted which he doth in justifying and pardoning the Sinner Secondly By preventing us from falling
as I suppose the words may well be interpreted I have already Glorified my Mercy which is my Name in thy Incarnation and Mission and I will also Glorifie my Justice in thy Passion and Crucifixion by the one declaring how Gracious I am in providing a Saviour for the ruin'd World by the other how Just and Holy I am in exacting a full and compleat satisfaction for the Sins and Transgressions of the World Now we may both add unto and diminish from this Declarative Glory of God We rob God of his Glory when we interpose between his Attributes and the Manifestation of them unto others We hereby wrong and injure his Repute and Esteem in the World and although we cannot pluck off any of his Attributes from him For if thou sinnest what dost thou against God Job 35.6 yet we obstruct the shining of them upon others As in an Eclipse of the Sun the Moon doth not darken the Sun but only darkens us and hinders the Light which still is the same in it self from breaking out upon the lower World So wicked Men by their sins though they cannot deprive God of the Brightness of his Glory yet they impede the Emanations and out-flowings of his Glory and hinder others from admiring and adoring of it as they ought Now the ways whereby God useth to express and declare his Glory are various First He doth it by his works Psal 19.1 The Heavens declare the Glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his handy-work For they manifest to the World the Attributes and Perfections of their great Creator even his Wisdom Power and Goodness Some of God's Works are his Footsteps and some are his Images The Image of God is seen in rational and intellectual Creatures and by considering the Wisdom Vnderstanding and mental Faculties that God hath endowed them with we may come to apprehend some faint shadows and resemblances of the infinite Wisdom and Knowledge of the Original Cause of them since whatsoever is in them must needs be in a far more Eminent degree in the Author and Maker of them But all God's Works carry quaedam vistigia Dei some Prints and Footsteps of God stampt upon them whereby although they do not all shew his likeness yet they shew his Power and Wisdom in framing them Rom. 1.20 The invisible things of God from the Creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his Eternal Power and God-head But he especially Glorifies himself in the Extraordinary Miraculous Works of his hands whether in a way of Mercy or in a way of Judgment Exod. 15.11 Who is like unto thee O Lord Glorious in Holiness fearful in Praises doing Wonders Psal 85.9 Surely his Salvation is nigh them that fear him that Glory may dwell in our Land That is God by his wonderful deliverances of his Church and People establisheth his Glory to dwell among them Secondly God declares his exceeding and infinite Glory by his Word For therein he hath given us the most clear and lively representations of himself And those Attributes which his Works could never have discovered to us he hath manifested by his revealed Will. This is that Table on which he hath drawn his most resembling Image this is that Glass wherein We beholding the Glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory 2 Cor. 3.18 and it consists of two parts the Law and the Gospel the one discovers to us the Glory of God's Justice the other the Glory of his Mercy and both of them are Glories 2 Cor. 3.9 For if the Ministration of Condemnation which is the Law be Glory much more doth the Ministration of Righteousness which is the Gospel exceed in Glory Thirdly The most clear manifestation of the Glory of God was made in Christ who was the brightness of his Glory and the express Image of his Person Heb. 1.3 in him Heaven was brought down to Earth the infinite comprehended the invisible made conspicuous And all the Miracle both of Grace and Glory reconciled to our very Senses In him all the Attributes of the Divine Nature are so interwoven with the infirmities of the Humane that if I may so speak God in him studied to exhibit to us a person like our selves to give us some advantage for our apprehensions to conceive of his infinite Perfections In him Omnipotence became weak Eternity Mortal Innocence it self guilty God Man the Creator a Creature the Maker of all it s own Workmanship Life it self in him underwent the sentence of Death And all these strange and impossible Truths as for other ends so for this that we might have some clearer hints and discoveries of the infinite Glories of God which in their full brightness would only dazle and confound us and were discernable by us only thus tempered and obscured And therefore the Apostle calls him God manifested in the Flesh 1 Tim. 3.16 Certainly God in Flesh must needs be rather veiled and hidden than manifested But although to himself he was obscured yet to us he was manifested because if the Glory of the Deity had not been thus clouded and allayed it had not been manifested For that Light which when tempered makes us see will strike us blind when too Glorious As we may safer direct our Eyes towards the Sun when it is under an Eclipse than when it shines with uncheck'd Rays Hence St. John speaking of Christ in the mean Estate of his Humiliation saith of him St. John 1.9 We beheld his Glory the Glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth Thus now you have seen what the Essential and Declarative Glories of God are let us now consider why this Attribute should so eminently be ascribed unto God Thine is the Glory Now there may be three Reasons given of it First Because all that is Excellent and Glorious in the Creatures is to be found in God and that either formally or eminently Is Grace or Holiness Wisdom or Strength Duration Justice or Mercy any Excellency in those Creatures to which they are Attributed they are all in God Formally and infinitely more Glorious and with infinite more Perfections than they are in the Creatures For Created Beings have but their limitted and stinted proportions of these Qualifications but God is infinitely Holy infinitely Wise infinitely Just and infinitely Merciful these things are in him without allays or mixtures from their contraries He is Holy without any mixture of Sin Wise without any mixture of Folly Just without any mixture of Iniquity Merciful without mixture of Cruelty Yea these are all in him without any bounds set them by his Nature and Capacity for they are his Nature and therefore as infinite and as unbounded as it Again Those Excellencies that are in the Creatures and cannot formally agree with the Divine Essence yet they are all in him Eminently Are any Creatures Excellent for the Beauty and Symmetry of their parts for Light for
Motion or such like Qualities that do not belong unto the Divine Nature Yet all these are Eminently in God for he is the Prime and Original Cause from whom they derive their Being and Perfection so that all Glory is his his incommunicatively from any other communicatively from him Secondly All Glory in respect of God is but darkness and obscurity And so it was both a True and Divine Conception of Plato when he said That Light was but a shadow of God for as Shadows are vastly dark when the Light that surrounds them appears So God is infinitely brighter than Light it self Yea the Sun that Created Fountain of Light is but a black coal compared with this Eternal Father of Lights This is well expressed by Job 25.5 Behold even to the Moon and it shineth not and the Stars are not pure in his sight As the Light of the Sun when it ariseth drowns and extinguisheth all other Lights for its brightness as it brings a Day to all the rest of the World so it brings a a Night to the Stars So the infinite brightness of the Glory of God over-casts all other Glory whatsoever with Night and Obscurity Hence it is said That God chargeth his Angels with Folly Job 4.8 So that if those Wife and Intellectual Creatures be compared with God they are but foolish and ignorant for the Glory of his infinite and unsearchable Understanding so far transcends their reach that they know nothing in comparison with him who knoweth all things The two chiefest Glories of Men are Wisdom and Strength Wisdom to contrive and Power to execute these perfect him as he is a Man But yet see how the Apostle undervalues both these when compared with God 1 Cor. 1.25 The foolishness of God is wiser than Men and the weakness of God is stronger than Men. And therefore because God's Glory is infinitely surpassing all others our Saviour ascribes it to him peculiarly Thine is the Glory Thirdly Because all other Glories in the Creatures serve only to illustrate the Glory of the Great God Seest thou any Excellency and Perfection in any of the Creatures God hath so endowed them with it not that thou shouldest fix there and make that thy Idol but that thou mightest have a hint from thence how much more perfect he himself is and take thy rise from visible Excellencies to admire those that are invisible Is there so much Beauty and Harmony in the Frame of Nature Think then how much more Harmonious and Orderly are the Counsels and Designs of the Great God who hath contrived and disposed the whole course and circuit of second Causes Is there so much awe and dread in the presence of an Earthly Majesty to daunt all that are not impudent and profligate Offenders Think then how infinitely venerable is the Face of the Great God since it is only some Ray of his Authority and Majesty shining in them that makes them so dreadful Is it such a pleasant thing to the Eye to behold the Light raise then not thine Eye of Sense but thine Eye of Faith to consider how infinitely Bright and Glorious that Light is that is never Clouded that Light which though it infinitely diffuse it self yet resides always in its Center For God is Light and in him there is no darkness at all 1 John 1.5 Thus you see that God hath therefore made any Created Being Glorious and Excellent that it might serve as a Monitor to put us in mind of his greater Glory and the more Excellent any Perfections are in the Creature the greater advantage have we from them to raise our Meditations unto God And having thus shewn you why Glory is in such an especial manner attributed unto God Thine is the Glory it reremains now to consider what force this Plea hath to confirm our Faith that we shall obtain from God those things which we pray for and here let us see its influence upon every Petition First The Glory is God's therefore his Name shall be Hallowed For his Declarative Power consists in the Hallowing of his Name since to Hallow is nothing else as I shewed you in the Explication of that Petition but to declare God to be Holy and this is to give Glory unto God Hence we have them both joyned together Levit. 10.3 I will be Sanctified by them that come nigh unto me and before all the People I will be Glorfied To Sanctifie is to Glorifie God And therefore what better Argument can we urge that God would provide for the Sanctifying of his Name than this that the Glory is his and if his Name be prophaned in the World his Glory needs must suffer How can the World know that God is infinitely Glorious in all his Perfections and Attributes unless he take care by his own methods to have his Name Sanctified among his People in their Expressions and Actions and to have it Sanctified upon the Wicked in their Plagues and Punishments Therefore we may well pray in Faith Hallowed be thy Name for thine is the Glory Secondly The Glory is God's Therefore His Kingdom shall come For where should he be Honoured but in his own Kingdom God is greatly dishonoured and his Glory traduced in the rest of the World And therefore if he will have any Glory secured and maintained he must take care of his Church to maintain and propagate it Psal 76.1 In Judah is God known his Name is great in Israel The Glory of a King falls together with his Kingdom and it lays a blot upon his Honour if he should suffer his Enemies to overthrow it while he hath Power to defeat their Enterprises since therefore the Glory is God's we may be confident that he will provide for the security and wellfare of his own Kingdom and will for his Honours fake establish it so sure that the Gates of Hell all the Power and Policy of Men and Devils shall never be able to prevail upon it to its extirpation Hence then whensover we see the rage of the professed Enemies of the Name of Christ incroaching upon the Borders of his Dominions when the State of the Church Militant seems visibly to impair or when the Hypocrisie and Wickedness of those who are the professed Enemies of Christ seems to eat out the very Heart and Power of true Godliness we may well pray in Faith Thy Kingdom come Lord raise Lord enlarge Lord establish it For thine is the Glory and unless thou wilt confine thy Glory only to Heaven and account the Praises and Eternal Hallelujahs of Saints and Angels a sufficient adoration for thy Great Name Lord have regard to this thy poor decaying Kingdom for only in it and in Heaven is thy Glory Celebrated And if thou leavest this thy Kingdom to be over-run by the Agents and Ministers of the Devil if Prophaneness and Idolatry gain ground in it so as to thrust thee out of the Throne What were this but to give thy Glory to another which thou hast
deliverance in all our dangers for supports under all our troubles and for comfort under all our sorrows because he is Eternal and therefore the same God who hath heretofore in all Ages of the World done great things for all those who trust in him And therefore the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory which were a forcible plea with God in former times a plea to which he could deny nothing when urged in Faith have still the same efficacy and validity now For these and all other of God's Attributes are his for ever Therefore O Christian now lay hold on God's strength and plead with him what he hath done for his Children in former Ages How he hath forgiven the Penitent revived the Contrite restored Joy and Salvation to dejected and despondent Spirits how he hath wrought for the Sanctification of his great Name by what wonderful providences and wise methods he hath established and inlarged his Kingdom how he hath strengthened the weak hands and feeble knees and made those who were without Might able by his Grace to perform the hardest Duties in fullfilling his Will and Commandments how he hath provided for all their necessities rebuked the temptations of the wicked one and kept them in the World from the evil of the World And then urge Lord thou art still the same God Eternal in thy Essence Immutable in thy Attributes thy Power thy Wisdom and thy Mercy are the same that ever they were and therefore vouchsafe unto us the same Favour This plea offers an holy violence to Heaven a violence that is pleasing and acceptable unto God which he will not he cannot resist If we endeavour to be of the same dispositions and affections with the Saints of old we may be sure to obtain of God's hands the same Mercy and Salvation See how Asaph instructs the Church to make use of the Memorials of God's former loving kindnesses and the great and wonderful works that he had wrought for their Fathers Psal 78.4 6 7. We will shew to the Generations to come the Praises of the Lord and his strength and the wonderful works that he hath done that one Generation may declare them to another that they may set their hope in God And therefore the consideration of the Eternity and unchangableness of God is of vast and infinite comfort and a mighty advantage for the strengthening our Faith in pleading with God for the same Mercies which he hath formerly bestowed upon others because he is the same yesterday to day and for ever And thus I have finished the Doxology and therein considered the four Glorious Attributes ascribed unto God in it his Sovereignty his Omnipotence his Excellency and his Eternity There remains but one thing more to be spoken of in this Prayer and that is the Conclusion and Ratification of all in that short Particle Amen Of this I shall speak but very briefly and so shut up this whole Subject This word Amen is sometimes prefixed before a Speech and sometimes affixed after it When it is prefixed before it is assertory and so we find it very often in the Evangelists for wheresoever our Saviour useth the word verily it is no other but Amen Verily verily Isay unto thee i. e. Amen Amen I say unto thee which is a vehement assertion of the Truth and necessity of what he speaks And our Saviour useth it to gain the more attention and belief to what he desires Thus John 3.5 Amen Amen I say unto thee except a Man be born of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven So John 16.23 Amen Amen I say unto you whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my Name he will give it you And so in many other places in the Evangelists How backward are we to believe since our infidelity is such that it constraineth the Son of God who is Truth it self to use asseverations and protestations to win our assent unto him Secondly As this Particle Amen used in the beginning of a Speech is Assertory of the undoubted Truth of it so when it is subjoined and used at the end of it is Precatory and signifies our earnest desire to have our Prayers heard and our Petitions granted Psal 41.13 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting Amen and Amen Psal 72.19 Let the whole Earth be filled with his Glory Amen and Amen Psal 106.48 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting and let all the People say Amen In the former sence of the words as it is prefixed to a Speech it signifies so it is In this Latter as it is added to a Petition or Request it signifies so be it Now this teacheth us to put up all our Petitions First with understanding duly weighing and considering what it is we ask of God For when we use vain and insignificant babling how can we seal and close them up with an hearty Amen And this condemns the mockery of the Papists who because God understands what is uttered in a language to them unknown think that they may lawfully pray to him in a Tongue which they themselves understand not But with what Zeal with what affection can they close up such Prayers with an Amen This is like setting a Seal to an Instrument which they know not what it contains and is expresly condemned by the Apostle 1 Cor. 14.16 How shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of Thanks seeing he understands not what thou sayest Secondly It teacheth us to present all our requests to the Throne of Grace with fervent Zeal and Affection Amen is a wing to our Prayers it is the Bow that shoots them up to Heaven And although every Petition as we utter them before God should be accompanied with an earnest and hearty desire to have them heard and granted yet at the close of them all we are to redouble and repeat this our desire in the word Amen Wherein we do as it were briefly and succinctly Pray over again all that we had prayed before and in one word beg of God That he would give us all that we had before asked of him And therefore whether we Pray our selves or joyn in Prayers with others and make their Petitions ours we ought to attest our understanding of our assent unto and our earnest desires after the Mercies that are begged by Sealing up the Prayers with an Amen And certainly it would be a very beseeming thing if Amens were audible and sounding unless we are ashamed to be thought to Pray when others Pray and to make use of others expressions to present our Petitions When we come to the publick Worship we are not to look upon the Minister only as Praying for the People but he is the Peoples Mouth unto God and it is or ought to be the Prayer of the whole Congregation which he presents They Pray with him and by him and every Petition that he
not my Will but thine be done A. These are not so much Prayers as Declarations of their Submission unto and Patience under the Hand of God Q. May we not pray at all that God's Will of Purpose may be done A. Yes it is for Temporal or Spiritual or Eternal Blessings on our selves or others Q. What force doth the Particle Thy carry in it when we pray Thy will be done A. It may be taken either emphatically or exclusively 1. First It signifies that God's Will ought to be preferred above and before all others Acts 4.19 But Peter and John answered and said unto them whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God judge ye Both because it is most Soveraign and because it is most Holy and Perfect so that we act most like Men when we act most like Christians 2. Secondly It signifies exclusively that God's Will and not our own may be done For ours being carnal and corrupt we pray for the subduing it to his Q. What mean you by praying that God's Will be done in Earth A. First I pray that it may be done by my self and all others living on the Earth Psal 67.2 That thy way may be known upon Earth thy saving Health among all Nations Secondly We pray that we may improve the few Days of this Mortal Life in the Service of God for there is no Device nor Operation in the Grave Q. Having given this Account of the Petition in the Matter of it what is next observable A. The Proportion of it As it is in Heaven Q. But is it not impossible to do the Will of God in Earth as it is done in Heaven where the Holy Angels do perfectly perform it A. It is as to the Equality of Perfection but not as to the Similitude and Proportion of our Endeavours after it For we are commanded to be holy as God is holy and perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect Matt. 5.48 Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect Which Command we obey when we seriously endeavour it Q. How then is the Will of God done in Heaven A. First Thine Obedience is absolutely perfect both as to Parts and Degrees that is to say they obey all God's Will enjoined them and that with all their might and after this Perfection we ought to strive and in this Petition pray for a greater Measure of it Secondly Their Obedience is chearfull not extorted by Fears or Sufferings Thirdly They do the Will of God with Zeal and Ardency Psal 104.4 Who maketh his Angels spirits his Ministers a flaming Fire Fourthly They do it with Celerity and ready Dispatch and therefore the Angels are often in Scripture described to have Wings Fifthly The Will of God is done in Heaven with all possible Prostration and Reverence Rev. 4.10 The four and twenty Elders fall down before him that sat on the Throne and worship him that liveth for ever and ever and cast their Crowns before the Throne saying Sixthly The Will of God is done in Heaven with Constancy and Perseverance Rev. 7.15 Therefore are they before the Throne of God and serve him Day and Night in his Temple and he that sitteth on the Throne shall dwell among them And thus we ought to pray and endeavour that we may do the Will of God on Earth Q. What learn you from this A. That we ought not to satisfie our selves in comparing our Obedience with other Mens as the boasting Pharisee did but to take the Examples for our Holiness from Heaven and to endeavour to imitate the Purity of Angels and the God of Angels For St. Paul himself when he prescribes his Life as an Example for Christians doth it onely as he followed the Pattern of Christ 1 Cor. 11.1 Be ye followers of me even as I also am of Christ Q. We have already considered the three first Petitions which immediately related to God s Glory it remains now to treat of those which immediately concern our own Good Which is the first of them A. That wherein we beg the good things of this present Life in these words Give us this Day our daily Bread Q. What is here meant by Bread A. All Temporal and Earthly Blessings that contribute either to our being or well being For Bread being the most usual and usefull Support of Life it is often in Scripture put for all kind of Provision necessary for natural Life Gen. 3.19 In the Sweat of thy Face shalt thou eat Bread till thou return into the Ground for out of it wast thou taken for Dust thou art and unto Dust shalt thou return Q. What learn we hence A. That it is not below a Spiritual Christian to pray for Temporal Mercies both because they are needfull for us Matt. 6.32 For after all these things do the Gentiles seek for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things And God hath promised to bestow them Phil. 4.19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his Riches in Glory by Christ Jesus Q. How ought we to pray for them A. Onely conditionally if it may consist with God's good Pleasure to bestow them otherwise we do not pray but invade and if it may consist with our good to receive them otherwise we ask a Curse instead of a Blessing Q. What learn you from the word Give A. That God is the Giver of every Temporal Mercy Q. How is God said to give us our daily Bread A. First by producing it and bringing it to us for though the Chain of natural Causes be never so long yet God holds the first Link of it in his own hand Hosea 2.21 22. And it shall come to pass in that Day I will hear saith the Lord I will hear the Heavens and they shall hear the Earth Vers 22. And the Earth shall hear the Corn and the Wine and the Oil and they shall hear Jezreel Secondly by blessing it to us without which our daily Bread can never nourish us Deut. 8.3 And he humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger and fed thee with Manna which thou knowest not neither did thy Fathers know that he might make thee know that Man doth not live by Bread onely but by every word that proceedeth out of the Mouth of the Lord doth Man live Q. What mean you when you pray for daily Bread A. By this we pray That God would bestow upon us daily those Mercies which are sufficient for the Day Q. What learn you hence A. That as in praying for Bread we pray for Conveniencies not for Superfluities or Delicacies So in our praying for daily Bread we pray for present supplies not Goods laid up for many Years Which teacheth us to moderate our Cares and Desires after Earthly Things and to rest satisfied in God's Providence and present Blessings Q. May we not then carefully provide for the Time to come and the Support of our Dependents A.
being thus infinite he both knows himself and all other things in himself First God perfectly knows himself he knows the boundless extent of his own being and though he be infinite and incomprehensible to all others yet is he finite and comprehended to himself and hence it follows Secondly That he knows particularly all other things For if he knew himself perfectly he must needs know all things besides himself because none can perfectly know himself that doth not fully know all that his power and strength can reach unto But now there is nothing which the power of God cannot reach for by his power he Created all things And therefore knowing his own Essence which is the cause of all he knows every thing in the secundity of his Essence Thus we have demonstrated it from the principles of Reason that God necessarily knows all things But providence denotes more than knowledge And therefore Fifthly This knowledge that is in God is not like that which we acquire 't is not a knowledge that depends upon the objects known and forms Idea's from the contemplation of things already existing But it is like the knowledge of an Artificer which causeth and produceth the things it comprehends God knows them before they are and by knowing them brings them to pass God knows all things saith St. Austin de Trinitat 15. Not because they are but therefore they are because God knew them So that his eternal knowledge and understanding gives being to every thing in the World Sixthly It appertains to him who gives being to a thing to preserve and govern it in its being And therefore God giving being to all things he also doth maintain and provide for them 'T is the very Law of Nature that he hath imprinted upon all his Creatures to provide for their own Off-spring We see with what sollicitous affection and tenderness even brute and irrational Creatures do it We are all the Off-spring of God and he our common Parent And therefore certainly he who hath inspired such Parental care in all things else doth himself much more take care to give Education to all to which he hath given being Thus you see is proved that God's Providence reacheth unto all things It might likewise be demonstrated from God's omnipresence He is present every where with and in all his Creatures and certainly he is not with them as an idle and unconcerned spectator but as the director and governour of their Actions But I shall proceed to the second sort of Arguments to prove the Divine providence And those are taken from the consideration of the frame and Compages of the World the beauty and harmony which we see in Nature The World is a Book wherein we may clearly read the wonderful Wisdom of God There is no Creature that doth not proclaim aloud that God is the wise Creator and Governour of it Who hath Gilded the Globe of the Sun and put on his Rays Who hath set its bounds and measured out its race that it should without sailing without error or mistake know how to make its daily and Annual returns and divide out times and seasons to the World Who hath given a particular Motion to all the Voluminous Orbs of Heaven and beat out a path for every Star to walk in Who hath swathed in the great and proud Ocean with a Girdle of Sand and restrains the Waves thereof that though they be higher than the Land yet they shall not overflow it Who poiseth the oppositions and contrarieties that are in Nature in so even a balance that none of them shall ever prevail to a total Destruction of the other Who brings up the great Family of brute Beasts without tumult and disorder Do not all these great and wonderful works speak forth the watchful Providence of God who as he makes them by his word so still governs them by his Power Therefore whatsoever we receive beneficial from them whatsoever seems to provide for our necessities or conveniencies it is God that hath so dispensed the Government of the World as to make it serviceable If the Heavens turn and move for us if the Stars as so many burning Torches light us in the obscurity of the Night if the Angels protect and defend us let us acknowledge all this from the Providence of God only It is he that turns the Heavens round their Axis He lights up the Stars he commands the Angels to be Ministring Spirits Guards and Centinels about us If the Fire warm us the Air refresh us the Earth support us it is God that hath kindled the Fire that hath spread forth the Air stablish'd the Earth upon the Pillars of his own decree that it should not be shaken And let us know too that when we want these Creatures for our sustentation if the Heavens if the Angels if the Earth if the Sea if all things should fail us yea bandy and set themselves against us yet God who provides for us by them can also if he please provide for us without them Thus we have dispatch'd the two general inquiries and have described and demonstrated unto you the Divine Providence The third which remains is to answer some questions and doubts which may be made and have indeed been strongly urged against the Government of the World by Providence As First If the World be governed by Providence whence comes it that wicked and ungodly Men flourish and prosper that God shines upon their Tabernacles and drops fatness upon all their paths Whereas on the conrary the Godly are often exposed to Poverty Contempt Reproaches persecuted by Men afflicted by God Would it not be as agreeable to the Divine goodness to cast abroad the Wealth the Pomp and Glory of this World with an undeciding hand leaving Men to scramble for them as they can as that he should with a particular and studied care advance those who contemn him and crush those who humbly trust and depend upon him Can I think the World is governed by the Providence of a just God when usually unjust Men govern the World under him When swaggering Sinners who despise him have power likewise to controul others Is it Wisdom to put a Sword into that hand which will turn the point of it against the giver Or Justice to impower them to all those Acts of Rapine Violence and Oppression which they commit And shall we call that Providence which is neither wise nor just One hath an unexhausted store to supply his dissolute Luxury and Riot another scarce necessaries to maintain a poor Life spent in the commands of God Here a wicked Dives who worshipped no other God but his own Belly feasts deliciously every day whilest a Godly Lazarus starves at this glutton's Gate and entertains the Dogs with licking of his Sores And what doth God's particular care furnish the glutton's Table with dayly excess who will not give the remaining Scraps to God's Children If there be Divine Providence in this what is become of the
may persuade you to a diligent search and perusal of the Scriptures The Jews indeed were so exact or rather Superstitious in this that he was judged a despiser of those Sacred Oracles who did not readily know how often every Letter of the Alphabet occurred in them This preciseness God hath made use of to deliver down his word to us unvaried and uncorrupted It is not such a scrupulous search of the Scripture I now exhort you to but as God hath left it to us a rich Depositum a dear pledge of his Love and care so we should diligently attend to a rational and profitable study of it There are but two things in the general that commend any writing to us either that it discovers knowledge or directs practice that it informs the Judgment or reforms the Life Both of these are eminently the Characters of this Book of God And therefore David tells us Psal 19.7 The Law of God converts the Soul and makes wise the simple It is a light not only to our heads but it is a Lamp unto our Feet and a light unto our paths Psal 119.105 Let us consider it as to both First In point of knowledge as it perfects the understanding and so it will appear in sundry particulars how excellent a study it is For First The Scripture discovers unto us the knowledge of those truths that the most improved natural Reason could never sift out and are intelligible only by Divine Revelation God hath Composed two Books by the diligent study of which we may come to the knowledge of himself The Book of the Creatures and the Book of the Scriptures The Book of the Creatures is written in those great Letters of Heaven and Earth the Air and Sea and by these we may spell out somewhat of God He made them for our instruction as well as our service There is not a Creature that God hath breathed abroad upon the face of the Earth but it Reads us Lectures of his infinite Power and Wisdom So that it is no absurdity to say that they are all the Works of his mouth so they are all the works of his Hands The whole World is a speaking workmanship Rom. 1.20 The invisible things of God are clearly seen by the things that are made even his eternal Power and Godhead And indeed when we seriously consider how God hath poised the Earth in the midst of the Air and the whole World in the midst of a vast and boundless nothing how he hath hung out those glorious lights of Heaven the Sun the Moon and Stars and made paths in the Sky for their several courses how he hath laid the Sea on heaps and so girt it in that it may possibly overlook but not overflow the Land when we view the Variety Harmony and Law of the Creation our Reason must needs be very short if we cannot from these collect the infinite Wisdom Power and Goodness of the Creator So much of God as belong to these two great Attributes of Creator and Governour of the World the Book of Nature may plainly discover to us But then there are other more retired and reserved Notions of God other truths that nearly concern our selves and our eternal Salvation to know and believe which nature could never give the least glimpse to discover What Signature is there stampt upon any of the Creatures of a Trinity in Unity of the eternal Generation or temporal Carnation of the Son of God What Creature could inform us of our first fall and guilt contracted by it Where can we find the Copy of the Covenant of Works or of grace printed upon any of the Creatures All the great Sages of the World though they were Nature's Secretaries and ransack'd its abstrusest mysteries yet all their Learning and Knowledge could not discover the Sacred Mystery of a Crucified Saviour These are truths which Nature is so far from searching out that it can scarce receive them when revealed 1. Corinth 2.14 The natural Man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God neither can he know them because they are Spiritually discerned The light that can reveal these must break immediately from Heaven it self And so it did upon the Prophets Evangelists and Apostles the Pen-men of the Holy Scriptures And if it were their singular Privilege that the Holy Ghost should descend into their breasts and so possess them with Divine inspirations that what they spake or wrote became Oracular how little less is ours since the Scriptures reveal to us the very same truths which the Spirit revealed to them God heretofore spake in them and now he speaks by them unto us Their Revelations are become ours the only difference is that what God taught them by extraordinary inspiration the very same truths he teacheth us in the Scripture by the ordinary illumination of his Spirit Here therefore whilest we diligently converse in the Book of God we enjoy the privilege of Prophets The same word of God which came unto them comes also unto us and that without those severe preparations and strong agonies which sometimes they underwent before God would inspire them with the knowledge of his Heavenly truth That is the first Motive and Argument Secondly The knowledge which the Scripture teacheth is for the matter of it the most sublime and losty in the World All other sciences are but poor and beggarly Elements if compared with this What doth the Naturalist but only busie himself in digging a little drossie knowledge out of the Entrails of the Earth The Astronomer who ascends highest mounts no higher than the Coelestial Bodies the Stars and Planets which are but the out-works of Heaven But the Scripture pierceth much farther and lets us into Heaven it self There it discovers the Majesty and Glory of God upon his Throne the Eternal Son of God sitting at his right hand making a prevailing and Authoritative intercession for us The glittering train of Cherubims and Seraphims an innumerable company of Angels and the Spirits of Just Men made perfect So that indeed when you have this Book laid open before you you have Heaven it self and all the inconceivable glories of it laid open to your view What can be more sublime than the nature of God And yet here we have it so plainly described by all its most glorious Attributes and Perfections that the Scripture doth but beam forth light to an Eye of Faith whereby it may be inabled to see him who is invisible But if we consider those Gospel Mysteries the Scripture relates the Hypostatical Union of the Divine and Humane Nature in Christ's incarnation the Mystical Union of our persons to his by our believing that the Son of God should be Substituted in the stead of guilty Sinners that he who knew no sin should be made a Sacrifice for sin and the Justice of God become reconciled to Man through the blood of God these are Mysteries so infinitely profound as are enough to puzzle a whole College of
of our Selves Man that busies himself in knowing all things else is of nothing more ignorant than of himself the Eye that beholds other things cannot see its own shape and so the Soul of Man whereby he understands other objects is usually ignorant of its own Concernments Now as the Eye that cannot see it self directly may see it self reflexively in a Glass so God hath given us his Scripture which St. James compares to a Glass James 1.23 and holds this before the Soul wherein is represented our true State and Idea There is a four-fold state of Man that we could never have attained to know but by the Scriptures His state of Integrity His state of Apostacy His state of Restitution His state of Glory The Scripture alone can reveal to us what we were in our Primitive Constitution Naturally Holy bearing the Image and Similitude of God and enjoying his Love free from all inward perturbations or outward Miseries having all the Creatures subject to us and what is much more our selves What we were in our state of Apostacy or Destitution despoiled of all our Primitive Excellencies dispossess'd of all the Happiness we enjoy'd and of all hopes of any for the future lyable every Moment to the revenge of Justice and certain once to feel it What we are in our state of Restitution through Grace begotten again to a lively hope Adopted into the Family of Heaven Redeem'd by the Blood of Christ Sanctified and Sealed by the Holy Spirit restored to the Favour and Friendship of God recovering the initials of his Image upon our Souls here on Earth and expecting the perfection of it in Heaven What we shall be in our final State of Glory cloathed with Light Crowned with Stars inebriated with pure spiritual Joys We shall see God as he is know him as we are known by him love him ardently converse with him eternally yea a state it will be so infinitely happy that 't will leave us nothing to hope for This Four-fold state of Man the Scripture doth evidently express Now these are such things as could never have entred into our Hearts to have imagined had not the word of God described them to us and thereby instructed us in the knowledge of our selves as well as of God and Christ Now let us put these six particulars together The Scripture instructs us in the knowledge of such things as are intelligible only by divine Revelation it teacheth us the most sublime and lofty Truths 't is a most inexhaustible Fountain of Knowledge the more we draw the more still springs up it teaches that Knowledge that is necessary to Salvation It is of undoubted certainty and perpetual Truth And Lastly it informs us in the knowledge of our Selves and certainly if there be any thirst in you after Knowledge there needs no more be spoken to perswade you to the diligent study of the Scripture which is a rich Store and Treasury of all Wisdom and Knowledge Thus we have seen how the Scriptures inform the Judgment Let us now briefly see how they reform the Life and what practical influence they have upon the Souls of Men. Now here the word of God hath a mighty Operation and that in sundry particulars First This is that word that convinceth and humbles the stoutest and proudest Sinners There are two sorts of secure Sinners Those who vaunt it in the Confidence of their own Righteousness and those who are secure through an insensibility of their own Wickedness Both these the word when it is set home with Power convinceth humbles and brings to the Dust It despoils the Self-Justitiary of all that false Righteousness he once boasted of and trusted to I was alive once without the Law saith St. Paul but when the Commandment came sin revived and I dyed Rom. 7.9 It awakens and alarms the senseless seared Sinner How many have there been that have scorned God and despised Religion whom yet one curse or threat of this word hath made to tremble and fall down before the convincing Majesty and Authority of it Secondly This is that word that sweetly comforts and raiseth them after their Dejections All other Applications to a wounded Spirit are improper and impertinent 'T is only Scripture Consolation that can ease it The leaves of this Book are like the leaves of that Tree Rev. 22. which were for the healing of the Nations The same Weapon that wounds must here work the cure Thirdly This is that word that works the mighty change upon the heart in Renovation Take a Man that runs on in vile and desperate Courses that sells himself to do Iniquity and commits all manner of Wickedness with Greediness and makes use of all the Arguments that reason can suggest these seldom reclaim any from their Debaucheries Or if in some few they do reform the Life yet they can never change the heart But now that which no other means can effect the Word of God can Psal 19.7 The Law of God is perfect converting the Soul Fourthly This is that word that strengthens and arms the People of God to endure the greatest temporal Evils only in hope of that future reward which it punisheth Fifthly This is that word that contains in it such a Collection of Rules and Duties that whosoever observes and obeys shall in the end infallibly obtain everlasting life Though I can but just mention these Heads unto you yet there is enough in them to perswade you to be diligent in the Scriptures In them saith our Saviour ye think to have Eternal Life We are all of us guilty Malefactors but God hath been pleased to afford us the Mercy of the Book And what shall we not so much as read for our Lives This is that Book according to which we must either stand or fall be acquitted or condemned Eternally The unalterable Sentence of the last day will pass upon us as it is here recorded in this Scripture Here we may before-hand know our Doom and what will become of us to all Eternity He that believeth shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned 'T is said Rev. 20.12 That when the dead stood before God to be Judged the Books were opened That is the Book of Conscience and the Book of the Scripture Be perswaded to open this Book and to judge your selves out of it before the last day 'T is not a sealed Book to you you may there read what your present State is and foretell what your future will be If it be a State of Sin and Wrath search farther there are Directions how you may change this wretched State for a better If it be a State of Grace and Favour there are Rules how to preserve you in it 'T is a word suited to all Persons all Occasions all Exigencies It informs the Ignorant strengthens the Weak comforts the Disconsolate supports the Afflicted relieves the Tempted resolves the Doubtful directs all to those ways which lead to endless Happiness where as the Word of God hath dwelt richly in us so we shall dwell for ever gloriously with God FINIS