us over-born with Sollicitude but look no further than this day 6. Christ would teach us that worldly things should be sought in a moderate Proportion if we have sufficient for a day for the present Want we should not grasp at too much Ships lightly loaden will pass through the Sea but when we take too great a burden the Ship will easily sink with every Storm We have sore Troubles to pass through in the World now when we are over-burdened with present things we have more Snares and Temptations 7. Christ would train us up with thoughts of our Lives Vncertainty Iames 4. 13. say not This and this I will do to day or to morrow What is your Life it is but a Vapor One being invited to Dinner the next day said for these many Years I have not had a to-morrow meaning he was providing every day for his last day We do not know whether we have another day but are apt to sing Lullabies to our Souls and say Soul take thine Ease thou hast Goods laid up for many Years Luke 12. 19. We are sottishly secure and dream of many Years whereas God tells us only of to day 8. To awaken us after heavenly things When we seek Bread for the present Life then give us this day but now come to me saith Christ and I will give you Bread that shall nourish you to eternal Life Bread that endureth for ever Iohn 6. 27. Labour not for the Meat which perisheth but for that Meat which endureth unto everlasting Life There is Meat that will endure for ever but for the present we beg only for this day 1 Pet. 1. 4. To an Inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for you That 's an eternal State this is but of a short and of a small continuance You see what need you have to go to God that he will most plentifully provide for you And forgive us our Debts as we forgive our Debtoâ—s WE have now done with the Supplication of this Prayer and are come to the Deprecations The Supplications are those Petitions which we make to God for obtaining of that which is good The Deprecations are those Petitions we make to God for removing of that which is evil Now of this latter sort there are two 1. We pray for the Remission of Evil that is already committed 2. We pray for the prevention of the Evil which may be inflicted The first of these is the Petition we have now in hand Here 1. The Petition is proposed Forgive us our Debts 2. 'T is confirmed by an Argument As we forgive our Debtors In the first take notice 1. Of the Object or Matter of this Petition and that is Debts 2. The Subject or Persons praying Vs. 3. The Person to whom we pray our Heavenly Father who alone can forgive our Sins 4. The Act of God about this Object Forgive Then the Petition is confirmed by an Argument which is taken from our forgiving of others In which there 's an Argument 1. A Simili from a like Disposition in us Thus what is good in us was first in God for he is the Patern of all Perfection If we have such a Disposition planted in our Hearts and if it be a Vertue in us surely the same Disposition is in God for the first being wanteth no Perfection 2. The Argument may be taken à dispari or à minori ad majus from the less to the greater If we that have but a drop of Mercy can forgive the Offences done to us surely the infinite God that is Mercy it self he hath more Bowels and more Pity For his ways are above our ways as high as the Heaven is above the Earth Isa. 55. 9. So it seems the Argument is propounded Luke 11. 4. Forgive us our Sins for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us 3. The Argument may be taken from the Condition or the Qualification of those that are to expect Pardon They are such that out of a sense of God's Mercy to them and the Love of God shed abroad in their Hearts are inclined and disposed to shew Mercy to others So Christ explains it vers 14. making it a Condition or Qualification on our part If ye forgive Men their Trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you But this will be more abundantly clear when I come to examine that Clause Before we come to the Petition it self the Connection is to be considered for the Particle And links it to the former Petition After Hallowed be thy Name he doth not say And thy Kingdom come they are propounded as distinct Sentences but Give us this day our daily Bread And forgive us our Debts for three Reasons 1. Without Pardon all the good Things of this Life will do us no good They are but as a full Diet or as a rich Suit to a condemned Person they will not comfort him and allay his present Fears Until we are pardoned we are under a Sentence ready for Execution and therefore we cannot have that Comfort in outward Things until we have some Interest in God's fatherly Mercy A Man that is condemned hath the King's Allowance until Execution So it is the Indulgence of God to a wicked Man to give him many outward Things tho he is condemned already We should not satisfy our selves with daily Bread without a sense of some Interest in pardoning Mercy 2. To shew us our Unworthiness Our Sins are so many and grievous that we are not worthy of one Morsel of Bread to put in our Mouths When we say Give us this day c. we need presently to say Forgive us our Sins There is a Forfeiture even of these common Blessings Gen. 32. 10. I am not worthy of the least of all the Mercies and of all the Truth which thou hast shewed unto thy Servant All that we have we have from Mercy and it is Mercy undeserved As we are Creatures there can be no common Right between God and us to engage him to give temporal Blessings for we owe our selves wholly to him as being created out of nothing Children cannot oblige their Parents But much more as we are guilty Creatures it is meerly of the Mercy of the Lord. 3. These are join'd together because Sin is the great Obstacle and Hindrance of all the Blessings which we expect from God Ier. 5. 25. Your Sins have with-held good Things from you When Mercy comes to us Sin stands in the way and turns it back again so that it cannot have so clear a Passage to us Therefore God must forgive before he can give that is bestow these outward Things as a Blessing on us Having spoken of this Connexion let me observe something from the Petition it self The first Thing I shall observe is the Notion by which Sin is set out Forgive us our Debts The Point is Doct. I. That Sins come under the Notion of Debts In Luke 11. 4. it is Forgive us our
Sins There is a twofold Debt which Man oweth to God 1. A Debt of Duty 2. A Debt of Punishment 1. A Debt of Duty Worship and Obedience this is a Debt we owe to God In this sence it is said Rom. 8. 12. We are Debtors not to the Flesh to live after the Flesh In which Negative the Affirmative is clearly implied that we are Debtors to God to live to God Debtors to the Spirit to live after the Spirit By the Law of Creation we were not appointed to serve and please the Flesh but to serve God Luke 17. 10. When you have done all those things which are commanded you say We are unprofitable Servants we have done that which was our Debt or Duty to do Obedience Worship and Service is a Debt we owe to God by virtue of that Interest which he hath in us and Command he hath over us And so you have that Speech Gal. 5. 3. that we are Debtors to the whole Law as we come under the Obedience of it 2. A Debt of Punishment which we are fallen into through the neglect of our Duty Punishment is due to us as Wages Rom. 6. 23. The Wages of Sin is Death God hath as it were made a Contract with us that if we will sin we must take our Wages we must take what it comes to Now in this Petition when we say Forgive us our Debts we do not desire to be discharged of the Duty we owe to God but to be acquitted of the Guilt and Punishment The Faults or Sins that we are guilty of oblige us and bind us to the Punishment and therefore Sins are called Debts The original Debt we owe is Obedience and in case of Default the next Debt we owe is Punishment Look as in a Contract and Bond if the Party observe not the Condition then he is liable to the Forfeiture So God dealt with Man by way of Covenant and the Tenor of it was exact Obedience and this Covenant had a Sanction or an Obligation annexed in case Obedience was not exactly performed we should be accursed and suffer all manner of Misery in this Life and the next Now by the Fall we incurr'd this Penalty and therefore as lost and undone Creatures we run to God's Mercy and beg him to forgive the Debt or the Forfeiture of that Bond of Obedience wherein Man standeth bound to God by the Law A little to make it good before I come to the Body of the Petition let me shew how Sin is a Debt wherein it agrees That will appear if you can consider 1. Our Danger by Sin 2. Our Remedy from Sin In both the Parts you will find Sin is considered as a Debt First If you consider our Danger by Sin 1. There is a Creditor to whom the Debt is due and that is God Luke 7. 41. when he would set out God's Mercy he saith There was a certain Creditor which had two Debtors c. God is there set forth under the Notion and Similitude of a Creditor God is a Creditor partly as our Creator and partly as a Lawgiver and partly as a Judg. As our Creator and Benefactor from whom we have received all that we have It was the Lord that gave to every Man his Talents to trade withal to some more to some less Mat. 25. Thus God hath trusted us with Life and all other Blessings But then as a Law-giver If God had given us Life Strength Parts Wealth that we should do with them what we would tho the Gift would oblige us in point of Gratitude to serve our Benefactor yet we had not been so responsible for our Defaults But we are under a Law to serve him and honour him that made us and gave us what we have God did not dispossess himself of an Interest in them He did not give them to us as Owners and Proprietors to do with them what we would but he gave them to us as Stewards our Life and Employment here is a Stewardship Nay God is not only a Law-giver but also a Judg he will call us to an Account He doth oblige us as a Creator but imposeth a Necessity upon us of obeying and serving him as a Law-giver and not only makes a Law but will take an Account of Men how they observe the Law of their Creation There will a Time come when the Lord of those Servants will come and reckon with them and require his own with Usury Luke 19. 23. He will require this Debt and Service at our Hands else we must endure the Penalty Well this is the Connection He that abuseth God's Mercy as a Creator offends him as as Law-giver and is justly punished by him as a Judg. There are many never think of this therefore are not sensible of these great Relations nor that they shall answer for all their Talents Strength and Time and Advantages they have in the World Thus there 's a Creditor 2. As a Debtor is bound to make Satisfaction to the Creditor or else is liable to the Process of the Law which may be commenced against him So are we all to God Bodies and Souls we are become 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 guilty before the Lord Rom. 3. 19. So we translate it We are under the Sentence of the Law liable to the Process of his revenging Justice and one day God will pursue his righteous Law against us All the fallen Creatures are quite become Bankrupt we can never pay the original Debt of Obedience therefore must be left to lie under the Debt of Punishment 3. Look as Debts stand upon Record and are charged upon some Book of Account that they may not be forgot So God hath his Book of Account a Book of Remembrance as it is called Mal. 3. 16. All our Words Speeches Actions they are all upon Record what Means we have enjoyed what Mercies what Opportunities what Calls and what Messages of his Love and Grace Iob 14. 17. My Iniquity is sealed up in a Bag. As Mens Writings or Bonds which they have to shew for their Debts owing to them are sealed up in a Bag so Iob useth that Similitude Thus is Sin represented as a Thing that is upon Record and cannot be forgotten Many times we lose the Memory of what we have done in Childhood and Infancy but all is upon Record and your Iniquities vvill one day find you out tho you have forgotten and think never to hear of them more 4. A Day of Reckoning will come when God will put the Bond in Suit and all shall be called to an Account Sometimes God reckoneth with Sinners in part in this World but surely in the next Death is but the Summons to come to an Account with God Luke 16. 2. Give an Account of thy Stewardship for thou mayest be no longer Steward That Passage of the Parable is applicable to Death That when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting Habitations ver 9. When the Soul is turned out of Doors
that was the intent of looking upon it that we might fix our Faith on Christ and come under the shelter of his Wing We beg upon a sense of our own unworthiness the Acceptance of Christ's Satisfaction for us 2. We pray for the Continuance of Pardon though we are already justified yet Forgive us our Sins As in daily Bread though we have it by us and God hath stored us with Blessings in our Houses yet we beg the continuance and use of it so what ever Right we have to pardoning Mercy yet we beg the continuance of it for two reasons Partly because Justification is not compleat until the day of Judgment but Mercy is still in fieri that is God is still a doing Acts 3. 19. That your Sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the Presence of the Lord. Then are our Sins blotted out then is this Priviledg compleat We read of Forgiveness in this World and Forgiveness in the World to come Matth. 12. 32. Forgiven in this World when accepted to Grace and Favour with God and forgiven in the World to come when this Priviledg is compleat and fully made up to the Elect. Some Effects of Sin remain till then as Death which came into the World by Sin remains upon the Body till then then our Sin is blotted out when all the Fruits of it are vanished and done away so that whilst any penal Evils that are introduced by Sin remain we ought to pray for Pardon that God would not repent of his Mercy Look as when we are in a state of Sanctification we pray for the continuance of Sanctification as well as the increase of it because of the Reliques of Sin though our perseverance in Grace and Sanctification be as much secured by God's Promise as our perseverance in God's Favour and the Gift of Justification So we pray for the continuance of Pardon because the Evils of Sin yet remain in part And partly because God for our Exercise will make us feel the smart of old Sins which are already pardoned As an old Bruise though it be healed yet ever and anon we may feel it upon change of Weather Accusations of Conscience may return for Sins already pardoned as Iob 13. 26. Thou makest me possess the Iniquities of my Youth Though a Man be reconciled to God and in favour with him yet the Sins of his Youth will trouble him after he hath obtained the Pardon of them God may make these return with a horrible and frightful appearance upon the Conscience their Visage may be terrible to look upon Tho these Sins are blotted out Satan may make the Remembrance of them very frightful and God in his holy wise Dispensation may permit it for our Humiliation Though this be no intrenching of the Pardon already past yet it may exceedingly terrify the Soul and over-cloud our Comfort and therefore we must beg the continuance of this Benefit Go to God as David did Psal. 25. 6 7. Remember O Lord thy tender Mercies and thy loving Kindness for they have been ever of old Remember not the Sins of my Youth nor my Transgressions He begs God's ancient Mercies would continue with him He acknowledged he had received Mercy of old he could run up to Eternity that had been for ever of old yet Lord remember not against me the Sins of my Youth When the sense of old Sins are renewed we must renew Petitions for the pardon of them It is usual with God when we are negligent to permit the Devil to make use of Affliction to revive old Sins that they may stare afresh in the view of the Eye of Conscience therefore we had need to beg the continuance of this Priviledg for it is not compleat Though the Pardon it self be not abrogated yet the Comfort of it may be much intrenched upon and old Sins may come and terrify the Soul with a very hideous Aspect 3. We beg here the Sense and Manifestation of Pardon though it be not the only thing we pray for Forgive us our Sins that is let us know it God may blot Sins out of his Book when he doth not blot them out of our Consciences There 's the Book of Conscience and the Book of God's Remembrance The Book of God's Remembrance may be cancell'd to speak after the manner of Men as soon as we believe and repent then the Hand-writing which was against us is torn but he blots it out of our Consciences when the Worm of Conscience is kill'd by the Application of the Blood of Christ through the Spirit when we are sprinkled from an evil Conscience as the Expression is Heb. 10. 22. And David is earnest with God for this Benefit the sense of his Pardon Psal. 51. 8 12. Make me to hear Ioy and Gladness that the Bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce and restore unto me the Ioy of thy Salvation Nathan had told him his Sins were pardoned yet he wanted the Joy of God's Salvation that ancient free Spirit that comforting inlarging Spirit he was wont to have God may forgive in Heaven when he doth not forgive in our sense and feeling therefore we beg the Manifestation of it by the Comforts of the Gospel 4. We beg the Increase of that Sense for this Sense is given out in a different Latitude Spiritual Sense is not in all alike quick and lively many have only a probable Certainty but have many Doubts Some have Comfort but never arrive to Peace Comfort you know is that thing which holds up it self against Encounters when we are confronted so there may be many doubts when the preponderating part of the Soul inclineth to Comfort Some have Peace for the present rest from Trouble of Conscience others have Ioy which is a degree above Peace and Comfort 5. We beg the Effects of Pardon or Freedom from those penal Evils which are continued upon God's Children and are the Fruits of Sin Clearly this is intended for we beg of God to pardon us as we pardon others that is fully intirely to forgive forget We beg of God to forgive us our Sins that is to mitigate those Troubles Evils and Afflictions which are the Fruits of Sin It is true when a Man is justified the State of his Person is altered yet Sin is the same in it self it deserves all manner of Evils therefore we beg not only a Release from Wrath to come but from those other temporal Evils that dog us at the Heels Sin is the same still though the Person is not the same It is still the Violation of a holy Law an Affront done to an holy God an Inconvenience upon the precious Soul it brings a Blot upon us an Inclination to sin again nay it brings eternal Death Though it do not bring eternal Death upon pardoned Persons yet it may occasion temporal Trouble God hath still reserved this Liberty in the Covenant That he will visit their Trangression with the Rod and their Iniquity
wicked Wretch takes advantage against David and rails at him yet David forgives him when restored to his Crown He shall not die 2 Sam. 19. 23. Nay he sware to him So his Estate When a Debtor is not able to pay and yet submits So Paul bids Philemon to forgive the Wrongs of Onesimus Put it on my Score Philem. Vers. 18. that is for my sake forgive this Wrong 3. We must be ready to perform all Offices of Love to them Luke 6. 27. Love your Enemies do good to them which hate you Mark do not only forbear to execute your Wrath and Revenge upon them but do good to them yea tho they be Enemies upon a religious ground tho Religion be made a Party in the Quarrel and so engage us to the greater Fury when that which should bridle our Passions is the Fuel of them Pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you Mat. 5. 44. Miriam when she had wronged Moses yet he falls a praying for her Numb 12. 13. that the Lord would forgive the Sin and heal her For the Reasons why those that would rightly pray to be forgiven of God must forgive others It should be so it will be so there is a Congruency and a Necessity 1. The Congruency it should be so It is fit that he that beggeth Mercy should shew Mercy it is exceedingly congruous For this is a general Rule That we should do as we would be done unto and therefore if we need Mercy from God we should shew Mercy to others and without it we can never pray in Faith He that doth not exercise Love can never pray in Faith why His own revengeful Disposition will still prejudice his Mind and make him conclude against the Audience of his Prayers for certainly we muse on others as we use our selves And that 's one reason of our Unbelief why we are so hardly brought to believe all that tender Mercy which is in God because 't is so irksom to us to forgive seven times a day we are apt to frame our Conclusions according to the Dispositions of our own Heart Can we think God will forgive when we our selves will not forgive A Man 's own Prayers will be confuted What is more equal than to do as we would be done unto And therefore it is but equal if he entreat Mercy for himself he should shew it unto others Look as the Centurion reasoned of God's Power from the Command that he had over his Souldiers Mat. 8. 9. I am a Man under Authority and I say to one Go and he goeth and to another Come and he cometh Those things we are accustomed to they are apt to run in our Minds when we come to think of God Now he that kept his Souldiers under Discipline that if he said Go they go he reasons thus of God Surely God hath Power to chase away Diseases So accordingly should we reason of God's Mercy according to the Mercy that we find in our selves Therefore it is very notable that when Christ had spoken of forgiving our Brethren not only seven times but seventy times seven the Disciples said unto the Lord Increase our Faith Luke 17. 5. How dotâ— this come in In the 4 th Verse Christ had spoken that they should forgive not only seven times but seventy times seven and they do not say Lord increase our Charity but our Faith implying that we cannot have such large thoughts of God when our own Hearts are so straitned by Revenge and our private Passions 2. In point of Necessity as it should be so so it will be so for God's Mercy will have an Influence upon us to make us merciful All God's Actions to us imprint their stamp in us his Election of us makes us to choose him and his ways his Love to us makes us love him again who hath loved us first so his forgiving of us makes us to forgive our Brethren There is an answerable Impression left upon the Soul to every act of God why for a true Believer is God's Image The new Man is created after God Eph. 4. 24. and therefore he acts as God Certainly if there be such a Disposition in our Heavenly Father it will be in us if we have an Interest in him Look as a Child hath Part for Part and Limb for Limb answerable to his Father tho not so big in Stature and Bulk so hath a Child of God which is created after God he hath all the Divine Perfections in some measure in his Soul And this Consideration is of more force because the New-Creature cannot be maimed and defective in every Part but is entire lacking nothing And therefore if God forgive others certainly the Godly will be inclinable to forgive too Vse 1. Here 's a ground of Tryal whether we are pardoned or no. Is our revengeful Disposition that is so natural and so pleasing to us mortified That 's one Trial or Evidence whether we are forgiven of God can we freely from the Heart forgive others Object But it may be objected against this Do you place so much in this property of forgiving others It doth not agree only to pardoned Sinners because we see some Carnal Men are of a weak and stupid Spirit not sensible of Injuries And on the other side many of God's Children find it hard to obtain to the perfect Oblivion of Injuries that is required of them Answ. As to the first part I answer We do not speak of this Disposition as proceeding from an easy Temper but as it proceedeth from Grace when in Conscience towards God and out of a Sense of his Love to us in Christ our Hearts being tendered and melted towards others to shew them such Mercy as we our selves have received from the Lord that 's the Evidence And again we do not press to judg by this Evidence single and alone but in Conjunction with others when they are humbly Penitent and confessing their Sins and turn to the Lord which is the great Evangelical Condition Job 33. 27. If any say I have sinned and perverted that which was right and it profited me not Then will he restore light to him When a Man is soundly touched with remorse and seeth the folly of his former Courses and asketh Pardon of God then is God gracious to him But this is that we say that this Disposition of Pardon in Conjunction with the great Evangelical Condition of Faith and Repentance it helpeth to make the Evidence more clear 2. As to the other part of the Objection which was this it will be a great weakening of the Confidence of God's Children who cannot get such a perfect Oblivion of Injuries they have received but find their Minds working too much this way I answer As long as we live in the World there will be Flesh and Spirit Corruption as well as Grace there will be an intermixture of the Operations of each Carnal Nature is prone to Revenge but Grace prevaileth and inclineth to a Pardon
God by the Death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his Life Thirdly The Terms upon which 't is dispensed are Faith and Repentance 1. Faith Acts 10. 43. To him give all the Prophets witness that through his Name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of Sins Faith is necessary to honour the Mercy of God to own the Surety to consent to his Undertaking to encourage the Creature to look after this Benefit 2. Repentance Which implieth a sorrow for Sin with a serious purpose of forsaking it Sorrow for Sin no Man can seriously desire a Pardon but he that is touched with a sense of his Sin moved and troubled at it And then for purpose of forsaking Ezek. 33. 12. As for the wickedness of the Wicked he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his Wickedness Sin pardoned must be left otherwise a Pardon given to a wicked Man would be a confirmation of his Sin or a concession of leave to sin Well then let us seek Pardon of God in this way And lead us not into Temptation WE are now come to the sixth Petition which is doubly exprest I. Negatively Lead us not into Temptation II. Affirmatively But deliver us from Evil. The first part doth more concern preventing Grace that we may not fall into Evil and the second recovering Grace that if we fall into Evil we may not be overcome of it nor overwhelmed by it but may find deliverance from the Lord. Here we pray 1. that we may not be tempted Or 2. if the Lord see it fit we should be tempted that we may not yield Or 3. if we yield that we may not totally be overcome As the former Petition concerned the guilt of Sin so this concerns the Reign and Power of it In this first Part take notice First Of the Evil deprecated or that which we pray against and that is Temptation Secondly The manner of Deprecation Lead us not In which there is something implied and something formally asked â— Something implied and that is 1. God's Providence when we say to God Lead us not we do acknowledg he hath the disposal of Temptation 2. God's Iustice and our Desert that for former Sins God may suffer this Evil to befal us We have so often provoked the Lord that in a judicial manner he may suffer us to be tempted 3. Our weakness that we are unable to stand under such a condition by our own strength therefore we go to God 2. Something formally asked that is either that God would prevent the Temptation or if he should use such a Dispensation towards us give us Grace to overcome it Of these things I shall speak in their Order First Of the Evil deprecated and from thence observe Doct. 1. That Temptations are a usual Evil wherewith we encounter in the present World Here I shall I. Open the Nature of Temptations II. I shall give you some Observations concerning them III. The Reasons of it I. For the Nature of Temptations Temptation is a proving or making tryal of a Thing or Person what he is and what he will do And thus sometimes we are said to tempt God and at other times God is said to tempt us 1. We are said to tempt God when we put it to the proof whether he will be as good as his word either in the Cominatory or Promissory part thereof Psalm 95. 9. When your Fathers tempted me proved me and saw my Works they tempted God as they put him often upon the trial To note that by the way there 's a two-fold tempting or proving of God either in a way of Duty or Sin In a way of Duty when we wait to see his Promise fulfill'd And so Mal. 3. 10. Prove me now herewith saith the Lord of Hosts I will not open you the Windows of Heaven and pour you out a Blessing come pay your Tithes and Offerings He would have the Portion which belonged to himself and prove me now herewith c. God submits to a Trial from Experience when we wait for the Good promised Thus we try God and try his Word Psal. 18. 30. The Word of the Lord is a tried Word He is a Buckler to all those that trust in him All those which build upon it that wait to see what God will do they will find it upon experience to be accomplished to a tittle Never did any build upon it or wait for the accomplishment of it in vain 2. In a way of Sin Many ways we are said to tempt God When we set God a task in satisfying our Conceits and Carnal Affections Psal. 78. 18. They tempted God in their Hearts by asking Meat for their Lusts And when we will not believe in him but upon Conditions of our own making or when we consine him to our Means or Time or manner of working or would have some extraordinary proof of his Being and Power and Goodness or see whether God will punish us though we sin against him All these ways we are said to tempt God in a way of Sin But that 's not my business now Therefore 2. As Man tempts God so is Man himself tempted Now Man is either tempted First By God Secondly By Satan Thirdly By his own Heart First Man is tempted by God Gen. 22. 1. And it came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham How is God said to tempt Man When he trieth what is in us Deut. 8. 2. To humble thee and to prove thee to know what was in thine Heart either what of Grace or what of Sin is in our Heart 1. What of Grace Thus the Lord tries us by Afflictions by delays of Promises and other means becoming his Holy Nature By Afflictions for they are called a Trial 1 Pet. 1. 6. Now for a Season if need be ye are in heaviness through manifold Temptations The Afflictions of the Gospel are called Temptations And so by delay of Promises God trieth us sometimes by delaying the accomplishment of his Promise as in Psalm 105. 19. Vntil the Time that his Word came the Word of the Lord tried him that is until the Promise was fulfilled and accomplished A Man is put to trial of all the Grace that is in his Heart 2. God tries what Corruption there is in us He trieth this either by offering Occasions or withdrawing his Grace or by permitting Satan to tempt us 1. By offering Occasions in the course of his Providence God puts us upon trial there sometimes by want sometimes by fulness By Want John 6. 5 6. Whence shall we buy Bread that these may eat saith Christ to Philip. And this he said to prove him for he himself knew what he would do Christ will have the weakness of his Followers tried as well as their strength And he trieth his People often by this kind of trial when there are many Mouths and no Meat and a Man cannot see which way his visible Supplies shall
culpae but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 never but Evil of Fault And we need not anxiously dispute whether the one or the other for one cannot be understood without respect to the other Therefore I shall take it in a general sence That Evil which results from Temptations whether they arise from Satan the World or our own Hearts From the words thus opened the Points will be two First That while we are in this Valley of Tears and Snares we should with earnestness and confidence pray to be delivered from Evil. Secondly To be kept from the Evil of Sin is a greater Mercy than to be kept from the trouble of Temptation I observe the first Point because Christ thus directed us to pray to God The second Because the Evil of Sin is intended For the First We should pray with earnestness because of our Danger and with Confidence because of God's undertaking The Lord Jesus knows what Requests are most acceptable to his Father Now when he would give a perfect Pattern and Platform of Prayer he bids you pray thus Deliver us from Evil. Nay we have not only Christ's Direction but Christ's Example John 17. 15. I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the World but that thou shouldst keep them from the Evil. He did not absolutely pray for an exemption from Temptation though he knew the World would be a tempestuous Place that his People must expect strong Assaults Lord take them not out of the World but keep them from the Evil so here Deliver us from Evil. First We should pray with Earnestness because of our Danger from the Enemies of our Salvation which are the Devil the World and the Flesh In respect of all which we pray to be delivered from Evil. 1. From the Evil which the Devil designs against us Both bad and good Men have need to make this Prayer Bad Men have need Good Men will have a Heart certainly to pray thus to God if they consider their Danger 1. Natural and unconverted Men they are under the Power of the Devil if they were sensible of it for the Devils are said to be Rulers of the Darkness of this World Ephes. 6. 12. By which is meant the Wicked Ignorant and carnal part of the World whether they live in Gentilism or within the Pale and Line of Christ's Communion over all those that live in their unrenewed state of Sin and Ignorance over all these Satan hath an Empire and Dominion And mark when God carried on his Kingdom in in a way of sensible Manifestation by Visions Oracles and Miracles So did Satan visibly govern the Pagan World by Apparitions Oracles lying Wonders and sensible manifestations of himself But now when God's Kingdom is Spiritual The Kingdom of God is within you Luke 17. 21. So by proportion Satan's Kingdom is Spiritual too he rules in the Hearts of Men though they little think of it All natural Men whether they be Pagans or Christians though outwardly and apparently they may renounce the Devil's Kingdom and do not seem to have such open communion with him as the Gentiles that consult with his Oraclâ—s and were instructed by his Apparitions acted by his Power and offered Sacrifice to him But Spiritually all natural Men are under the Devil for 1 Io. 3. 8. He that committeth Sin is of the Devil that is he belongeth to him How is he of the Devil They are his Children Acts 13. 10. O thou Child of the Devil And they are his Subjects he ruleth in them he hath a Kingdom among Men which by all means he goeth about to maintain Mat. 12. 26. If Satan be divided against himself how then can his Kingdom stand And they are his Work-houses he worketh in them Ephes. 2. 2. The Spirit that worketh in the Children of Disobedience The Devil is hard at work in a wicked Man's Heart framing Evil Thoughts Carnal Motions urging them to break God's Laws drawing them on to more Sin and Villany fills their Hearts with lying and all manner of Sins Acts 5. 3. Why hath Satan filled thine Heart to lie to the Holy Ghost He binds them with Prejudices and will not suffer them to hearken to the Glorious Gospel 2 Cor. 4. 4. In whom the God of this World hath blinded the Minds of them which believe not lest the Light of the Glorious Gospel of Christ should shine unto them He blinds and holds them captive at his Will and Pleasure their Souls are fettered 2 Tim. 2. 26. And sometimes he oppresses their Bodies for Satan carrieth on his Kingdom by Force Tyranny Fears and Bondage and therefore it is said Acts 10. 38. That Christ went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the Devil Yet further as God's Executioner he hath the Power over Death for their torment Heb. 2. 14. That through Death he might destroy him that had the power of Death that is the Devil And unless the Lord be merciful he never ceaseth carrying on wicked Men until both they and he are for ever in Hell Mat. 25. 41. Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels All this is spoken to shew Carnal Men their Condition O that they would seriously think of it When they do Evil when they slight the Motions of God's Grace they are under Satan and not only by force as a Child of God may be sometimes but they are willingly ignorant 2 Pet. 3. 5. The more willingly we commit Sin still the more we are under the Power of the Devil Well then if any have need to say Deliver us from Evil certainly unrenewed Carnal Men have need to go to God and say Lord pluck us out of Evil as the same Expression is used Col. 1. 13. Who hath delivered us from the power of Darkness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who hath delivered us with a strong hand O go to God in the Name of Christ there is no way of escape until God pluck you out by main force And mark this Power by which we are delivered God conveyeth by the preaching of the Word which was appointed to turn us from Darkness unto Light and from the Power of Satan unto God Act. 26. 18. and therefore hearken to God's Counsels before your Condition grow incurable and wait upon the Ordinances for the more you neglect and contemn the means of your Recovery your misery increaseth upon you for every day you are still more given up to Satan by the just Judgment of God and to be captivated and taken by him at his will and pleasure by the Snares he sets for you 2. Good Men or God's own Children though they are delivered from the Power of Satan and brought into the Kingdom of Christ yet they are not wholly free in this World but are sometimes caught by Satan's Wiles Ephes. 6. 11. sometimes wounded by his fiery Darts ver 16. Their Lusts and their Consciences are sometimes set a raging though he hath no allowed
wish himself to love Christ less or to be less beloved of him for these things we cannot part with them without Sin but in our enjoyment of Christ there is a happy part some personal Happiness which resulteth to us now all this he could lay at God's Feet How so What for others A regular Love begins at home and every Man is bound to look to his own Salvation first and then the Salvation of others But that was not the case it was not their Salvation and Paul's Salvation which was in Competition but the Glory of God and the common Salvation of the Iews and Paul's particular Salvation It was a mighty prejudice to the Gospel that the People from whom Christ's Messengers proceeded for the Law went out of Sion the Gospel came out from among the Iews that so many of them were prejudiced and a mighty Eclipse to the Glory of God Now he could lay down all his personal Happiness at God's Feet he speaks in Supposition if such a Case falls out But however this is a clear Rule the Glory of God must be preferred before our own Salvation In some Cases there will be need of this Rule For Instance there 's many a Man that possibly is convinced of a false Religion and the first Question Men make is if they can be saved in such a Religion but many Men are hardned in Popery When therefore a Man is contented to continue in a false Religion and dishonour God with his complyance there provided he may be saved he prefers his own Salvation before the Glory of God And in case of the delay of Repentance when Men dally with God and put off the work of returning to the Lord until another time or hereafter it is time enough to repent these Men prize their Salvation before the Glory of God If it were true upon that Supposition that if ever they shall be saved they are contented God shall be dishonoured a great deal longer and that if they be saved at length this will satisfy them Quest. But how may we discern that we make the Glory of God the first and chief thing we aim at in Prayer 1. Partly by the work of your own Thoughts The End is first in Intention tho last in Execution When you are praying for a publick Mercy against an Enemy what runs in your Thoughts Revenge Safety and your own personal Happiness or God's Glory What wilt thou do O Lord unto thy great Name Josh. 7. 9. Are you pleasing your selves with Suppositions of your Escape and Deliverance and reeking your Wrath upon your Adversaries So in Prayer for Strength and Quickning what is it that runs in your Mind Are you entertaining your Spirit with Dreams of Applause and feeding your Minds with the sweetness of popular Acclamation 2. By the manner of praying absolutely for God's Glory but for all other things with a sweet Submission to God's Will Joh. 12. 27. Father save me from this hour but for this cause came I unto this hour Father glorify thy Name Then came there a Voice from Heaven saying I have both glorified it and will glorify it again Christ is absolute in the Request and he receives an Answer Is this enough Do you mainly press God with this that he might provide for his own glorious Name that his Name might not lye under Reproach But now carnal Aims do make Affection impetuous and impatient of check and denial Rachel must have Children or dye When the Heart is set upon earthly Success Pleasure or Comfort then they cannot brook a denial without Murmuring The Children of God only accept of God's Glory and in all other things they leave themselves to God's disposal and therefore this is the main thing 3. Partly too by the Disposition of your Hearts when your Prayers are accomplished and God hath given any Blessing you pray for we do not ask it for God's Glory if we do not use it for God's Glory The time of having Mercies is the time of Trial and therefore when we consume our Mercies upon our Lusts when they do not conduce to check our Sins it is a sign God's Glory is not the thing intended as it should be Thus for the Order of this Petition II. The Necessity of putting up such a Request to God 'T is his charge to us in the Third Commandment That we should sanctify his Name Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain The positive part of that Commandment is Thou shalt sanctify it Now here we make it matter of Prayer to God Hallowed be thy Name From whence let me observe Doct. Those that would have God's Name Hallowed and Glorified must seriously deal with God about it There are several Reasons why we must put up such Requests to God I might argue from the Utility and the Necessity of it First the Utility We put up these Requests to God 1. That we may more solemnly warn our selves of our own Duty In Prayer there is an implicit Vow or solemn Obligation that we take upon our selves to prosecute what we ask It is a Preaching to our selves in God's hearing So that every Word we speak to God is a Lesson to us and our Requests are as so many Exhortations to glorify his Holy Name With what Face can we ask that which we are wholly wretchless and neglectful of Then we shall certainly come under that Character Mat. 15. 7 8. This People draweth nigh unto me with their Mouth and honoureth me with their Lips but their Heart is far from me It is the greatest Mockage of God to ask unless we have a Mind to pursue and diligently to attend to this Work and Business that the Name of God may be glorified in us and upon us 2. That we may have a due Sense and Grief for God's Honour God's Children they are troubled to see God dishonoured Lot's righteous Soul was vexed not with Sodom's Injuries but with Sodom's Sins 2 Pet. 2. 8. And David saith Rivers of Tears run down mine Eyes because Men keep not thy Law Psal. 119. 136. Many will scarce weep for their own Sins where they have advantage of remorse of Conscience but when they are zealously affected with God's Glory they will weep for others Sins When his Name is torn and rent in pieces it is a grief of Heart to them Now God will have us ask this that this Holy Sense of Spiritual Grief may be kept up for when it is become the matter of our Requests then we are interested in the Glory of God We are loth to see things miscarry where we have petitioned and begged for others so when we have begged the Glory of his Name it will further this Spiritual Sense and Grief of Heart when his Name is dishonoured 3. That we may count it as great a Blessing when God is glorified as when we are saved Continue in Prayer saith the Apostle and watch thereunto with Thanksgiving When we have been instant
thou the Walls of thy Jerusalem But how cometh David who was in the depth of private Humiliation so suddenly to fall upon the Case of the Church There was a special Reason for annexing this Request to his own private Complaints and Confessions The Reasons will occasion so many Observations 1. Because of the Offence Scandal and Mischief done to the Church by his Fall and to make amends he prayeth the more earnestly Let not Zion fare the worse for my sake From thence observe That the Sins of particular Persons oft bring a Mischief upon the whole Community David had made a Breach in the Walls of God's Protection and left them naked and more in danger of Judgment Therefore do good c. 2. David was not only a private Member but a Prince and their Sins have a more universal Influence The Sins of Magistrates draw down Judgments on their People all smart for their Miscarriages Hezckiaâ— â—s Pride cost Israel dear 2 Chron. 32. 25. Wrath was upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem It did not stay upon his Person As a great Oak cannnot fall but all the Shrubs about it suffer Loss But 3. David having some comfortable Assurance of the Pardon of his Sins doth now seek Mercy for the Church From thence observe That we are never fit to pray for the Publick till we have made our Peace with God As the Priests under the Law offered Sacrifice first for their own Sins and then for the Peoples Heb. 7. 27. 4. Because being brought by such a solemn but sad occasion into God's presence he could not but have some thoughts of Zion And from thence observe That we should never come to God upon any private occasion but we should remember the Publick We are to pray in Love as well as Faith Christ hath not taught us to say My Father but Our Father to shew that we should take in the Interests and Concernments of the whole Body that there may be a Spirit of Communion breathing in our Prayers David doth not only say Have mercy upon me according to thy Loving-kindness but Do good unto Zion in thy good pleasure Every living Member will be careful for the Body Members should be careful one for another much more for the whole Is any Member pained or grieved all suffer If the Toe be trod upon the Tongue complaineth you have hurt me but now much more when all is concerned Therefore we should not altogether seek our own Things but wrestle with God for the Publick 1. This reproveth divers sorts of People Some are Enemies to the Publick Welfare as Vipers eat out the Dam's Belly especially Enemies to Zion Down with it down with it even to the Ground What Monsters hath this Age brought forth Others are indifferent and careless which goeth up Christ or Antichrist they only mind the Matters of their own Interest and Concernment All seek their own Things As to the Publick Interest of the Church let all go how it will Let me tell you To be selfish is a sort of Self-Excommunication you cast your selves out of the Bundle of Life And to be sensless 't is an implicit renouncing the Body Others there are that are gracious but full of discontent at some Passages of Providence and these seem to have lost their publick Affections 'T is a sad Symptom when a praying People are discouraged from praying for Publick Welfare God is very tender of the Prayers of his People he is loth they should be lost and sorry they cannot be granted We may sin in ceasing to pray 'T is a sad Judgment when the Hearts of God's People are taken off from praying Again Those that pray too coldly for the Publick not as those that would do their Work There is a great Decay of the Spirit of Prayer which is also a sad Presage But now to shew you II. What we should pray for for Zion 1. The Dilatation or Enlargement of it throughout the World The more ample God's Heritage is the more is his Glory known Prov. 14. 28. In the Multitude of the People is the King's Honour and the Glory of a Shepherd lieth in the Number of his Flock So Christ's Kingdom the more it is enlarged the more Honour God hath Psal. 67. 2. That thy Way may be known among the Heathen and thy Saving-Health among all Nations Especially when the Fulness of the Gentiles is brought in Psal. 54. 2. and when the Jews are brought in Hos. 3. 5. To be instrumental to enlarge Christ's Kingdom 't is an Honour to us to draw on Christ's triumphant Chariot let us be sure to have an hand in it These Prayers if sincere are never in vain if they profit not others they promote the Kingdom of God in our selves 2. The Preservation and Defence of the Churches already planted frustrating the Plots and Power of the Enemies That God would be a Wall of Fire round about them Zech. 2. 5. Qui comminus arccat eminus terreat When at the weakest God can protect them bridling by his secret Power the Rage of Adversaries or defeating their Attempts 3. For Comfort and Deliverance in Afflictions We should pity the distressed Church as before That God would redeem them out of all their Troubles Every true Member of the Church hath Life Christ and that Life giveth Feeling and that Feeling Affection and Sympathy to rejoice and mourn They that mourn for Zion rejoice with her Isa. 66. 10. Rejoice ye with Jerusalem and be glad with her all ye that love her rejoice for Ioy with her all ye that mourn for her 4. For the Furniture of the Church a Supply of all Good internal and external 1. Internal That God would bless them with Ordinances enrich them with Graces preserve Truth and Unity and continue his Presence with them his Ordinances that they may enjoy them in Purity that the Word Seals and Censures may be rightly administred till the Lord come These are Things pertaining to the Kingdom of God concerning which Christ spake to the Disciples Acts 1. 3. These are to be kept till Christ's appearing â— Tim. 6. 14. 'T is an Honour to God and of great Profit to the Church and a rejoycing to God's People to see them pure and unmixed Tho absent in the Flesh yet I am with you in the Spirit joying and beholding your Order Col. 2. 5. And then that God would enrich them with his Presence Mat. 28. 20. Lo I am with you always even unto the end of the World 'T is God that giveth the Increase Paul may plant and Apollos water but God giveth the Increase 1 Cor. 3. 6. for Conviction Conversion Confirmation 'T was not the Ark nor Mercy-Seat covered with Cherubims but the Answer from between the Cherubims given immediately by God that manifested his Presence It is not the Sound of the Gospel or outward Ministry but the Work of his Spirit Psal. 84. 2. My Soul yea even fainteth for the Courts of the Lord my
3. When we do our best we cannot deserve these Mercies or merit ought at God's Hands for all we do is already due to God as we are his Creatures and the paying new Debts will not quit old Scores The Question is propounded Iob 22. 2. Can a Man be profitable unto God as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself See the Answer Chap. 35. 7. If thou be righteous what givest thou him or what receiveth he of thine Hand and wherein is God profited if a Man's ways be perfect And therefore what ever God doth for Creatures he doth it freely because he cannot be obliged by any Act of ours and pre-ingaged Thus Adam in Innocency could not obtain the Blessing but by virtue of the Covenant nor merit ought at God's Hands that is put any Obligation upon God and therefore certainly now we cannot And partly too not because whatever we do it will carry a Proportion with these common Mercies We are proud Creatures and think of a Condignity of Works and to merit from Heaven these Mercies But alas there 's no Comparison and if God would deal with us upon Merit and strict Commutative Justice we cannot give him a valuable Compensation for temporal Mercies Gen. 32. 10. I am not worthy of the least of all the Mercies which thou hast shewed unto thy Servant Though none of God's Mercies can simply be said to be little for whatsoever comes from a great God should be great in our Value and Esteem as a small Remembrance from a great Person is much prized therefore no Mercy is simply little but comparatively now the least Mercies some have and others the greatest temporal Things When we are put into the Ballance We and all our Worth and Deservings cannot counterpoize the least Mercy or merit the daily Bread we have from God And then the little Good we do it is meerly by the Grace that we have received If one Man differs from another who made him differ It is but a new Gift he is the more indebted to God 4. We deserve the contrary We have forfeited our Lives and all our Comforts we have put our selves out of God's Protection by Sin Death way-laid us when we were in our Mothers Womb and as soon as we were born there was a Sentence in force against us Rom. 5. 12. Death came upon all for that all have sinned And still we continue the Forfeiture We provoke God to cut us off It is a kind of pardoning Mercy by which we subsist every moment This is sensible in case of Sickness when our Lives and Comforts slide from us when there is but a Step between us and Death when the Old Covenant comes to be put in Suit and God seems to be executing the Sentence of the Law And that is the Reason why the temporal Deliverance of the Wicked and Impenitent is called a Remission as Psal. 78. 38. But he being full of Compassion forgave their Iniquity and destroyed them not And Mat. 18. 26 27 28. Have Patience with me and I will pay thee all And the Lord of that Servant was moved with Compassion and forgave him the Debt Why is it call'd a Remission Improperly because it was a Reprieve from the temporal Judgment for a time it was not an executing the Sentence which was in force against us And it was not from any thing in the Sinner but from God's pity over his Creatures And a godly Man every time his Life and Comforts are in danger hath a Pardon renewed at that time Isa. 38. 17. Thou hast in love to my Soul delivered it from the Pit of Corruption for thou hast cast all my Sins behind thy Back They are loved out of Danger and loved out of Sickness the pardoning Mercy of God is indeed renewed to them APPLICATION Vse 1. For Information in two Branches First That God will give his People temporal Things Not only Pardon and Grace and Glory but no good Thing will he with-hold Psal. 81. 11. Many say they can trust God for eternal Life but cannot trust him for daily Bread This is an utter Mistake Certainly it is far more easy to trust God for daily Bread than for eternal Life because there are more Difficulties more natural Prejudices against these greater Mercies of Pardon and Eternal Life than there can be against the daily Effects of God's Bounty It is a harder matter to work through our natural Prejudices which lie against Eternal Life than to work through that Distrust which lies against God's Care over us and Provision for us Why For God's common Bounty it reacheth to all his Creatures even to the smallest Worm his Mercy is over all his Works And surely it is more easy to believe his common Bounty than his special Love which runs in a distinct Channel to such a sort of Men. But because many have too weak a Faith about temporal Things let us consider how willing God is to distribute and give out these Supplies Several Things I might mention 1. God's Respect to the Bodies of his People is a mighty Ground and Encouragement God is in Covenant with the Body as well as the Soul Jesus Christ proves the Resurrection from thence that God is the God of Abraham Isaac and Iacob Mat. 22. 32. This Argument can never be made good but upon this Supposition that God is in Covenant with Abraham's Body with the whole Believer and therefore the Mark of Circumcision was in their Flesh as the Water of Baptism is sprinkled upon our Bodies Well then if the Bodies of the Saints be in Covenant with God certainly some of the Promises of the Covenant do concern the Body and Sustentation of the present Life But that is not all but Jesus Christ hath purchased both Body and Soul 1 Cor. 6. 20. Ye are bought with a Price therefore glorify God in your Body and in your Spirit which are God's Not only the Soul is Christ's but the Body You will say That is ground of Service but what can it be inferr'd that therefore God will provide for us It is not only a ground of our Service but of Christ's Care of us If Christ had only purchased our Service yet it were a ground of Hope If you expect Work and Service from a Body you will give maintenance to that Body But Christ's Purchase implieth his Care over that he hath purchased for the Interest God hath in us in Redemption is a gracious Interest God had an Interest in us before we were redeemed we could not make void his Right by any Rebellion of ours But then God hath such an Interest in us as engaged and sollicited him to destroy us Look as a Prince hath an Interest in his Subjects if they rebell and revolt from their Obedience they cannot disannul his Right but it is such a Right as binds him to pursue and chastise them until they return to their Duty So God hath a Right to the fallen Creature but it was
should they study Thankfulness Secondly Because of the Equity of it Consider what an Equity there is that we should be thankful for outward Blessings 1. They are good in themselves 2. They come from God 3. They come from the Lord's Grace and Mercy 1. They are good in themselves Food and Raiment is good and every Creature of God is good 1 Tim. 4. 4. They are good things tho not the best things They are good for our selves that we may serve God more chearfully The Lord would have the Levites and Priests have their Portion that they might be encouraged in the Law of the Lord. 2 Chron. 31. 4. Now these things are good to encourage us and support us in our Work Man consists of two parts of a Body and of a Soul Now whether we look to the one or the other you will have many Arguments to love and praise God not only for what he hath done for our Souls but likewise for our Bodies And they are good because they prevent many Snares and Temptations Prov. 30. 9. Lest I be poor and steal and take the Name of my God in vain Diseases which arise from Fulness are more common but Diseases which arise from Indigence and Emptiness they are more dangerous So Diseases of Prosperity they are more common it is a rank Soil and yields more Weeds but Diseases which arise from Poverty breed Atheism Irreligion and Rebellion against God They are good as they make us more useful for God and Man For God as having more Advantages for the honouring of God Prov. 3. 9. Honour the Lord with thy Substance and with the First-Fruits of all thine Increase And of doing good to others That we may have to distribute to them that need Eph. 4. 28. O we should all covet and affect mightily to have wherewith to relieve the Necessities of others 2. As they are Blessings so they are Blessings which do not come by Chance or by Man's Providence 1 Tim. 6. 17. The living God who giveth us richly all Things to enjoy The People of God are plentifully provided for Your Tables are well furnished Backs well cloathed it is God which gives you richly to enjoy them and he must be acknowledged as David doth 1 Chron. 29. 14. For all Things come of thee and of thine own have we given thee Then ver 16. O Lord our God all this Store that we have prepared to build thee an House for thine holy Name cometh of thine hand and is all thine own Tho you your selves have been Purchasers of your own Estate and Carvers of your own Fortune as Man is most apt to forget God there yea but tho you have prepared and brought together a great deal of Store yet Lord all comes from thee It sweetneth the Mercy When you are at the Table to be carved to by a great Person their Remembrance is counted a greater Favour than the Meal it self So it is not barely the Comfort we have by the Creature which sweetneth it but when we think of the Donor that the great God should think of us that it is God which spreads our Table for us that doth put this Meat and Drink before us It was he that gave Seed to the Sower and Bread for Food 2 Cor. 9. 10. When we take it immediately out of God's Hands it is much sweeter And not only so but also it is the more sanctified When we look to second Causes we shall surely abuse the Mercy Hos. 2. 8. For she did not know that I gave her Corn and Wine and Oil and multiplied her Silver and Gold what then Therefore she prepared it for Baal When God's Kindness is not taken notice of when we do not see God in our Mercies we shall not use them for God That Man will surely improve his Comforts ill that doth not see God in them Now that which comes from God leads the Heart to God again then the Creature is sanctified Therefore acknowledg God in these outward Things We should say of every Morsel of Bread this is God's Gift to me of every Nights Sleep this is the Lord's Goodness When God is acknowledged in these outward Things he takes it the more kindly and we are the better for it the Mercy is the sweeter and the more sanctified 3. They not only come from God but from the Lord 's free Grace and Mercy These are two distinct Notions by which God's Goodness is set out and they are both significant and expressive in the present Case Grace that doth all freely Mercy that pitieth the Miserable 1. Then we have them from Grace Grace is at liberty to give them to whom it will Well there is Grace in these outward Things for God gives them to whom he will to some not to others O when we consider the Distinction between us and others every one hath not such liberal Supplies nay many of those of whom the World is not worthy surely this is meerly the Lord's Goodness Prov. 22. 2. The Rich and the Poor meet together the Lord is the Maker of them all They had the same Maker that you had others which are destitute therefore why is it you have more than they It is meerly from Grace Why is one Vessel framed for an honourable Use and another for a baser Use So it pleased the Potter God as the great Master of the Scenes appointeth to every Man what part he shall act meerly out of his own Grace he is bound to none It was a good Speech of Tamberlain the great Conqueror of the East to Baâ—azet What did God see in thee that art blind in one Eye and me that am lame of one Leg that he should make us passing by many others the Lords of so many opulent and mighty Kingdoms A savoury Speech from an Infidel What did God see in any of us to exalt cherish and supply us and let pass many others who for moral Excellencies and vertuous Endowments do far exceed us When we consider this Distinction then Even so Father because it pleased thee There is a kind of Election and Reprobation in these common Mercies that is God will dispense them to one and not to another he will be glorified in their Poverty and glorified in thy Wealth and therefore there 's Grace in it 2. There is Mercy in it that pitieth the miserable How doth it appear these good things come from Mercy because of our Want and because of our Forfeiture 1. Our Want and our Indigence O when we think what shiftless creatures we should have been if he had not provided for us Psal. 40. 17. I am poor and needy yet the Lord thinketh upon me If we were but sensible of our own Weakness and Emptiness and manifold Necessities we would admire that God should think of us such forlorn and wretched Creatures or that our Baseness and Poverty doth not make us contemptible to God Psal. 34. 6. This poor Man cried and the Lord heard him and saved
Ordinances that was against us which was contrary to us and took it out of the way naâ—lâ—ng it to his Cross. He hath disannull'd the Law which binds to suffer the Wrath of God The Law was the Bond by which our Death was ratified 3. There is requir'd an unfeigned purpose to forsake Sin He that hath been released of his Debt must not still run into new Arrears Christ never blotted out our Debts that we might renew them and go on upon a new Score of offending God again this is to dally with God to run into the Snare when he hath broken it for us and given us an escape to plunge our selves into new Debts again In this Prayer Forgive us our Debts then presently Lead us not into Temptation Therefore we must purpose to forsake Sin otherwise we do not draw nigh to God with a true Heart Heb. 10. 22. We do but deal falsely with God in all the Confessions we make and in all the Pleas of Faith unless there be an unfeigned purpose to renounce all Sin and cast it off as a thing that will undo our Souls Thus Christians must you sue out your Release and Discharge in your Surety's Name Vse 1. The Use is first to shew us the Misery of an impenitent unpardoned Sinner he hath a vast Debt upon him that will surely undo him unless he doth in time get a Discharge He is bound over to suffer the Wrath of God for evermore and no Hand can loose him but God's Many times they think of no such matter and cry Peace Peace to themselves but it is not the Debtor which must cancel the Book but the Creditor Have you a discharge from God where 's your legal Qualification poor Creatures what will you do Many take care that they may owe nothing to any Man Oh! but what do you owe to God To live in doubt and in fear of an Arrest O what Misery is that But when Sin lieth at the Door ready to attach you every moment and hale you to the Prison of Hell that 's most dreadful Therefore think of it seriously how do Accounts stand between God and you Sinners are loth to think of it When the Lord came to reckon with his Servants Mat. 18. 24. it is said One was brought to him which ow'd him ten thousand Talents He was loth to come to an account he would fain keep out of the way but he was brought to him So we are unwilling to be call'd to account we shift and delay and will not think of our Misery but the putting off Sin will not put it away our not thinking of our Misery will not help us out and will not be a Release and Discharge 2. If Sins be Debts and an increasing Debt so that Man is ever treasuring up Wrath against the day of Wrath it presseth us to be more careful to get out of this Condition Saith Solomon Prov. 6. 3 4 5. If thou beest in debt flee as a swift Roe from the hand of the Hunter and as a Bird from the hand of the Fowler O it 's a sad thing to lie in our Sins If you be under this Debt Give not Sleep to thine Eyes nor Slumber to thine Eye-lids get away like the swift Roe from the hand of the Hunter c. And what I say concerning a State of Sin I say concerning daily Failings make your Peace with God betimes if you have contracted a new Debt make all even between God and your Souls that you may not sleep in your Sins 3. This should make us more cautious that we do not commit Sin Why it is a Debt that will render you obnoxious to the Wrath of God in it self it merits eternal Death O therefore sin no more do not run again into the Snare When you give way to Sin you hazard the Comfort of your Acquittance by Christ Psal. 85. 8. The Lord will speak Peace unto his People and to his Saints but let them not turn again to Folly If the Lord hath given you your Peace and some hope of your being discharged of this heavy Debt take heed of medling with forbidden Fruit and running into debt again 2. From the Subject or Persons which make this Prayer Forgive us Observe Doct. Even those that call God Father ought to beg daily and humbly Pardon of their Sins Forgive Vs who is that Vs that can say in Faith Our Father daily For this is a Patern for daily Prayer as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the former Petition noteth We need beg for Christ hath taught us here to sue out our Discharge In which begging there is an Exercise of Faith eying Christ Rom. 3. 25. God hath set forth him to be a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood And there is an Exercise also of Repentance as to mourning for Sin 1 Iohn 1. 9. and Prov. 28. 13. He that confesseth and forsaketh his Sin shall have Mercy and as to loathing of Sin Acts 3. 19. Repent ye therefore and be converted that your Sins may be blotted out And certainly it must be humbly begged for if we seek Pardon we must seek it in God's way We do not beg God to rescind and make void his Laws and those wise Constitutions he hath appointed whereby the Creature shall receive this Grace and the manner wherein he will deal and transact this business with the offending Creature But we seek it as exercising our renewed Repentance that is mourning for Sin and loathing of Sin But of this more hereafter Now that the best of God's Children should be dealing with God about a Pardon of their Sins I shall argue it 1. From the Necessity 2. The Utility and Profit of such a Course First The Necessity of this will appear two ways 1. From the Condition of God's Children here in the World 2. From the way wherein God will give out a Pardon 1. From the Condition of God's Children here in this World The best are not so fully sanctified in this Life but there is some Sin found in them Not only they who walk with no Care but even they that set the most narrow watch over their Ways they are not so sanctified but they need daily to go to God 1. They have Original Sin which remaineth with them to the last they have the sinning Sin which the Apostle speaks of Paul complains of the body of Death Rom. 7. 23 24. Who shall deliver me from it The Hebrews were wont to propound their Wishes by way of Question as O that Salvation were come out of Sion It is in the Hebrew Who shall bring Salvation out of Zion So Who will lead me into Edom That is O that I were led into Edom that I might display the Banner there because of God's Truth So who shall deliver me from the body of this Death that is O that I were delivered Where the Reign of Sin is broken yet there it remains though it be cast down in regard of
with Stripes nevertheless my loving Kindness will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my Faithfulness to fail Psal. 89. 32 33. And Prov. 11. 31. The Righteous shall be recompensed in the Earth That is he shall smart for his Evil-doings A Child of God when he sinneth against him tho he be not executed yet he may be branded he may have a Mark of Shame put upon him his Pilgrimage may be made uncomfortable and these may be fully consistent with God's Grace and Love Therefore we beg a Release from these penal Evils that as the Guilt so the Punishment also my be abolished 2. The Right that a justified Person hath to the Pardon of his daily Sins Pardon of Sin is to be considered 1. In the Impetration of it 2. The Offer 3. The Judicial Application or legal Absolution of the Sinner 1. In the Impetration and Purchase of it So when Heb. 10. 14. By one Offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified there needed no more to expiate them to satify Justice 2. In the offer of it So God hath proclaimed Pardon upon the Condition of Repentance Ezek. 33. 11. Say unto them As I live saith the Lord God I have no Pleasure in the Death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live turn ye turn ye from your evil Ways for why will ye die O House of Israel 3. In the Judicial Application or legal Absolution of a Sinner God in Word hath pronounced the legal Absolution of every one that believeth in Christ. Assoon as we repent and believe a threefold Benefit we have 1. The state of the Person is altered He is a Child of God Iohn 1. 12. To as many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God even to them that believe on his Name He hath full leave to call God Father a kind of fatherly dealing from him Translated from a state of Wrath to the state of Grace from a Child of the Devil he is made a Child of God never to be cast out of his Family 2. The actual Remission of all past Sins Rom. 3. 25. To declare his Righteousness for the Remission of Sins that are past through the Forbearance of God 'T would be a Licence to sin if his Sins were remitted before committed 3. A Right to the Remission of daily Sins or free leave to make use of the Fountain of Mercy that is always running and is opened in the House of God for the Comfort of Believers Zech. 13. 1. In that day there shall be a Fountain opened to the House of David and to the Inhabitants of Jerusalem for Sin and for Vncleanness 2. The Utility and Profit of such a Course See Serm. on Psal. 32. 1. Serm. 20. Vse The Use is to press us to be often dealing with God about the pardon of our Sins by a general and daily Humiliation none are exempted from bewailing the Evil of Sin The Death of Christ doth not put less Evil into Sin it is still damning in its own Nature 't is still the Violation of an holy Law an Affront to an holy God an Inconvenience to thy precious Soul When Christ paid the Price for our Sins it was upon this Condition That we should renew our Faith and Repentance that we should sue out our Discharge in his Name that when we sin we may come and humble our selves before the Lord. Under the Law if a Man were unclean he was to wash his Cloaths before Evening He was not to sleep in his Uncleanness So if you have desiled your selves you should go wash in the Laver that God hath appointed The Lord taught his People under the Law of repeating a daily Sacrifice Morning and Evening If one be fallen out with another God hath advised us before the Sun be set to go and be reconciled to our Brother and wilt thou lie under the Wrath of God for one Night If we would oftner use this Course the Work of Repentance would not be so hard Wounds are best cured at first before they are suffered to fester and rankle into a Sore So are Sins before they grow longer upon us And if we did oftner thus reckon with our selves we should have less to do when we come to die Therefore do as wise Merchants at the Foot of every Page draw up the Account so help it forward So it will not be hard to sum up a long Account and reckon up our whole Lives and beg a Release of all our Debts therefore daily come and humble your selves before the Lord. The oftner you do this the sooner you will have the Comfort of Pardon but when you keep off from God and delay you suffer the loss of Peace and the loss of God's Favour and Hardness of Heart and Atheism and carnal Security increase upon you As we forgive our Debtors I come to the last Branch Hence observe Doct. 3. Those that would rightly pray to be forgiven of God they must forgive others First I shall give you the Explication 2. The Reasons For Explication I shall speak to three things 1. Who are Debtors 2. What respect our forgiving of others hath to God's forgiving of us 3. In what manner we must forgive others First Who are our Debtors It is not meant in a vulgar Sence of those only which stand ingaged for a Sum of Mony due to us but of all such as have offended us in Word or Deed. There is a Duty we owe to one another which when we omit or act contrary unto it we are not only Debtors to God but to one another and the Doers of the Injury are bound to repair the Wrong and to make Restitution In this large sence is the word Debtors here taken with respect to the Person that hath done the Injury He becomes a Debtor is to make Satisfaction and suffer the Punishment which the Wrong deserves Secondly What Respect hath our forgiving of others to God's forgiving us I shall speak to it Negatively and Positvely 1. Negatively 1. It is not a meritorious Cause or a Merit and Price given to God why he should pardon us for that 's only the Blood of Christ. Every Act of ours is due it is imperfect and no way proportionate to the Mercies we expect and therefore it cannot be meritorious before God It is due it is a Duty we are bound to do and paying of new Debts doth not quit old Scores God hath laid such a Law upon us that we are to forgive others that cannot expiate former Offences And it is imperfect too The Remembrance of Injuries sticks too close to us When we do most heartily and intirely forgive others even then we have too great a sense of the Injury and Wrong that is offered to us Now that which needs Pardon cannot deserve Pardon And it is disproportionate to the Mercy which we expect What a vast Disparity and Difference is there between God's pardoning of us
God God is greater than our Consciences His Authority is greater for God is Supream whose Sentence is decisive Now tho Conscience should not do its Office 1 Cor. 4. 4. For I know nothing by my self yet am I not hereby justified but he that judgeth me is the Lord. All depends upon God's Testimony 2. Because of his Power who only can still the Conscience Isa. 57. 19. I create the Fruit of the Lips to be Peace Peace That is the Lips of his Ministers or Messengers who bring the glad tydings of Peace or the reconcilement of God to his People And therefore 't is called the Peace of God Phil. 4. 7. as wrought by him The Gospel is a sovereign Plaister but 't is God's Hand that must make it stick upon the Soul otherwise we hear Words and return Words 't is by the lively Operation of his Spirit that our Hearts are setled God cometh in with a sovereign powerful Act upon the Soul Otherwise one Grief or sad Thought doth but awaken another Till he command Loving Kindness Psal. 42. 8. We are still followed with Temptations As the Rain swells the Rivers and Rivers the Sea and in the Sea one Wave impelleth another so doth one Temptation raise another Vse 1. It reproveth those that do not deal with God about the Pardon of their Sins If God alone pardon Sins then God must be sought to about it For tho there be none in Earth to call us to an Account yet God may call us to an Account and then what shall we do Many if they escape the Judgment of Man think they are safe But Alas your Iniquities will find you out You think they are past and never more to be remembred but they will find you out in this World or the next our Business lieth not with Man so much as with God Therefore this should be the question of your Souls Job 31. 14. What then shall I do when God riseth up and when he visiteth what shall I answer him Which way shall I turn my self when God calleth me to an Account He will come and enquire into our ways are you provided of an Answer David's Sin was secret his Plot for the Destruction of Vriah closely carried Nathan tells him 2 Sam. 12. 12. Thou didst it secretly But against thee have I sinned Many escape blame with Men but God's Wrath maketh Inquisition for Sinners You cannot escape his Search and Vengeance if you do not treat with him about a Pardon Vse 2. It shews the Folly of those that have nothing to shew for the pardon of their Sins but their own secure Presumptions 'T is God's Act to pardon Sin Man may forget his Sin But if God remember it he is miserable Man may hide his Sin but if God bring it to Light Man may put off the Thoughts but if God doth not put away Man may excuse his Sin but if God aggravate it the Debtor may deny the Debt but if the Book be not crossed he is responsible Psal. 32. 1 2. Blessed is he whose Transgression is forgiven whose Sin is covered Blessed is the Man to whom the Lord imputeth not Iniquity c. We must have God's Act to shew for our Discharge then we may triumph 'T is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth c. Rom. 8. 33 34. God is the offended Party and the Supream Judg. Then Conscience hath nothing to do with us nor Satan neither as Accuser or Executioner Not as an Accuser for then he is but a Slanderer not as an Executioner for he is turned out of Office Heb. 2. 14. That he might destroy him that had the power of Death even the Devil Have you your Pardon from God Is your Discharge from him When have it we from God 1. Have it you from his Mouth in the Word or Prayer upon suing to him in Christ's Name and earnest waiting upon him If Men would consider how they come by their Peace they would sooner be undeceived You were praying and wrestling with God and so your Comfort came God speaketh Peace But when it groweth upon you you know not how it was a thing you never laboured for like Ionah's Gourd it grew up in a Night 't is but a fond Dream 2. Have it you under his Hand Is it a Peace upon Scripture terms of Faith Rom. 5. 1. Therefore being justified by Faith we have Peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ. Repentance Luke 24. 47. That Repentance and Remission of Sins should be preached in his Name among all Nations c. And the Exercise of Holiness Then have you God's word to shew for it But if it be not a Peace consistent with Scripture-Rules nay you are afraid of the Word Ioh. 3. 20. You are loth to be tried 't is a naughty Heart 3. Have it you under his Seal 2 Cor. 1. 22. Who hath also sealed us and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our Hearts Have you the Impress of God upon you God's Seal his Image Doth the Spirit of Promise assure your Hearts before God that you can live in the Strength of this Comfort and go about Duties chearfully Then 't is God's Pardon otherwise 't is but your own Absolution which is worth nothing Vse 3. It sheweth that we need not fear the Censures of Men nor the Hatred of the Ungodly for 't is God pardoneth and who can condemn God will not ask their Vote and Suffrage who shall be accepted to Life and who not 1 Cor. 4. 3. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you or of Mans Iudgment c. A Man must expect Censure that will be faithful to God but if he acquit us it is no matter what our guilty Fellow-Creatures say Vse 4â— Is Comfort to broken-hearted Sinners to those that need and desire Pardon 'T is well for them that God doth not put them off to others but reserveth this power of pardoning Sins to himself 1. 'T is his Glory to forgive Sins Exod. 33. 18. And he said I beseech thee shew me thy Glory compared with Exod. 34. 6 7. And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in Goodness and Truth Keeping Mercy for thousands forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin c. 'T is not only the Glory of a Man who is so offensive himself and so passionate that this Passion will draw him to what is unseemly but of God 2. 'T is his Glory not only above the Creatures but above all that is called God in the World Mic. 7. 18. Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth Iniquity and passeth by the Transgression of the Remnant of his Heritage He retaineth not his Anger for ever because he delighteth in Mercy The Heathen Gods were known by their Terrors rather than their Benefits and feared rather for their Revenges than their Mercies We may boast of him above all Idol Gods
upon this Account He is known among his People not so much by acts of Power as acts of Grace and the greatness of his Mercy in pardoning Sins for Christ's sake 3. He is willing to dispence a Pardon Miâ— 7. 18. He delighteth in Mercy God delighteth in himself and all his Attributes and the Manifestation of them in the World but above all in his Mercy Justice is his strange act Isa. 28. 21. There is not any thing more pleasing to him 'T is the Mercy of God that he hath drawn up a Petition for us he would never have taught us to have asked Mercy by Prayer if he had not been willing to shew us Mercy 4. God will do it for his own sake and not for any forreign Reasons Isa. 43. 25. I even I am he that blotteth out thy Transgressions for mine own sake and out of a respect to his own Honour See how God casts up his Accounts It is Mercy Jer. 3. 12. I am merciful saith the Lord and I will not keep Anger for ever So his Truth Psal. 106. 45. He remembred for them his Covenant and repented according to the Multitude of his Mercies Not from any desert of theirs who do so neglect him and wrong him God will do it upon his own Reasons 5. He will do it in such a way as Man doth not in a way of infinite Mercy Hos. 11. 9. I will not execute the fierceness of mine Anger for I am God and not Man 'T is the great Advantage of us Sinners that we have to do with God and not Man in our Miscarriages For Man's Pity and Mercy may be exhausted be it never so great What seven times a Day But God is Infinite Man may think it dishonourable to agree with an Inferior when he stoops not to him but God is so far above the Creature that we are below his Indignation Man is soon wearied but not God Isa. 55. 8 9. For my Thoughts are not your Thoughts neither are your Ways my Ways saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are higher than the Earth so are my Ways higher than your Ways and my Thoughts than your Thoughts I now come to the fourth and last Consideration IV. That Forgiveness of Sins is one great Benefit that we must ask of God in Prayer Here it will be needful to shew First The Necessity of treating with God about Forgiveness Secondly The Nature of this Benefit Thirdly The Terms how God dispenseth it First The Necessity will appear in these Propositions 1. Man hath a Conscience Rom. 2. 15. Thoughts accusing or excusing c. A Beast cannot reflect 2. A Conscience inferreth a Law 3. A Law inferreth a Sanction 4. A Sanction inferreth a Judgment 5. A Judgment a Condemnation to the fall'n Creature 6. There is no avoiding this Condemnation unless God set up a Chancery or another Court of Grace 7. If God set up another Court our Plea must be Grace Of this see more at large 20. Serm. 1 Serm. on Psal. 32. 1 2. Secondly The Nature of this Benefit or manner how God forgiveth 1. Freely 2. Fully 1. Freely and meerly upon the Impulsions of his own Grace Isa. 43. 25. I even I am he that forgiveth your Iniquities for my Name sake Nothing else could move him to it but his own Mercy and he could have chosen whether he would have done so yea or no For he spared not the Angels but offereth Pardon to Man and all Men are not actually pardoned And therefore the only reason why he sheweth us Mercy and not others is meerly his own Grace The Intervention of Christ's Merit doth not hinder the Freedom of it Tho dearly purchased by Christ yet freely bestowed on us For 't is said Rom. 3. 24. Iustified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Christ. Why partly because it was Mercy that he would not prosecute his Right against us Partly because he found out the way how to recompense the wrong done by Sin unto his Majesty and out of his Love sent his Son to make this Recompence for us Ioh. 3. 16. 'T was Love set all a-work And lastly not excited hereunto by any worth on our parts but the external moving cause was only our Misery and the internal moving cause his own Grace Nor is the Freedom of this Act infringed by requiring Faith and Repentance on our part because that only sheweth the way and order wherein this Grace is dispensed not the cause why 'T is not for the worth of our Repentance or as if there were any Merit in it A Malefactor that beggeth his Pardon on his Knees doth not deserve a Pardon only the Majesty of the Prince requireth that it should be submissively asked These are not Conditions of Merit but Order not the Cause but the way of Grace's working And these Conditions are wrought in us by Grace Acts 5. 31. not required only but given In all other Covenants the Party contracting is bound to perform what he promiseth by his own strength But in the Covenant of Grace God doth not only require that we should Believe and Repent but causeth it in us Conditions of the Covenant are Conditions in the Covenant God requireth Faith and Repentance and giveth Faith and Repentance compare Isa. 59. 20. with Rom. 11. 26. 'T is Christ's Gift as well as his Precept So that when we come about pardon of Sin we have only to do with Grace We beg Pardon and a Heart to receive it 'T is a Free Pardon 2. 'T is a Full Pardon 'T is Full in several respects 1. Because where the Party is forgiven he is accepted with God as if he had never sinned Psal. 103. 12. As far as the East is from the VVest so far hath he removed our Transgressions from us And Mich. 7. 19. Thou wilt cast all their Sins into the depth of the Sea Isa. 38. 17. Thou hast cast all my Sins behind thy Back It shall not be remembred nor laid to their charge any more 'T is true for a while after they may trouble the Conscience as when the Storm ceaseth the Waves rowl for a while afterwards So may Sin in the Consciences of God's Children work trouble after the fiducial Application of the Blood of Christ But the Storm ceaseth by degrees And 't is possible that the commitment of new Sins may revive old Guilt as a new Strain may make us sensible of an old Bruise Yet we must distinguish between the full Grant of a Pardon From the full sense of it when we are not Thankful Humble Fruitful former Sins may come into remembrance and God may permit it as matter of Humiliation to us and to quicken us to seek after new Confirmation of our Right and Interest Yet God's Pardon is never reversed nor will the Sin be charged again or put in suit against him to the final condemnation of the Person so pardoned Once more though the Sins of the Justified should be remembred at the Day
than the Fire doth to a Stone if we were not combustible Matter The Corruption that is in the World through Lust 2 Pet. 1. 4. The danger of living in the World doth not stand in this because here are so many Inticements and Baits for every Sense but it 's the Corruption through Lust as the Venom is not in the Flower but Spider The Philistines could not prevail against Sampson if Dalilah on whom he doted had not lull'd him asleep Or as Balaam first corrupted Israel before he could curse them or bring them any harm So Corruption in the Heart makes us liable to Satan's Malice There is a treacherous Party within to open the Door to Satan without which all outward Force could not annoy us Well then we had need go to God Lord Deliver us from Evil. Where we beg 1. That God would weaken the strength of inbred Corruption that we may not be foiled by it Paul groans sadly Rom. 7. 24. O wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death It is a Question but it implyeth a Wish for the Hebrews propose their Wishes by way of Question that is O that I were delivered It is a great Mercy to be kept from falling into Sin Kept from every Evil Work 2 Tim. 4. 18. 2. If we be foiled by our Corruption we beg that we may not lie in it nor grow weary of our Resistance nor cast away our Weapons and suffer Sin to have a quiet Reign Psal. 119. 133. Let not any Iniquity have dominion over me We cannot hope for a total exemption from Sin but O Lord let it not reign over us How shall we know when Sin reigns When there is no course of Mortification set up against it to break the Power Force and Tyranny of it Take this Distinction There are remaining and reserved Corruptions Sin remains where it doth not reign but reserved Corruption that 's reigning I will explain it thus Sin remains when notwithstanding all our Endeavours yet it still haunts and pesters us tho praying watching striving waiting and depending upon God for Strength but it is reserved when you let it alone and are loth to touch it but rather cherish dandle and foster it in the Heart and make provision for it Therefore then are we delivered from Evil when we recover by Repentance and tho we suffer by the Tyranny of Sin we will not let it alone to have a quiet reign in our Hearts Do not live under the Power of Corruptions Sin let alone will do us farther Mischief Secondly As we have reason to pray to God with earnestness because of our Danger so with Confidence because of God's Undertaking 2 Thes. 3. 3. The Lord is faithful who shall stablish you and keep you from Evil. God hath undertaken to keep those who with humble and broken Hearts do come to him to be kept from Evil that are watchful serious and careful to get Evils redressed as soon as discerned therefore we may come with an assured Confidence to be delivered from all Evil. How far hath God undertaken to keep his People from Evils and Dangers in this Life I answer 1. So far as may be hurtful to their Souls 1 Cor. 10. 13. God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able but will with the Temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it It is part of God's Faithfulness to keep you from Evil to proportion and temper Temptation to your Strength God suits the Burden to every Back he drives on as the little Ones are able to bear therefore certainly he will mitigate Temptation or give in supply of Strength 2. God will keep you from the Evil of Sin so far as it is deadly that is that it be not a Sin unto Death 1 Iohn 5. 16. and that it may not reign in our mortal Bodies for you are dead to it Rom. 6. 14. For Sin shall not have Dominion over you for ye are not under the Law but under Grace 3. God undertakes for our Final Deliverance from all Evil upon our translation to Heaven This is included in this Prayer that we may at length come to that State where is no Sorrow no Sin no Assault and Temptation from Satan that we may be kept from all Wickedness Psal. 34. 19. Many are the Afflictions of the Righteous but the Lord delivereth him out of them all There is a time when God delivereth us from all at once and that is by Death and our Translation into Heaven Well then Let us fly to God for Deliverance waiting for his Help Doct. That to be kept from the Evil of Temptation is a greater Mercy than to be kept from the Trouble of Temptation Lead us not into Temptation but deliver us from Evil That is If we be led into Temptation let us be kept from the Evil of it First It 's a more wonderful Providence to be kept from Evil than from Temptation Esse bonum facile est ubi quod vetat esse remoâ—um est It is no great matter to be Chast or Honest when there 's no Temptation to the contrary Ay but to keep our Integrity in the midst of Assaults and Temptations there 's the wonder If a Garrison be never assaulted 't is no wonder that it standeth exempt from the Calamity of War This is like the Bush that was burned yet not consumed exercised with Temptation from Day to Day and yet kept from Evil. And in this Sence God's Power is more glorified than in keeping the Angels for the Angels are out of Gun-shot and Harms-way and not liable to Temptations But to preserve a poor weak Creature in the midst of Temptation O! how is the Power of God made perfect in Weakness 2 Cor. 12. 9. Perfected that is gloriously discovered Secondly The Evil of Sin is greater than the Evil of Affliction or Trouble 1. The Evil of Sin is the greater Evil because it separateth from God Isa. 59. 2. 'T is an Aversion from the Chiefest Good Affliction doth not separate from God 't is a means to make us draw nigh to him Poverty Sickness Blindness Loss of Goods let a Man be never so low and loathsom yet if in a state of Grace the Lord taketh pleasure in him and he is near and dear to God God kisseth him with the Kisses of his Mouth nothing is loathsom to God but Sin 2. Sin is Evil in it self whether we feel it or no Affliction is not Evil in it self but in our Sense and Feeling Heb. 12. 11. Sin is Evil whether we feel it or no 'T is worse when we do not feel it Past Feeling Eph. 4. 19. when our Conscience is benummed 3. Affliction or Malum Poenae is an Act of Divine Justice but Malum Culpae is an Act of Man's Corruptness For the first Affliction Amos 6. 3. Is there any Evil and the Lord hath not done it But Sin is
the Devil's work in us 1 John 3. 8. He that committeth Sin is of the Devil for the Devil sinneth from the beginning For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the Works of the Devil And Joh. 8. 34. Whosoever committeth Sin is the Servant of Sin The one cometh from a just God the other from our corrupt Hearts The one is the Act of an Holy God the other the Act of a sinful Creature 4. The Death of Christ falls more directly upon this Benefit exemption from Sin Mat. 1. 21. He shall save his People from their Sins Acts 3. 26. God having raised up his Son Iesus sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from his Iniquities not Troubles or Sorrows but Sins 5. Affliction is a more particular temporal Evil but Sin is an infinite universal Evil Sickness depriveth us of Health Poverty of Wealth c. And every adverse Providence doth but oppose some particular temporal Good But Sin depriveth us of God who is the Fountain of our Comfort the other but of some limited Comfort 6. Afflictions are sent to remove Sin Heb. 12. 11. Now no chastning for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable Fruit of Righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby Isa. 26. 9. When thy Iudgments are in the Earth the Inhabitants of the World will learn Righteousness But Sin is not sent to remove Affliction Now the End must be greater than the Means both as to Prosecution and Aversation As to Prosecution To dig for Iron with Mattocks of Gold and Silver So in Aversation If Death were not worse than the Pain of Physick no Man would take Physick to avoid Death 7. Affliction is the Effect of God's Love Heb. 12. 6. Whom the Lord loveth he chastneth But to be left to Sin is an Effect of God's Anger God doth not always exempt from Troubles yet if he keep from Spiritual hurt thereby if he sanctify the Trouble support us with sufficient Grace 2 Cor. 12. 9. if preserved from Evil howsoever tempted and exercised 't is enough Vse 1. To reprove our Folly We complain of other Things but we do not complain of Sin which is the greatest Evil. This is contrary to the Spirit of God's Children who rejoice in Troubles but not in Sins 2 Cor. 12. 9. Most gladly therefore will I rejoice in Infirmities that the Power of Christ may rest upon me They groan bitterly under Sins Rom. 7. 23. O wretched Man c. If any Man had cause to complain of Afflictions Paul had In Perils often Whipped Persecuted Stoned But the Body of Sin and Death was the greatest Burden Lusts troubled him more than Scourges his Captivity to the Law of Sin more than Prisons When Affliction sitteth too close Sin sits loose In Affliction there is some Offence done us but in Sin the wrong is done to God And what are we to God Afflictions may be good but Sin is never good The Body suffereth by Affliction but the Soul suffereth by Sin loss of Grace and Comfort which are not to be valued by all the World's Enjoyments The Evil of Affliction is but for a moment like Rain it drieth up of its own accord But the Evil of Sin is for ever unless it be pardoned and taken away Sin is the Cause of all the Evils of Affliction therefore when we complain we should complain not so much of the Smart as of the Cause of it 2. It directeth us 1. How to pray to God against Sin rather than Trouble This is indeed to be delivered from Evil 2 Tim. 4. 18. Paul reckoned upon that He will deliver me from every evil Work When afflicted you should rather desire to have the Affliction sanctified than removed you will be most careful for that Saints do not pray for the Interests of the Old Man rather than the New Man To be freed from Trouble is a common Mercy but to have it sanctified is a special Mercy Carnal Men may be without Affliction but Carnal Men cannot have experience of Grace Bare deliverance is no sign of special Love 2. In our choice 'T was an heavy Charge they put upon Iob Job 36. 21. Thou hast chosen Iniquity rather than Affliction Sometimes we are put upon the trial To loose the Favour of God or the Favour of Men Duty and Danger Here content my self gratify my Lusts and Interests there offend God Out of the Temptation we could easily judg that all the Misery in the World is to be endured rather than commit the least Sin But how is it upon a trial when a Worldly Convenience and a Spiritual Inconvenience is proposed By chusing Sin a Man cannot altogether escape Affliction here or hereafter Wickedness though it prosper a while yet at length it proveth a Snare 3. It directeth us to submit to God's Providence and to own Mercy in it Though God doth not exempt us from Troubles yet if he keep us from Hurt thereby if he sanctify the Trouble and support us with Grace sufficient 't is his Mercy to us For Daniel to be put into the Lion's Den was not so great a Judgment as for Nebuchadnezzar to have the Heart of a Beast To be given up to our own Hearts Lusts to commit any Sin 't is a greater Cross than any Misery that can light upon us therefore let us be patient under Affliction Our great Care should be not to dishonour God in any Condition God hath promised to be with his People in their Afflictions to comfort them but hath never promised to be with his People in their Sins I will be with you in the Fire and in the Water as the Son of God was with the three Childrâ—â— in the fiery Furnace But God is departed whâ— they siâ— I will go to my own place Sin hindreth Prayer but Afflictions quicken it Isa. 26. 16. Lord in Trouble have they visited thee they poured out a Prayer when thy chastning was upon them In Affliction 't is a time to put the Promises in suit it doth not hinder our access to God and the Throne of Grace but driveth us to it But Sin increaseth our Bondage maketh us stand at a distance and grow â—hy of God The Fruit of Sin is Shame Rom. â— 21. 4. It teaches us how to wait and hope for the issue of our Prayers Pray that ye enter not into Temptation yet be not absolute in that but to be kept from Evil that what way soever we are tried we may be kept from the Evil of Sin For thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory for ever Amen IN these words we have the Conclusion of all and that which giveth us confidence in the Requests we make to God First The Confirmation is taken from the Excellency of God to whom we pray where there is a declaration of what belongeth to God Secondly The Duration and Perpetuity for Ever Three things are mentioned
Men Angels and Devils according to his Pleasure It is more absolute than any Superiority in the World and more universal as comprizing all Persons and Things God hath right to be King because he gave being to all things which no Earthly Pâ—tentate can Therefore the Author must be owner All other Kings are liable to be called to account and reckoning by this great King for their Administration but God is Absolute and Supream Now this is a great incouragement to us that we go to a God that hath an absolute Right for which he is responsible to none We go not to a Servant or a subordinate Agent who may be controul'd by a higher Power and whose Act may be disanulled but to an absolute Lord to whom none can say What dost thou Job 9. 12. Here 's the Comfort of a Believer that he goes immediatly to the Fountain and Owner of all Things the Absolute Lord of all the World is his Father the soveraign and free disposing of all Things is in his Hand If we expect any thing from subordinate Instruments God's leave must first be asked or they can do nothing for us but he can do what he pleaseth 't is his own Mat. 20. 15. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own None can call him to an account 2. His Relation to the Saints It is the Duty of a King to defend his Subjects and provide for their welfare So God being King will see that it be well with those that are under his Government It concerns you much to get an Interest to be under this King then to mention it in Prayer Psal. 44. 4. Thou art my King O God command deliverances for Jacob. If you want any thing for your selves or the Church put God in mind of his Relation to you Thou are my King Let not this Interest lie neglected or unpleaded All the Benefit which Subjects can expect from a potent King you may expect from God Again the word Command is notable and expresseth the Case to the full command Deliver ances All Things are at God's Command and Beck if he do but speak the word or give out Order to second Causes it is all done in a trice So Psal. 5. 2. Hearken unto the Voice of my Cry my King and my God for unto thee will I pray to thee and to none other Why should we go to Servants when we may go to the King himself So Psal. 74 12. For God is my King of old working Salvation in the midst of the Earth God will defend his Kingdom and right his injur'd Subjects Therefore if we would have any Blessing to be accomplished for our selves or for the Publick let us go to God Thine is the Kingdom And more especially if we would have any good thing to be done by those in Authority and subordinate Power over us do not so much treat with them as with God Let us beseech God to perswade and incline their Hearts for his is the Kingdom he can move them to do what shall be for the glory of his Name and the comfort and benefit of his afflicted People Let us go to God who is the sovereign King he can give you to live a quiet and peaceable Life in all Godliness and Honesty 1 Tim. 2. 2. Or he can give you Favour dispose of their Hearts to do good to his People Nehem. 1. 11. Prosper I pray thee thy Servant this day and grant him Mercy in the sight of this Man For I was the King's Cup-bearer The soveraign disposal of all things is in the Hand of God 2. Thine is the Power This also is an Argument of Confidence that God hath not only â— Kingdom but Power to back it Titles without Power make Authority ridiculous and beget â—â—orn nâ—t Reverence and Respect But now 〈◊〉 Kingdom is accompanied with Power and 〈…〉 He hath right to command all Kings no Creature can be too hard for him Earthâ—◠〈◊〉 when they have Authority and Power 〈◊〉 it is limited 2 Kings 6. 27. When the Woâ—an came to the King of Israel Help my Lord O â—ing Aâ—d he said If the Lord do not help 〈…〉 shall I help thee â—ut God's is an â—nlimited Power An absolute Right and an â—nlimited Power they meet fitly in God thereâ—ore this is an encouragement to go to him Christians that Power of God which educed all things out of nothing which established the Heavens which fixed the Earth that Power of God it 's the ground of our Confidence Psal. 121. 2. My help cometh fâ—om the Lord which made Heaven and Earth This Power should we depend upon We can ask nothing but what God is able to give yea above our asking Eph. 3. 20. Now unto him that is able â—o do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think Our Thoughts are vast and our Desires very craving and yet beyond all that we can ask or think According to the mighty Power that â—orkâ—th in us We cannot empty the Ocean with a Nutshel nor comprehend the Infinite God and raise our Thoughts to the vast extent of his Power only we must go to some instances oâ— God's Power that Power which made the World out of nothing and that Power which wrought in you where there is such infinite Resistance We may go to God and say Mat. 8. 2. Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean You need not trouble your selves about his Will he is so Good and Gracious prone and ready to do good so inclineable he is your heavenly Father But that which is most qâ—estioned is the Sufficiency of God can you believe his Power Now determine but that Lord thou canst and that 's a great relief to the Soul Our Wants are not so many but God is able to supply them our Enemies and Corruptions not so strong but God is able to subdue them surely your heavenly Father will do what is in the Power of his Hand A Beggar when he seeth an ordinary Man coming lets him pass without much Importunity but when he seeth a Man well habited well attended and with rich Accoutrements he runs close to him and will not let him alone but follows him with his Clamor knows it is in his power to help him So this should encourage us to go to the mighty God which made Heaven and Earth and all things out of nothing The third Argument which Christ propounds Thine is the Glory The Honour and Glory of all will redound to God as the Comfort accrueth to us it is for God's Honour to shew forth his Pâ—wer in our Relief and to be as good as his Word Now this is a ground of Conâ—idence That he hath joyned his Glory and our Good togâ—ther And that God's Praise waiteth while our dâ—liverance waiteth Psal. 65. 1. Praise waiteth for thee O God in Zion You think your Comfort stays and all this while God's Honour waits So Psal. 112. 1. Praise ye the Lord Blessed is
such a Right as sollicited Vengeance But the Right Christ purchased was a gracious Right that God might protect and preserve us Well then if Christ purchased Body and Soul he hath obtained not only that God should be gracious to our Souls but gracious to our Bodies then the Argument runs clearly for confirming the Faith of the Saints in expectation of temporal Benefits 2. God hath given us greater things therefore he will not stand upon the less when a Man hath been at great Cost he will not lose it The Lord hath given us his Christ Rom. 8. 32. He that spared not his own his Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all Things Can any Man be so illogical so ill-skilled in Consequences as not to conclude from thence if God give us Christ with him he will give us all things So Mat. 6. 33. Seek first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness and all other Things shall be added to you 3. These things are dispensed to inferior yea to the worst of his Creatures Psal. 147. 9. He giveth to the Beast his Food and to the young Ravens which cry Will God maintain the Beasts of the Field and will he not maintain his Children It is monstrous and unnatural to think thus that God will not support you and bear you out in your Work This is Christ's own Argument Mat. 6. 34. Take therefore no thought for the Morrow for the Morrow shall take thought for the Things of it self Sufficient unto the Day is the Evil thereof Daily Bread is in your Father's Power and he gives it graciously to all his Creatures and therefore certainly he will give it to you Thus you may see with what Confidence you may expect daily Supplies Secondly It informs us that we may ask temporal Things if we ask them lawfully It is true Prayers to God for spiritual Things are more acceptable As your Child pleaseth you better when it comes to you to be taught its Book rather than when it comes for an Apple So it is more pleasing to God when you come for the Mediator's Blessing and spiritual Things Acts 3. 26. God hath sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from his Iniquities But yet we may ask other Things why For they are good and useful to us in the Course of our Service and without them we are exposed to many Temptations And Prayer easeth you of a deal of carking about them Phil. 4. 6. Be careful for nothing but in every Thing by Prayer and Supplication with Thanksgiving let your Requests be made known unto God We may ask them but it must be lawfully and that for Order not in the first place That is howling when we come to God meerly for Corn Wine and Oil when we prefer these Things before his Favour and the Graces of his Spirit Then it must be lawful too as to the Manner a moderate Proportion not to set God a Task to maintain you at such a rate but to ask a moderate Allowance Christ teacheth us here to pray for Bread which is a necessary Allowance Prov. 30. 8. Feed me with Food convenient for me And 1 Tim. 6. 8. If we have Food and Raiment let us therewith be content And then ask them with Humility and Submission to the Will of God We ought to say as in Iam. 4. 15. If the Lord will we will go to such a Place and get Gain And then lawfully too as to the End not for an unlawful End for Ostentation and Riot that we may live at large and at ease Jam. 4. 3. Ye ask and receive not because ye ask amiss that ye may consume it upon your Lusts. But we must ask it for a good End Psal. 115. 1. Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name give Glory for thy Mercy and for thy Truths sake Lord not for our Ease or our Plenty but that thy Name may be glorified that we may be supported in Service And then again lawfully as to the Plea We must not come and challenge it as if it were our Due we must not use the Plea of Merit but of Mercy Our Saviour doth not say Let this Bread come to us any how as he saith Let thy Will be done our Subjection to God is due but Give us this day our daily Bread acknowledging the Lord's Mercy Vse 2. Let us not place our Confidence in second Causes but in God by whose Goodness and Providence over us all temporal Things do come unto us for without him all our Carking and Labour is nothing and if we have our Wishes without Labour yet we shall not have our Comfort and Blessing without God Mat. 6. 27. Which of you by taking thought can add one Cubit unto his Stature By taking thought he meaneth anxious Care about Success We cannot change the Colour of a Hair by all our anxious Thoughts We cannot make our selves stronger or taller Many a Man is pierced through with worldly Cares and still the World frowns upon him so all his Care comes to nothing Prov. 10. 4. it is said The Hand of the Diligent maketh rich compare it with vers 22. and it is said The Blessing of the Lord it maketh rich and he addeth no Sorrow with it Most commonly they that are diligent they thrive with their Diligence yea but if that be all if they have not the Lord's Blessing they have not that Sweetness and Peace when they have gotten Abundance O therefore let us place our Confidence not in second Causes but in God Vse 3. Let us be thankful to God for these vvorldly Things that vve enjoy I urge this First Because of the Danger of Ingratitude Usually we never forget God more than when he remembreth us most When Men have what they would have then God is neglected they grow careless in Prayer or flat and cold in the performance of it There is a great deal of difference between Men poor and rich When poor they will seem to put a natural Fervency into their Prayers but when rich they grow cold and careless Mark what the Lord saith Hosea 13. 6. They were â—illed and their Heart was exalted therefore have they forgotten me O how frequent is this that many having been kept under a great Sense of God in a low Condition but when they have been well at ease then they bear it up as if they could live without God the Bucket comes to the River with an empty Mouth gaping to receive its Fulness as it were but when it is full the Bottom is turned towards it So it is very usual with Men to turn their Backs upon the Mercy-Seat and when the Lord hath given them great Increase in worldly Things and leased out a great Estate to them he hath very little Rent from them Now because this is usual therefore those whom God hath blessed with the Supplies of the present Life how