I must then tell you in so farre as it concerneth man it is of two sorts or rather considered by man in two divers manners First as it is hidde and couched up in Gods owne bosome And secondly as it is revealed to us either by his Vivâ voce or by his written word In the first sense it is called Gods secret will In the second it is called his manifest and revealed will Of the first to wit Gods hidden and secret will it is that which Paul saith O deepnesse c. Rom. 11. How unsearchable are his judgements and his wayes past finding out Of the second it is said Not he who cryeth Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdome of God but hee who knoweth the will of my Father and doth it And of both conjunctly it is said by Moses that secret things belong to the Lord Things revealed to us and to our children that we may do them First then of the first point It may bee enquired if in this Petition we do or should pray for his secret will I answeare No for his secret will shall come to passe For hee dwells in heaven and according to the secret pleasure and counsell of his will all things in time and after time shall be moderated Is it not lawfull then in any condition to meddle with the hidden and secret counsell of God Yea surely providing it bee with modesty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. For first wee may enquire why it is so called 2. What is our duty in respect of it 3. And how farre it can have any fellowship with the evill that is in the world and with the sinfull actions of men Why is it so called I answere for two causes First because it is hidden from man who cannot reach to it untill God reveale it For no man knoweth the Father but the Sonne and hee to whom the Sonne revealeth him Secondly because when it is revealed man cannot comprehend it except hee be enabled from above For the reasons of Gods secret wayes exceeds humane capacity And the more that humane reason looketh on it the lesse it understandeth Why God loved Iacob and hated Esau Why he rejected Saul for one fault and forgave David many and why he condemned Iudas for selling of him and spared Peter that did forsweare him Enquire the reason hereof at man hee cannot give it you yea God hath revealed it I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and whom I will I harden And now as man could not give this reason untill God revealed it So now when God hath revealed it man cannot comprehend it For nature would say that it was injustice in God of two men equally evill by nature to choose the one and forsake the other Thus Gods will is called secret first because man knoweth it not and secondly because hee cannot comprehend it 2. What is our duty in respect of this will I answere it is our duty not to search into it too deeply Nam nonest curiose investiganda sed religiose adoranda whether God in his secret counsell hath ordained thee to be poore or rich high or low whether thou shalt die of a lent or a fervid Ague Since it is Gods secret counsell it is not fit thou shouldest enquire it Stoope under the abstruse and hidden secrecy thereof But to enquire of it ere God reveale it is but a torment before the time and sure I am it shall never be laid to thy charge in the day of Judgement how farre thou hast searched into the secret counsell of God But how farre thou hast obeyed the revealed will of God Thirdly concerning the secret will of God it may bee enquired since there is so much evill in the world how farre and in what sort God by his secret will concurreth and hath cooperation with the same for men looking on the evills that are in the world and finding them so frequent and fearefull and withall comparing them with the omnipotence of God against whose will nothing can bee done and not being able to solve this riddle have either with the Libertine cast over the cause of their iniquities upon God and made God the Author of sinne Or else fearing to speake blasphemously of God they have with the Manicheans invented two chiefe and prime causes of all things one of good another of evil both equally supreme and absolute in their kinde which is altogether false for God is only the supreme and absolute good but Sathan is not an absolute evill But for cleering of this question a little understand and know The evill is two-fold An evill of sinne and an evill of punishment and this is Tertullians distinction writing against Marcian lib. 2. cap. 180. Concerning the evill which we call the evill of punishment there is no question for it is not a true evill in it selfe it is but thought so of us for the punishment of sinne though it seemes evill to the offender yet it is no evill in it selfe for it is a good of justice The question is only concerning the evill of sin and how farre God communicates with it not being the author thereof nor tainted himselfe therewith This question is so much the more remarkable by how much Scripture seems to give way to it For it was a sinne in Pharaoh to harden his heart Yet Scripture saith that God willed it and that hee did it It was a sinne in Sathan to be a lying spirit in the mouthes of Achabs Prophets Yet Scripture shewes us that God willed it It was a sinne in Sathan to vexe Iob unjustly and yet Scripture sheweth that God willed it And it is a sinne in man to stoppe his eare against the truth and to beleeve a lie and yet Scripture sheweth that God willeth it For solving of this doubt there is a very good answere given by our Divines to this question whilest they say that wee must distinguish the action of the sinner from the sinne that is in the action And they make God the author of the action but not of the viciosity and evill that is in the action And this they cleere by the examples of the Sunne the Earth and the word of God This I grant is good but not sufficient But wouldest thou know O man how God willeth sinne and over-ruleth sinne and yet is free from sinne Then thou must know that sinne and the way of sinne hath a beginning a progresse and also an end God hath a will working on sinne and over-ruling sinne in all these three respects For shall we looke to sinne in the beginning thereof Gods will hath beene two wayes exercised First by way of inhibition in giving a law against it forbidding sinne in the thoughts of the heart in the words of the mouth and in the actions of the conversation By way of permission leaving a lawlesse man to a lawlesse way For it is a righteous thing with God when man knowing him to be God will not glorifie him as
and that which is infinite eternall and incorruptible Woe bee unto that man that shall be thus audaciously blasphemous as to say hee hath merited any thing but condemnation For that man appearing before God and wanting his wedding garment the righteousnesse of Jesus shall surely be stripped naked and his nakednesse shall be seene of men and Angels But thou wilt enquire If man bee not able to obey the Law how can God in his justice give him a Law or correct him for the breach thereof To the first I answer thee out of naturall reason Although thou hast rendered thy selfe unable to obey what injustice is it with God to exact thy obediēce for he created thee able to obey whatsoever hee required of thee Is it not so amongst the sonnes of men in civill actions but what is more God giveth thee although thou be unable a law to square thy life by for three causes Vt scias quid acceperis ut videas quid amiseris ut intelligas unde repetendum sit quod amiseris and as he requireth the obedience of his law of thee for these 3 causes so doth he also correct the breach therof for 3 causes 1. Ad ostētationē debitae miseriae 2 ad emendationem labilis vitae And 3. ad exercitationē necessariae patientiae Vse Since in the tenour of the Law and the Gospell the revealed will of God is shut up as in a treasury or store-house Why is it that man delights in ignorance for from the knowledge of the will of God in these there ariseth light to the understanding and sanctification to the affections If it bee so why then doth the Church of Rome inhibit her followers the reading of the Scriptures and injoyne to them an implicite faith Is this any thing else but to make the blinde lead the blinde that both may fall or is it any thing else but to shut up the key of knowledge and neither enter themselves into the kingdome of God nor suffer others to enter And finally is this any thing else but to keep captive in chaines of darknesse the poore people making them by the tradition of men to account the will of God of no effect The Lord open their eyes to see the vanity of the way wherein they walke and the Lord establish our hearts in the obedience of the light revealed to us lest this be our condemnation that light hath shined but wee have continued contemners of the light because our workes were evill The second thing offered to our consideration is what are the points of his revealed will and what are the duties which hee requireth to bee done of us To this I answer It were a tedious worke to runne over all the duties of a Christian required of him in this word yet for an instance the word of God requireth of us 1. The knowledge of Gods will 2. Faith in his word 3. Obedience to the word beleeved 4. Suffering for the testimony thereof when wee shall be called to it 5. And finally an hungring after our dissolution because we cannot get these things done I say first God requireth of us to know him for thus it is written This is life everlasting to know thee to bee the onely true God And againe I have decreed to know nothing but Iesus Christ and him crucified But thou wilt say how shall I know God I answer God is knowne by nature for the naturall man although hee know not the true God yet by naturall knowledge hee propoundeth something to himselfe for a God And this shall serve for a witnesse against him for whilst by nature hee doth the things of the Law he becommeth a law to himselfe By his workes God also is knowne For the invisible things of him that is his eternall power and Godhead are knowne in the workes of his hands Yet this is not sufficient to salvation For the more a man knoweth of the works except hee bee sanctified the more hee evanisheth in the vanity of his owne imaginations and his foolish heart is the more replenished with darknesse By his word hee is knowne for in the Law hee sheweth what wee ought to doe And in the gospell what we should beleeve For the Law was but a pedagogue to Jesus Christ and all the ceremonies figures and types thereof were but shadowes of things to come the body was Jesus Christ and whosoever in his difficulty hath not recourse to the Law and to the testimony it is because there is neither light nor life in him By grace God is knowne for all the knowledge that man can have of God either from the Law or from the Gospell is in vaine unlesse our hearts bee inclined by the spirit of grace to obey or beleeve for it is written As many as are lead by the Spirit of God are the Sonnes of God and heires of glory By glory wee shall know him fully for here wee know but in part but there we shall see as wee are seene and know as wee are knowne being exchanged to his image from glory to glory by the spirit of the Lord. The second thing that God in his word willeth us to do is to beleeve in him for there is a faith that beleeveth God to be there is a faith that beleeveth God to bee true and there is a faith that beleeveth in God Every faith is not a saving faith this onely saveth when we beleeve in God and rest upon him for the life of our bodies saying Give us this day our daily bread And for the life of our soules saying Forgive us our sinnes So that in faith there must bee three things Sensus assensus appropriatio sense assent and appropriation Now it is the applying faith that saves for it is written Thy faith hath made thee whole The third thing God requireth of us in his word is a sanctified obedience of that which we know and beleeve For it is written This is the will of God even your sanctification Againe Be ye holy as I am holy who hath called you And againe Let your light so shine before men c. For it is not hee who cryeth Lord Lord that shall enter into the Kingdome of heaven but hee that knoweth the will of my Father and doth it It is the will of God that wee suffer for him for it is written Let him that would follow me deny himselfe and take up his crosse and follow mee Brethren this is a lesson the hardest of all for man to learn concerning God for man would learne to know God out of curiosity that he might dispute and reason concerning him Man would beleeve both Gods word and Gods worke out of necessity when they cannot better do Like Pharaoh and his Magicians confessing the finger of God Man also out of custome for civill shame will some time obey God for feare of punishment more then for filiall affectiō but let these all be knit together they shall not so evidently demonstrate the
changed Wee are with David sore afraid and as Paul telleth us Wee murmur as those who have no hope But out upon such a weaknesse it is an evident testimony that wee are altogether carnall and as yet in our sinnes If our knowledge were better our affections should bee bettered also and if wee should once make the Lord our portion wee should be more glad to want the world then to have it and to say with Iob The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken c. And with the Apostle I count all things but losse in respect of the advantage I have in the Crosse of Iesus Thus wee have spoken something concerning the giver and the person to whom we say Give The manner of the word is remarkable For it is not a word of prevention It is not a word of retaliation it is only a word of supplication and begging That it is neither a word of preventiō nor retaliation I instāce from the Lawyers who say and that very well that there are two sorts of gifts Donationum alia est simplex gratuita alia cōditionata ob causam futurā When we come to God and say to him Give It telleth us that we can neither prevēt him by giving him any thing first or freely nor yet when hee hath given us any thing can we repay him with any recōpēce We cannot prevēt him by giving him first for that were against his eternity for it is written Who hath givē him first it shall be recōpenced Neither can we give him freely for that were against his alsufficiency For when hee is hungry he will not tell us c. And the earth is the Lords the furniture thereof Againe we cannot give him by way of remuneratiō or requitall Abrā whē he came to sojourne in the land of Canaan although all the land was his by promise yet did hee possesse nothing thereof but a place to bury his dead and that hee bought from Ephron the Hittite for thirtie peeces of silver even the cave of Maghpelae David at the returne of the Arke received the floore of Araunah the Jebusite and yet by way of requitall I will surely buy it of thee at a price The children of Aegypt in the time of famine received bread from Ioseph but they paid well for it when their money failed them they excambed their flocks and when their flocks failed they sold their land and their inheritance also But here is no such dealing betwixt God and us hee is the giver and we are the beggers Hee giveth first For he knew chose and loved us before wee were He giveth abundantly Wine to make the heart glad and oyle to make the face to shine Hee giveth freely also for wee have nothing to give backe againe and he dealeth with us as Ioseph dealt with his Brethren when we open our sacks wee finde our monies in the mouth of them restored again Hee will not make Merchandise with us For his house is not a house of Merchandise but a house of prayer And as Christ did in the last and great day of the feast and Isay in his prophesie So doth God to all of us this day Hoe All you that thirst come to the waters and care not for money come buy bread without money and Wine and Milke without a price Well then is God so liberall that notwithstanding we bee beggers yet hee scorneth not our petitions but giveth us first and freely fully and abundantly Is there nothing that thou canst give him or that he wil accept at thy hāds Yes three things those are First thankes for what thou hast received For he requireth this of thee that thou shouldst take the cup of Salvation and give praise to his Name That thou shouldst call on him in the day of thy trouble that hee may deliver thee and thou maist glorifie him And if thou doe not so thou art but a beast that drinkes of the stream without remembrance of the spring Secondly come againe also and seeke more for it is his delight He is not like man or the Sonne of man who feareth to give for feare of want or wearieth to give for frequency of petitions No his storehouse is not emptied The eyes of all things looke up to him hee openeth his hand and filleth them with his Blessing Neither wearieth hee with our frequent petitions but the homelyer we are we are still the welcomer 3. Remember also to give to the poore the thing that thou wouldest give him For he that hath pitty on the poore lendeth to the Lord and hee that giveth to any of these a cup of cold water shall not want a rich reward LECTIO 12. Give us this day c. AFter the search and enquirie of the word bread and of the word give which wee have explained to you in our two last sermons It resteth now that wee take a view of the third word Vs That wee may truly know to whom and to whose use it is that wee begge at the hands of God this bread In handling of this petition the words are very remarkable whereas they are severall in their litterall sense so are they also in their moral and spirituall use The first is a word of demonstration and evidence For it sheweth us whereof wee stand in neede that is Bread The second is a word of faith and sheweth us upon whom wee should depend for this Bread and that is Give The third word Vs is a word of charity begging Bread and all necessary support not for our selves alone but also for the mutuall members of the mysticall body of Jesus Christ The fourth word Ours is the word of a good Conscience The fift word Daily is a word of contentment And the last words For this day is a word of confession Wee have spoken of the word of demonstration and of the word of faith Let us now looke to the word of charity Vs. This I say is the Lecture of charity and that I may cleere it heare mee but a little If any shall enquire why I am commanded to say give us and not give mee I answere it is done for three causes 1. For the reference it hath with the Preface of this Prayer 2. For the reference it hath with Gods providence and will 3. And for the reference wee should have one to another as mutuall members of the mysticall body of Christ In the Preface and entry of this Prayer When our Redeemer CHRIST JESVS leadeth us to God to powre out our wants before him and to supplicate at his hands the support of those wants hee will not suffer us to say my Father but Our Father The reason is none can truly call him my father but Christ Jesus alone Hee is his father and his only by nature he is ours onely by adoption and in him and through him It was hee and he alone who being the image of the invisible God and the engraven forme and character