or Diseases will What are your Bodies but Cloggs to your Spirit and Prisons to your Souls And certainly those Enemies are not very formidable who when they most think to hurt you only knock off your Clogg or break open your Prison and let your Souls escape to their desired liberty Secondly Our Saviour answers that though they can Kill the body when God permits them yet they cannot so much as touch it without his permission And this he doth in the words of my Text by shewing how punctual and particular God's providence is even over the smallest and those that seem the most trifling occurrences of the World a Sparrow whose price is but mean two of them valued at a Farthing which some make to be the tenth part of a Roman penny and was certainly one of their least Coins whose life therefore is but contemptible and whose flight seems but giddy and at random yet it falls not to the ground neither lights any where without your Father His all-wise providence hath before appointed what bough it shall pitch on what grains it shall pick up where it shall lodge and where it shall build on what it shall live and when it shall die And if your Fathers providence be so Critical about the small concernments even of Sparrows fear not ye for you are of more value than many Sparrows yea of more value than many Men. Our Saviour adds The very hairs of your head are all numbred God keeps an account even of that stringy Excrement He knows how many fall off and the precise number of those that remain and no wonder that he knows the number of our Sins which are far more Hence we learn that God governs the meanest the most inconsiderable and contemptible Occurrences in the World by an exact and particular Providence Do you see thousand little Motes and Atomes wandring up and down in a Sun-beam It is God that so peoples it and he guides their innumerable and irregular strayings Not a Dust flies in a beaten Road but God raiseth it conducts its uncertain motion and by his particular care conveys it to the certain place he had before appointed for it nor shall the most fierce and tempestuous wind hurry it any farther And if God's care and providence reacheth thus to these minute things which are but as it were the circumstances of Nature and little accessaries to the World certainly Man who is the head and Lord of it for whose sake and service other Creatures were formed may very well be confident that God exerciseth an especial and most accurate providence over him and his affairs By this you see what the subject is intended to treat of even the over-ruling and all disposing providence of God not a Sparrow not a hair of your heads falls to the ground without your Father But before I proceed farther I must take notice of two things in the words First That our Saviour speaking here of the providence of God ascribes to him the name of our Father God hath many names and titles attributed unto him in the Scriptures as Father Lord Creator Redeemer Judge King and God But God is a word that denotes his Essence Lord is a title of his Dominion Creator marks out his omnipotence Redeemer commends his Love Judge is a name of fear and astonishment and King is a title of Royal Majesty But this indearing name of Father signifies unto us his providence for from him as from a Father do we expect and receive guidance and government Secondly Whereas nothing comes to pass without our Heavenly Father this may be understood three ways without his permission without his ordination and concurrence without his over-ruling and directing it to his own ends First No evil comes to pass without his permissive providence Secondly No good comes to pass without his ordaining and concurring providence Thirdly Nothing whether good or evil comes to pass without the over-ruling Providence of our Father guiding and directing it to his own ends But concerning this distinction of permissive concurring and over ruling Providence I shall have occasion to speak more hereafter My work at present shall be First To describe unto you what the providence of God is in the general notion thereof Secondly To prove that all affairs and occurrences in the World are guided and governed by Divine Providence Thirdly To answer some puzling questions and doubts concerning the Providence of God and some objections that may be made against it First Let us see what providence is Take it in this description Providence is an Act of God whereby according to his eternal and most wise Counsel he preserves and governs all things and directs them all to their ends but chiefly to his own glory This providence consisteth in two things Preservation and Government of his Creatures First One remarkable Act of the Providence of God is the preservation of his Creatures in their beings He preserves them First In their species and kind by the constant succession of them one after another so that though the individuals of them are mortal and perish yet the species or kind is immortal There is no kind of Creature that was at first made by God but it still continueth to this very day and shall so do to the end of the World And truly it is the wonderful Providence of God thus to perpetuate the Creation that whereas we see an inbred enmity in some sorts of Creatures against others yet his Wisdom so sways their mutual antipathies that none of them shall ever prevail to a total Extirpation and Destruction of the other Secondly He preserves them likewise by his providence in their individual and particular beings while they have a room to fill up and an Office to discharge in the Universe Each Fly and Worm as well as Man who is but the greater Worm of the two hath a work to do in the World and till that be finish'd God sustains its being Nor shall the weakest Creature be destroyed within the prefixed time that God hath set to its duration There are none of us here alive this day but have abundant cause thankfully to acknowledge the powerful and merciful providence of God in preserving us in and rescuing us from many dangers and deaths to which we stood exposed It is only his Visitation that hath hitherto preserved our Spirits and to his never sailing providence we owe it that such frail and feeble Creatures who are liable to be crush'd before the Moth liable to so many diseases and accidents have yet a name among the Living and have not yet failed from off the face of the Earth Secondly As God preserves so he governs all things by his providence and this Government consists in two things Direction of the Creatures actions and distribution of rewards and punishments according to the Actions of his rational Creatures First God by his governing providence directs all the Actions of his Creatures yea and by the secret but efficacious
Good thing Whatever thou enjoyest it is from his meer free Bounty He spreads thy Table fills thy Cup makes thy Bed puts on thy Garments is the God of thy Health and Strength and loadeth thee daily with his Benefits If thou hast riches it is the Blessing of God that maketh rich Prov. 10.22 It is God that giveth thee Power to get Wealth Deut. 8.18 Hast thou Credit and Reputation It is God that hideth thee from the Scourge of Tongues Job 5.21 Hast thou Friends It is God that giveth thee Favour in their sight Hast thou Gifts and Parts It is the Almighty that giveth thee Vnderstanding Job 32.8 And hast thou Joy and Comfort in all these It is God who not only filleth thy Mouth with Food but thy Heart with Gladness Now God is said to Give us our daily Bread and all the necessaries of Life especially Two ways First By producing them and bringing them to us He is the great Lord and Proprietor both of Heaven and Earth The Earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof and he gives it to whom he will He maketh it bring forth abundantly all its Stores for the use and service of Man For be the Chain of Second Causes never so long yet the first link of them is held in his Hand And therefore we have it expressed Hosea 2.21 22. I will hear saith the Lord I will hear the Heavens and they shall hear the Earth and the Earth shall hear the Corn and the Wine and the Oil and they shall hear Jezreel Secondly God gives them by Blessing them to us without which Blessing our daily Bread would no more nourish us than so much Chaff For had we all the abundance that the Earth could yield and the Blessing of God with-held from it the very Air would stiffe us and our very Food would famish us For it is not so much by these things that we live not so much by our daily Bread as by every Word that is by every Word of Blessing upon them which proceedeth out of the Mouth of God Deut. 8.3 And concerning those to whom he denies this his Blessing he tells us Job 20.22 In the fullness of their sufficiency they shall be in streights And therefore when we pray that God would give us our daily Bread we pray not only that God would give us the Possession and Enjoyment of Earthly Comforts but that he would put Virtue and Efficacy into them by his Blessing upon them to be subservient to our relief and support without which the Staff of Bread would break under us and the stay of Water roll away from us And thus much for the first thing Give us Bread Secondly Let us consider the Specification of this Blessing or the Kind and Quality of it our daily Bread This Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is variously rendred I shall not trouble you with the particular Notions of it let it suffice that here by the Word Bread is meant our ordinary and usual Bread or whatsoever is necessary for our subsistence in the World from Day to Day And it is the same with what is expressed in that excellent Prayer of Agur. Prov. 30.8 Give me neither Poverty nor Riches feed me with Food convenient for me So do we pray here that he would bestow upon us daily that which is sufficient for the day And by this we are taught to moderate our Desires and to beg of God no more than is needful for us We beg not delicacies we beg daily Bread not superfluites nor Goods laid up for many years But now because the measures of necessities are divers and that may be but daily bread to one which to another is superfluity it will be requisite to shew you by what necessities our Prayers are to be bounded I Answer First We may pray for the supply of all our Natural necessities And to this the Sovereign Principle of self-preservation strongly obligeth us And he that prays not nor endeavours for this is a self-murderer in with-holding from himself what is simply and absolutely necessary for the maintenance of his Life Secondly Besides things that are naturally necessary there are things that are civilly necessary which are not so absolutely Imperious as the other yet these also oblige us to pray for supplies and relief I account those things civilly necessary which though they are not simply necessary to the preservation of our Life yet are necessary to the State and Condition in which Divine Providence hath set us As for Men of High Birth of Publick Note or Publick Employment more is necessary for them than for others whom God hath placed to take up a narrower room in the World For Cedars require more Sap than Shrubs And for such as these to pray against poverty is possibly to pray for much more than would make private persons rich We are allowed to pray for such a competent measure of Earthly Blessings as is suitable to our Station and commensurate to our charge and burthens and according to the Judgment of Christian prudence apparently needful for those whom we are bound to provide for that they may live honestly and decently All these are necessaries that we are to pray for in this Petition give us our daily Bread But we must take heed that neither Covetousness nor Ambition impose upon us and make us measure necessaries by our inordinate Desires rather than by our real Wants For whatsoever is more than enough for our present State and Comfortable Subsistence is not our daily Bread but the Bread of the Poor out of whose mouths we snatch it And whatsoever we lay up with great designs of enlarging our selves or our Posterity beyond our Lawful measure are but Treasures of wickedness whose rust will Witness against us at the last day And thus much for the Second Observable Thirdly in the Words of this Petition are designed our Right and Propriety to this daily Bread Give us our daily Bread Now right to a Temporal Enjoyment is Three-fold either Natural or Spiritual or Civil Natural by Creation Spiritual by Regeneration And Civil by Humane and Legal Constitution First As for the Natural Right by Creation that was once found in Adam who was made the visible Lord of the Universe and all things put under his feet We may read his Patent and Charter Gen. 1.28 And God said unto him be fruitful and multiply and replenish the Earth and subdue it and have Dominion over the Fowl of the Air and over every living thing that moveth upon the Earth But this Right we have lost and can call nothing ours upon this account Only as Princes allow Traitors and Malefactors Provision in their Prison till they come to Execution So God allows many Wicked Men many Earthly Enjoyments out of the meer bounty of Prison-Provision to keep them alive till they are brought forth to their Execution This Natural Right therefore being lost there succeeds in the room of it Secondly A Spiritual Right
Commendation which he had before given him Glorying as it were over Satan that Job had made his Words good yea and still he holds fast his Integrity although thou movest me against him to destroy him without cause So truly whensoever God suffers us to be Tempted it is that by our Conquest he might bring Honour to himself and Credit to Piety and Religion For this makes it appear That we see so much of Excellency in the ways of God that nothing in the World whether Crosses or Crowns Thorns or Thrones Pains or Pleasures Loss or Profit can in the least perswade us to baulk or forsake them And in such an Heroick Champion as this God himself Glories and Triumphs And thus I have finished the former part of this Petition Lead us not into Temptation the next follows But deliver us from evil Now here before I come to speak of the Words themselves let us observe their connexion with and dependance upon the foregoing Words for whereas our Saviour hath taught us to pray with this Adversative Particle But lead us not into Temptation but deliver us from evil this may instruct us That the best security against sin is to be secured against Temptations unto sin For though it be no excuse that we are violently tempted to sin when we yield to the commission of it yet withal it too often happens that those whom God leads into Temptation and engageth amidst the press of their Enemies it too often happens that they come off bleeding and wounded Yet First It is no excuse for sinning because no Temptation is a Compulsion The Devil can only perswade he cannot constrain us to sin God may let him into the fancy and suffer him to Paint upon that the most alluring Images that Vice can be represented in but when he hath done all this it is still our own choice that makes us like what his Pencil hath drawn there And in this lies a great difference between God's Operations upon us by his Grace and Satan's upon his Suggestions in that God hath an immediate access to the very elicite Acts of our Wills and Understandings and can and doth by his Spirit actuate them by an immediate energy and call forth not only by but to their Objects But now these are such Sacred Partments of the Soul that the Devil hath no Key to them And therefore his Method is to bribe the attendants on these chief Powers of the Soul the Fancy and the Passions to which he hath admission through the near dependance they have upon material Organs and by these to send in Messages and offer Proposals to it which yet if it be not basely false and treacherous to its God it may reject and disdain If the Devil could force Men he would likewise justifie them for that can be no sin where there is no liberty The same Temptation which compels to any Action would likewise make that Action to be no Transgression because Laws are not given but upon supposition of freedom And therefore whosoever sins upon a Temptation sins not meerly because he was Tempted but because he would sin And though the sin had not been committed without the Temptation yet the Devil can be no farther chargable with it than only because his Malice prompts him to perswade us Our own Wills are the most dangerous Devils freely embracing the proffers of Satan and consently to our own destruction and whilst we consent to that upon which God hath threatned and entailed it And therefore when thou sinnest think not to lay the fault upon Satan or his evil Instruments whom he makes use of in Tempting for though it be their fault and guilt to Tempt yet it is only thine to yield and God will not condemn thee for being Tempted which thou couldst not help but for yielding and consenting which is thine own free Act and thine own Sin also Thou who art drawn away by thy lewd Companions to abuse thy self and dishonour thy body by Riot and Luxury or to break God's Laws and Man's by Theft or any other condemned Crimes though thou hast a great deal of reason to hate them yet hast thou infinitely more reason to hate and abhor thy self They can but persuade they cannot compel thee yea if they should threathen thee with Death it self unless thou consentest yet thou liest under no force but sinnest freely and upon very weak motives dost destroy and damn thy own Soul since all motives inducing to sin must be accounted weak when God hath over-balanced them with the promise of everlasting Life and the threatning of everlasting Death And therefore we find God as justly as frequently in Scripture charging Mens perdition upon themselves and laying the blood of their Souls upon the stubborn resolvedness of their own Wills Hosea 13.9 O Israel thou hast destroyed thy self John 5.40 Ye will not come unto me that you may have Life Matth. 23.37 O Jerusalem Jerusalem how often would I have gathered you as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her wings and you would not And therefore let your Temptations be what they will yet the sin and guilt is still your own if as you are led into Temptations so Temptations lead you into Sin Secondly Though it be no excuse for sinning yet it is too seldom seen that those who are brought into Temptation are brought off again without contracting some guilt on their Consciences by it For since there is so great a Correspondence between Temptations and our Corruptions it would be as strange for a Man that hath been hotly assaulted by them to have no impression made upon him as to carry Fire in his Bosom and his Cloaths not be burnt yea almost as Miraculous as to walk secure in the midst of a Fiery Furnace untouch'd by the Flames There is a strong simpathy between our corrupt hearts and Satan's Temptations and as it is with strings tuned to Vnisons upon the motion of the one the other also will move and vibrate So is it here the heart vibrates and is secretly affected upon the first motion of a Temptation with some passion of Delight and Complacency towards that sinful Object And there is a kind of liking and approbation of it in the very first conception of our Thoughts before they are yet deliberated and digested so that it is almost as impossible for Temptations to assault us without leaving some guilt and pollution behind them as it is for Objects rightly presented to a Mirrour to make no impression of their Image upon it For though the Temptation should produce nothing but hovering and fleeting Idea's and some imperfect shadows of Desires and Affections in us which yet are check'd and scattered as soon as ever they begin to form themselves yet there is not the thinnest film of a sinful thought nor the least breathing of a sinful desire but the Holy Law of God and his Word which reacheth to the dividing asunder of the Soul and Spirit and is a Judge and
a Discerner of the Thoughts and intents of the Heart doth strictly prohibit and condemn these callow unfledg'd motions of our Hearts to be Concupiscence the sad effects of Original sin and the fruitful cause of all actual And therefore if we would be delivered from evil we have very great cause first to pray that we be not led into Temptation For some Temptations do almost so inseparably follow one upon another that this will be our best security against those secret desires and wouldings and first smatterings and rudiments of wickedness which else the compliance of our corrupt hearts with Satan's Temptations will certainly betray us unto Hence it is that when God in Scripture frequently dehorts us from sin he extends the prohibition to all Temptations and Occasions of sinning Yea those things which in themselves considered may be lawfully and innocently done by us yet because they may prove Snares and Temptations to us we must as carefully refrain from them as we earnestly desire to keep our selves far from sin And therefore it sufficeth not the Wise Man to command If sinners entice consent thou not Prov. 1.10 but that thou mayest be sure not to consent thou must order thy Actions and Converse so as that thou mayest not be enticed by them in the 15. verse says he Walk not thou in the way with them refrain thy feet from their path And so we have the same Counsel given us by him in another Chapter that we may not be inveagled by the allurements of a strange Woman be sure to avoid all occasions thereof Prov. 5.8 Remove thy way far from her come not near the door of her House And again Prov. 4.14 15. Enter not into the path of the wicked and go not in the way of evil Men avoid it pass not by it turn from it pass away Here is earnestness even to a tautology as some may prophanely think but Sacred Writ can admit of no such thing But there are so many expressions heaped up signifying the same thing only to denote how great the necessity of avoiding Temptations and Occasions to evil is to those who desire to avoid the sin We have treacherous and deceitful hearts within us that have often betrayed us when we have trusted them And I beseech you call to mind when you have emboldned your selves to venture upon Temptations and sinful Occasions being confident and fully resolved not to yield to them Have you not often been surprized and led away Captive contrary to your Hopes contrary to your Intentions contrary to your Resolutions contrary to the vain Confidences with which you were before possess'd Methinks former experience should make you cautious never again to trust those hearts with such opportunities and advantages for wickedness since they have been so often already treacherous and deceitful to us Venture them not therefore upon Temptations for what security have you that a sinful heart will not sin yea and betray you to commit those great abominations which possibly you cannot now think of without horrour and shivering And thus much I thought fit to note to you from the connexion of this part of the Petition with the former Lead us not into Temptation but deliver us from Evil. In the words themselves we have two things chiefly considerable The thing that we pray against and the Person to whom we pray That which we pray against is Evil that we may be delivered from it The Person to whom we pray is God our Heavenly Father That which we pray against is Evil. Some limit this word Evil only unto Satan making the sence to be deliver us from the Evil one founding this Interpretation upon that Article that is joyned with the Original Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but this is not always descretive but sometimes indefinite as for instance Matth. 12.35 and many other places And therefore considering the Comprehensiveness of this Prayer we ought to allow the Word a large extent and to comprehend under it First Satan whose proper Style and Epithete it is to be called the Evil one and so we find this black Title given him in Scripture Matth. 13.19 The wicked one cometh and snatcheth away that which was sown And 1 John 2.13 19. You have overcome the wicked one He is the wicked one eminently and singularly He is the chief Author of Evil his Temptations are all unto Evil his delight is only in Evil he is the Father of all those that do Evil. And therefore this is the most proper and significant Character of the Devil But yet it is also ascribed unto Men according to their resemblance of him Secondly All other Evils are here meant whether they be of sin or sorrow whether they be Transgressions or Punishments and that either Temporal punishments in those Judgments which God inflicts upon sinners here or Eternal Judgments such as he hath threatned to inflict upon them hereafter From all these we pray to be delivered but the greatest of all these is Sin For First It is greatest in the Nature of it as being the only thing that is contrary to the greatest Good even God for in all other things else in the World there is something of Good even as much as derived and participated of God And so the very Devils themselves have a Metaphysical Goodness in them as they are Creatures and have received their Beings and Powers from God who is the Author of nothing that is Evil. But Sin hath not the least ray or footsteps of Goodness in it but is only defect and irregularity And that alone which as his Soul always hates so his Hands never made Secondly It is the greatest Evil in the Effects and Consequences of it It once turn'd Glorious Angels into hideous Devils and tumbled them down from Heaven to Hell filled the World with Woes and Plagues brought Death and Diseases and a vast and endless sum of Miseries into it it torments and terrifies the Conscience kindles Hell-flames exposes the Soul to the eternal and direful revenges of the great God and is so perfectly and only Evil that the worst of things here were they free from the Contagion of Sin would be excellent and amiable To pray therefore against the Evil of Sin is to pray against all other Evils whatsoever for the Devil the Evil One cannot hurt us but by Sin And no other Evil can befall us but for Sin God inflicting them as the due Guerdon and Reward of our Transgressions Sin therefore being the chief and Principal Evil and all others but retainers to it I shall at present speak only of God's delivering us from Sin Now as there are Two things in Sin which make it so exceeding Evil the Guilt of it whereby it Damns and the Filth of it whereby it Pollutes the Soul so God hath Two ways to deliver us from it First By removing the Guilt already contracted which he doth in justifying and pardoning the Sinner Secondly By preventing us from falling
to another part less dangerous So God by his Providence many times turns Men from the Commission of greater sins to a lesser sin And I believe there are but few Men who if they will but seriously examine their lives may produce may instances both of the Devil's policy in fitting them with occasions and opportunities of sinning and of God's Providence in causing some urgent Affairs or some sudden and unexpected Accidents to intervene whereby they are turned off from what they purposed Fourthly Sometimes by his Providence he takes off the Objects against which they intended to sin Thus God preserved St. Peter from Herod's Ambitious Rage He intended the next morning to put him to Death but that very night God sends his Angel to work his escape and thereby hinders the execution of that wicked purpose And thus in all Ages God many times hides his Children from the fury of wicked Men that their Wrath against them like Saul's Javelin misseth David and striketh only the Wall from whence it often rebounds back into their own Faces These now are some of the most remarkable Methods of Divine Providence in preventing the sins of Men. And I am very prone to think that there are very few who if they will be at the pains to reflect back upon and strictly examine that part of their lives that is past and gone they may easily produce many remarkable instances both of the Devil's Policy in fitting them with opportunities and occasions of sinning and of God's Providences in causing some immergent affairs or some other strange and unexpected accidents to interpose so that he hath either Graciously taken away our power or taken away the Objects of our Lusts or diverted us when we were in the pursuits of them To this we owe much of the innocency and in some respects blamelessness of our lives that we have not been a scandal to the Gospel a shame to the Good and a scorn to the Bad and this is the first way how God preserves from sin by his Providence Secondly God preserves from sin by his restraining Grace Now this restraining Grace is that which is common and vouchsafed to wicked Men as well as good Indeed God by it deals in a secret way with the very heart of a sinner and though he doth not change the habitual yet he changeth the present actual disposition of it so as not only by external checks laid upon Mens Lusts but by internal persuasions motives and arguments they are taken off the prosecution of those very sins which yet remain in them unmortified and raigning Thus Esau comes out against his Brother Jacob with a Troop of two hundred Ruffians intending doubtless to take revenge upon him for his Birth-right and Blessing but at their first meeting God by a secret work so mollifies his heart that instead of falling upon him to kill him he falls upon his neek and kisses him Here God restrain'd Esau from that bloody sin of Murder not in a way of External Providence only but with his own hand he immediately turns about his heart and by seeing such a company of Cattel bleating and bellowing timorous Women and helpless Children bowing and supplicating to him he turns his Revenge into Compassion and with much urging receives a Present from him whom he thought to have made a Prey The same powerful restraint God laid upon the heart of Abimelech a Heathen King Gen. 20.6 where God tells him I with-held thee from sinning against me and therefore suffered I thee not to touch her Here was nothing visible that might hinder Abimelech but God invisibly wrought upon his heart and unhing'd his sinful desires And from these two instances of Esau and Abimelech we may clearly collect how restraining Grace differs both from restraining Providence and from Sanctifying Grace from Providence it differs because usually when God Providentially restrains from sin he doth it by some visible apparent means which do not reach to work any change or alteration upon the heart but only lays an external check upon Mens sinful Actions But by restraining Grace God deals in a secret way with the very heart of a sinner and although he doth not change the nature of it yet he alters the present inclination of it and takes away the desire of committing those sins which yet he doth not mortifie And from Sanctifying Grace it differs also in that God vouchsafes it to wicked Men and Reprobates to the end that their Lives may be more plausible their Gifts more serviceable and their Condemnation more intolerable And indeed the efficacy of this restraining Grace may be so great that there may appear but very little difference between the Conversation of a true Christian whom Special Grace Sanctifies and the Conversation of one in a State of Nature whom common Grace only restains they may both live outwardly without blame or offence avoiding the gross pollutions of the World and shine in a Sphere above the ordinary sort of Men and yet the one be a Star and the other but a Meteor The high-way may be as dry and as fair in a Frosty Winter as in a warm Summer bur there is a great deal of difference in the cause of it In Summer the Sun dries up the moisture in Winter the Frost binds it in So the ways of those who have only a restraint laid upon them may be as fair and clear as the ways of those who are truly Sanctified but the cause is vastly different Grace hath dried up the filth of the one but ownly bound in the filth of the other Now God doth thus by his restraining Grace preserve Men from sin by propounding to them such Considerations and Arguments as may be sufficient to engage Conscience against it when yet the Will and Affections are still bent towards it Restraining Grace thunders the Curse of the Law and brandisheth the Sword of Justice in the Face of a sinner reports nothing but Hell and Everlasting Torments and such terrible things which may scare Men from their sins though still they love them It is indeed a great Mercy of God to keep us from sin even by legal terrours and usually these are a good preparation and introduction for saving Grace Doubtless the thoughts and fears of Hell have with very good success been made use of to keep Men from those sins that lead unto Hell But yet if in our conflicts against Temptations we can draw Arguments from no other Topicks but Hell and Eternal Death and Destruction If we cannot as well quench the Fiery Darts of the Devil in the Blood of Jesus Christ as in the Lake of Fire and Brimstone it is much to be doubted whether our abstaining from sin be from any higher principle than what is common only for fear of punishment and not for love of God or Goodness Thirdly God hath another method of keeping Men from sin and that is by his Special and Sanctifying Grace And this is proper only to the
Kings to forgive Offenders Hence our Saviour describing the Process of the General Judgment when he comes to speak of pronouncing the Sentence of Absolution upon Believers styles himself King so we read Matth. 25.34 Then shall the King say to them on his Right Hand Come ye Blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom So that here our Faith hath a very strong Plea to urge with God for the Pardon of our Sins Forgive us our Trespasses For thine is the Kingdom and it belongs to the Royalty of thy Kingdom to forgive humble and penitent Suppliants Sixthly The Kingdom is God's therefore we may well pray in Faith that he would Deliver us from Evil For this is one great end of Government to protect their Subjects from the Assaults of their Enemies And God who is our King will not neglect this care when we do with an humble Faith urge him to it by representing to him that the Kingdom is his for his interest is involved in the safety and welfare of his People And thus I have briefly shown you in general that all our Prayers ought to be enforced with strong and cogent Reasons which although they are not properly motives unto God yet are they good grounds for our Faith to build upon and therefore a good Evidence when we use them that our Petitions shall be heard and granted And I have likewise particularly accommodated this first Motive and Argument taught us by our Saviour Thine is the Kingdom to each of the Six Petitions which he hath instructed us to present to God The Second Attribute that we are to consider as a Reason and Motive urged in this Prayer is the Power of God Thine is the Power Now Power according to the usual acceptation of the Word is nothing else but an ability to work those Changes and Mutations upon created Beings which were not in them before I speak only of Active Power and the Two Terms of it are either the effecting of somewhat that was not or the annulling and destroying of that which was This is the Notion of Power whether it be ascribed to God or Man and in both it is either Absolute or Ordinate Absolute Power respects the simple ability of acting Ordinate Power respects also the will and determination to act And therefore in God whose Power we are now treating of his Absolute Power is of a much larger extent than his Ordinate for the one relates to all things possible that is to all things whose existence doth not imply a contradiction the other relates only to things future and this likewise such as shall exist according to the common course and method of God's Ordinary Providence for Miraculous effects although they are produced according to the Will and Ordination of God yet they appertain not to his Ordinate but to his Absolute Power So then the Objects of God's Absolute Power are things merely possible or things future which are without the Compass and Sphere of second causes to produce But the Objects of God's Ordinate Power are things future produced according to the Laws of Natural Agents and the Virtue of second Causes Yet both these Powers in God are infinite the one Objectively the other Formally First God's Absolute Power is Objectively infinite that is the Object of it is infinite for all things possible are the Object of this Power and all things are in themselves possible which do not imply a contradiction And Oh how vast and incomprehensible is the sum of these God might have Created more Worlds more Angels and Men than he hath done more sorts of Creatures and more of every sort if he had so pleased Yea and he might have been Creating and Acting from all Eternity to all Eternity and in his infinite duration be still producing new and therefore infinite effects for with God nothing is impossible Luke 1.37 And the only Reason why God hath produced such effects and no other so many and not more is not from want of Power but merely from the free determination of his own Will and Counsel He might have hindred the Fall of Man restored the fallen Angels raised the Stones to be Children unto Abraham brought more Deluges and general Plagues upon the World if he had so pleased Yea and though our fancy and imagination hath a large Empire and seems boundless in these Fictions and Pourtraictures of things which we Paint and Limn there yet God can really Create more than we can only imaginarily Create for we can only patch together those things which we have seen or have otherwise been the Objects of our Senses and by putting together several pieces of things really existing make an Idea of that which never was But God can actually cause those Species and kinds of beings in the World which never were nor ever was there a former resemblance of them and so can infinitely exceed the largest scope of what in us seems most unlimitted even our Thoughts and Fancies for he is able to do above what we are able to think Secondly God's Ordinate Power is infinite formally that is those things which he works according to the Counsel of his own Will they are all effected by infinite Power for tho' the Objects themselves are finite both for nature and number yet the Power that produceth them is infinite for since the Essence of God is infinite and each of his Attributes is his Essence it follows likewise that his Power is infinite even in the production of things that are finite Now it appears that the Power of God is infinite First By the Works of Creation for though the things that are Created are finite and but a few in comparison with those that are possible yet it is no less than the infinite Power of God that can impregnate the vast Womb of nothing and make it bring forth a Being It must needs be an Almighty Word that can call forth a Creature out of non-existence and make it start up into the rank of things that are And therefore we find God often ascribing it to himself as a Glorious demonstration of his Almighty Power that he spreads forth the Curtains of the Heavens that he laid the Beams of the Earth that he hung out those Glorious Lights of the Sun Moon and Stars that he breathed forth all the various sorts of the Creatures which People the Universe and by the commanding Word of his Mouth they were made His Power and his Hand formed all those Beautiful Creatures we behold out of a rude and confused Chaos and that Chaos it self out of the greater confusion of Nothing And although second Causes by their Power and Natural Energy introduce various forms into things yet all the matter they have to work upon was first God's Workmanship and there is nothing made by Man but it is the Creature of God at least as to the matter and first principle of it Now it is only infinite Power that can bring something out of nothing yea
and it is infinite Creating Power that can form things out of matter utterly indisposed to receive the stamps of such Natures as God imprints upon them For no Created Agent can work either where there is nothing to work upon or where it is altogether unfit and uncapable naturally to be form'd into such a Being as the Agent intends And therefore the Apostle tells us Rom. 1.20 That the invisible things of God from the Creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his Eternal Power and God-head Secondly The infinite Power of God is demonstrated in those Miraculous effects which have been extraordinarily produced in the World It must needs be an Almighty Arm that can Arrest the course and impetus of Nature and turn it quite contrary to its own Byass For no Created Power either in Heaven or Earth can by their own efficacy work a Miracle nay they cannot be so much as Natural Instruments but only Moral in the production of what is Miraculous Indeed Angels both good and bad may produce very strange and marvellous things by their suddain invisible and effectual applying of proper Actives to Passives And by suiting the secret and unknown Virtues of Causes to fit and disposed Patients But they cannot produce any thing that is Miraculous and wholly either above or contrary to the Course and Sphere of Nature And those Men who have been so highly dignified as to be the Moral Instruments of Miracles as we say that Moses and Elijah and the Apostles of Christ wrought many Miracles yet they did not perform those Works by any Natural or proper Physical influence but only by their Prayers and commanding Faith It is God alone that is the immediate efficient cause of whatsoever events have been Miraculous in the World And therefore when some raised the Dead and others cured the Blind and Lame when Moses first cleft the Sea and afterwards the Rock with his wondrous Rod when Joshua stopt the Sun in its course and Isaiah turn'd it ten degrees backward all these extraordinary and supernatural effects are no otherwise to be ascribed unto them than as to remote instruments who by their Prayers and Intercessions prevailed with God to manifest his Power as an attestation of that Commission they had received from him His Infinite Power is the sole Author of them and to this end hath he wrought them that those who take little notice of his Power in the common and ordinary products of it may be seized with admiration and astonishment when they hear of such events as neither Reason nor Nature can give any account of and may be forced to acknowledge with the Magicians of Aegypt that it is the Finger of God Or more Religiously with the Psalmist Psal 89.13 Thou hast a mighty Arm strong is thy hand and high is thy right hand Thirdly The Power of God is infinite even in the common course and effects of his Providence Whatsoever comes to pass is through the infinite Power of God There is not the least spire of grass that sprouts out of the Earth not the least Atom that plays and wanders to and fro in the Air not any motion of any Creature how inconsiderable soever it be but the Almighty Power of God is to be seen in it For although one second Cause may depend upon another in a long Series yet are they all ultimately resolved into the first Cause of all and invigorated by his influence See for this Hosea 2.21 I will hear the Heavens saith the Lord and they shall hear the Earth and the Earth shall hear the Corn and the Wine and the Oyl and they shall hear Jezreel Be the Chain of second Causes never so long yet God holds the first link in his own hands and conveys his Power through them all to their last effects So that if we duly ponder the Mysteries and Wonders of Nature it will appear that it is as much Infinite Power to make a poor Worm to crawl or a Sparrow to fly or to fall to the Earth as it was at first to Create the World It requires no more Power in God to work Miracles than the most ordinary and common events that happen only those are said to be Miracles which are against or above the course of Nature and those to be Natural Events which are according to it but to a considering Mind both the one and the other do equally declare the Almighty and Infinite Power of God Now this Power is in the Text ascribed to God by way of Emphasis and Eminency Thine is the Power which notes unto us some peculiarity in the Power of God which distinguisheth it from ail Created Powers whatsoever and it consists in these following things First In that the Power of God is infinite as hath been demonstrated already but the Power of all Creatures is only finite and limitted God's Absolute Power hath no bounds but whatsoever is possible to be he is able to produce His Ordinate and Actual Power is indeed limitted but only by his own Will Psal 115.3 He hath done whatsoever he pleased But our wills are often limitted by our Power and those things which we wish the accomplishment of yet many times fail in taking effect only because we want Might and Power to bring them to pass And therefore when we ascribe Power unto God Thine is the Power we Attribute unto him a Power that is infinite a Power which can effect whatsoever his Will hath fore-determined above yea and contrary to all the Power of all the Creatures both in Heaven and Earth Hence it is called The exceeding greatness of his Power Ephes 1.19 Secondly The Power of God is Originally in himself But all Created Powers are only derived from him Whatsoever is in God is according to the known Rules of the Schools God himself And therefore as God hath not his being from any other so neither hath he his Power from any other But whatsoever ability is found in any of the Creatures is from God whether it be Natural or Moral Power Strength or Authority First All derive their Natural Power from God It is he that endues them with strength and with all that force and might which they enjoy 1 Chron. 29.12 In thy hand is power and might in thy hand it is to make great and to give strength unto all Secondly All derive their Moral Power and Authority from God Prov. 8.15 16. By me Kings Reign and Princes decree Justice by me Princes Rule and Nobles even all the Judges of the Earth says the Essential Wisdom of the Father Thirdly The Power of God is Supreme all other Power is but subordinate unto him And therefore he can weaken the strength and frustrate the attempts of all that shall combine themselves together against him for his Power is such as no Creature can resist And as Billows do but dash themselves in pieces by dashing against the Rock So all the
Motion or such like Qualities that do not belong unto the Divine Nature Yet all these are Eminently in God for he is the Prime and Original Cause from whom they derive their Being and Perfection so that all Glory is his his incommunicatively from any other communicatively from him Secondly All Glory in respect of God is but darkness and obscurity And so it was both a True and Divine Conception of Plato when he said That Light was but a shadow of God for as Shadows are vastly dark when the Light that surrounds them appears So God is infinitely brighter than Light it self Yea the Sun that Created Fountain of Light is but a black coal compared with this Eternal Father of Lights This is well expressed by Job 25.5 Behold even to the Moon and it shineth not and the Stars are not pure in his sight As the Light of the Sun when it ariseth drowns and extinguisheth all other Lights for its brightness as it brings a Day to all the rest of the World so it brings a a Night to the Stars So the infinite brightness of the Glory of God over-casts all other Glory whatsoever with Night and Obscurity Hence it is said That God chargeth his Angels with Folly Job 4.8 So that if those Wife and Intellectual Creatures be compared with God they are but foolish and ignorant for the Glory of his infinite and unsearchable Understanding so far transcends their reach that they know nothing in comparison with him who knoweth all things The two chiefest Glories of Men are Wisdom and Strength Wisdom to contrive and Power to execute these perfect him as he is a Man But yet see how the Apostle undervalues both these when compared with God 1 Cor. 1.25 The foolishness of God is wiser than Men and the weakness of God is stronger than Men. And therefore because God's Glory is infinitely surpassing all others our Saviour ascribes it to him peculiarly Thine is the Glory Thirdly Because all other Glories in the Creatures serve only to illustrate the Glory of the Great God Seest thou any Excellency and Perfection in any of the Creatures God hath so endowed them with it not that thou shouldest fix there and make that thy Idol but that thou mightest have a hint from thence how much more perfect he himself is and take thy rise from visible Excellencies to admire those that are invisible Is there so much Beauty and Harmony in the Frame of Nature Think then how much more Harmonious and Orderly are the Counsels and Designs of the Great God who hath contrived and disposed the whole course and circuit of second Causes Is there so much awe and dread in the presence of an Earthly Majesty to daunt all that are not impudent and profligate Offenders Think then how infinitely venerable is the Face of the Great God since it is only some Ray of his Authority and Majesty shining in them that makes them so dreadful Is it such a pleasant thing to the Eye to behold the Light raise then not thine Eye of Sense but thine Eye of Faith to consider how infinitely Bright and Glorious that Light is that is never Clouded that Light which though it infinitely diffuse it self yet resides always in its Center For God is Light and in him there is no darkness at all 1 John 1.5 Thus you see that God hath therefore made any Created Being Glorious and Excellent that it might serve as a Monitor to put us in mind of his greater Glory and the more Excellent any Perfections are in the Creature the greater advantage have we from them to raise our Meditations unto God And having thus shewn you why Glory is in such an especial manner attributed unto God Thine is the Glory it reremains now to consider what force this Plea hath to confirm our Faith that we shall obtain from God those things which we pray for and here let us see its influence upon every Petition First The Glory is God's therefore his Name shall be Hallowed For his Declarative Power consists in the Hallowing of his Name since to Hallow is nothing else as I shewed you in the Explication of that Petition but to declare God to be Holy and this is to give Glory unto God Hence we have them both joyned together Levit. 10.3 I will be Sanctified by them that come nigh unto me and before all the People I will be Glorfied To Sanctifie is to Glorifie God And therefore what better Argument can we urge that God would provide for the Sanctifying of his Name than this that the Glory is his and if his Name be prophaned in the World his Glory needs must suffer How can the World know that God is infinitely Glorious in all his Perfections and Attributes unless he take care by his own methods to have his Name Sanctified among his People in their Expressions and Actions and to have it Sanctified upon the Wicked in their Plagues and Punishments Therefore we may well pray in Faith Hallowed be thy Name for thine is the Glory Secondly The Glory is God's Therefore His Kingdom shall come For where should he be Honoured but in his own Kingdom God is greatly dishonoured and his Glory traduced in the rest of the World And therefore if he will have any Glory secured and maintained he must take care of his Church to maintain and propagate it Psal 76.1 In Judah is God known his Name is great in Israel The Glory of a King falls together with his Kingdom and it lays a blot upon his Honour if he should suffer his Enemies to overthrow it while he hath Power to defeat their Enterprises since therefore the Glory is God's we may be confident that he will provide for the security and wellfare of his own Kingdom and will for his Honours fake establish it so sure that the Gates of Hell all the Power and Policy of Men and Devils shall never be able to prevail upon it to its extirpation Hence then whensover we see the rage of the professed Enemies of the Name of Christ incroaching upon the Borders of his Dominions when the State of the Church Militant seems visibly to impair or when the Hypocrisie and Wickedness of those who are the professed Enemies of Christ seems to eat out the very Heart and Power of true Godliness we may well pray in Faith Thy Kingdom come Lord raise Lord enlarge Lord establish it For thine is the Glory and unless thou wilt confine thy Glory only to Heaven and account the Praises and Eternal Hallelujahs of Saints and Angels a sufficient adoration for thy Great Name Lord have regard to this thy poor decaying Kingdom for only in it and in Heaven is thy Glory Celebrated And if thou leavest this thy Kingdom to be over-run by the Agents and Ministers of the Devil if Prophaneness and Idolatry gain ground in it so as to thrust thee out of the Throne What were this but to give thy Glory to another which thou hast
Angels Now these the Scripture propounds unto us not only to pose but to perfect our understanding For that little knowledge we can attain unto in these things is far more excellent than the most comprehensive knowledge of all things else in the World And where our scanty apprehensions fall short of fathoming these deep mysteries the Apostle hath taught us to seek it out with an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 11.33 O the depth of the Riches both of the Knowledge and Wisdom of God! how unreasearchable are his Judgments and his ways past finding out Thirdly The Scripture is an inexhaustible Fountain of Knowledge the more you draw from it the more still springs up It is a deep Mine and the farther you search into it still the richer you find it It is tedious to read the works and writings of Men often over because we are soon at the bottom of what they deliver and our understanding hath nothing new to refresh it But in reading the Scripture it fares with us as it did with those whom Christ miraculously fed the bread multiplied under their Teeth and increased in the very chewing of it So here while we ruminate and chew on the truths of the Scripture they multiply and rise up thicker under our meditation One great cause of the neglect that many are guilty of in reading the Holy Scripture is a fear that they shall but meet with the same things again which they have already read and known and this they account tedious and irksome Indeed if they read it only Superficially and slightly it will be so But those who fix their minds to ponder and meditate upon the word find new truths arising up to their understanding which they never before discovered Look as it is in a Starry night if you cast your Eyes upon many spaces of the Heavens at the first glance perhaps you shall discover no Stars there yet if you continue to look earnestly and fixedly some will emerge to your view that were before hid and concealed So is it with the Holy Scriptures If we only glance curiously upon them no wonder we discover no more Stars no more glorious truths beaming out their light to our Understanding St. Augustine found this so experimentally true that he tells us in his third Epistle that though he should with better capacity and greater diligence study all his Life time from the beginning of his Childhood to decrepit Age nothing else but the Holy Scriptures yet they are so compacted and thick set with truths that he might daily learn something which before he knew not God hath as it were studied to speak compendiously in the Scriptures What a Miracle of brevity is it that the whole Duty of Man relating both to God and his Neighbour should be all comprised in ten words Not a word but were the sence of it drawn out were enough to fill whole Volumes and therefore the Psalmist Psal 119.96 I have seen an end of all perfection but thy Commandments are exceeding broad When we have attained the knowledge of those things that are absolutely necessary to Salvation there yet remain such depths of Wisdom both in the manner of Scripture expression and in the mysteriousness of things exprest that after our utmost industry still there will be left new truths to become the discovery of a new search Fourthly The Scripture exhibits to us that knowledge which is necessary to Eternal Salvation This is Life Eternal to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent John 17.3 And this knowledge the Scriptures alone can afford us John 5.39 So 2 Tim. 3.15 We need not therefore enquire after blind traditions or expect any whimsical Enthusiasms the written word contains whatsoever is necessary to be known in order to Eternal Salvation and whosoever is wise above what is written is wise only in impertinences Now hath God contracted whatever was necessary for us to know and summed it up in one Book and shall not we be diligent and industrious in studying that which doth so necessarily concern us Other knowledge is only for the adorning and embellishment of Nature this is for the necessity of Life of Life Eternal I have before spoken enough concerning the necessity of knowledge unto Salvation and therefore shall not farther inlarge Therefore as St. Peter said to Christ Lord whither shall we go thou hast the words of Eternal Life So let us Answer whatsoever may seem to call us off from the diligent study of the Scriptures Whither shall we go to this we must cleave with this we will converse for here alone are the words of Eternal Life Fifthly The Knowledge that the Scripture discloseth is of undoubted Certainty and perpetual Truth it depends not upon Probabilities or Conjectures but the infallible Authority of Christ himself he hath dictated it for whom it is impossible to lye The rule of our Veracity or Truth is the conformity of our Speech to the existency of Things but divine Truth and Veracity hath no other Rule besides the Will of him that speaks it He must needs speak infallible Truth who speaks things into their beings such is the omnipotent Speech of God Whatsoever he declares is therefore true because he declares it Never matter how strange and impossible Scripture-Mysteries may seem to Flesh and Blood to the corrupt and captious understandings of natural Men when the word of God hath undertaken for the Truth it is as much impiety to doubt of them as it is Folly to question the reality of what we see with our very Eyes Nay the information of our Senses what we see what we hear what we feel is not so certain as the truth of those things which God reveals and testifies in the Scriptures And therefore the Apostle 2 Pet. 1.18 19. Speaking of that Miraculous Voice that sounded from Heaven Matth. 17.5 This is my beloved Son in whom I am well Pleased We saith the Apostle heard this Voice when we were with him in the Holy Mount but we have also a more sure word of Prophecy or as the Greek may well be rendred We account more sure the word of Prophecy unto which ye do well that ye take heed What a more sure word than a Voice from Heaven When God himself shall vocally bear witness to the Truth Yes we have a more sure Word and that 's the Word of Prophesie recorded in the Old Testament And hence it will follow that because the Prophecies concerning Christ may seem somewhat obscure in Comparison with this audible Voice from Heaven therefore the testimony of obscure Scripture is to be preferred before the testimony of clear Sence Now therefore if you would know things beyond all danger either of Falshood or Hesitation be Conversant in the Scripture where we may take all for certain upon the Word and Authority of that God who neither can deceive nor be deceived Sixthly The Scripture alone gives us the true and unerring Knowledge