entered into the World and death by Sin and Vers 19. By one Mans Disobedience many were made Sinners 1 Cor. 15.22 In Adam all die And by this Sin of Adam all were made Sinners by these two wayes 1. By actual participation of his disobedience for we were then in him but that is not all for upon that reason every Man should stand guilty of all the Sins committed by any of his Progenitors since Adam which seems not to agree with the profession of Almighty God Ezek. 18.20 The Son shall not bear the Iniquity of the Father But the case is not alike for Adam was created in integrity and perfection in an ability to perform the Law and so was a fit person to stipulate for his posterity 2 And as he was a person so qualified so the Covenant was made between God and him both for him and his posterity and 3 As we suffer in the penalty of his Disobedience so we had enjoyed the benefit of his Obedience we had come into the World with the same Liberty of Will and Integrity and Perfection of Nature that he had But all these are wanting in any other person in the World 1. A defect of Nature is gone over all that none is fit to stipulate for himself and his posterity 2. No such contract hath been at any time made between God and any other Man 2. By a necessary Consequence for God having justly withdrawn from Man his Blessedness and Perfection and Sin having corrupted and imbased his Nature we by propagation from him derive a corrupted depraved Nature full of impotence and rebellion and disorder Job 14.4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean God was pleased to communicate to Man a being in the Essence of a Man and to communicate unto him a degree of Purity Immortality Wisdom and Perfection beyond the compass of his Natural subsistence but this latter was communicated to him under a covenant which when he broke he lost and not only lost that but even stained and corrupted and imbased that very being that after he had sinned he retained And this is the old Man corrupt according to the deceivable Lusts Ephes 4.22 A body of death Rom. 7.24 And this Depravation of our Nature was followed with the continual Corruption and at last with the dissolution of Nature and that not only in those who had sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression by an actual breach of an express Law Rom. 5.14 But in all that were partakers of Adams corrupted Nature even Infants and so Death passed over all And as thus we partake of Original Sin as well by being virtually actors in it as also by derivation of a corrupted Nature so this corruption of our Nature produceth in all our Lives continued and renewed Actual Sins the conceptions of Lust Jam. 1.15 And these Actual Sins according to the difference of those commands of God which are violated are either Sins of Omission or of Commission and both come under the extent of this Petition by the name of Sins or Trespasses Luk. 11. by the Name of Debts Matt. 6. For we owe unto God Duty and Obedience and every Violation of that duty leaves us so much indebted unto God the least of which is impossible to be paid when once incurred because it is impossible for us to make that not to have been which hath already been and impossible for us by all our future Obedience were it as exact as the will of God requires to expiate a Sin past for still that perfect obedience is no more then we owe we have therein but done our duty and are but unprofitable Servants but if it were possible to think that one act of perfect obedience to God would expiate for any Sin past yet such is the Corruption of our Nature that not one such act can be found there is in our best actions a mixture and adherence of some defect or other that makes it become the subject still of this Petition that which needs Mercy to Pardon and therefore cannot contain Merit to Deserve So then all are concluded under Sin Gal. 3.22 and consequently under Guilt the effect of Sin and consequently under death and a curse the wages of Sin And this Sin guilt and curse is so closely bound to every one of Adams posterity that there is no possibility in the best of them to deliver themselves from it therefore O Lord teach us to pray Forgive us Forgiveness is an act of Free Grace whereby our offended God freely and without any Merit of ours remits the Sin the Guilt and Punishment the Person offended is he only that can forgive the rule was true though misapplyed Mar. 2.7 Who can forgive Sins but God only and Forgiveness is an act of most free Mercy and nothing of Merit in the person forgiven Isa 43.25 I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my own sake and will not remember thy Sins Misery which is the effect of Sin is the Object of Mercy but it is not the Desert of it especially when that very Misery under which we are brought by Sin is a Misery wilfully contracted by our selves and not only so but is still a sinning Misery a Misery accompanied with stupidity and senslessness with aversion opposition against that God and that very Mercy that should deliver us God commends the freeness and fulness of his Goodness to us by taking that season to be Merciful when our condition is most Miserable not because our misery deserves his pity Ezek. 16.6 I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood Live Yea I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood Live This Forgiveness is thus wrought Man that was infinitely bound to love and obey the Author of his Being most unrgatefully and unnecessarily sinned against him and thereby deservedly incurred the everlasting curse of the most Just and True God and forfeited his being yet though Man had destroyed himself Almighty God of his own Free Will and without any other Motive and by his own Infinite Wisdom contrived a way whereby his most exact Truth and Justice might be satisfied and yet his creature saved and his Mercy and Goodness might be infinitely evidenced unto Men and Angels By an Everlasting Covenant between the Father and the Son the Son he must assume our Nature and offer it up as One Sacrifice for Sin for ever Heb. 10.12 This was that Mystery hid from Ages and Generations the Mystery that the Angels desire to look into 1 Pet. 1.12 The Great Mystery of Godliness God manifested in the Flesh 1 Tim. 3.16 The great End of the Creation of Man And by this Sacrifice thus freely given by our offended Lord we have Redemption even the Remission of our sins Ephes 1.7 Colos 1.14 And Pardon thus freely given by the Father and yet thus dearly bought by the Son is with abundance of Love and Grace proclaimed and tendred unto all in all the World
Nature laid hold upon that seeming good and violated the Command This taught the Wise man to pray against extreams either of Plenty or Poverty because his corrupted Nature was ready to turn either into Temptation Riches into Arrogance and Presumption Poverty into Blasphemy and Murmuring Prov. 30.9 3. For that Act which is not ordered unto Sin but to some Experiment or Tryal of the temper or disposition that is in a Man a Temptation of Trial. Thus God tempted Abraham when he commanded him to offer up his Son to prove the sincerity of his Love and Obedience to God Gen. 22.12 By this I know that thou fearest God To the like purpose were all those difficult dispensations to the People of Israel at the Red Sea and in the Wilderness that he might humble them and prove them and to know what was in their heart Deut. 8.2 And for this end God often sends several Afflictions upon those he truely loves that their Faith may be tryed And these Tryals are called Temptations 1 Pet. 1.6 7. Ye are in Heaviness through manifold Temptations that the Tryal of your Faith may be found to praise c. Jam. 1.2 Count it all Joy when ye fall into divers Temptations knowing that the Tryal of your Faith worketh Patience 2. What it is to lead into Temptation and how God may be said to lead us into them 1. As to the latter of these sorts of Temptations they may and do come from God viz. Tryals of Grace by the permitting and inflicting of afflictions It is a work no way unbecoming his Purity and Justice It is ordained to singular Ends. 1. To his own Glory 2. To the good of those that he thus tryes thereby teaching them to despise the World to adhere unto him to reach out after a better Life to live by Faith and not by Sense patiently to submit to his hand and to wait upon him for deliverance By this Refiners fire he consumes their dross their carnal confidence building Tabernacles here drives them to their true home and gives them a proportion of Eternal Comfort and Hope far more valuable than that Temporal comfort which they want 2. As touching Temptation unto Sin 1. That God tempteth no Man He that is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity will never solicite any Man to that which only he hates It is the great work of God to withdraw Men from sin and surely he will never draw Men into it Jam. 1.13 God cannot be tempted with Evil neither tempteth he any Man 2. As he doth not actively tempt any Man or move him to Evil so neither doth he infuse into the Heart or Soul a Receptivity of Temptation he doth not excite the Heart to close with any Temptation or create or stir up any corruption in the Heart to take fire from a Temptation And yet in some sort he is said to lead into Temptation 1. By withdrawing that Grace of his whereby we are prevented from and defended against Temptation We walk in the midst of Enemies and snares the Prince of the air hath his Instruments that most Vigilantly takes all opportunities to draw us into sin evil Angels and evil Men And were there not a Devil or his Instruments without us to tempt us to Evil we have an old Man within us a fountain a Sea of Corruption a deceitful and wicked heart a Body of sin and death that can with much advantage and doth with much ease draw us into Sin and the merciful God that seeth these snares which the evil one layes for us in our way though we see them not sends out his own Grace and Spirit and sometimes removes the snare out of our way sometimes leads us another way that we miss the snare he over-rules and restrains this raging Sea of our own corruptions and as our Saviour did to the Winds and Seas commands them Peace and be still he doth by the same Spirit strengthen and inable our hearts to resist and oppose and subdue those Temptations that rise from within and comes from without And this Grace of his he owes not to us It is meerly of his free Mercy Gen. 20.6 For I withheld thee from sinning against me and yet such is his Goodness that he seldom withdraws this Grace from us unless we thrust it away and reject it and then he withdraws that Grace of his and that being withdrawn that cruel and subtil Enemy of our Souls falls in upon us and subdues us and that Sea of corruption within us that hath now no banks to keep it in breaks in and over-whelms us And thus was the heart of Pharaoh hardned by himself Exod. 8.15 And yet said to be hardned by God Exod. 10.1 By withdrawing from him that Grace that should soften it And this Subduction of the Grace of God principally respects Temptations from our selves 2. By Permission The Devil and his Instruments are under the restraint of the Power of God and without a commission or at least a permission from him cannot actually execute that evil that is in their Natures and Wills he solicits Job by himself and his instruments to let go his integrity but this he cannot do without a Permission Job 1.12 he seduceth Ahab to his destruction but this he cannot do without a Permission 1 Kings 22.21 he tempts David to presumption and carnal confidence 1 Chro. 21.1 But this he cannot do without a Permission 2 Sam. 24.1 he watcheth the opportunity of Gods displeasure against Israel and gets leave thereupon to tempt David to number the People and here we may see the Infinire Wisdom of God in managing that evil that was in the Devil to tempt and in David's heart to be overcome to a most just and excellent end the punishment of the sin of Israel by Davids sin Here was in the same action Malice in the Devil corruption in David yet nothing but Purity and Justice in God He never gives the Devil a Permission to tempt that Man may thereby sin but he turns that Temptation and that sin into a work either of singular Mercy or Justice The Devil could not have entered into Judas without a Permission nor Judas have betrayed our Lord without a Permission nor the Jews have delivered him up to Judgment without a Permission nor Pilate have judged him without a Permission John 19.11 Here was Malice in the Devil and Treachery in Judas and envy in the Jews and Injustice in Pilate and Murder in the Souldiers and yet in God the greatest manifestations of his Truth and Justice and Wisdom and Purity and Mercy that ever the World did or shall see While he permits the Instrument to sin he nor his action is in no sort defiled by it but manageth that sin which is none of his to bring forth that Righteousness that is only his 3. He is said to lead into Temptation by the External Dispensation of his Providence and that 1. By withdrawing those External restraints from sin such are
this Uncourteous dealing with our Lusts and Temptations will much countervail the unpleasingness of the Duty A man is tempted to a Sin he holds conference with it and is inticed to treat with it and to think of it and it pleaseth him but it is a Thousand to one if it stay there but unless some great diversion by the Grace of God or some External restraint by Shame or Punishment prevent him he commits the Sin and so Lust when it hath Conceived will bring forth Sin and Sin when finished will bring forth Shame and Death or at the best Shame and Sorrow How will a Man reckon with himself What am I the better for that Contentment that I took in this Sin the Contentment is past and that which it hath left me is nothing else but a mis-giving Conscience a sense of a displeased God ashamed to bring my mind in his presence a pre-apprehension of some mischief or inconvenience to follow me a despondency of mind to draw near to God under it and either a great deal of Sorrow and Vexation or Affliction under it or which is the usual gratification of Satan after Sin committed to put away the remembrance of a Sin past with the committing of another till at last the Guilt grows to such a moles that a Man is desperately given over to all kind of Villany and as his Sins increase his Guilt and Shame increaseth On the other side I have denyed my Lust or my Temptation and it is gone First I am as well without it as if I had committed it for it may be the Sin had been past and the contentment that I took in it and I had been as well without it but besides all this I have no Guilt cleaving to my Soul no sting in my Conscience no dispondent nor mis-giving Mind no Interruption of my Peace with God or my self I enjoy my Innocence my Peace my Access to God with Comfort nay more than all this I have a secret Attestation of the Spirit of God in my Conscience that I have obeyed him and have pleased him and have rejected the Enemy of his Glory and my Happiness I have a secret advance of my Interest and Confidence in him and Dependance upon him and Favour with him and Liberty and Access to him which doth Infinitely more than counter vail the satisfaction of an impure and unprofitable and vexing Lust which leaves no footsteps behind it but shame and Sorrow and Guilt 15. As Resolution and Severity to a mans self is one of the best remedies against the flatttery and deceit of Lust so there are certain Expedients that are subservient to that Resolution as namely First Avoiding of Idleness for the Soul in the Body is like a flame that as it were feeds upon that oily substance of the Body which according to the various qualifications or temper of the Body gives it a tincture somewhat like it self and unless the Soul be kept in action it will dwell too much upon that tincture that it receives from it and be too intent and pleased or at least too much tainted and transported and delighted with those fuliginous foul Vapors that arise from the Flesh and natural Constitution Keep it therefore busied about somewhat that is fitter for it that may divert that Intention and Complacency in those fumes that the inferiour part of the Soul is apt to take in them and so be tempted transported or abused by them Secondly A frequent and constant Consideration of the Presence of God and his Holy Angels Luke 15.7 10. 1 Cor. 4.9 who are Spectators of thy Constancy to God and his party and delighted in it or of thy Apostasie Bruitishness and Baseness of mind and grieved at it If a good Man were but acquainted with all my Actions and Motions of my mind upon the Advance of Lusts and Temptations it would make me ashamed to offend in his sight but much more if a pure and glorious Angel did in my view attend observe and behold me but when the Eternal God doth behold me who hath given me this Command to deny my Lusts and hath told me the danger of yielding to them that they bring forth Sin and Death and Hell offers his Grace to assist me promiseth Reward to my Obedience and Constancy how shall I then dare to offend with so much presumption Thirdly A frequent Consideration of Christ's Satisfaction Sufferings and Intercession These Lusts that now solicit me to their observance were those that Crucified my Saviour it was the end of his Passion to Redeem me not only from the Guilt but from the subjection to them It is he that beholds me how shall I trample his Blood under foot If I prostitute my self to them how shall I despise and as much as in me lies disappoint him in the very end of his Incarnation How shall I shame his Gospel before men and as much as in me lies put him to shame in the presence of the Father and all the Holy Angels when they shall be witnesses of my preferring a base Lust before him How can I expect the Intercession of my Saviour for me at the right hand of God who beholds me thus unworthily to serve a Lust though to my Damnation rather than obey my Redeemer to my Salvation 4. Frequent Consideration of Death and Judgment A base Lust solicites me to obey it Shall I accept or deny it It may be this may be the last action of my Life and possibly Death that might have been respited if I shall deny my Lust may be my next event if I obey it and as Death finds me so will Judgment find me Would I be content that such an act as this should be the Amen of my Life and it may be seal me up to eternal rejection Would I be content that my Soul should be presently carried into the presence of God under the last act of my Life to his dishonor Or on the other side if I deny this base importunate Messenger of Hell and it should please God to strike me presently after with Sickness or Death would it not be a more comfortable entrance into that black Valley with a clear Conscience and an Innocent Heart that could with Comfort say as once Hezekiah did upon the like occasion Isai 38.3 Remember O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart Fifthly A due Consideration of the Issue of those solicitations of Lust if assented unto the end of it is Death it will be bitterness in the end it cannot with all its pleasures countervail that bitterness that will most certainly attend it nor can it give any security against it Suppose thou art solicited to a thought or act of Injustice Impurity or Intemperance if thou wilt needs be talking with the Temptation ask it whether it be not a Sin against that God in whose hands thy Soul is and if it be whether his Anger and
Relapses into them Remember the mischiefs they then did thee and let them know they shall do thee no more be most severe and strict against them 5. Make a frequent Vse of thy Deliverance as a singular Preservative against the Power of thy Temptations and Corruptions Deliverance carries in the very apprehension of it these two things 1. A supposition of a former Misery or Visitation 2. A present injoyment of a freedom from that Misery Therefore if any Corruption or Temptation unto Sin sollicite thee improve this consideration to this or the like effect I was lately under the Rack under the Rod under extream Want Imprisonment Disgrace Losses Sickness Sorrows Fears and an imminent expectation of the worst of Evils and though these were sore and sharp Afflictions yet the sense of my former Sins and the importunate restlesness of that Guilt that was contracted from them were more bitter and tormenting than all the rest of my sufferings it was that which was the sting and venome of all my Afflictions and it hath pleased Almighty God to accept of my Humiliation and to remove my Afflictions and to give me Beauty for Ashes and shall I be so very a fool as by committing of a new sin to run the hazard of another plunge another scourge which in all probability must be much more severe than the former because it would be the Issue not only of Sin but of Presumption a Sin committed against the experience that I have had of the bitterness of Sin and with what face or hope could I expect any possibility of Deliverance from a second Relapse into Misery occasioned by so Desperate a presumptuous relapse into Sin But suppose it were possible that notwithstanding my yielding to this Temptation I might escape the Vengeance yet can I be so false so ungrateful to that God that hath delivered me from my Sufferings and from my Fears as to recompence his Love and Mercy and Goodness with a Presumptuous Apostacy from him shall I thus requite his Mercy and Goodness that heard me in my Anguish and Sadness of Soul in my Extremity and Misery and so heard me that he hath delivered me out of all my Troubles and Miseries Certainly if either common Prudence or common Ingenuity be left in a Man the sense of a former Calamity and the sense of so great a Mercy will make a Man abhor the least submission to that Temptation that may at once hazard the continuance of his present Comfort and cannot be entertained without the Presumptuous rejection of him that thus Mercifully sent Deliverance 6. Let the remembrance of thy Misery and thy present Mercy make thee most jealously and passionately careful to keep thy Interest and if it be not too bold a word thy Friendship with God Remember he was thy support in thy Affliction and he was thy Deliverer out of thy Affliction let Gratitude bind thee to it as he was thy Benefactor and let Prudence bind thee to it thou knowest not how soon thou mayst have the same necessity again and where canst thou find such a friend The truth is when we are in extremity and have no whither else to fly O then we run to God and we pray unto him and promise him fair but when once our turn is served and we have gotten our ends and think our selves out of Gun-shot we are like Mariners after a Storm and God hears no more of us but this is as extream Ingratitude so extream Folly Oh keep thy God thy Friend for most certain it is thou wilt have occasion to use him again and thou knowest not how soon keep thine interest in him and estrange not thy self from him in thy Recovery whom thou canst not be without in thy Affliction 7. As I would have thee recollect what were the things in thy life past that most troubled thee in thy Affliction that so thou mayst avoid them so think what things or practices or expence of time in thy life past was most Acceptable and Comfortable to thee in thy Affliction that so thou mayst practise them after thy restitution Consider whether in thy Affliction thou didst remember thy past Recreations thy Merriments thy Feastings thy Lusts thy Honours thy Greatness with any Comfort or Contentment or whether the remembrance of the Hours thou hast formerly spent in Prayer Reading the Scriptures Hearing Sermons Relieving the Poor Visiting the Sick Relieving the Oppressed Harbouring the Persecuted Members of Christ gave thee more contentment And I dare appeal to any Mans Experience under Heaven that when the former sort of Transactions of our lives were either extreamly bitter or at best very insipid to his remembrance yet the remembrance of these of the latter sort were most Comfortable and Contenting Thou art now recovered it is true but as sure as thou shalt dye so sure thou shalt pass through new Afflictions though it may be not of the same kind yet of some kind let it be thy care after God hath thus delivered thee from thy former Affliction to lay up a stock of Good Works against another Evil day such Cordials will lie warm at thy Heart even when the cold pangs of Death it self shall be ready to invade and seize upon it and the Comfort of them shall pass into the other World with thee 8. Though the portion of thy life before thy Affliction and under it were very well spent yet remember that the Mercy of God in thy Deliverance doth call upon thee for a farther degree of Goodness and Perfection than thou hadst before it calls for more Humility and more Thankfulness and more Heavenly Mindedness and more Charity and more Devotion and more Self-Denial and more Sanctity and more Jealousie for the Honour of God For 1. On Gods part thou hast more Ingagements and Obligations put upon thee than before Every increase of Mercy calls for an increase of Duty 2. On thy own part thy Experiences are greater thou hast past through the School of Afflictions and that is a season wherein God opens the Ear to Discipline the Rod hath a voice and a lesson to teach and thou hast past through the experience of Gods Goodness Tenderness and Faithfulness in thy Deliverance and that tutors thee to more Dependance upon him Thankfulness to him and Love of him and these affections carry out the Heart to Duty and Obedience 9. Beware that after Deliverance from Afflictions thou be not secure think not with Agag surely the bitterness of death is past that now thou hast escaped this brunt all is safe and the danger past still be Watchful and stand upon thy Guard 1. Thou hast Sins and Corruptions within thee that if thou art not watchful may surprize thee and raise new storms 2. Thou hast watchful and vigilant Enemies without thee Evil Men and Evil Angels that envy thee the more because thou hast escaped 3. As long as thou livest in the World thy condition is uncertain and unstable in Externals and though
reject those Requests which he himself hath Commanded thee to make 2. As thou prayest in the first place that his Name may be sanctified so let that be the End of all thy Requests Be sure thou ask not any thing which may not be sutable to that End much less contrary to it And in what thou askest agreeable to that End let it be likewise for that End Ask not thy daily Bread for thy Lusts but that thou mayest Glorifie him by it and for it Ask not Pardon for thy Sin barely for thy ease from Punishment much less to make room for new Offences but that thereby his Mercy and Truth may be magnified and his Creature restored to a condition actively to serve him and glorifie him The End is first in intention and is it that draws out all the Actions and orders and directs them to that End and every Action tasts and relisheth of that End Since therefore the Sanctifying of the Name of God is or should be thy chief End and therefore is first in thy Requests Let all thy Requests and Prayers be primarily and chiefly directed to this that is or should be thy chiefest End 3. As the Glory of God should be the chief of thy desires so consequently must it be the Measure of them That which is the chiefest End must control and over-rule all other subordinate Ends if they come in competition with it For as it is of greatest value so it is of greatest force Whatsoever therefore thou askest let it be still with subordination to the Glory of God and be rather contented to be disappointed in thy other inferiour Ends than that this should in the least degree be disappointed Only know and rest assured of this truth that such is the great Goodness and Wisdom of God that he hath placed all those Requests which are of absolute necessity to be granted thee in such an order and path that the granting of them always consists with his Glory and whil'st thou seekest them thou canst not miss of glorifying him and therefore thou mayest be sure the making of his Glory the measure of thy Request shall never disappoint thee in them such as are the pardoning thy sins the delivering thee from being finally overcome with spiritual Evil but thy other requests for temporal Benefits or Deliverances or the particular Circumstances of those other as the manifestation or assurance of Pardon the degrees of spiritual Blessings or the seasons of granting them these may not always lie in the Road-way of his Glory Be content in these to wait upon him and let them still be asked with subordination to this great End but be assured that by preferring his Glory as thy chief End and subjecting the fulfilling of thy Request to the Glory of God thou shalt be no loser in the end Never any man was a loser nor ever shall be that principally intends the Glory of God though to the disappointment of his own particular Ends. Thou hast done thy duty in asking and in asking with this restriction if it tend most for the Glory of God And thou hast done thy Duty in being contented and rejoycing that thy very request is disappointed if God receive Glory thereby for thou hast that which thou diddest in the first place desire and had thy particular Request been granted and the Glory of thy Maker suffered thereby thou had'st been disappointed in this first and great Petition Sanctified be thy Name which thou hast carried along with thee as the qualification of all the rest of thy Requests and as that which thou hast as it were prayed over again in every other Petition thou hast made Assure thy self if thou canst take delight in the Glory of God though to thy own particular damage God will more abundantly recompence thy seeking of his Glory than that very Petition which is denied could have done if granted Thou servest a Bountiful Master that will surely recompence thy Love of his Glory above thy own particular advantage And thou servest a Wise Master that will recompence thee in such a kind or at such a season as shall be more sutable and more comfortable than if thou had'st been thy own carver And this thou shalt clearly and sensibly find that which thou did'st in the first place ask is granted in kind viz. the Honour of God and that which thou did'st ask for thy self though denied in kind is the more granted in value thy own particular benefit Our Saviour prayed that that bitter Cup of death might pass from him yet with submission to the Will and Glory of God Matth. 26.39 yet his Soul must be made an offering for sin and it was so The Glory and the Truth of God required it yet he was heard in that he feared Heb. 5.7 he suffers him to dye but raiseth him from death and he saw of the travail of his Soul and was satisfied Isa 53.11 Thou prayest for deliverance from any affliction from a Disease from Poverty for knowledg or Assurance in such a degree It may be it will not be so much for the Glory of God to grant it or to grant it yet as for the present to deny it First therefore pray Thy Name be hallowed and though I am for the present denied it is enough I am abundantly answered if God be glorified though I be denied Thou shalt find that none that waits upon him shall be ashamed if he grant thee not deliverance he will give thee sufficient Grace if he deny thy recovery he will give thee patience if he deny thee Riches he will give thee Contentedness If he deny thee that measure of Grace he will grant thee Humility If he deny thee that degree of Assurance he will give thee Dependance So that though thou walk in darkness for a while and hast no light yet thou shalt trust in the Name of the Lord and stay upon thy God Isa 50.10 such is the Goodness of God that while we seek his Glory in the first place and other things with subordination to it our other request shall be granted either in kind or compensation Thy Kingdom Come The Kingdom of God hath several acceptations 1. His Universal Kingdom The Kingdom of his Providence which extendeth to all the Actions and Events of all his Creatures Mat. 10.39 Luke 12.6 even to the falling of a Sparrow Psal 103.19 The Lord hath prepared his Throne in Heaven his Kingdom ruleth over all Psal 66.7 He ruleth by his Power for ever his Eyes behold the Nations And this he doth by planting originally in his Creatures their several Laws or Rules by which they move by a derivation of a continual Influence whereby they are supported and preserved in their several Motions Operations and Beings which if he should withdraw but one Moment all things would return unto their Nothing by correcting and over-ruling of all things sometimes contrary to their Nature to shew his freedom and Sovereignty but always by the mingling
and interweaving of the Actions and Motions of one Creature with another by which conjunctures though to us accidental he brings about most Wise and various Events according to his own Counsel So that while Natural Agents move necessarily according to their Natures Voluntary Agents move freely according to their liberty Contingent Agents move and are moved contingently yet every one of them apart and all of them together are guided and managed to the most infallible fulfilling of his most wise and free Counsel And by this Kingdom all things in the World though to us seemingly casual and confused are led to Ends and by Means which they themselves neither see nor intend But the same is most admirably Evinced and Discovered in the Sacred History wherein we see how his determinate and positive Counsels are most infallibly and yet most strangely brought about through divers varieties of Actions and Events seemingly most casual sometimes expresly contrary but always besides the Minds Intentions or Designs of the Instruments and Means as is evident among divers others so especially in these viz. that Counsel of God Gen. 15.13 and the strange conjunctures that were used to effect it that hapned from the dislike that grew between Joseph and his Brethren till the going of Jacob into Egypt and the Prophesie of Gen. 15.16 And the strange varieties that were used to fulfil it from the time that the Egyptian King grew jealous of them till their coming into Canaan That ever to be admired Connsel and Promise of God of sending Christ and his suffering for Mankind first manifested in Paradise Gen. 3.15 And all the several particular Predictions of him and concerning him and the most wonderful Connexion of Millions of Events many of them seemingly inconsiderable all of them seemingly casual through the whole series of 4000 years led on to the fulfilling of it even from the sin of Adam till the death of Christ and the Revelation of that Mercy for the sake of which the World was created To these may be added the Counsels and Prophesies of the Rejection of the Jews the desolation of the Temple the Conversion of the Gentiles for the most certain fulfilling whereof it is most conspicuous that all the Conjunctures of Natural Voluntary casual Agents and Events were most infallibly and certainly managed by the most powerful hand of God And this Kingdom is not that which is principally intended in this Petition for this Kingdom hath been and is come Ever since the Creation only it should be our desire that the true and wise knowledg and observation of this Kingdom may enter into the hearts of all men that thereby we may admire and adore his Wisdom and Power in the governing and disposing of all things that we may depend upon his All-sufficiency submit unto the Dispensations of this Government attribute all the Successes Events and Occurrences in the World to his Justice Power and Providence 2. His Kingdom over his Reasonable Creatures Men and Angels which though they are under the general Kingdom of his Providence in the consideration above mentioned yet they are under a more especial Kingdome then other Creatures To these he hath given Understanding and Will and so they are capable not only of a subjection to the Will of his Counsel as they are Creatures but of an Active Obedience to the Will of his Command as they are reasonable Creatures and so are subjects of his Justice in Rewards and Punishments as well as of his Power And in reference to this Kingdom it is said Psal 89.14 Justice and Judgment are the habitation of his Throne And Psal 45.6 The Seepter of his Kingdom is a right Scepter Now the Administration of this Kingdom consisteth especially in these things 1. In giving the Children of Men a Law to be their Rule 2. In dispensing Rewards and Punishments according to the obedience or disobedience of this Law 3. In Protection 1. As touching the Law given to Man In the first Creation of Man he did acquaint Man with his Will and Mind and surely by some special Manifestation of it did reveal that Law unto him which should be a Rule of Righteousness to him and all his posterity And as he gave to all things propensions inclinations and motions suitable to the several degrees of their beings so to Man he gave a Law or Rule suitable to his Nature and by a Manifestation convenient for the condition of his Nature And though Man by his Fall introduced that disorder and disconformity to that Law whereby he became unable to keep it yet many of those Principles of Righteousness which God had manifested unto him he retained in his knowledge and traduced to his posterity And these as they grew corrupted by the corruption of our Nature and forgotten so he did re-imprint them upon men by the several Acts of his Providence Sometimes by new publication of his Law unto some persons which was by that means traduced over to divers others thus the Law given to Noah the Law given to the Jewes was questionless propagated and derived over to others by tradition and relation Sometimes by inlightning and exciting men of Eminence as divers of the Heathen Law-givers who were Eminent in their generations but most ordinarily and universally sending down into the Consciences of men some discoveries of his Will and inclinations to acknowledg them and to obey them Rom. 2.15 a Law written in their Hearts their Consciences also bearing witness So that there can scarcely be found any time or person wherein God's Providence did not by some of these wayes convey at least some Directions of Righteousness which should be the Rule by which they should live and by which they should be judged So that they that have sinned without the Law should perish without the Law and they that have sinned in the Law should be judged by the Law Rom. 2.12 that is Somewhat of the Will of God touching Righteousness is derived to all men though to some more to some less to some by a more clear Dispensation to some by a more obscure Dispensation yet such is the Exact Justice of God that though he might Judge all Mankind according to the Exactest Rule of his Law given to Man even in his Innocency yet that Every Mouth may be stopped he will Judge them according to so much of his Law as he hath communicated to them He will not Judge the Heathen that never heard of the Law of God so clearly published to the Jewes by that Law but by that manifestation or conviction of Righteousness that he hath Thus if he sin he shall be condemned without the Law that is without calling in any other Law to Judge him by then that Law which hath been in some measure declared unto him 2. As the Administration of this Kingdom over men is by giving them a Law so there is likewise an Execution of that Law by Rewards of Obedience and by Punishments of Disobedience And
this God published in the infancy of the World Gen. 4.7 If thou dost well shalt thou not be accepted and if thou dost not well sin lyes at the door Psal 62.12 Thou rendrest to every man according to his works Disobedience to this Law of God obligeth to Punishment upon a double ground 1. As a natural and a Just consequence of an unjust violation of a Just Duty in as much as every Creature owes an infinite subjection and obedience to the Soveraign Commands of him that gives it Being 2. As a consequence of that Sanction that is expresly annexed to the Law so given In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death Obedience on the other side is followed with a Reward not out of a natural consequent or a proportion between the Obedience and the Reward for every Creature owes obedience to God though there were no reward at all we have therein done but our Duty and God cannot be a debtor to the best of his Creatures for their best works Job 35.7 If thou be righteous what givest thou him but out of the Free Goodness and Bounty of our Law-giver who is pleased to make himself a debtor to his Creatures obedience by his Free Promise of a Reward and annexing of it to the Obedience of this Law Psal 62.12 Also to thee O Lord belongeth Mercy for thou renderest to every man according to his works As if he should have said O Lord all thy Creatures owe an universal Subjection and Obedience to thy Command and when they have done what thou commandest they pay but the just tribute unto Thee for their Being and therefore when they have done all that thou requirest they must sit down and say We are unprofitable servants we have done but what was our duty and cannot challenge any reward at thy hands They owe thee more for their Being that thou hast already given them than all their service and obedience can amount unto It is thy Mercy not thy Justice that hath annexed any further Reward to that Duty which we owe unto thee All the challenge that thy Creature can make to any Reward of his choicest Obedience is still founded upon thy Mercy who though we are in all this but unprofitable Servants art pleased to be to us a Bountiful Master in giving that Reward to the obedience of thy Creature which only thine Own Free Goodness did at first freely promise Even so Lord because Mercy pleaseth thee 3. In his most Wise and Special Providing for them Disposing of them and Protecting of them The General Providence of God reacheth every Creature but if that Infinite Wisdom and Power can admit of any degrees in the way of its execution it is more eminently at least acted in his Kingdom over his reasonable Creatures Luke 12.7 Fear not ye are of more value than many Sparrows Matth. 6.30 Shall he not much more cloath you And this Special Dispensation of this Kingdom is seen in more especially disposing and ordering of the ways and events of Particular men 2 Pet. 1.11 Prov. 20.24 Man's goings are of the Lord. How can a man then understand his own way of Societies or Companies of Men. Acts 17.26 hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitations in protecting them against the power and malice of Evil Angels restraining them from those Evils that their malice and natural power is able and willing to Effect Job 1.12 3. His Kingdom over his Church and this in a more special manner is the Kingdom of God And herein we consider 1. The King of this Kingdom God by an Eternal Decree hath appointed his Son our Lord Jesus Christ the King of this Kingdom Psalm 26.7 I have set my King upon my holy Hill Psalm 110.2 Rule thou in the middest of thine Enemies And hence it is called frequently the Kingdom of Christ Colos 1.13 the Kingdom of his dear Son 1 Pet. 2.11 the Everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and sometime the Kingdom of Christ and of God Ephes 5.5 The Kingdom of Christ in the immediate administration of it and the Kingdom of God who hath delegated and substituted him unto this administration Angels and Authorities and Powers being made subject unto him 1 Pet. 3.22 first the Kingdom of Christ till he shall have Judged all men and then the Kingdom of the Father when he shall deliver up the Kingdom to his Father that God may be all in all 1 Cor. 15.24 28. And the Regal Office of Christ over his Church principally respecteth these two things 1. In conquering to himself a people The whole World was by Sin reduced under a subjection to an Usurper the Prince of the power of the air the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience And this Kingdom of his was a Kingdom of darkness Colos 1.13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness And the Subjects of this Kingdom were a People of darkness Ephes 5.8 Ye were sometimes darkness And by the advantage of this darkness this Prince of darkness governed the World as he pleased for they knew not whither they went and by and from this darkness this Prince led them into another Continent or rather condition of his Kingdom a Kingdom of Sin and Sin as the Vice-Roy of this Prince of darkness did reign in the World and had dominion over it Rom. 6.12 14. and by Sin he led his Subjects into another Region of his Kingdom into the Kingdom of death Sin reigned unto death Rom. 5.21 and then death reigned Rom. 5.14 Now as God was pleased by a Mighty hand to go and take him a Nation from the mid'st of another Nation Deut. 4.34 So Christ redeems him a People out of every Tongue and Kindred and People and Nation Revel 6.9 out of the mid'st of his Enemies He came to destroy the works of the Devil 1 Joh. 3.8 binds this strong man that kept the house and rescues his prisoners from him 1. He came a Light into the World and dispelled and scattered that darkness which was the principal Engine whereby the Prince of this world did rule John 1.5 The Light shined into darkness and the darkness comprehended it not And at the very dawning of this Light into the World the Prince of darkness falls from Heaven like Lightning Luke 10.18 And this was that whereby the Prince of this world was Judged that is all his deceits and methods and wiles and abuses of Mankind were discovered and detected John 18.11 And by this Light we are translated from the power of darkness into the Kingdom of his Son Colos 1.13 are become partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Col. 1.12 are become light and children of the light Ephes 5.8 And as he came with Light to take away that Egyptian darkness which overspread the World Isa 9.1 So 2. he came with a Treasury of Merit to expiate the guilt and a Treasury of Righteousness to cover
the stain and take away the power of sin to re-imprint the Image of God that was defaced by sin to rescue the heart from the love of sin and consequently from the power of sin to transmit into the Soul new Principles new Affections new Wills Psalm 110.3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power As he came with Light to rectifie the Understanding so he came with Righteousness to rectifie the Will The strength of a King rests in the Love and Will of his People when Christ conquers the Will from the Love and Submission to sin he conquers Man from the Dominion and Kingdom of sin 3. And as thus by Light he conquered the Kingdom of Darkness and by Righteousness the Kingdom of Sin so he comes with Life also and conquers us from the Kingdom of Death When our Saviour died he entred into the Chambers of Death and conquered this King of Terrors took away the malignity and sting of it by taking away Sin the sting of Death healed these bitter waters by his own passing through them and by his Resurrection triumphed over the power of death for us by the vertue of that Resurrection delivering our Souls from the second death and our Bodies from the first death and giving us a most infallible assurance of a final victory over death by an assured and blessed Resurrection Thus Death is swallowed up in Victory 1 Cor. 15.54 2. And as Christ hath purchased him a People by Victory so his Regal Office is considerable in the Government of this people that he hath so acquired He hath given them a Law to Live by the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus which makes them free from the Law of sin and of death Rom. 8.2 The Law of God vindicated from the false glosses which the corruption of men had in succession of time put upon it a Law sweetned and strengthned and actuated by the Love of God wrought in the Soul a Law though of the highest Perfection and Purity yet accompanied with the Grace and Assistance of Christ to Enable us to perform it in some measure and accompanied with the Merits of Christ to pardon and the Righteousness of Christ to cover our defects in our performance of it He hath given them a new heart and this Law of his written in this heart He hath given them of his own Spirit a Spirit of Life to Quicken them and of Power to Enable them to Obey And because notwithstanding this conquest of Christ of a People to himself they are still beset with Enemies that would reduce them to their former bondage he watcheth over them and in them by his Grace wasting and weakning and resisting their corruptions by new supplyes and influences from him quickning their hearts by renewed derivations of Life and Spirit from him which otherwise would sink and die under the weight of their own Earth encountering Temptations that like Foggs and Vapours arise out of our own flesh or like storms or snares are raised or placed by the Devil against us either by diverting them or by giving sufficient Grace to oppose them These and the like administrations doth our Saviour use which though they are secret and not easily discerned by us and though they are ordered without any noise or appearance yet they are works of greater Power and of greater Concernment and of equal reality with all the visible administrations of things in this world which are more obvious to our sense and are the effects of that invisible Government of Christ and of that Promise of his Behold I am with you alway even unto the end of the World Matth. 28.20 This is that Kingdom of God within them Luk. 17.21 consisting in Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost Rom. 14.17 casting down Imaginations and every high thing that Exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and bringing into Captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.5 3. As in his Government so his Regal Office is Evidenced in his Judgment And this Judgment of his being one of the Acts or Administrations of this Kingdom is oftentimes called the Kingdom of God His Judgment of Absolution and Reward to his Subjects and his Judgment of Condemnation and Destruction to the Rebels and Enemies of his Kingdom 2. And as we have the consideration of the King of this Kingdom and consequently of his Subjects Revel 15.3 Just and true are thy ways thou King of Saints So the various Administrations of this Kingdome are frequently called the Kingdome of God and the Mysteries of the Kingdome Matth. 13.11 24 31 44 45 47. Matth. 25.1 14 c. And as the Administrations of this Kingdom are often called the Kingdom so are the Instruments of this administration 1. The Word or Gospel of the Kingdome which must be preached through the whole World Matt. 24.14 and is therefore committed to the ministration of an Angel to dispence it to all Nations Revel 14.6 That great Engin which though seemingly weak and dispensed by weak and despicable Men God hath chosen to confound the things that are mighty 1 Cor. 1.27 to pull down strong holds 2 Cor. 10.4 to gather his Elect for the perfecting of the body of Christ the fulness of him that filleth all in all and therefore this publication of the Gospel is oftentimes called the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 3.2 The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Luk. 10.9 The Kingdom of God is come nigh unto you and if a Man consider the Mighty and Strange Effects that this everlasting Gospel hath had in the World for these many Hundred Years notwithstanding the many disadvantages upon which it entred and hath continued in the World we may well say that it is the Power of God and the Wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1.24 the Rod of his strength sent out of Sion Psal 110.2 that the Message of a Crucified Christ published by poor despised men to a World that never saw him or if they did saw no beauty or comliness in him to a World full of prejudicies against him prepossessed with an opinion of their own Wisdom with Religions extremely opposite traduced to them from their Ancestors of which Men are naturally tenacious that this Message of Christ not with a promise of Glory or Riches in this World but with a plain prediction of poverty scorns persecutions and Death to those that entertain it and with a promise of future Life that they never saw nor can see till they see this no more should conquer Millions of Souls to the profession and Love of Christ and to an austere self-denying despised Life here doth evidence and convince that there is the strength and Wisdom of God that is ingaged in this wonderful yet most positively predicted conquest of the World 2. The work of the Spirit of God preparing and pre-disposing the Heart to the receiving of the Gospel of the Kingdom convincing the Heart of that Sin and that Death
his Lusts And this variety may arise by the difference of stations or degrees that may be but Bread for Solomon's Table which may be Quails for a meaner person the difference of relations and dependencies the difference of tempers and constitutions of body the difference of seasons and occurrences There may be a Season when our Lord gives us a commission to eat whatsoever our Soul desireth so it be done before the Lord and as in his presence Deut. 14.26 And there is a Season when slaying of Oxen and killing Sheep and eating Flesh is an iniquity not to be purged Isa 22.12 13 14. The Wise God that ordereth and disposeth all times and persons and circumstances doth with the same Wisdom fit them with suitable Concomitants and Adjuncts He hath made every thing beautiful in its time Eccles 3.11 But besides this Bread for our Bodies there is Bread for our Souls which comes under this Petition The Bread of Life and the Water of Life John 6.33 this is the Life of our Souls And as much as the Good and Support and Life of our Souls is of more concernment to us than the Life of our Bodies so is the Bread of our Souls of more concernment for us to ask than the Bread of our Bodies this is Christ John 6.34 I am the Bread of Life he that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst Bread like the Widows Barrel of Meal that shall never diminish unto all Eternity This Bread our Lord hath been pleased already to give us Christ and his fulness and nothing is wanting if we have but a hand to receive it And this Bread we eat when we believe the Truth of God concerning him when we often contemplate upon the Mercy of God in giving him and upon that mighty Salvation which in him he hath given us when we have often recourse unto him for Grace and Mercy when we carry unto him all our stock of Love and Admiration and Dependence and Recumbence and Resolution of Spirit And here we find Bread for our Souls in the most comprehensive latitude accommodate to every condition of the Soul Here is Bread to feed and to strengthen it the Grace and Spirit of Christ Physick to cure and recover it the Satisfaction and Merit of Christ Varieties to feast and to refresh it the Promises of God Joy in believing unspeakable and full of Glory Bread that will satisfie yet never satiate but the more we feed upon him the greater is our plenty and the better our stomach To conclude then the whole consideration of this Petition When I pray for my daily Bread my Soul doth or should run out into such thoughts as these O Lord thou did'st at first freely give me my Being I could not deserve it when I was not The same Title that I have to my Being I have to my Preservation and Support of my Being it is still free gift and therefore I come to thee for my Bread upon no other terms than as a poor Beggar to a most bountiful Lord. And because thou hast commanded me to cast my care upon thee therefore I seek my Bread of thee for this day which thou hast hitherto lent me I desire to trust thee with my Portion and it is my happiness that my Portion is not in my own hands but in thine Give therefore I pray thee Bread for this day and when to morrow comes I will beg Bread of thee for to morrow and if thou givest me this day supplies beyond the expence of this day I will use it thankfully and nevertheless dependingly for I will renew my Petition for my daily Bread still It is thy blessing that gives my Bread power to nourish me And that which is Bread to day and sufficient for to morrow may without thy blessing upon it like the Israelites Manna kept beyond thy Command be Worms to morrow And because thou hast promised that verily I shall be fed Psal 37.3 upon that promise of thine I beg food and cloathing convenient for me If thou givest me no more or not so much give me Contentedness and Thankfulness and if thou givest me more give me Thankfulness for it Sobriety in the use of it and Liberality in the dispencing of it In giving me but Enough I am Steward for my self and in giving me more than Enough I am but a Steward of that abundance for others But above all Ever give me of the Bread of Life that whilest my Body is fed my Soul may not be starved either for want of that Everlasting Bread or for want of an appetite to it And forgive us our Debts Matt. 6. Our Sins Luk. 11. Sins We are all under the guilt of sin No man lives and sins not Eccles 7.20 If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves 1 John 1.8 God made Man Righteous at first and gave him a Righteous Law and in as much as Man owed an infinite subjection to the Authour of his Being he owed an Exact Obedience to the Law of his Maker yet God was pleased to give him this Law not only as the Rule of his Obedience but as a Covenant of Life and of Death viz. that so long as he and his Seed should observe that Law so long they should enjoy Blessedness and Immortality and if they should break any part of that Law they should die the death The first man made a stipulation for himself and his Posterity and this was but just for he had in himself the Race of all Mankind all succeeding Generations are but pieces of Adam who had not nor could have their Being but from him and so it was but Reasonable and Just for him to contract for all his Posterity And as it was just in respect of the Person contracting so it was just in respect of the Manner of the Contract the Law that was his covenant was a just and righteous Law a Law sutable to the indowments and power of his Nature Again the Blessedness which by his obedience he was to hold was not of his own creating nor obtaining it was the free gift of God and it is but reasonable that the Lord of this gift might give it in what manner he pleased and it could not be unjust that the Lord that gave him this Blessedness should give it him under what Conditions he pleased but he gave it him under most reasonable and just Conditions viz. an Obedience to a most just and reasonable Law which suited with the ability and perfection of his Nature and therefore when upon the breach of Covenant by Man he withdrew that blessedness from him and his posterity he did no more than what was most just for him to do And thus we stand Guilty of that Sin which our first Father committed and are deprived of that Blessedness and Life which our first Father had and the Privation of that Blessedness and Immortality is Death Rom. 5.12 By one Man sin
come before thee and beg thee to pardon my Sins assuredly trusting that thou that hast created in me a mind of Mercy and Forgiveness unto others wilt shew thy self a God of Mercy and Pardon unto me 6. Forgive us for we forgive It is true our Pardon of others deserves not thy Mercy nor can it make thee a debtor unto us but Bountiful Lord thou hast been pleased in Christ in whom all thy Promises are Yea and Amen by thine own free Promise to engage thy self unto thy creature Psal 18.25 That with the merciful thou wilt shew thy self merciful Matt. 5.7 That the merciful shall obtain Mercy Mat. 6.14 That if we forgive men their Trespasses thou wilt forgive us and these Promises of thine freely and undeservedly made by thee I lay before thee when I beg my Pardon in Jesus Christ thereby to strengthen my Soul in thy Goodness in the free remission of all my Sins To conclude In this Petition the Soul breathes out such thoughts as these O Lord I confess before thee I am a sinful creature I have a sinful and polluted Nature a Body of sin and death and this sinful Nature sends forth through all my Thoughts Words and Actions foul and filthy streams in every moment of my Life and if thou shouldest pass by all the sins of my Nature and Life unto this day and shouldest call me to an account for my errors since I last begged my Pardon there were guilt enough left to press me down to the lowest Hell And this guilt of the least of any of my sins as it is more than I am able to answer so it is more than I am able to expiate there is no escaping but by thy free Pardon and that Pardon I beg of thee in the Name and Righteousness and Promise of thy Son who knew all thy mind and taught me to seek my Pardon as often as to seek my daily bread And in confidence only of that free Mercy of thine I beseech thee pardon me and as I beg the Pardon of my sins in general so in special I beg the Pardon of those Sins which I committed since thy last act of remission granted and manifested and ratified unto me this or that neglect of my Duty to thee or my neighbour this or that sinful proud unclean vain Thought which hath stained my Soul and grieved thy Spirit and polluted or weakned my Conscience this or that uncharitable or malicious or unseemly or vain Word this or that unjust or unbecoming or unchristian or ungodly Action every one of these leaves a spot in my Soul which nothing but the Blood of Christ and thy Free Grace can take away It leaves a Disease a Weakness a Wound in my Soul which nothing but thy Free Spirit can heal and recover And though I know that my greatest mercy to others cannot merit mercy from thee because that mercy is but my duty and a duty mingled in the performance of it with many of my own imperfections which stand in need of thy mercy to pardon it and that little good that is in it is not my own but the work of thy Grace as free as thy Pardon yet it is an evidence to me that thou wilt be merciful unto me in that thou hast contrary to my own nature wrought a merciful temper in my heart to others the same mind that was in thy Son and therefore I am humbly confident that thou hast given me that Spirit of thy Son and consequently the relation and priviledge of a Son that in as much as thou hast given me a heart to pardon others thou wilt make good thy Promise of Mercy and Pardon unto me I make mention of my remission of others not as the merit of thy forgiving of me but thereby to strengthen my Faith and to lay hold of thy Promise made in and by thy Son that if we forgive Men their offences thou wilt also forgive us And this I beg not to make room for new offences by pardoning the old nor to continue in sin that Grace may abound but with a resolution to forsake my sins as well as to confess them and not turn again to folly strengthen me so with thy Grace that as thou hast now cleansed my Soul from my past sins and spots so I may keep my self from mine Iniquity that I may live more to thy Honour that I may walk with more Vigilance that I may every day find my account less and thy Spirit and Grace more and more effectual in me to conform me to the Will and Example of thy Son in all Holiness and Blamelessness of mind and life and to that end Lead us not into Temptation c. This Petition directs us to pray for 1 Preventing Mercy Lead us not into Temptation 2 Delivering Mercy but deliver us from Evil. Keep us from falling into Evil but if we fall into it deliver us from it The Former part wherein is considerable 1. What is meant by Temptation 2. What to lead into Temptation Temptation may be understood 1 for an Active Solicitation unto Evil of Sin this is done either by the Devil thus our Saviour was led by the Spirit into the Wilderness to be tempted of the Devil Matt. 4.1 And therefore he is often called the Tempter who being a Spirit is by the advantage of his Nature and by the permission of God able to mingle himself so with our Souls and faculties that he can immediately solicite unto Evil. Thus he mingled himself with the Spirits of the Prophets of Ahab and became a lying Spirit in their Mouths 1 Kings 22.21 Thus he mingled himself with the Spirit of Judas tempting him to betray Christ Luke 22.7 with the spirit of Ananias Act. 5.3 Why hath Satan filled thy Heart or it is done by Evil Men either by their Counsels Perswasions or Examples or by our own corrupt hearts James 1.14 Every Man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own Lusts and inticed Our corrupt and sinful flesh breathes and evaporates into our Souls those ill and filthy vapors which infect and disorder and seduce it from God the Law of our Members bringing us into captivity to the Law of sin Rom. 7.23 2. For that Objective Temptation or the Object from whence occasionally Temptation ariseth And thus almost every Object of our sense is a Temptation not that there is any proper active motion or action of the Object to perswade to sin but the corruption of our sensual Nature meeting with such an Object acts amiss upon it and so it becomes a Temptation to sin and especially if the Object be such as bears a disproportion to our enjoyment of it The beauty of the Apple was a Temptation to Eve the wedge of Gold and the Babylonish Garment to Achan Naboths Vineyard to Ahab Bathsheba to David yet in these the Objects were innocent and had in themselves no active solicitation to Evil but because they were seemingly good yet prohibited corrupted
Power and All-sufficiency of God and lastly with Recourse to God by Prayer against them for Except the Lord keep the City the Watchmen wake but in vain Psal 127.1 2. The second means is that which our Saviour teacheth us in this Petition Prayer unto God the Father who is faithful and will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able 1 Cor. 10.13 Through our Lord Jesus Christ who hath suffered himself being tempted and therefore is able to succour those that are tempted Heb. 2.18 By the Eternal Spirit who hath promised to guide us into all truth John 16.13 That the Almighty and Eternal God who so far condescends unto us as to offer us his Hand to lead us and his Strength to support us that sees all our wayes and our wandrings and the snares that are spread for our feet would be pleased to guide us by his Hand and by his Eye that we may keep the true and old way and if any snares be laid there for us by the Enemy of our Peace that he would either remove or break the snare or lead us about by them or lift us over them That he would be pleased to cleanse our Hearts from our corruptions the nursery of our Temptations that he would prepare us and instruct and strengthen us by his Mighty Spirit to discern and to oppose and to overcome the deceits and seductions of our own Hearts To conclude therefore this part of this Petition O Lord God Almighty that beholdest all my ways I find that I walk in the midst of Snares and Temptations the great Enemy of my Salvation and his Retinue are continually about me and watch for my halting secretly and undiscoverably soliciting my Soul to sin against thee almost in every occurrence of my life and every motion of my mind and having in any thing prevailed against me either he quiets my Soul in my sin or disorders my Soul for it and by both prevents or diverts me from coming to thee to seek my Pardon as a thing not necessary to be asked or impossible to be gained Again the Men among whom I live scatter their temptations for me by Perswasions to sin by evil Examples by success in sinful practices And if there were no Devil or Man to tempt me yet I find in my self an everlasting seed of Temptations a stock of corruptions that forms all I am and all I have or do even thy very Mercies into Temptations when I consider thy Patience and Goodness to me I am tempted to Presumption to Supineness to an Opinion of my own worth when I consider or find thy Justice I am tempted to Murmuring to despair to think the most Soveraign Lord a hard Master In my Understanding I am tempted to secret Argumentation to Atheism to Infidelity to dispute thy Truth to curiosity to impertinent or forbidden enquiries If I have Learning it makes me Proud apt to despise the purity and simplicity of thy Truth to contend for Mastery not for Truth to use my Wit to reason my self or others into Errors or Sins to spend my time in those discoveries that do not countervail the expence nor are of any value or use to my Soul after death In my Will I find much averseness to what is good a ready motion to every thing that is evil or at least an incertain fluctuation between both In all my Thoughts I find abundance of Vanity when imployed to any thoughts of most concernment to my Soul full of inconsistency unfixt unsetled easily interrupted mingled with gross apprehensions When I look into my Conscience I find her easily bribed and brought over to the wrong party allayed with self-love if not wholly silent unprofitable and dead In my Affections I find continued disorder easily misplaced and more easily over-acted beyond the bounds of Moderation Reason and Wisdom much more of Christianity and thy Fear In my sensual Appetite I find a continual fog and vapour rising from it disordering my Soul in all I am about with unseasonable importunate and foul exhalations that darken and pollute it that divert and disturb it in all that is good that continually solicit it to all sensual Evils unto all immoderation and excess In my Senses I have an Eye full of Wantonness full of Covetousness full of Haughtiness an Ear full of Itching after novelties impertinencies vanities a Palate full of Intemperance studious for curiosities a Hand full of violence when it is in my power a Tongue full of unnecessary vain words apt to slander to whisper full of vain-glory and self-flattery If thou givest me a healthy strong Body I am ready to be proud of it apt to think my self out of the reach of sickness or death It keeps me from thinking of my latter end or providing for it I am ready to use that strength to the service of sin with better advantage more excess and less remorse If thou visitest me with sickness I am surprised with Peevishness Impatience with solicitous care touching my Estate and Posterity and Recovery and my thoughts concerning thee less frequent less profitable than before though my necessity be greater If thou givest me Plenty I am apt to be Proud Insolent Confident in my Wealth reckoning upon it as my Treasure think every thought lost that is not imployed upon it or in order to increase it loth to think of Death or Judgment If thou visitest me with Poverty I am apt to murmur to count the Rich happy to cast off thy service as unprofitable to look upon my everlasting hopes as things at a distance Imaginary Comforts under Real wants If thou givest me Reputation and Esteem in the World I am apt to make use of it to bear me out at a pinch in some unlawful action to use it to mislead others to use any base shift to support it If thou cast me into Reproach and Ignominy my heart is apt to swell against the means to study Revenge and to die with my Reputation though it may causelesly be lost and to have the thoughts and remembrance of it to interfere and grate upon my Soul even in my immediate service to thee any Cross sowers at my blessings and carries my heart so violently into discontent for it may be all single affliction which I deservedly suffer that I forget to be thankful for a multitude of other Mercies which I undeservedly enjoy If I am about a good Duty I find my heart tempted to perform them Carelesly Formally Negligently Hypocritically Vain-gloriously for false or by-Ends and when I have done them my heart is puft up with Pride opinion of Merit looking upon my Maker as my Debtor for the Duty I owe him and yet but slightly and defectively performed to him How then can I expect Power from my self to resist a Temptation without when I find so much treachery within me I therefore beseech thee most Merciful and Powerful Father to send into my heart the Grace and strength of thy blessed
Spirit to resist and overcome all my Temptations to cleanse and purge this foul heart of mine of this brood and nest of lusts and corruptions that are within it to strengthen my self against the Temptations of Hell the World and my self to lead me in safe paths to discover and admonish me hourly of all the dangers that are in my way and so by thy mighty and over-ruling Providence to guide me that I may avoid all occasions of falling so to order and over-rule and moderate and temper all the occurrences of my life that they may be suitable to that Grace thou givest me to bear them without offending thee and if thou at any time suffer me to take a fall yet deliver me from Presumptuous sins give me a heart speedily to fly to thee for strength to restore me for mercy to pardon me If thou suffer me to fall into Temptation yet I beseech thee deliver me from the evil But deliver us from Evil. Three Evils are here meant 1. The Evil of Sin We are before taught to pray for pardoning Mercy in the first Petition for preventing Mercy in the former part of this Petition and here we are taught to pray for delivering restoring Mercy When a sin is committed there is not only a guilt contracted which stands in need of Mercy to pardon it but the Soul receives a Wound that weakens it and stands in need of a Divine strength to restore it and without this it would never rise out of that state of Impotency yea of Rebellion into which it is fallen but would multiply sin upon sin to all Eternity As before our conversion unto God we are dead in trespasses and sins and cannot convert our selves so after we are converted any one sin puts us as in our selves and in respect of our own strength into the same state of dead Men in which our conversion at first found us only here is the odds God is pleased to put into us a Seed of Life that shall again quicken us though we fall 1 John 3.9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin that is continue in it for his seed abideth in him 1 John 2.1 If any man sin we have an Advocate c. That Seed of Life that Advocate of our Peace will cause him to lay hold again upon the Strength and Mercy and Promise of God will carry his Eye to look upon this brazen Serpent will enable him to reapply the Merits and Life of Christ to his Soul and so that wound that was in it self mortal is cured and the Soul inabled to return again to God whom by sin it hath forsaken and yet though the benefit is ours the deliverance is Gods and he will be sought unto as well for strength to recover from the state of sin as for Mercy to recover from the Guilt of Sin after every fall 2. Deliver us from the evil of Punishment or Affliction 1. By giving us Patience to bear it as from the hand of God 2. Wisdom and Understanding to discern and perceive what the end of God is in sending it for the Rod hath his Voice and his Message It may be it is to bring into remembrance some sin past unrepented of which lyes rankling in thy conscience though thou hast forgotten it and so it bids thee look backward It may be it is to prevent thee from some sin which thou art otherwise like to fall into and so bids thee look forward It may be thy Heart begins to settle upon her lees to fix her self upon the World to grow secure and careless to grow proud and wanton and so it bids thee look within thee It may be God is pleased to use this cross to stir thee up to Dependence upon him to seek him by Prayer to discover his Power and Mercy in delivering thee in some eminent way and so it bids thee look above thee Learn therefore the message of the Cross and improve it to that end for which he sent it and by this means thou shalt be delivered from the Evil of the Evil. 3. Deliver us from Evil that is from the very Incumbency of the Evil upon us And this is a thing that wee may lawfully ask so it be with submission to the Will of God who best knows what is fit for us only of this we may be sure that though the thing be not granted yet thy Petition is not lost when Paul besought God thrice against an affliction 2 Cor. 12.9 Though he had not deliverance from it yet he had sufficient Grace given him to bear it when our blessed Lord besought that that Cup might pass from him though he must drink of the Cup yet he was heard in the thing which he feared Heb. 5.7 And thy Prayer for deliverance shall be answered either with a way to escape it or with strength comfortably to bear it 1 Cor. 10.13 3. Deliver us from the Evil that is the Evil one who goeth about as a roaring Lyon seeking whom he may devour the Prince of Darkness the Prince of this World the Prince of the power of the Air an invisible Prince that could he but get commission from the great Lord of Heaven and Earth would sift us as wheat would shake our Faith and bring us under his own rule a Creature but yet of that Power Wisdom Subtilty and Malice that he would be easily able to seduce or at least to disorder and shatter the strongest Man as once he did Job therefore we have cause to pray that as the Son of God came to destroy the works of Satan to judge this Prince of this World to bruise his Head so he would continually assist us with his Grace to resist him to discover him even when he transforms himself into an Angel of light that if he shall go about to seduce us from the Truth by Signs and Wonders as once he did Pharaoh by Predictions as sometimes he did in the Heathen Oracles by Misapplications even of the very Word of Truth as he indeavoured to do by our Saviour by successes and events of things that we may remember the caution that Moses gave unto the Israelites Deut. 13.3 The Lord your God proveth you whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your Soul that if he go about to seduce us into Sin or denying of the Truth by Proposals and Promises of Honours Preferments temporal Advantages or to affright us from the truth by Menaces Persecutions Disgraces Death yet we may not be allured or affrighted into sin but may keep close to the sure Truth of God revealed in his Word whatever the Event be For thine is the Kingdom Power and Glory In the beginning of this Prayer our Saviour teacheth us to sterngthen our Faith in the Mercy of God by teaching us to call hin Father and in the Power of God by teaching us to call him our Heavenly Father that under both these considerations we may look upon