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
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
of God to soften that heart again 2. Make a frequent and serious Examination of thy past Actions measure them by the Rule of the Word of God and find out that accursed thing whatsoever it be that is displeasing to him so that as much as may be thou maist distinctly and with reference to particular sins or faults or failings pray over this Petition There is not a day but by a wary observation thou wilt not only find a general indistinct distemper which is to be the subject of this request but particular special eminent Evils that deserve a particular reflection upon them in the repetition of this Petition Let us search and try our wayes and turn to the Lord our God And to this end 3. Endeavour to keep thy Conscience always Wakeful Vigilant Tender be content to listen to her chidings she soldom quarrels without a cause but suppressing checking and stifling the language of Conscience makes her at last either sullen or senseless or outragious A vigilant Conscience will prevent thee from many sins but if it do not it will tell thee of them and bring thee upon thy knees and make this Petition seasonable and a Pardon gotten thereupon acceptable and comfortable for how can that Man with any sense beg Pardon for a sin when he scarce finds himself sensibly guilty of any This Petition is delivered up but carelesly and coldly and fruitlesly by such a person 4. Give God the Honour of his Justice even when thou suest for the Benefit of his Mercy in aggravation of thy sins to the due height in owning damnation and utter rejection as the just reward of every sin humble thy Soul truely and deeply for it This will make thy Prayer earnest and thy Pardon dear it gives to God the Honour of his Justice and the Glory of his Mercy which is all the Tribute thou can'st pay unto him for his free Goodness in giving thee that Pardon without which thou wert eternally lost 5. Give thy Mediator the Honour and End of thy Redemption Thy Saviour died it is true to obtain thy Pardon but wilt thou continue in sin that Grace may abound sin that thou maist be pardoned and renew thy sins that God may renew his Pardon God forbid Thou dost as much as in thee lyeth disappoint the End of Christ's Death who therefore died that he might redeem unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Let the begging of thy Pardon be ever accompanied with a resolution not to offend again otherwise God that sees thy heart looks upon thy asking of Pardon as a higher and more impudent and presumptuous sin than that which thou seemest to beg the forgiveness of 6. Upon the discovery of any particular sin which in a special manner concerns thee beware of these things 1. Sleeping in it without recourse to God for Pardon for it or slipping over it in thy Prayer without a particular animadversion upon it Be content to open this sore The longer it is kept covered the worse it is Thou must know that every sin is written before God with a point of a Diamond and though thou art contented to forget it or by incursion of time to wear out the remembrance or at least the horror of it yet it is written and thou shalt be sure to hear of it and the longer it continues the harder thy heart grows and the deeper doth the canker and stain of that Sin work and spread into thy Soul and the more difficultly is thy Pardon obtained and yet the less earnestly sought It is a secret curse in thy bosom that makes all thy services to God unacceptable and unsavory and who can tell when the decree may come out when this Sin will ripen into an eminent Judgment Therefore clear thy account with God betimes let not the guilt of a Sin lye long upon thy conscience but make thy peace betimes sue out thy Pardon speedily Thou knowest not what a day may bring forth 2. Yet after a Sin freshly committed fall not presently to beg thy Pardon till thou hast humbled thy Heart and put it into a fit frame to come into the presence of God till thou hast got a sense that it is an evil thing and a bitter to depart from him till thou hast crept to thy Saviours Feet for his Blood to wash thee and for his Righteousness to cover thee and for his Mediation to bring thee otherwise a defiled polluted creature into his Fathers presence under his Patronage till thou hast mourned over him whom thou hast pierced and been ashamed before him of thy miscarriage and acted thy Faith upon his All-sufficient satisfaction till thou hast taken up Resolutions of future amendment and then in the Name and Mediation of thy Saviour fall upon thy knees and beg thy Pardon As we forgive our Debtors Luk. 12. For we forgive our Debtors Here we Learn 1. That it is our Duty to forgive others Matt. 18.21 22. Upon their repentance Luk. 17.4 If he trespass against thee seven times in a day and seven times in a day turn to thee saying I repent thou shalt forgive him and that upon these considerations 1. From that conformity that is or should be in our Nature to the Nature of God he is slow to anger and of great Mercy Psal 145.8 Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage he retaineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in Mercy Mic. 7.18 And Christ coming to renew the broken Image of God in Man and to renew him after the Image of him that created him doth enjoyn imprint this part of the Divine Image Luk. 6.36 Be ye merciful as your Heavenly Father is merciful And Mercy in the Heart is that excellent habit from whence forgiveness proceeds And hence it is that where the Spirit of Christ comes it assimilates the Nature to that disposition Gal. 5.22 The fruit of the Spirit is Long-suffering Gentleness Meekness 2. From that great commandment enjoyned by God in the Moral Law Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self And much more inforced under the new Covenant even to the Love of our very Enemies Matt. 5.44 I say unto you Love your Enemies and consequently forgive your Enemies for Love is that affection that produceth Pardon and this injunction lyes upon us under the same obligation whereby we are bound to love our Brethren for the Love we owe to God is that grand Obligation that binds to whatsoever he commands Joh. 14.15 If ye love me keep my Commandments Therefore if ye love me love and pity and pardon your Enemies 3. From that great Equity and Reason the proportion of Gods dealing with us Matt. 18.32 I forgave thee all that debt because thou desiredst me Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant even as I had pity on thee Colos 3.13 Forbearing one another and forgiving one another even as Christ
the more concernment The End which most concerns us to enquire after is the end of our Being why or for what end we were made for as that is the thing of the greatest moment to us so the ignorance or mistake therein is of the greatest danger Now touching this End of Man we must know 1. That in all wise workers that act by deliberation and choice the appointment of the end of any work belongs to him that makes it 2. In as much therefore as Mankind is in its Original the workmanship of God therefore it belongs to him to appoint the end of his own workmanship and of him it must be inquired 3. That in as much as God is the wisest worker and in as much as Mankind is a piece of excellent workmanship it becomes the Wisdom of God as to appoint man to an end of his own designing so to appoint him to an end answerable to the excellency of the work an end as much above other creatures as man exceeds them in worth and excellency So that certainly Man is ordained by God to an End and to an excellent End beyond the condition of other inferior Creatures for we see them all appointed for the use and service of Man to feed and cloath and heal and delight him What therefore is common to the Beasts as well as Man cannot be the End of Man The Beasts Eat and Drink and Live and Propagate their kind with as much delight and much more contentment than Man they are free from Cares and from Fears which Man is not and though they die so doth Man also therefore to live and eat and drink and perpetuate their kind is too low an End for Man And if so then much more is it below him to make Wealth and Honor and Power his End For they are but in order to his temporal life here either to provide for it or to secure it And besides that they cannot answer the desires and continuance of an Immortal Soul which Man bears with him And hence grows the Weariness and Vexation and Unquietness and Restlesness of Man in the midst of all Wealth and Honors and Pleasures therefore there is some other End to which Man was appointed Which is 1. In reference to God to glorifie him 2. In reference to Man an everlasting injoyment of God 1. To glorifie God two things are considerable 1. What it is for Man to glorifie God 1. There is a Glorifying of God common to all the Works of God in as much as they all bear in them the visible footsteps of the Power Wisdom and Goodness of God Thus the Sun and Heavens glorifie God Psa 19.2 There is a glorifying of God properly belonging to Intellectual Creatures Angels and Men. 1. In his Understanding whereby he learns to know God in his Word and in his Works his Power Goodness Wisdom and Truth and with his heart admires and with his tongue praiseth him 2. In his Will whereby he submits to him Worships Fears him and in the course of his life Obeys him whereby he acknowledgeth his Soveraignty and submits to it Psal 50.23 He that offereth Praise glorifieth him and to him that orders his conversation aright will I shew the Salvation of God Both these are imperfectly done here but shall be perfectly done in the life to come 2. Why the Glorifying of God is made the Chief End of Man 1. It is the Chief End that God proposed in all his Works of Creation Prov. 16.4 He made all things for himself that is his own Glory In his Works of Preservation and Providence Psal 50.15 Call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me In his Work of Redemption Ephes 1.6 To the praise of the glory of his Grace whereby he hath made us accepted in the beloved In his Work of Sanctification Matth. 5.16 That Men seeing your good Works may glorifie your Father who is in Heaven 2. It is but just it should be the Chief End of Man to glorifie God because it is a most Reasonable Tribute to pay to him for all his Mercies and Goodness From him we receive our Being and all the Blessings of it and it is but just for God to require and for Man to perform the due acknowledgment of the Goodness of that God from whom he receives them which is his Glorifying of God 2. To injoy God for ever 1. Two things are to be explained 1. What it is to injoy God 2. Why this is part of the Chief End of Man 1. To injoy God is either 1. In this Life which is to have Peace with God Assurance of Reconciliation with him for then we have Peace with our selves Contentment and Quietness of Soul Access to him as to our Father for all we want and Hope and Assurance of Everlasting Life which will make the Comforts of our Life safe and the Afflictions thereof easie and the End and Dissolution thereof Comfortable 2. In the life to come the fulness of fruition of the Knowledge Goodness Glory and Presence of God according to the uttermost measure and capacity of our faculties which in the Resurrection shall be great and capacious and this is called the Beatifical Vision 2. Why this is part of the Chief End of Man Because this is the Happiness and Blessedness of Man to injoy God and nothing besides can make him Happy which appears 1. in all other injoyments without the injoyment of God there is a great deal of Vanity and emptiness whether in Pleasures or Profits or worldly Advantages Men expect great matters from them but after a little injoyment of them they are weary and find themselves disappointed and that there is not that comfort in them that they expected and then they travel to some other worldly injoyment and there they find the like This therefore cannot afford Man his Happiness 2. In all other injoyments without God there is a great deal of Vexation and Trouble The Cares and Fears and Sorrows and Disappointments that we meet with in the injoyment of them doth out weigh all the Contentment and Benefit that we receive in them and therefore this cannot be our Happiness 3. All other injoyments without God have their End and Term Sometimes we over live them the Pleasures and Contentments of youth leave us when we are old And sometimes we see our Riches our Health our Earthly Comforts taken from us but if not yet when we die we leave them and yet our Souls continue after death and our Bodies and Souls continue after our Resurrection for ever The injoyments therefore of this Life cannot be our Happiness but that Happiness which continues as long as we continue which is the injoyment of the Favor Love and Presence of God for ever Now put both together The Glorifying of God and the injoyment of him for ever is the Happiness and Blessedness of Man the Chief End for which he was made Such is the
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
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
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