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
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
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
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