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
things to be done The Son of God that came out of the Bosome of his Father and knew all his Mind received a Commission from him to instruct Mankind in the way to Life Joh. 17.8 I have given unto them the Words which thou gavest me Joh. 3.34 He whom God hath sent speaketh the Words of God Matth. 11.27 No man knoweth the will of the Father save the Son and him to whom the Son revealeth it 3. As he came with Light to instruct us so he came with Power to conquer in us Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power and to conquer for us Death and Hell The Business that we are to consider respecteth principally the first and second part of his Meditation viz. in bringing the Will and Mind of God to us to teach us what to ask which concerns his Prophetical Office And again having formed desires in us according to that Will of God to present them unto his Father which concerns his Priestly Office After this manner pray Luke 11.1 2. One of his Disciples said unto him Lord teach us to pray and he said When ye pray say c. In general we may learn 1. That Christ doth not exclude other Prayers The injunction of this excludes not all other prayers Our Saviour himself and those that were acquainted with his Mind and Practice used variety of prayers according to the several occasions differing from this form and therefore the Apostle commands Ephes 6.18 Praying always with all prayers and supplications Prayers formed for every occasion And that Spirit that maketh intercession for us with groans that cannot be uttered is not confined to any particular form not to vary from it 2. Though thou art not restrained to this form only yet in all thy prayers pray after this manner There is somewhat in this Prayer that must be ingredient to all thy prayers 1. Be sure thou hast a Commission a Promise for what thou prayest desire those things that are warrantable by the Will of God revealed in his Word Christ was acquainted with the Mind of God and gives us a pattern to ask those things which are warrantable Ask for thy good but ask not for thy Lust James 4.2 2. Though the things thou askest be warrantable and agreeable to the revealed Will of God Yet in the particularity of thy desires refer thy self and submit unto the Will of God because thou art not wise enough to know what is fit for thee in particular Especially in the measure time and manner of the thing thou askest The Son of God hath taught us to pray for the fulfilling of the Will of God before the supply of our own Wants and in his own Prayer in the Garden Matth. 26. Nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt Whatsoever thou desirest yet confine not God Thou shalt be sure thy Prayer shall not lose his fruit though the thing desired seem not to be granted The Cup did not pass from our Saviour though he asked it Matth. 26.39 Yet he was heard in that he feared Heb. 5.7 3. As much as thou canst let thy prayer be a reasonable service a work of thy Spirit and Understanding 1 Cor. 14.15 not only of thy Lips and Tongue for thou hast to do with the God of the Spirits of all flesh that will be worshipped in spirit and in truth Pray with thy Lips that thou mayst by that means fix thy Mind the better to the work but let thy words be the production of thy Soul Let thy Heart pray as well as thy Tongue And this was one of the Reasons of our Saviour's inditing this Prayer in this short and pithy form to condemn the vanity of the Gentiles who had confidence in their vain repetitions of words without the intention and application of the heart Matt. 6.8 4. Here we see Christ the Wisdom of the Father delivers out a Form of Prayer framed with a great deal of Wisdom containing very much matter in a few words Learn that though thou art not to put confidence in studied Devotions nor to make thy prayers the work of thy invention or wit but of thy Heart and Soul yet let the Reverence and Awe thou bearest to him before whom thou comest in thy prayers the seriousness of the business about which thou goest put thee in mind to Prepare thy self and thy Soul and to tune it by these considerations to an humble frame of spirit to a fore-casting of thy desires to an humble approach to the presence of God to all beseeming Reverence both in thy words and gesture The Heart it is true should be in a continual frame of prayer and almost every occurrence of our Life requires a lifting up of the Heart to God in Prayer or in Thanksgiving which cannot be so ordered with preparation but a solemn Prayer though in private requires a just preparation of the Heart and a performance of it with the whole contribution of the whole Soul and strength and understanding and affection 3. Though thou art not bound to use no other form yet use this frequently upon these Considerations 1. It is the Command of thy Lord and Master There is somewhat of Command in these words He that commands to pray after this manner meant not that this Prayer should be forgotten That which was made a pattern to thy other prayers was not intended to be a thing only to be looked upon and not to be used Thou mayest use other Prayers to give scope to thy spirit but conclude with this 2. It is a great means of strengthning the Heart in Prayer When I shall consider I am now using that very Prayer which the Son of God when he was in the flesh at the request of his Disciples gave unto them not only as a rule and pattern but as a form When ye pray say c. I call the great God my Father and it is no presumption in me so to do the Eternal Son of God that knew all his Father's mind commanded me to call him so and to come before him as my Father I am begging for the conveniencies of my Life for the pardon of my Sins for my preservation in and from temptation Had they not been things that I might hope to be granted the Son of God would never have taught me to ask them O Lord it is true I can see nothing in my self why I should expect that thou shouldest hear me my Sins are renewed every day and I beged pardon but yesterday and I have sinned against thee the same Sin this day But yet thy Son that knowes all thy Will that would never have put me to beg that which were unfit for me to ask or thee to grant he it is that taught me to begg my daily bread of thee and as often in the same Prayer to begg thy forgiveness I will not learn hereby to presume in offending but yet I will learn to be confident in thy Mercy 3. It is a
that will but come in and enter into Covenant with God in Christ Jer. 31.34 I will forgive their iniquity and will remember their sin no more And although this one Sacrifice of Christ offered up once for all is a full satisfaction for all the sins of his Elect to the end of the World yet the same eternal Contract that made it so did likewise appoint certain Means actually to apply it And make it effectual to us of Faith to lay hold upon it And in as much as notwithstanding our giving up our Names to Christ many renewed daily sins are committed by us our Lord teacheth us to resort daily to this Sacrifice this Magazine of Mercy this Fountain opened to wash for sin and for uncleanness thence to fetch new applications of this one Sacrifice for our renewed offence and to beg our Pardon as often as we beg our Bread So then 1. We have the true Original of Forgiveness the Free Love of God which gave Christ as the Sacrifice for Sin and accepted that Sacrifice as the price of our Pardon So God loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believed in him should not perish but have everlasting Life John 3.16 2. We have the Meritorious Cause of it that Sacrifice of Christ whereby Pardon is impetrated for as many as lay hold upon it 3. The Act which that Eternal Counsel appointed to be the Means of the actual Application of it to the Soul receiving of the Pardon thus offered To as many as received him to them c. Joh. 1.12 For as we live and move and have our Being by God and his Will and Providence yet the same Will of his hath appointed the means whereby that Will of his is accomplished our daily Bread and the use of it So although from God we have our Pardon yet the same Will of his hath appointed Faith in Christ to be the instrument of an Actual or Effectual Application of it and the Efficacy of Faith as an instrument for that purpose depends likewise upon the same Will of God which hath so appointed When the Israelites were bitten with fiery Serpents in the Wilderness God commanded Moses to erect a brazen Serpent for their cure Numb 21.8 But although the Divine Will had annexed a power of healing unto that Serpent instrumentally yet the same Will appointed the actual application of that power to the looking upon that Serpent Every one that is bitten when he looketh upon it shall live So though by the Eternal Will of God a Pardon is obtained by the Death of Christ yet the same Will of his hath appointed Faith in Christ the means of the receiving of that Pardon and yet this very means is not in our own power but it is the Gift of God John 6.44 No man can come unto me except the Father draw him 4. The renewed Exercise of that Act upon occasions of sin committed or renewed Prayer for Pardon which as it doth most naturally flow from the sense of sin and of a Pardon impetrated by Christ so by the Divine Institution it is required to apply that Pardon actually to the Soul and it is a high Mercy of God to grant it for the asking and an argument of a proud unbelieving heart to think to have it without it and whensoever the Spirit and the Word of God hath wrought in a man a belief of and in the Sacrifice of Christ the same Spirit doth work in the heart a desire of it which is nothing else but the Prayer of the Mind for it maketh intercession according to the Will of God Rom. 8.27 And herein we therefore see two things 1. Our Duty Our sins are many and daily even after we have given up our Names to Christ If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves 1 Joh. 1.8 And though meritoriously Christ hath satisfied for those very sins yet we are to have often recourse to this Sacrifice to fetch our cure and our cleansing in the actual application of this Sacrifice unto us Had a man been bitten by a fiery Serpent he might look upon the brazen Serpent and live and had he been bitten again he must have looked again or else he had died it is so with us only here is the odds the man that had been once cured if bitten again might perchance not have looked again upon the Serpent and so have died but it is otherwise here the same principle of Life that abiding seed 1 John 3.8 that did at first make him to seek and sue to Christ for his first actual Pardon will after a fall a renewed sin send the Soul to this Fountain for a new act of application of that cleansing and pardoning he cannot commit sin that is lye in it without recourse to God for Pardon because his Seed abideth in him 1 Joh. 2.8 2. Our Priviledge If any man sin we have an Advocate 1 John 2.1 an Advocate that knows the mind of our Judge and out of that knowledge hath taught us as often as we beg our Bread to beg our Pardon and that with assurance that we shall be heard if we do it in Faith and Sincerity 1 John 1.9 He is faithful and just to forgive It is the Proclamation of his Name Exod. 34.7 Forgiving iniquity transgression and sin It is his promise Jer. 31.34 Jer. 33.8 I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more Even to a revolting and backsliding creature upon true repentance Isa 56.7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon Jer. 3.12 Return thou backsliding Israel and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you for I am merciful saith the Lord and will not keep anger for ever only acknowledge thine iniquity Christ came into the World to restore in Man the lost Image of God And when Peter asked him Matt. 18.21 How oft shall my Brother sin against me and I forgive him till seven times Jesus said unto him I say not unto thee till seven times but till seventy times seven times And surely that Mercy that Christ required in a poor mortal Man is infinitely fuller in the merciful God who delights in Mercy and Forgiveness Only remember 1. To take heed of Presumptuous Sins Premeditated Sins Sins against knowledge and against convictions Sins with a presupposition of Pardon Deut. 29.19 That shall bless himself in his heart saying I shall have peace though I walk in the imagination of my heart The Lord will not spare him These though they cannot exceed the Mercy of God to pardon them they many times shut and seal up the Soul against Pardon hardning the heart to a great difficulty if not a final impossibility of Repentance and by that means the Soul is disabled with any comfortable ground or assurance to beg Pardon without the great Mercy
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