Good thing Whatever thou enjoyest it is from his meer free Bounty He spreads thy Table fills thy Cup makes thy Bed puts on thy Garments is the God of thy Health and Strength and loadeth thee daily with his Benefits If thou hast riches it is the Blessing of God that maketh rich Prov. 10.22 It is God that giveth thee Power to get Wealth Deut. 8.18 Hast thou Credit and Reputation It is God that hideth thee from the Scourge of Tongues Job 5.21 Hast thou Friends It is God that giveth thee Favour in their sight Hast thou Gifts and Parts It is the Almighty that giveth thee Vnderstanding Job 32.8 And hast thou Joy and Comfort in all these It is God who not only filleth thy Mouth with Food but thy Heart with Gladness Now God is said to Give us our daily Bread and all the necessaries of Life especially Two ways First By producing them and bringing them to us He is the great Lord and Proprietor both of Heaven and Earth The Earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof and he gives it to whom he will He maketh it bring forth abundantly all its Stores for the use and service of Man For be the Chain of Second Causes never so long yet the first link of them is held in his Hand And therefore we have it expressed Hosea 2.21 22. I will hear saith the Lord I will hear the Heavens and they shall hear the Earth and the Earth shall hear the Corn and the Wine and the Oil and they shall hear Jezreel Secondly God gives them by Blessing them to us without which Blessing our daily Bread would no more nourish us than so much Chaff For had we all the abundance that the Earth could yield and the Blessing of God with-held from it the very Air would stiffe us and our very Food would famish us For it is not so much by these things that we live not so much by our daily Bread as by every Word that is by every Word of Blessing upon them which proceedeth out of the Mouth of God Deut. 8.3 And concerning those to whom he denies this his Blessing he tells us Job 20.22 In the fullness of their sufficiency they shall be in streights And therefore when we pray that God would give us our daily Bread we pray not only that God would give us the Possession and Enjoyment of Earthly Comforts but that he would put Virtue and Efficacy into them by his Blessing upon them to be subservient to our relief and support without which the Staff of Bread would break under us and the stay of Water roll away from us And thus much for the first thing Give us Bread Secondly Let us consider the Specification of this Blessing or the Kind and Quality of it our daily Bread This Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is variously rendred I shall not trouble you with the particular Notions of it let it suffice that here by the Word Bread is meant our ordinary and usual Bread or whatsoever is necessary for our subsistence in the World from Day to Day And it is the same with what is expressed in that excellent Prayer of Agur. Prov. 30.8 Give me neither Poverty nor Riches feed me with Food convenient for me So do we pray here that he would bestow upon us daily that which is sufficient for the day And by this we are taught to moderate our Desires and to beg of God no more than is needful for us We beg not delicacies we beg daily Bread not superfluites nor Goods laid up for many years But now because the measures of necessities are divers and that may be but daily bread to one which to another is superfluity it will be requisite to shew you by what necessities our Prayers are to be bounded I Answer First We may pray for the supply of all our Natural necessities And to this the Sovereign Principle of self-preservation strongly obligeth us And he that prays not nor endeavours for this is a self-murderer in with-holding from himself what is simply and absolutely necessary for the maintenance of his Life Secondly Besides things that are naturally necessary there are things that are civilly necessary which are not so absolutely Imperious as the other yet these also oblige us to pray for supplies and relief I account those things civilly necessary which though they are not simply necessary to the preservation of our Life yet are necessary to the State and Condition in which Divine Providence hath set us As for Men of High Birth of Publick Note or Publick Employment more is necessary for them than for others whom God hath placed to take up a narrower room in the World For Cedars require more Sap than Shrubs And for such as these to pray against poverty is possibly to pray for much more than would make private persons rich We are allowed to pray for such a competent measure of Earthly Blessings as is suitable to our Station and commensurate to our charge and burthens and according to the Judgment of Christian prudence apparently needful for those whom we are bound to provide for that they may live honestly and decently All these are necessaries that we are to pray for in this Petition give us our daily Bread But we must take heed that neither Covetousness nor Ambition impose upon us and make us measure necessaries by our inordinate Desires rather than by our real Wants For whatsoever is more than enough for our present State and Comfortable Subsistence is not our daily Bread but the Bread of the Poor out of whose mouths we snatch it And whatsoever we lay up with great designs of enlarging our selves or our Posterity beyond our Lawful measure are but Treasures of wickedness whose rust will Witness against us at the last day And thus much for the Second Observable Thirdly in the Words of this Petition are designed our Right and Propriety to this daily Bread Give us our daily Bread Now right to a Temporal Enjoyment is Three-fold either Natural or Spiritual or Civil Natural by Creation Spiritual by Regeneration And Civil by Humane and Legal Constitution First As for the Natural Right by Creation that was once found in Adam who was made the visible Lord of the Universe and all things put under his feet We may read his Patent and Charter Gen. 1.28 And God said unto him be fruitful and multiply and replenish the Earth and subdue it and have Dominion over the Fowl of the Air and over every living thing that moveth upon the Earth But this Right we have lost and can call nothing ours upon this account Only as Princes allow Traitors and Malefactors Provision in their Prison till they come to Execution So God allows many Wicked Men many Earthly Enjoyments out of the meer bounty of Prison-Provision to keep them alive till they are brought forth to their Execution This Natural Right therefore being lost there succeeds in the room of it Secondly A Spiritual Right
and it is infinite Creating Power that can form things out of matter utterly indisposed to receive the stamps of such Natures as God imprints upon them For no Created Agent can work either where there is nothing to work upon or where it is altogether unfit and uncapable naturally to be form'd into such a Being as the Agent intends And therefore the Apostle tells us Rom. 1.20 That the invisible things of God from the Creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his Eternal Power and God-head Secondly The infinite Power of God is demonstrated in those Miraculous effects which have been extraordinarily produced in the World It must needs be an Almighty Arm that can Arrest the course and impetus of Nature and turn it quite contrary to its own Byass For no Created Power either in Heaven or Earth can by their own efficacy work a Miracle nay they cannot be so much as Natural Instruments but only Moral in the production of what is Miraculous Indeed Angels both good and bad may produce very strange and marvellous things by their suddain invisible and effectual applying of proper Actives to Passives And by suiting the secret and unknown Virtues of Causes to fit and disposed Patients But they cannot produce any thing that is Miraculous and wholly either above or contrary to the Course and Sphere of Nature And those Men who have been so highly dignified as to be the Moral Instruments of Miracles as we say that Moses and Elijah and the Apostles of Christ wrought many Miracles yet they did not perform those Works by any Natural or proper Physical influence but only by their Prayers and commanding Faith It is God alone that is the immediate efficient cause of whatsoever events have been Miraculous in the World And therefore when some raised the Dead and others cured the Blind and Lame when Moses first cleft the Sea and afterwards the Rock with his wondrous Rod when Joshua stopt the Sun in its course and Isaiah turn'd it ten degrees backward all these extraordinary and supernatural effects are no otherwise to be ascribed unto them than as to remote instruments who by their Prayers and Intercessions prevailed with God to manifest his Power as an attestation of that Commission they had received from him His Infinite Power is the sole Author of them and to this end hath he wrought them that those who take little notice of his Power in the common and ordinary products of it may be seized with admiration and astonishment when they hear of such events as neither Reason nor Nature can give any account of and may be forced to acknowledge with the Magicians of Aegypt that it is the Finger of God Or more Religiously with the Psalmist Psal 89.13 Thou hast a mighty Arm strong is thy hand and high is thy right hand Thirdly The Power of God is infinite even in the common course and effects of his Providence Whatsoever comes to pass is through the infinite Power of God There is not the least spire of grass that sprouts out of the Earth not the least Atom that plays and wanders to and fro in the Air not any motion of any Creature how inconsiderable soever it be but the Almighty Power of God is to be seen in it For although one second Cause may depend upon another in a long Series yet are they all ultimately resolved into the first Cause of all and invigorated by his influence See for this Hosea 2.21 I will hear the Heavens saith the Lord and they shall hear the Earth and the Earth shall hear the Corn and the Wine and the Oyl and they shall hear Jezreel Be the Chain of second Causes never so long yet God holds the first link in his own hands and conveys his Power through them all to their last effects So that if we duly ponder the Mysteries and Wonders of Nature it will appear that it is as much Infinite Power to make a poor Worm to crawl or a Sparrow to fly or to fall to the Earth as it was at first to Create the World It requires no more Power in God to work Miracles than the most ordinary and common events that happen only those are said to be Miracles which are against or above the course of Nature and those to be Natural Events which are according to it but to a considering Mind both the one and the other do equally declare the Almighty and Infinite Power of God Now this Power is in the Text ascribed to God by way of Emphasis and Eminency Thine is the Power which notes unto us some peculiarity in the Power of God which distinguisheth it from ail Created Powers whatsoever and it consists in these following things First In that the Power of God is infinite as hath been demonstrated already but the Power of all Creatures is only finite and limitted God's Absolute Power hath no bounds but whatsoever is possible to be he is able to produce His Ordinate and Actual Power is indeed limitted but only by his own Will Psal 115.3 He hath done whatsoever he pleased But our wills are often limitted by our Power and those things which we wish the accomplishment of yet many times fail in taking effect only because we want Might and Power to bring them to pass And therefore when we ascribe Power unto God Thine is the Power we Attribute unto him a Power that is infinite a Power which can effect whatsoever his Will hath fore-determined above yea and contrary to all the Power of all the Creatures both in Heaven and Earth Hence it is called The exceeding greatness of his Power Ephes 1.19 Secondly The Power of God is Originally in himself But all Created Powers are only derived from him Whatsoever is in God is according to the known Rules of the Schools God himself And therefore as God hath not his being from any other so neither hath he his Power from any other But whatsoever ability is found in any of the Creatures is from God whether it be Natural or Moral Power Strength or Authority First All derive their Natural Power from God It is he that endues them with strength and with all that force and might which they enjoy 1 Chron. 29.12 In thy hand is power and might in thy hand it is to make great and to give strength unto all Secondly All derive their Moral Power and Authority from God Prov. 8.15 16. By me Kings Reign and Princes decree Justice by me Princes Rule and Nobles even all the Judges of the Earth says the Essential Wisdom of the Father Thirdly The Power of God is Supreme all other Power is but subordinate unto him And therefore he can weaken the strength and frustrate the attempts of all that shall combine themselves together against him for his Power is such as no Creature can resist And as Billows do but dash themselves in pieces by dashing against the Rock So all the
not my Will but thine be done A. These are not so much Prayers as Declarations of their Submission unto and Patience under the Hand of God Q. May we not pray at all that God's Will of Purpose may be done A. Yes it is for Temporal or Spiritual or Eternal Blessings on our selves or others Q. What force doth the Particle Thy carry in it when we pray Thy will be done A. It may be taken either emphatically or exclusively 1. First It signifies that God's Will ought to be preferred above and before all others Acts 4.19 But Peter and John answered and said unto them whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God judge ye Both because it is most Soveraign and because it is most Holy and Perfect so that we act most like Men when we act most like Christians 2. Secondly It signifies exclusively that God's Will and not our own may be done For ours being carnal and corrupt we pray for the subduing it to his Q. What mean you by praying that God's Will be done in Earth A. First I pray that it may be done by my self and all others living on the Earth Psal 67.2 That thy way may be known upon Earth thy saving Health among all Nations Secondly We pray that we may improve the few Days of this Mortal Life in the Service of God for there is no Device nor Operation in the Grave Q. Having given this Account of the Petition in the Matter of it what is next observable A. The Proportion of it As it is in Heaven Q. But is it not impossible to do the Will of God in Earth as it is done in Heaven where the Holy Angels do perfectly perform it A. It is as to the Equality of Perfection but not as to the Similitude and Proportion of our Endeavours after it For we are commanded to be holy as God is holy and perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect Matt. 5.48 Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect Which Command we obey when we seriously endeavour it Q. How then is the Will of God done in Heaven A. First Thine Obedience is absolutely perfect both as to Parts and Degrees that is to say they obey all God's Will enjoined them and that with all their might and after this Perfection we ought to strive and in this Petition pray for a greater Measure of it Secondly Their Obedience is chearfull not extorted by Fears or Sufferings Thirdly They do the Will of God with Zeal and Ardency Psal 104.4 Who maketh his Angels spirits his Ministers a flaming Fire Fourthly They do it with Celerity and ready Dispatch and therefore the Angels are often in Scripture described to have Wings Fifthly The Will of God is done in Heaven with all possible Prostration and Reverence Rev. 4.10 The four and twenty Elders fall down before him that sat on the Throne and worship him that liveth for ever and ever and cast their Crowns before the Throne saying Sixthly The Will of God is done in Heaven with Constancy and Perseverance Rev. 7.15 Therefore are they before the Throne of God and serve him Day and Night in his Temple and he that sitteth on the Throne shall dwell among them And thus we ought to pray and endeavour that we may do the Will of God on Earth Q. What learn you from this A. That we ought not to satisfie our selves in comparing our Obedience with other Mens as the boasting Pharisee did but to take the Examples for our Holiness from Heaven and to endeavour to imitate the Purity of Angels and the God of Angels For St. Paul himself when he prescribes his Life as an Example for Christians doth it onely as he followed the Pattern of Christ 1 Cor. 11.1 Be ye followers of me even as I also am of Christ Q. We have already considered the three first Petitions which immediately related to God s Glory it remains now to treat of those which immediately concern our own Good Which is the first of them A. That wherein we beg the good things of this present Life in these words Give us this Day our daily Bread Q. What is here meant by Bread A. All Temporal and Earthly Blessings that contribute either to our being or well being For Bread being the most usual and usefull Support of Life it is often in Scripture put for all kind of Provision necessary for natural Life Gen. 3.19 In the Sweat of thy Face shalt thou eat Bread till thou return into the Ground for out of it wast thou taken for Dust thou art and unto Dust shalt thou return Q. What learn we hence A. That it is not below a Spiritual Christian to pray for Temporal Mercies both because they are needfull for us Matt. 6.32 For after all these things do the Gentiles seek for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things And God hath promised to bestow them Phil. 4.19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his Riches in Glory by Christ Jesus Q. How ought we to pray for them A. Onely conditionally if it may consist with God's good Pleasure to bestow them otherwise we do not pray but invade and if it may consist with our good to receive them otherwise we ask a Curse instead of a Blessing Q. What learn you from the word Give A. That God is the Giver of every Temporal Mercy Q. How is God said to give us our daily Bread A. First by producing it and bringing it to us for though the Chain of natural Causes be never so long yet God holds the first Link of it in his own hand Hosea 2.21 22. And it shall come to pass in that Day I will hear saith the Lord I will hear the Heavens and they shall hear the Earth Vers 22. And the Earth shall hear the Corn and the Wine and the Oil and they shall hear Jezreel Secondly by blessing it to us without which our daily Bread can never nourish us Deut. 8.3 And he humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger and fed thee with Manna which thou knowest not neither did thy Fathers know that he might make thee know that Man doth not live by Bread onely but by every word that proceedeth out of the Mouth of the Lord doth Man live Q. What mean you when you pray for daily Bread A. By this we pray That God would bestow upon us daily those Mercies which are sufficient for the Day Q. What learn you hence A. That as in praying for Bread we pray for Conveniencies not for Superfluities or Delicacies So in our praying for daily Bread we pray for present supplies not Goods laid up for many Years Which teacheth us to moderate our Cares and Desires after Earthly Things and to rest satisfied in God's Providence and present Blessings Q. May we not then carefully provide for the Time to come and the Support of our Dependents A.
former yet is it far more excellent and the Royalty of it is God's singular Delight Now this Kingdom of Grace is his Church and may be considered Two ways First In its Growth and Progress Secondly In its Perfection and Consummation In the former respect it is the Church Militant here upon Earth and in the latter it is the Church Triumphant in Heaven for both make up but one Kingdom under divers respects First Let us a little consider God's Kingdom here upon Earth or the Church Militant and that is Two-fold Visible and Invisible The Visible Kingdom of God upon Earth are a company of People openly professing the Fundamentals of Religion and those Truths necessary to Salvation which God hath made known unto the World and joyning together in the External Communion of Ordinances The Invisible Kingdom are a company of true Believers who have Internal and Invisible Communion with God by his Spirit and their Faith The Visible Church is of a much larger extent than the Invisible for it comprehends Hypocrites and Formalists and all those who have given up their Names to Christ and listed themselves under his Banner and make an outward profession of the Truth although by their Lives and Practices they contradict and deny what they own and profess with their Lips These belong to the Kingdom of God's Grace as to the External Dispensation and Regiment of it because they profess obedience to his Laws and live under the means of Grace by which many of them through the efficacious concurrence of the Spirit of God are translated into the Invisible Kingdom of his dear Son Now this Visible Kingdom of God upon Earth is but an imperfect State and Condition for though all that are Members of it are selected and taken out of the World yet there is a great deal of Mixture and Dross and many things that do offend For First There is in it a mixture of Wicked Persons with those that are really Holy Many are of this Kingdom only because their Consciences are convinced of the Truth of the Christian Religion although their Lives are not subject to the Power of it and these are taken out of the World only as they are brought into the Pale of the Church and profess the Name of Christ and his Religion as distinct from all other Religions in the World And therefore we find the Church or the Kingdom of Heaven in Scripture frequently compared to a Net cast into the Sea gathering every kind of Fish both good and bad Matth. 13.47 both sorts are embraced in the Bosom of this Net and no perfect Separation can be made until it be drawn to shore at the Day of Judgment and then the Good will be gathered into Vessels and the Bad cast away as it is there expressed Again it is compared to a Floor wherein is both Chaff and Wheat Luk. 3.17 and these will be mix'd together until the last discriminating Day and then shall the Wheat be gathered into the Garner and the Chaff burnt up with unquenchable Fire Again it is compared to a Field wherein there grows Tares as well as Corn Matth. 13.24 which must grow together until the Harvest and then shall the Tares be bound in Bundles to be burnt and the profitable Grain be gathered into the Barn This hath still been and will be the mix'd condition of God's Church on Earth wherein through Hypocrisie and gross Dissimilation many that are Enemies to the Cross of Christ will yet go under that Cognisance and keep up a Form of Godliness though they deny and hate the Power of it Secondly There is even in the Invisible Church here on Earth a great mixture too those who have a real and vital Union to Christ and maintain a Spiritual Communion with him yet even they have a sad mixture of Evil with all their Good of Sin with all their Grace and Holiness so that the Church is still imperfect not only from a mixture of Persons but from a mixture in Persons As we know but in part so we love but in part we fear we obey God but in part And with our Profession of Faith we had need also to prefer that humble Petition Mark 9.24 Lord I believe help thou mine unbelief Secondly The Kingdom of God may be considered in its Perfection and Consummation and so it is Triumphant in Heaven And this consists of such Glorious Angels as never Fell and of such Glorified Saints who are raised from their Fall and restored to a far better Condition than what they lost This is the most Glorious part of God's Kingdom here is his Throne especially established and here it is that he displays himself in the splendor of his Majesty being surrounded by innumerable Hosts of Holy Angels and the Spirits of Just Men made perfect who continually Worship before him with a most prostrate Veneration and give Honour and Glory and Praise to him that sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever Now this Kingdom is altogether free from those former Imperfections and Mixtures There is no mixture of good and bad together neither is there any mixture of bad in the good but all are Holy and all as compleatly Holy as Creatures can be for into the New Jerusalem shall no unclean thing ever enter There are neither Temptations to try us nor Sins to defile us nor Sorrows to afflict us but perfect Joy and perfect Purity Where all Tears shall be wiped from our Eyes and all Sin the Cause of those Tears rooted out of our Hearts And yet if Heaven it self may be liable to any Defects or capable of any Additions there seems at present to be wanting in it these Two things First The Kingdom of Glory is not yet Full nor shall it be till the whole Number of the Elect shall be called and the whole Number of the Called Glorified Many as yet are conflicting here below and fitting themselves for their Eternal Reward many yet lie sleeping in their Causes unborn whom God hath Foreknown and Predestinated unto Eternal Life all of whom he will in his due time bring unto the Possession of his Heavenly Kingdom to compleat the Number of his Glorious Subjects And therefore it is said concerning the Saints that are already in Heaven that white Robes were given to every one of them and it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season until their Fellow-Servants also and their Brethren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled Rev. 6.11 Secondly Those Glorified Saints that are now in Heaven though their Joys be perfect yet their Persons are not but one part of them their Bodies continue still under the arrest of Death and the Power of the Grave but yet they sleep in Hope and through that Mystical Vnion that there is between Jesus Christ and every scattered Dust of a Believer they shall obtain a Glorious and Joyful Resurrection and then shall this Heavenly Kingdom