justice and judgment and so opened to him a way that he might run head-long to his own utter ruine and destruction So God confounds his implacable enemies two ways here 1. By hardness of heart which ariseth as we said before when God with-draweth His Grace from a man and leaveth him to himself so as he goeth on from sin to sin and never repenteth to the last gasp And we must esteem of it as a most fearful and terrible judgment of God for when the heart is possessed therewith it becomes so flinty and rebellious that a man will never relent or turn to God This was manifest in Pharaoh for though God sent most grievous plagues upon him and all the Land of Egypt yet would he not submit or humble himself save only for a fit while the hand of God was so heavy upon him for when the hand of God was removed he returned to his former obstinacy wherein he persisted until he was drowned in the red Sea And this judgment of God of hardness of heart is the more fearful because when a man is in the midst of all misery he feels no misery 2. God confounds His enemies as by hardness of heart so by final desperation I say final because all kind of desperation is not evil for a man may despair of himself and of his own power in the matter of Salvation which tends to his everlasting comfort But final desperation is when a man utterly despairs of the pardon of his sins and of everlasting life Examples we have in Saul that slew himself in Achitophel and Judas that hanged themselves c. This sin of desperation is caused thus so many sins as thou committest without repentance so many wounds thou givest to thine own soul and in life or death God will make thee to feel the smart of it and the weight of them all whereby the soul sinks down to the gulph of despair without recovery The sins which thou committest lye at the door of thy heart though thou feel them not as God said unto Cain Gen. 4. 7. sin lyeth at the door and if thou dost not prevent them by speedy and timely repentance God will make thee to feel them once before thou dyest and raise up such terrours in thy Conscience that thou shalt think thy self to be in Hell before thou art there They that were sent from the chief Priests c. to apprehend Christ though He had acknowledged I am He and they were astonished and fell to the ground and He had miraculously healed Joh. 18. 12. Malchus his ear yet for all though they had seen his wonderful power both in word and deed they proceed in malice against Him and bind Him as a Malefactor In this we note what a fearful sin hardness of heart is The danger whereof appears in this that if a man be possessed with it there is nothing that can stay or daunt him in his wicked proceedings no not the powerful words and deeds of our Saviour Himself And indeed among all God's judgments there is none more fearful than this of hardness of heart and yet how rife is it among us even in these our days For it is very evident that the more men are taught the Doctrine of Gods Law and Gospel the more hard and senseless are their hearts like unto an anvil the more it is beaten upon with the iron hammer the harder it is So that that denunciation against the Jews Acts 28. 26 27. is fulfilled in them It is such a terrible judgment of God into which when a man is fallen he feels neither pain nor grief Therefore we have cause with fear and trembling to look into it lest it take such hold of us that we be past all hopes of recovery Sin is a deceitful thing and custom in sin brings hardness of heart therefore read that Heb. 3. 13. and Rom. 2. 5. Let us bewail and be humbled for our hardness of heart whereby we are hindered from knowing and acknowledging God aright and from discerning His glory and Majesty from acknowledging God's judgments or our own sins dreaming we are safe from God's vengeance and such perils and miseries which arise from sin whereas all those out of Christ and in this estate have nothing stands between them and vengeance EXERCITATION THE TENTH Exod. 31. 13 14 15 16 17. Verily my Sabbath ye shall keep for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctifie you Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore for it is holy unto you every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death for whosoever doth any work therein that soul shall be cut off from among his people Six days may work be done but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest holiness to the Lord. Whosoever doth any work in the sabbath-Sabbath-day he shall surely be put to death Wherefore the Children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations for a perpetual Covenant It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel for ever for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth and on the seventh He rested Exod. 20. 8. Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy HEre we have the Commandment of God for the strict observation of the Sabbath-day No one Commandment so often iterated or so much pressed This Commandment requireth at the hand of every man one day of seven in every week to be set a-part unto a holy rest and requireth all persons to separate themselves from their ordinary labour and all other exercises to God's Service alone on that day that so being severed from their worldly businesses and all the works of their Labours and Callings concerning this Nehem. 13. 15. 22. life they may wholly attend to the Worship of God alone wholly to separate themselves to the Worship and Service of God that they may with more freedom of Spirit perform the same If Adam in his perfection had need of this holy day as it was first enjoyned in the state of innocency much more Gen. 2. 2 3. have we To teach man from time to time on the Sabbath-day to withdraw himself from the cares and labours of this life to apply himself in freedom and tranquillity of mind to the meditations and actions of a spiritual life Q. But some will say this fourth Commandment is ceremonial and so it is taken away by the death of Christ A. I answer No but it is constantly and perpetually to be observed 1. For it is placed in the number of the ten Commandments which are perpetual otherwise the Moral Law should consist but of nine which is contrary to God's Word And He declared unto Deut. 4. 13. you His covenant which He commanded you to perform even ten Commandments 2. Because this fourth Commandment among the rest and in the middle of them as a Diamond in a ring was written
search wherefore the Lord hath done so unto us For God hath holy ends and purposes in all His dispensations towards us Hath God taken away a near Relation from me as a loving Husband tender Wife or a hopeful Child to instance in these which was the desire of mine eyes and the joy of my heart if God hath taken Ezek. 34. 16. them away with His stroke did not I dote or depend too much upon them did not my heart run out too much after them did I use them so as I should when I did enjoy them ask thy self these and the like questions Commune Psal 4. 4. with thine own heart and be still go to God in Prayer and say wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto me what meaneth the heat of this great anger Deut. 29. 24. But be sure to fall out with thy sins and not with God So search and try thy ways and turn unto the Lord Lam. 3. 40. with thy whole heart for He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children ver 33. of men Are they dead death hath passed and will pass upon all men for Rom. 5. 12. that all have sinned It is appointed to Heb. 9. 27. all men once to dye We must needs dye and are all as water spilt upon the ground 2 Sam. 14. 14. which cannot be gathered up again We are strangers and sojourners here as all our fathers were our days on the earth are but as a shadow and here is no abiding If we did not dye we should 1 Chron. 29. 15. always be subject to sin and misery death freeth the Saints from all for Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord yea so saith the Spirit for they Rev. 14. 13. rest from their labours and their works follow them But see if it be not for any particular sin of thine this affliction is befallen thee if upon serious search thou findest it so to be then be humbled for it repent and amend and walk more closely with God for the future That it may not be said of thee as formerly of Ephraim gray hairs are here and there Hos 7. 9. upon him yet he knoweth it not that is he considered not God's Judgments knew not nor was humbled for his sins waxed old in his wickedness yet did not he know it or lay it to heart God doth now empty thee from vessel to vessel Jer. 48. 11 and doth not suffer thee to be at ease to be setled upon thy lees O therefore let not the taste of thine old corruptions remain in thee to rellish of them and like them as formerly and thy scent not to be changed when thou art as worldly and wicked as ever Zeph. 1â— 12. For the Lord will surely search thee as with candles and punish thee and all those that are setled upon their Lees. Whatever was good and commendable in thy Deceased Relations that follow practice and imitate and make good use of This affliction of thine is a tryal Ezek. 21. 13. Isaiah 48. 10. God will try thee now in the Furnace of affliction This may be a sign unto thee that thou belongest unto God who hath his â—ire in Zion and his Furnace Isaiah 31. 9. in Jerusalem Although God may let some run on in outward prosperity and to have even more than heart can Psal 73. 7. Gen. 15. 16. Mat. 23. 32. wish and others to run on in sin till they have filled up the measure of their iniquities God would purifie thee Oh be thou purified and clensed hereby That the tryal of thy faith being 1 Pet. 1. 7 much more precious then of gold that perisheth though it be tryed with fire might be sound unto praise and honour and glory at the appearance of Jesus Christ Thus we see that the afflictions of the Godly are for correction and for tryal Blessed are they whom thou chastenest O Psal 94. 12. Lord and teachest them out of thy Law When Instruction and Correction go together that is a happy and a blessed Correction Think also on the Saints of God who through faith and patience inherit the promises Heb. 6. 12. Labour to set Faith on Work yea let the tryal of thy Faith work in the patience and let patience have its perfect Jam. 1. 3 4. work that thou mayest be perfect and entire lacking nothing Thou canst not be a through-out and perfect and an accomplished Christian unless thou hast obtained this excellent grace of Patience see that thou abound in this grace also 2 Cor. 8. â— Q. But why are afflictions call'd temptations as blessed is the man that endureth Jam. 1. 12â— Jam. 1. 2. temptations And count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations I answer All temptations are not evil but some are tryals of our Faith and Hope in God if we can live by Faith and rest upon the promises and so they make much for our good And in this regard they are pronounced that fall into divers temptations Therefore ought we not simply to pray and without exception to be delivered from them but only from the evil of them As God led Israel 40 years in the Wilderness to humble them and to prove them to know what was in their Deut. 8. â— 13. 3. heart whether they would keep his Commandments or no. And to prove them whether they would love the Lord their God with all their hearts and with all their souls So afflictions are called temptations because by them God tryeth our Obedience to notisie our faith and patience both to our selves and others whether we will follow him or not And therefore we may be assured that so often as we beat back or overcome the temptations we have so many undoubted testimonies of Gods love unto us So then Patience is from the acknowledging of Gods Wisdom Providence Justice and Goodness to be Obedient unto him in bearing all adversities and crosses or losses which the Lord hath brought upon us and through grief not to murmur or repine at any of his dispensations nor to do any thing against his Commâ—â—â—ements but in the midst of our grief to retain assured hope and confidence of Gods help and to crave aid and deliverance from him and in this confidence and acknowledging of Gods Will to moderate our grief Psal 37. 7 8 34. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him Fret not thy self in any wise to do evil So we see that patience is a duty belonging to the First Commandement not only because it 's a part of that inward obedience which we owe to God and he immediately requires it to himself at our hands but also because that from our acknowledging of God our confidence in him and our love and fear of him do follow as necessary effects To this Christian patience impatience is contrary and opposed which impatience is when through ignorance or distrust of
18 There is no fear in love c. And also largely to that place Rom. 8. 15 Ye have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear c. That place in Rev. 21. 8 But the fearful c. shall be cast into the lake of sire c. answered What is that fear of God here commanded farther set down in three particulars Q. What are the special marks of the true fear of God answered in seven particulars Q. What the arguments are to induce us to fear God answered in eight things In way of a conclusion Thirteen sentences about the fear of God Exercitation V. Of waiting upon God upon these words My Soul wait thou only upon God for my expectation is from Him Three ingredients to wait upon God What waiting upon God is Four signs of our waiting upon God Four helps for strengthening us against troubles An explanation out of the Greek of waiting and expectation The manner of our waiting in three things Gods waiting upon us Wait upon God only What expectation is What we expect from God Examples of the miseries of those who would not wait upon God Exercitation VI. The way to salvation repentance and faith On these words Mark 1. 15 Repent ye and believe the Gospel What repentance is Repentance is twofold 1. Legal 2. Evangelical What they both are The signs whereby they may be known Four parts of Evangelical repentance Repentance must be renewed What faith is Five acceptations of faith The object of true saving faith The manner of Gods working of it The absolute necesssity of it in every part of Gods worship Encouragements to labour for it Exercitation VII Holiness on these words Psal 93. 5. Holiness becometh thine house O Lord for ever What Holiness is 1. As applyed to God 2. To believers Our holiness must bear a conformity to Christs holiness in four things What sanctification is The terms from which and to which Two degrees of sanctification Two parts of it The ends of it in two things What we must do that we may be holy Four things thereto Three things to be observed for holiness sake Christ is the principle of our holiness and also the pattern of it the comeliness of holiness Of Gods house How holy it is and how holy we must be A Scriptural Prayer to God for Holiness A farther Encomium and praise of Holiness Exercitation VIII Of Swearing On these words Jer. 23. 9 For because of Oaths the Land mourneth A sad complaint of the over-spreading and greatness of this horrid sin of prophane swearing Of taking Gods name in vain Superstitious and foolish swearing How an Oath is to be taken The parts of an Oath The form of an Oath The end of an Oath The divers kinds of an Oath How an Oath is to be performed Is it lawful for Christians to take an Oath Proved affirmatively by four reasons An exploding the Opinion of the Anabaptists c. by six Arguments By whom we must swear About what things an Oath may be taken Whether all Oaths are to be kept How God in Scripture is said to swear The sum of the third Commandment Six Corollaries Of the government of the tongue Exercitation IX Hardness os heart On these words And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also The Plague of hardness of heart Examples of it To harden the heart what it is 1. In reference to God 2. â—o Satan 3. To a mans self Of conscience what it is How did God harden Pharaohs heart and how he did iâ— himself The miseries ensuing hardness of heart Exeroitation X. Of the Sabbath On these words in Exod. 31. 13 14 15 16 17. 20. 8 Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy The necessity of a sabbath The morality of it The excellency of the Moral Law above the Ceremonial or Judicial What the sanctifying of the sabbath is the parts of it A short Paraphrase on Isai 58. 13 14. which is borrowed The strict observation of the sabbath belongs more to us then to the Jews the reasons of the alteration of it How the sabbath is a sign Woe to sabbath prophaners and sabbath idlers The right manner of sanctifying of the sabbath Be not weary of sabbath-duties For Reasons why it is called sabbath The many sabbaths of the Jews formerly Three Reasons why God commands us to observe the sabbath We must lay out our strength in sabbath-duties Exercitation XI Of Patience On these words Luk. 21. 19 In your patience possess ye your souls Of afflictions to the Godly 1. For correction 2. For tryal Inferences upon each Examine for what particular sin God so afflicts Afflictions a sign of Gods love Why afflictions are called temptations What patience is Of impatience The good effects of patience Motives to it The true nature of patience towards God our selves and others Four Arguments to strengthen us in our patience The vices contrary Exercitation XII Pride and humility On these words James 4. 6 God resisteth the proud but giveth grace to the humble What Pride is The parts of Pride How it is shewed Of pride against God and of pride towards men Of the sin of the fallen Angels and of the sin of our first Parents Four helps to subdue pride What grace is Several acceptations of grace A description of humility Humility towards God humility towards men Five means to attain humility towards God Three marks of humility towards men Humility farther described and praised Incitations to humility Some additional notes about pride and humility Fourteen Aphorisms about humility Exercitation XIII Of Care On these words 1 Pet. 5. 10 Casting all your care upon God for He careth for you Seven Arguments against carefulness Twofold care of outward things Worldly cares compared to thorns in four respects Irregular cares are 1. Superfluous 2. Sinful We are to do our duty faithfully and then trust in God who is our Father and the great house-keeper of all the earth The fourth Petition in the Lords Prayer fully explained If we rowl our selves upon God He hath engaged Himself to relieve us Outward things are necessary for us in a threefold respect Rest upon Gods Providence What Gods actual Providence is Of the fate of the heathen Philosophers The parts of Providence Depend upon Providence Wait Gods time Live by faith Be we diligent in our callings The tenderness fidelity and wisdom of Gods Providence The twelve miracles observed about Manna More of Gods Providence and twelve Corollaries thereabout Exercitation XIV Of death judgment hell and heaven On these words Rev. 20. 12. 15 And I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the books were opened and another book was opened which is the book of life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire 1. Of death what death is The causes of it The
the body for our thoughts are before His face The easiest way of explaining or understanding the Commandments is by dividing the obedience due to every Commandment into its proper virtues as parts and then the vices contrary to those virtues will easily appear As there are these seven virtues or parts of obedience due to the first Commandment 1. The acknowledging of God 2. Faith in God 3. Hope 4. Love of God 5. Fear of God 6. Humility 7. Patience But here we are to speak only of the fear of God The true fear of God is to acknowledge the extream anger of God against sin and His power to punish it and to esteem our displeasing of God or offending Him and consequently an estrangedness from Him as the greatest evil and therefore extreamly to hate and detest sin and to be ready rather to suffer any evil than to offend in any thing Or thus The fear of God is from acknowledging of His Wisdom Power Justice and Right which He hath over all creatures and out of subjection unto Him not willing to offend Him Levit. 19. 14. Thou shalt fear thy God I am the Lord. God is feared as He is just and powerful to punish in regard of the evil of punishment which He can inflict So we stand in such a Godly fear as not to do any thing but that which maketh for God's glory and yet this is not a servile fear whereby one is afraid to be damned but an awful filial fear whereby we are afraid to offend our Maker and Heavenly Father So our Saviour bids Mat. 10. 28. us rather fear Him that is able to destroy both soul and body in hell So St. Peter bids us to pass the time of our sojourning 1 Pet. 1. 17. here in fear Let us have grace whereby Heb. 12. 28. we may serve God acceptably with reverence and Godly fear For as a Father pityeth his Son so the Lord pityeth them that fear Him Whereas all carnal fear and especially the fearing of any thing more than God is here condemned Fear ye not their fear neither be afraid Isai 8. 12 13. but sanctifie the Lord of Hosts Himself and let Him be your fear and let Him be your dread I even I am He saith the 51. 12 13. Lord that comforteth you who art thou that thou shouldst be afraid of a man that shall dye and of the Son of man that shall be made as grass and forgettest the Lord thy maker c. and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressour as if he were ready to destroy and where is the fury of the oppressour Fear not them which kill the body but Mat. 10. 28. are not able to kill the soul but rather fear Him that is able to destroy both soul and body in hell We should be more afraid to displease God than any other and this fear of God should be stronger to move us to do good than the fear of man to move us to do evil There is a twofold fear of God 1. Filial 2. Slavish 1. Filial which is from acknowledging of sin and the anger of God against it and from a serious grief for sins committed because of offending God thereby and in regard of calamities that we and others endure for sin and a fear of future sins and punishments with an ardent desire of avoiding those evils through the acknowledging of God's mercy shewed to us in and through Christ This is usually called filial fear because it is such a fear as dutiful Children have toward their Father grieving for the anger and displeasure of their father and fearing least they should offend him again and so be punished for it and yet are always perswaded of their fathers love and good-will towards them and therefore love him and through this love do grieve the more because they have offended him So we read of Peter that when he had denyed his Master he went forth and wept bitterly Mat. 26. 75. But servile and slavish fear is such as of Servants to their Masters to avoid punishment without faith and without a desire and striving to amend and is usually joyned with despair and a with-drawing from God and fleeing away from Him Filial and slavish fear differ in these three things 1. Filial fear proceedeth from our trust and confidence in God and love to Him But servile fear ariseth from a sight of sin and sins flying in the face with the sence of judgment and of the wrath of God 2. Filial fear principally turneth away from sin which displeases God but not from God Himself But servile fear is a fleeing from and a hatred not of sin but of punishments and judgments of God and so at length with a fleeing from and a hatred of God Himself 3. Filial fear is joyned with some assurance of salvation and everlasting life and so draws us nearer to God But a servile fear is joyned with an expectation of everlasting damnation and casting away from God and so drives farther from Him which is so much the more in them as their doubting or despair of the Grace and Mercy of God is more or less This slavish fear is in the Devils and wicked men and is the beginning of everlasting death which the wicked and ungodly do feel even in this life So said Cain to God My punishment is Gen. 4. 14. greater than I can bear Behold Thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth and from thy face I shall be hid and I shall be a fugitive a vagabond in the earth c. So Ahaz his heart Isai 7. 2. was moved and the hearts of his people as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind And so Saul he was afraid 1 Sam. 28. 5. and his heart greatly trembled The Jam. 2. 19. Devils believe and tremble There are some things do oppose and resist the fear of God in defect and some in excess 1. In excess as servile fear and despair of which we spoke something before 2. In defect as 1. Prophaneness 2. Carnal security 3. Contempt of God 4. An Idolatrous fear The wicked are utterly devoyd of all fear and reverence of God they have Psal 36. 1. no fear of God before their eyes an idolatrous fear is not that fear alone which is from idols as the poor Heathen Indians worship the Devil because he should not hurt them but that fear also which is from men and from the world when a man fears them more than he fears God Some carnal security may be in the Godly yet it is otherwise with them than in the wicked It is so in the Godly that the fear of God is not altogether cast out of their heart but the 1 King 14. 9. wicked like Jeroboam cast God behind their back So God complains of the Ezek. 33. 35. Jews they had forgotten Him and cast him behind their
are imitable by us and which we ought to follow so our Sanctification consists in a conformity to the ways of Christ's ordinary obedience So we read that Christ went about doing good No guile Acts 10. 38. 1 Pet. 2. 22. Joh. 4. 34. was found in His mouth He made it His meat and drink to do his Fathers will when he was reviled he reviled 1 Pet. 2. 23. not again when he suffered he threatned not but committed his cause to him that judgeth righteously He learned obedience by the things which He suffered Heb. 5. 8. Luk. 22. 42. Joh. 13. 14. Joh. 2. 14 17. He resigned His will to God's will He shewed us an excellent pattern of humility in washing His Disciples feet shewed admirable zeal for the glory of God and when He was thereunto called meekly resigned His Soul Luk. 23. 4â— into the hands of God And so the whole life of Christ was an exemplary precept unto men and we ought not to follow men any farther than they 1 Cor. 11. 1. Rev. 14. 4. follow Christ Let us follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth Now if Christ be a rule and pattern of holiness unto us then let us take heed that we be not a rule to our selves Every thing that Moses did about the material Tabernacle was to be done according to the pattern which he had seen in the Heb. 8. 5. Mount And every thing which we do in these spiritual Tabernacles we are to do it after the pattern of Him who is set before us looking unto Jesus the Heb. 12. 2. Author and finisher of our faith So let us be regular in all our speeches and actions doing all according to rule walking exactly and accurately as the Apostle bids us so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Eph. 5. 15. in the Original signifies Not as fools but as wise though the wise fools of the world may think us too precise therein And let us enquire out of the Scriptures whether Christ would have done this or that or no at least whether He allow it or no. And as many as Gal. 6. 16. walk according to this rule peace be on them and mercy and upon the Israel of God And thus while we follow Christ we are out of all danger whoso thus Prov. 1. 33. hearken to Him shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from fear of evil being sure to be upheld and kept by Him in His way The more we follow Christ the nearer still we come unto Him Let us deny our selves our natural self and our sinful self and Christ will be all in all unto us He will guide us comfort counsel 2 Thess 2. 17. settle strengthen stablish us in every good word and work in this our Pilgrimage in the life of Grace here and Psal 73. 24. at length in His own good time bring us safely to the life of glory hereafter Thus we see what a comely and becoming thing holiness is what holiness is and the parts of it and how to attain it Holiness is a becoming thing As Moses when he had long conversed Exod. 34. 29. with God his face did shine So the Saints whose fellowship truly is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ do shine as lights in the 1 Joh. 1. 3. â—hil 2. 15. world Holiness makes us comely as in the sight of God so also in the sight of men So the promise is In that day that is Isai 4. â— in the times of the Gospel the Branch that is Christ shall be beautiful and glorious and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely that is the Spouse and people of Christ who are chosen out of the world and who live upon the earth they shall be excellent and comely So the Saints are comely through Christ's comeliness which He hath put upon them Oh how great is his goodness Ezek. 16. 14. Zech. 9. 17. Psal 149. 4. and how great is his beauty he will beautifie the meek with Salvation The Sanctification of the Elect and chosen of God it is to be taught by the Holy Spirit through the Ministry of the word in the Gospel of the good-will of God towards them to be regenerated and through faith to be made the temples of God and members of Christ that they may mortifie the deeds of the flesh and walk in newness of life going on in that way apprehending comfort â—nd joy in God and so are kept to life everlasting God's sanctifying of us and our sanctifying of God do differ for we sanctifie God by believing by attributing to God His holiness that is all His holy attributes which He claims to Himself in His Word by acknowledging and confessing them and by our holy obedience Sanctifying of God contains the whole worship of God God sanctifieth us by making us inviolable safe and secure against Sin Hell the World Death Devil Enemies and all Evils God sanctifieth us in teaching us by His holy Spirit through the Ministry of the Gospel of His good-will towards us by regenerating us and by faith making us the temples of God and members of Christ to mortifie the flesh and to walk before God in newness of life and so are kept to life eternal Thus far of holiness and the word becometh Now of the next words Thine house O Lord for ever The house of God in Scripture hath several acceptations it signifies and it is taken sometimes for 1. Heaven which is God's upper house His house of Glory of which Joh. 14. 2. Christ said In My Fathers house are many mansions And St. Paul calls it a building 2 Cor. 5. 1. not made with hands eternal in the heavens Here even the poorest Saint who hath not an house to put his head in upon earth hath yet an house in Heaven into which no unholy thing shall enter 2. It is taken for the Church and people of God whether 1. Distributively every pious person is God's house Whose house Heb. 3. 6. are we 2. Collectively and then it is taken sometimes for a particular assembly So St. Paul said to Timothy that thou mayst 1 Tim. 3. 15. know how to behave thy self in the house of God which is the Church of the living God c. And sometimes it is taken for the Catholick Church and this Heb. 3. 2 5. is here meant whether the whole Church of God or every individual person holiness becometh them and is required of them 3. By the house of God in Scripture sometime is meant the true Religion taught and professed within the Church of God The zeal of Thine house hath Psal 69. 9 eaten me up 4. The temple at Jerusalem whereof it is spoken My house shall be called the Luk. 19. 46 house of Prayer The temple of God is holy whose temple 1 Cor. 3. 17. we are Every thing about the material temple and in it was holy
heaven and heavenly things It is not said this or that place is the 1 Cor. 10 28. Lords but the earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof Therefore seeing we believe God to be our Father and our heavenly Father so He is able and willing to hear and help us this should moderate our care for the things of this life For if we know our selves to be the children of God then we must also know that God will provide for us As we know in a family the father of the family provideth for all those of his houshold God is the great house-keeper of all the earth He provideth Psal 145. 16. for the Raven his food when his young ones cry to God and wander for lack of meat He giveth to the beast his food Job 38. 41. Psal 147. 9. and to the young Ravens which cry Doth God take care of Beast and Ravens 1 Cor. 9. 9. and will He not much more take care for His Children those of His own Houshold If we should see a young man provide for himself and no one else for him surely we would say his Father is dead even so when a mans care both day and night is set wholly for the things of this life it argues either that God hath cast him off or else that he takes God for no Father of his Again if the Lord doth thus take care of His Children and provideth for them all kind of benefits What a horrid wickedness is it for men to get their living by ungodly means as lying cheating fraud carding dicing and such like exercises If a man were perswaded that God were his Father and would provide sufficiently both for his soul and body so that using lawful means he should ever have enough out of all doubt he would never after the fashion of the world use unlawful and profane means to get a living But this plainly evidenceth that however such men say that God is their Father yet indeed they deny Him Our blessed Saviour in the Fourth Petition of the Lords Prayer teaches us to pray to our heavenly Father to give us this day our dayly bread Where bread by a Synecdoche very usual to the Hebrews signifies all corporal good things necessary for this life as food clothing health peace and such like and also a good use of them Therefore all these good things Christ comprehends under the name of Bread and that for these reasons To bridle our lusts that only bread is to be pray'd for only things necessary for the sustentation of this life whereby we may be the better enabled to serve God and our Neighbour in our Vocation and Calling whether in our general calling as we are Christians or in our particular calling in that place and calling God hath set us in 2. To teach us also to beg of God the wholsom and good use of these outward things So then in the Fourth Petition when we beg Bread of God it signifies 1. Not great riches but only things necessary such a proportion of maintainance credit liberty health wealth Prov. 30. 8. food and rayment c. as is convenient for us And that with condition if God see it fit for us and if it be His good-will and pleasure Which exception is a caution proper to this Petition for outward things 2. We beg hereby that these things may be bread to us that is that by the blessing of God they may be wholsom and good unto us And we beg our bread not anothers that which God sees fir for us which we may call our own God as a Father of a Family distributeth to every one a portion which we beg may be given to us And our bread bread gotten by our own labour and industry that so we may eat the labour of our Psal 128 2. 1 Thes 4. 11. 2 Thes 3. 12. own hands and eat our own bread And so that is called our bread which comes to us by the blessing of God on our lawful endeavours so that neither God nor Man can justly implead us for it And that we may use it with a good conscience and with giving of thanks Let him that stole steal no more but rather Eph. 4. 28. let him work with his own hands that he may have wherewith to give to him that is in want God would have us â—e sure that when He giveth us these good things He gives us power to use and enjoy them and He would not have us to use His gifts as Thieves but freely and with thanks-giving to Him for them Q. Why do we pray for Dayly Bread A. Because God would have us every day to ask so much as is sufficient for us for each day 2. That God may bridle our unsatiable and unruly desires Our Father Mat. 6. 32. knoweth what we have need of A little that a righteous man hath is better than Psal 37. 16. the â—iohes of many wicked No good and needful things shall be wanting to them that fear the Lord. In the proper Psal 34. 10. language of the Spirit of God it is that bread which is fit for me and agreeable to my condition Q. Why do we pray Give us this day A. 1. That we may be taken off from distrust and covetousness 2. That we may depend on God alone and beg things necessary from Him and expect them wholly from Him 3. That the exercise of Faith and Prayer may be daily continued in us 4. We Pray for This day to teach us to Pray for Bread for a day not for a moneth or a year so to teach us for to restrain our care that it reach not too far but to rest on God's Providence and present blessings and so not to be covetous Hereby we profess the moderation of our care and desire of earthly things with our purpose every day by Labour and Prayer to seek these blessings at the hands of God Here also our affections are forbidden to pass measure not to have a carking and troubling care seeing the present Mat. 6. 34. vexation of the day is enough for it self But to commit our ways to God and Psal 37. 5. Prov. 16. 3. to rowle all our matters upon Him who will bring them all to pass So here we see that a moderate appetite and desire of having these earthly things and a moderate care of procuring them is approved and required Eph. 4. 28. 2 Cor. 12. 13 14. that we may not be burdensome but rather helpful unto others There are two extreams hereof we must know that every virtue is a middle between two extreams 1. The first extream is carelessness and neglect of our goods and estate For as he is commended who gathereth in seasonable times so he is much blamed Prov. 10. 5. 6. 6. who neglecteth those opportunities and is censured by the Apostle to be worse than an infidel 1 Tim. 5. 8. 2. The second extream is
while we are here in this life for God knows as we have souls so bodies also which have need of sustentation food and rayment which are needful for us And God hath promised not to deny us things which are needful 6. If we in the first place do seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness all these things shall be added unto us and given in as an advantage for they are but accessive and must come in in the second place 7. Our Saviour iterateth His charge unto us therefore take no thought for the morrow for the morrow shall take thought for the things of it self sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof Therefore let us not be troubled through the care and apprehension of future time which is a distrustful a vain unprofitable and sinful care Time present is only ours for the future what shall betide either us or ours is known only to God who hath times events and seasons in His own hand There is a Two-fold care of the things of this life 1. A care of diffidence distrusting Gods providence mercy and goodness which is here condemned 2. A care of diligence to use industry and diligence in our places and callings for the supply of our wants and of those who depend upon us with a moderate care and that in reference to Gods command and resting on His providence promises blessings and goodness This care is good and commendable so it be moderate not to hinder us from or interrupt us in our holy duties We know it is Gods Ordinance in the sweat of our face to eat our bread to Gen 3. 19. use pains diligence and industry And the Apostle commands that if any will 2 Thes 3. 10 12. not work neither should he eat And exhorteth that with quietness we work and eat own bread Not to live like droans devouring the honey which the laborious Bee brings in but to eat our own bread bread and maintainance of our own getting and earning without being burdensom or chargeable to others He becometh poor that dealeth with a Prov. 10. 4. slack hand but the hand of the diligent maketh rich And in the same Chapter the wise-man hath it the blessing of ver 22. the Lord it maketh rich and He addeth no sorrow with it So the meaning is the blessing of the Lord which accompanies our honest diligent endeavours that maketh rich and the Lord will add no sorrow with it or we shall have His blessing with comfort in the enjoyment of it So a little that a righteous Prov. 16. 8. man hath is better than the treasures of many wicked Our blessed Saviour compares the Mat. 13. 22. cares of this world to thornes which as the Apostle speaks pierce or bore a man through with many sorrows 1 Tim. 6. 10. 1. These cares they are wonderful thornes and cause vexation of spirit they beget many sorrows and those sorrows at last cause death for worldly 2 Cor. 7. 10. sorrow causes death 2. They are choaking thornes they stifle and keep down all the gracious Seed of the word yea the very natural sproutings of nobleness ingenuity and morality in the dispositions of men 3. They are deceitful thornes they will deceive us at last 4. They are vanishing thornes nothing so apt to catch fire as thornes and so easily quenched They are quenched Psal 118. 12. like a fire of thornes said the Psalmist Irregular cares are both superfluous and also sinful 1. Superfluous for as unto us belongs the industry but the care belongs unto God unto us the labour and use of lawful means but unto God the blessing and success of all God must be trusted with the events of all our pains and industry our cares can never bring to pass our smallest desires the care of events was ever God 's Prerogative and belongs wholly to His providence 2. As irregular cares are superfluous so also sinful too for they are worldly distrusting of Gods providence they Jam. 4. 3. are adulterous cares stealing away the heart from God they take off the heart from the word and make it become unfruitful In all these and other respects they are sinful and we ought to arm our selves against them For as in avenging our selves we sinfully take Gods sword of justice out of His hand to whom vengeance belongeth and I Rom. 12. 19. will recompence saith the Lord. So in carking or caring for our selves we intrench on Gods Prerogative Royal who hath bid us to cast all our care upon Phil. 4. 6. Him for He careth for us Therefore let us be careful for nothing but in Phil. 4. 19. every thing by prayer and supplication with thanks giving let our requests be made known unto God And our God shall supply all our need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus Yet let us use the means and be diligent in the works of our calling Now in the labour and works of our calling there is required a double action of faith 1. To do our labour in good manner that is to the glory of God and the good of men with whom we live 2. In our dayly labours to restrain and moderate our care Men commonly take upon them a double care as First to do the works and labours of their callings Secondly to procure a blessing and good success to their labours But faith in God where it reigns it stirs up the hearts of men only to the first care which is the faithful discharge of their labours and duties in their place And it restrains them from the second for a blessing and good success and makes them to leave that wholly to God For when men have done their duty which appertains unto them then Faith makes them without any more ado to wait upon God for a blessing which as we said before is Gods part as the former which is the faithful discharge of our duties in our places is our part Therefore it is said cast thy burden Psal 55. 2â— upon the Lord and He shall sustain thee Now this faith whereby we depend upon God for the success of our labours hath an infallible ground namely that God best knows our wants and He will give us all things which He in His Wisdom knows to be necessary for us So Christ saith your heavenly Father Mat. 6. 32. knows that we have need of these things There is no want to those that fear Him Psal 34. 9 10. The young Lions do lack and suffer hunger but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing If men by faith would build on these promises they need not like drudges of the world toyl and spend themselves and the best part of their days in worldly cares so as they do For they should have a greater blessing from God with less care if they would trust Him and also they should have far more time than they have to care for