corrupt and wholly poisoned with Self-Love we prefer every base Interest and Trifle before God nay we prefer carnal Self before God Some are wholly brutish and so they may wallow in Ease and Pleasure and eat the Fat and drink the Sweet never think of God care not how God is dishonoured both by themselves and others And then some O how tender are they in matters of their own Concernment and affected with it more than for the Glory of God! Ioh. 12. 43. They are more affected with their own Honour and their own Loss and Reproach than with God's dishonour or God's Glory If their own Reputation be but hazarded a little O how it stings them to the Heart But if they be faulty towards God they can pass it over without Trouble A Word of Disgrace a little Contempt cast upon our Persons kindles the Coals and â—ills us with Rage but we can hear God's Name dishonoured and not be moved with it When they pray if they beg outward Blessings if they ask any thing it is for their Lusts not for God 't is but to feed their Pomp and Excess and that they may shine in the Pomp and Splendor of external Accommodations If they beg Quickning and Enlargment it is for their own Honour that their Lusts may be fed by the Contributions of Heaven So by a wicked Design they would even make God to serve the Devil The best of us when we come to pray what a deep Sense have we of our own Wants and no desire of the Glory of God If we beg daily Bread Maintenance and Protection we do not beg it as a Talent to be improved for our Master's use but as Fuel for our Lusts. If we beg Deliverance it is because we are in pain and ill at ease not that we may Honour and glorify God that Mercy and Truth may shine forth If we beg Pardon it is only to get rid of the Smart and enlarged out of the Stocks of Conscience If they beg Grace it is but a lazy Wish after Sanctification because they are convinced there is no other way to be happy If they beg eternal Glory they do not beg it for God it appears plainly because they can be content to dishonour God long provided they at length may be saved Most of us pray without a Heart set to glorify God and to bring Honour unto his great Name Tho a Man hath never so much sense and feeling in his Prayer yet if his Hâ—art be not duly set as to the Glory of God his Prayer is turned into Sin It is not the manner of the Vehemency only for a Carnal Spring may send forth High-Tides of Affection and Motions that come from Lust may be earnest and very rapid Therefore it is not enough to have Fervour and Vehemency but when our aim is to honour and glorify God Zech. 7. 5 6. When ye fasted did ye at all fast unto me even to me And when ye did eat and when ye did drink did you not eat for your selves and drink for your selves Vse 2. For Exhortation to press us to seek the Glory of God above all things Take these Arguments 1. How necessary it is the Lord should have his Glory The World serves for no other purpose it is made and continued for this End Rev. 4. 11. Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power For thou hast created all things and for thy Pleasure they are and were created All that God hath made it was for his own Glory And Rom. 11. 36. For of him and through him and to him are all things To whom be Glory for ever Amen Of him in a way of Creation Through him by way of Providential Influence and Supportation that they may be To him in their final tendency and result God did not make us for our selves but his own Glory 2. It is a singular Benefit to be admitted to sanctify God's Name O that poor Worms should come and put the Crown upon God's Head And that he will count any thing we can do to be a Glory to himself â— Chron. 29. 14. But who am I and what is my People that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort For all things come of thee and of thine own have we given thee 3. Consider how much it concerneth us that we may make some Restitution for our former dishonouring of God therefore we should be more zealous in this Work How forward have we been to dishonour God in Thought Word and Deed before the Lord wrought upon us There is not a Mercy but we have abused it nor any thing we have medled with but one way or other we have turned it to the Lord's Reproach and Dishonour Now when the Lord hath put Grace in our Hearts When we are a People formed for his Praise Isa. 43. When he hath made us anew we should think of making some Restitution some amends to God and should zealously affect his Glory above all things Vse 3. For Trial. Do we prefer the Glory of God in the first place Take these Marks 1. Then we would be content with our own loss provided the Name of God may gain any respect in the World and so he may be magnified no matter what becomes of us and our Interest and Concernment Phil. 1. 20. The Apostle expresseth there a kind of Indifferency So Christ shall be magnified in my Body whether it be by Life or by Death O then it is a sign you make it your purpose drift and care when you are contented to do or be any thing that God will have you to be or do This holds good not only in temporal Concernments when you are content to want necessary Food c. But it holds also in Spiritual Concernments As to sense of Pardon tho God should suspend the Consolations of his Spirit yet if it be for the Glory of his Grace I am to be content Nay in some Cases God's Glory is more to be cared for than our own Salvation if they two could come in competition but that case never falls out with the Creature our Salvation is conjoyned with the Glory of God But yet in supposition if it should as Paul and Moses puts the Supposition Exod. 32. 32. Blot me I pray thee out of the Book which thou hast written So God might be honoured in saving that People So Rom. 9. 3. For I could wish that my self werâ— accursed from Christ for my Brethren my Kinsmen according to the Flesh. It was not a rash Speech a thing spoken out of an unadvised Passion see but with what a serious Preâ—ace it is ushered in vers 1. God is my Witness I lye not my Conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost He calls God to witness this was the real disposition of his Heart and he speaks advisedly and with good deliberation Object But is it lawful thus to wish to be accursed Certainly Paul could not
Grace which maketh us to do so It is his own Gift It is he must enable and incline us quicken and direct us So that in all Things he is Alpha and Omega we begin in him when ever we end in him And when we do most 〈◊〉 God we have all from him Vse 2. For Direction in the Matter of glorifying God in four Propositions 1. This Life is not to be valued but as it yieldeth us Opportunities for this End and Purpose to glorify God We were not sent into the World to live for our selves but for God If we could make our selves then we could live to our selves If we could be our own Cause then we might be our own End But God made us for himself and sent us into the World for himself Christ saith Iohn 17. 4. Father I have glorified thee on Earth c. It is not our Duty only to glorify God in Heaven to join in Consort with the Angels in their Hallelujahs above where we may glorify him without Distraction Weariness and Weakness but here on Earth in the midst of Difficulties and Temptations There are none sent into the World to be idle or to bring forth Fruit to themselves Hos. 10. 1. to improve their Pains and Strength to promote meerly their own Interest but God's Glory must be our chief Work and Aim while we are here upon Earth this must be the Purpose and Intent of our Lives 2. Every Man besides his general Calling hath his own Work and Course of Service whereby to glorify and honour God Iohn 17. 4. I have finished the Work which thou gavest me to do As in a great House one hath one Employment one another So God hath designed to every Man his Work he hath to do and the Calling he must be in some in one Calling and some in another but they all have their Service and Work given them to do for God's glory 3. In discharge of this Work as they must do all for God so they can do nothing without God Every morning we should revive the Sense of it upon our selves as the Care of our Work and Aim so the Sense of our Impotency This day I am to live with God but how unable am I and how easily shall I dishonour him The way of Man is not in himself Jer. 10. 23. When a Christian goeth abroad in the Morning he must remember he is at Christ's dispose he is not to do as he pleaseth but to be guided by Rule and act for God's glory and fetch in Strength from Christ. Col. 3. 17. Whatsoever ye do in Word or Deed do all in the Name of the Lord Iesus Not only in our Duties or immediate Converses with God but in our Sports Business Recreation What is it to do things in the Name of Christ That is to do it according to Christ's Will and Command He hath allowed us Time for Recreation for conversing with God and calling in Christ's Help and aiming at his Glory If we have any thing to do for God we must do it in his own strength in every Word and Deed. 4. You are directed again when the Glory of God and sanctifying of his Name either sticks with us or sticks abroad God must be specially consulted with in the Case When our Hearts are backward then Lord open thou my Lips Lord affect me with a sense of thy Kindness and Mercy When it sticks abroad when such Events fall out as for a while God's Name is obscured and seems to be clouded Lord what wilt thou do for thy great Name III. Having opened the Order of the Words and the Reasons of putting up such a Request to God I now come to the Sence of the Petition Hallowed be thy Name Four Things will come under Consideration 1. What is meant by the Name of God 2. What it is to hallow and sanctify it 3. I shall take notice of the Form of the Proposal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hallowed 4. The Note of Distinction Thy Name First What is meant by God's Name 1. God himself 2. Any Thing whereby he is made known 1. God himself Name by an Hebraism is put for the Person it self Thus Rev. 3. 4. Thou hast a few Names even in Sardis which have not defiled their Garments that is many Persons So Acts 1. 15. it is said there The Number of the Names together were aboâ—t one hundred and twenty that is of Persons So it is used in the present Case God's Name is put for God himself Psal. 20. 1. The Name of the God of Jacob defend thee That is God himself So Psal. 44. 5. Through thy Name will we tread them under that rise up against us that is by Thee And to believe in the Name of Christ is to believe in Christ himself Name is put for Person for the immediate Object of Faith is the Person of Christ. Iohn 1. 12. To as many as received him to them gave he Power to become the Sons of God even to them that believe on his Name 2. Any thing whereby he is made known to us Nomen quasi not â—men As a Man is known by his Name so God's Titles and Attributes his Ordinances his Works his Word are his Name chiefly the two latter For his Works they are a part of the Name of God Psal. 8. 1. the Burthen of that Psalm is twice repeated O Lord our Lord how great is thy Name in all the Earth By the Name there is meant God made known in his Works of Creation and Providence for he speaks there of Sun Moon and Stars which proclaim an Eternal Power to all the World and he speaks of such a Name as is in all the Earth And Psal. 117. 19 20. He hath not dealt so with any Nation and given them his Word Statutes and Ordinances every one hath not that Privilege But How great is thy Name in all the Earth That is how manifestly art thou made known by thy Works But above all by Name is meant his Word Psal. 138. 2. Thou hast magnified thy Word above all thy Name There is more of God to be seen in his Word than in all the Creatures of the World and in all his other Works besides We understand more of God than can be taken up by the Creation It helps us to interpret the Book of Nature and Providence there we have his Titles Attributes Ordinances there we have his greatest Work in which he hath discovered so much of his Name the Mystery of Redemption which is not elsewhere to be known Thus by the Name of God is meant God himself as he hath made known himself in the Word We desire that he may be sanctified that he may with honour and reverence be received every where Secondly The second Thing to be explained What is meant by Hallowed In Scripture God is said sometimes to be magnified sometimes to be justified sometimes to be glorified and sometimes to be sanctified Now it is not here said
as belonging to God Kingdom Power and Glory 1. By Kingdom is meant God's Right and Authority over all things by which he can dispose of them according to his own pleasure 2. By Power is meant his Sufficiency to execute this Right and to do what he pleaseth both in Heaven and Earth 3. The final cause of all is his Glory Thine is the Glory or the Honour of all things in the World belongs to thee Glory is Excellency discovered with praise We desire that he may be more honoured and brought into request and esteem Secondly We have the Obsignation and sealing of our Requests in the word Amen which is Signaculum Fidei an Expression of our Faith and Hope And actus desiderii the strength of our Desire There is the Amen of Faith and the Amen of hearty Desire as by and by Now let us look upon this Conclusion first as a Doxology or expression of praise to God And the Note is Doct. That in every Address to God lauding or praising of God is necessary For in this perfect Form of Prayer Christ teaches us not only to ask things needful for our selves but to ascribe to God things proper to him There are two words used in this Case in Scripture Praise and Blessing Praise relateth to God's Excellency and Blessing to his Benefits Psalm 145. 10. All thy Works shall praise thee O Lord and thy Saints shall bless thee All the Works of God declare his Excellency but the Saints will ever be ascribing to God the Benefits they have received from him So they are spoken of as Things though somewhat alike yet as distinct Nehem. 9. 5. Blessed be thy glorious Name which is exalted above all Blessing and Praise Our Praise cannot reach the Excellency of his Nature nor our Blessing express the Worth of his Benefits Both may be here intended For thine is Kingdom and Power relateth to his Excellency and thine is the Glory to his Benefits for God's Glory is the Reflex of all his Works and so expresseth the Benefits shewed to the Sons of Men especially to his People Well then when-ever you would pray to God to bless you you must bless God again and praise his Name Ephes. 1. 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual Blessings in Heavenly Places in Christ. 'T is the Eccho and Reflex of his Grace and Mercy to the Creatures God blesseth us and we bless God as the Eccho returneth the Word or the Wall beateth back the Beams of the Sun Only consider We bless God far otherwise than he blesseth us God's Blessing is operative ours declarative His words are accompanied with Power Benedicere is Benefacere He doth good we speak good when we remember the blessed Effects of his Grace and tell what he hath done for our Souls The Reasons why we are to mingle Praises and Thanksgiving with our Requests are these 1. Because this complieth more with the great end of Worship which is not so much the Relief of Man as the Honour of God therefore we should not only intend the supply of our Necessities for that 's but a brutish Cry howling for Corn Wine and Oil Hosea 7. 14. But we should intend also the Honour of God Psal. 50. 23. Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me A Man may offer Requests to God yet not honour him but seek himself but he that offereth Praise glorifieth me He that doth affectionately and from his Heart give God the honour of his Attributes and Titles in Scripture he glorifieth him and therefore Worship being for the Glory 〈◊〉 God that should not be left out 2. This is the most effectual spiritual Oratory or way of praying Psal. 67. 5. Let the People praise thee O God Let all the People praise thee What then Then shall the Earth yield her increase and God even our own God shall bless us We have Comforts increased the more we praise God for what we have already received The more Vapours go up the more Showrs come down as the Rivers receive so they pour out and all run into the Sea again There is a constant circular Course and Recourse from the Sea unto the Sea So there is between God and us the more we praise him the more our Blessings come down and the more his Blessings come down the more we praise him again so that we do not so much bless God as bless our selves When the Springs lie low we pour a little Water into the Pump not to inrich the Fountain but to bring up more for our selves 3. It 's the noblest part of Worship and most excellent and acceptable Service It is a great honour to Creatures to bestow blessing upon God In other Duties God is bestowing something on us but in praise according to our manner and as Creatures can we bestow something upon God In Prayer we come as Beggars expecting an Alms In Hearing we come as Scholars and Disciples expecting Instruction from God Here according to our Measure and Ability we give something to him not because he needs it being infinitely perfect but because he deserves it being infinitely gracious This is the Work of Angels and glorified Saints Other Duties more agree with our imperfect State as Hearing and Prayer that our Wants may be supplied but this Duty agrees with our State when we are most perfect Love is the Grace of Heaven and Praise the Duty of Heaven we are for Vials they Harps Prayer is our main Work and Praise theirs Vse To reprove us that we are altogether for the supply of our Necessities but little think of giving God the honour due to his Name Either we meddle not with it at all or do it in a very slighty fashion In this perfect form the Glory of God is the Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending of this short Prayer the first Petition it is for God's Glory and the final Conclusion also And therefore it is verily a Fault that God is no more praised In our Addresses to him Psal. 22. 3. it 's said O thou that inhabitest the Praises of Israel the meaning is dwellest in Israel where he is praised of them because it is the great Work they are about Surely our Assemblies should more resound with the Praises of God In Church-Worship there should be a mixture of Harps which are Instruments of Praise as well as Vials full of Odors which are the Prayers of the Saints Rev. 5. 8. But usually we thrust Gratulation Thanksgiving and Praise into a narrow Room and are scanty therein but can be large and copious in expressing our Wants and begging a Supply This Duty is made too great a Stranger in your dealings with God What are the Reasons of this Defect 1. Self-Love We are eager to have Blessings but we forget to return to give God the Glory Prayer is a Work of Neeessity but Praise a Work of Duty and Homage Self-Love puts us upon Prayer but
but we must not do them customarily and for fashion sake no more than Christ himself did for tho this was his Custom yet he was not customary in these his Synagogue-Attendances We are very apt to do so because we have used it for these many Years Men go on in a Tract of Duty and regard not the Ends of Worship Zech. 7. 3. they come with a fond Scruple and Case of Conscience to the Prophet They had an old Custom among them to â—ast for the Destruction of the Temple now when the Temple was built again Should I weep in the â—ith Month separating my self as I have done these so many Years 3. Much Slightness and Perfunctoriness of Heart you may be guilty of Such is the Wickedness of Men that they think God will be put off with any thing And tho they would set off themselves with Applause in the hearing of others yet how slight are they apt to be when they deal with God alone Consider you must sanctify the Name of God in private as well as in publick you must speak to God with Reverence and Fear and not in an overly fashion Take heed of this Slightness it is a great Wrong to the Majesty of God When they offered a sickly Offering saith God I am a great King and my Name is dreadful among the Heathen You do not consider my Majesty 4. There may be this Evil Resting in the Work in the Tale and Number of your Prayers Luke 18. 11. I fast twice in the Week Man is very apt to rest and dote upon his own Worth and to build all his Acceptance with God upon it to come to God and challenge him for a Debt as the Pharisee did It is very natural to rest in those Duties and make them an Excuse for other things 5. There may be Pride even in the Exercise of our Gifts There is a Delight in Duties which seems spiritual many times when it is not As when a Man delighteth in the Exercise of his own Gifts rather than in Communion with God when there is a secret tickling of Heart with a conceit of our own Worth as when in the carriage of a Duty we come off roundly and Parts have their free Course and Career This Complacency and Pride it may be not only in publick where we have advantage to discover our selves with Applause but in private between God and our Souls When a Man is conceited of his Gifts they may end in the private Exercise of them to the wrong of God When Invention is quick and free he may have such a delight as may make him rest in the Work as it is a Fruit of Parts rather than as a Means of Communion with God Therefore there needs a great deal of Caution when we are alone with our heavenly Father MATTH 6. 7 8. But when ye pray use not vain Repetitions as the Heathen do for they think they shall be heard for their much speaking Be not ye therefore like unto them for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him OUr Lord having spoken of the Ostentation of the Pharisees and their Vain-Glory he cometh here to dissuade from another Abuse and that is Babling and Lip-labour They pray'd to be seen of Men but the Heathens were guilty of another Abuse Here take notice 1. Of the Sin taxed 2. The Reasons which our Lord produceth against it First The Sin taxed is set forth by a double Notion Here is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first we translate Vain Repetitions and the last Much speaking Both may well go together for when Men affect to say much they will use vain Repetitions go over the same things again and again which is as displeasing to God as it is irksom to prudent and wise Men. But let us see a little what these Words signify The first Word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we translate vain Repetitions Battus was a foolish Poet that made long Hymns consisting of many Lines but such as were often repeated both for Matter and Words And Ovid brings in a foolish Fellow that would be often repeating the same Words and doubling them over Montibus inquit erant erant sub montihus illis And again Et me mihi perfide prodis Me mihi prodis ait And from thence this Word is taken which is here used by the Evangelist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or idle babling over the same thing And the Scripture representeth this vain going over of the same things Eccles. 10. 14. A Fool also is full of Words a Man cannot tell what shall be and what shall be after him who can tell The most judicious Interpreters do conceive there 's a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Imitation of the Fool 's speaking Groundless fruitless Repetitions are here reproved or the tumbling out of many insignificant Words and the same over and over again this is vain Repetition But the other Word which Christ useth to tax the same Abuse is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Much speaking it signifieth Affectation of Length in Prayer or using many Words not out of fervency of Mind but meerly to prolong the Duty as if the length of it made it more powerful or acceptable with God or a more comely piece of Worship This is what our Lord here reproves vain Repetitions and much speaking Secondly Here are the Reasons produced against it they are two 1. That it is a Heathenish Custom and that grounded upon a false Supposition The Heathens were detestable to the Jews and therefore their Customs should not be taken up especially when grounded upon an Error or a Misprision of the Nature of God Now the Heathens think they shall be heard for their much speaking for their meer praying and composing Hymns to their Gods with thundring Names repeated over and over again It is inconsistent with the true Nature of God vers 8. Be not therefore like unto them for your Father knoweth what Things you have need of before you ask him Here we learn three Things 1. Christianity and true Religion takes up God under the Notion of a Father that hath a care of his Children This will decide many Questions about Prayer and what Words we should use to God in the Duty go to God as Children to their Father 2. He is represented as an Omniscient God one that knows all Things our Wants and Necessities 3. As an Indulgent Father who hath a propense and ready mind to help us even before we ask From the Words thus opened that which we may observe is this Viz. Doct. That certainly it is a Sin needlesly to affect length of Speech or vain Repetitions in Prayer Our Lord dissuadeth us from it here and his Authority should sway with us He knew the Nature of Prayer better than we do for he appointed it and he was often in the practice and observance of it So we are directed to the contrary Eccles.
5. 2. Be not rash with thy Mouth and let not thine Heart be hasty to utter any thing before God for God is in Heaven and thou upon Earth therefore let thy Words be few Remember you have to do with a great God and do not babble things over impertinently in his Ears It is a Truth evident by the Light of Nature Paucis verbis rem divinam facito Platinus If you be to worship God a needless Prolixity doth not become Addresses to him But because this Text may be abused I shall endeavour to clear it a little further There are two Extremes the slight and careless Spirit and Babling 1. There is the slight and careless Spirit who doth the Work of an Age in a Breath and is all for Starts and sudden Pangs which pass away like a Flash of Lightning in a dark Room whose good Thoughts are gone as soon as they rush into the Heart A poor barren and slight Spirit which is not under the Influence and Power of that Celestial Love which keeps the Soul in converse with God cannot endure to be any while with God Alas we need Stroke upon Stroke to fasten any thing upon the Heart We are like green Wood that will not presently take Fire until it lie long there and be throughly and well warmed so until we have gone far in the Duty we can hardly get any warmth of Heart They which are short in Prayer had need of much habitual preparation of Heart The Babler is another Extreme who thinks the Commendation of a Duty is to be long in it and affects to say much rather than well whereas serious and short Speech makes the best Prayer Prov. 10. 19. In the multitude of Words there wanteth not Sin Either to God or Men 't is true but especially when affected So they do but beat the Air rather than pray to God These then are the two Extremes Shortness out of Barrenness or Slightness or Length out of Affectation â—â—d we must carefully avoid these Christ would 〈◊〉 justify that Shortness which comes from Slightness and Barrenness of Heart nor on the other side indulge the Affectation of Length in Prayer Therefore let us a little see I. What is the Sin II. Give you the Force of our Lord's Reasons here urged or how conclusive our Saviour's Arguments are against this Practice What is the Sin That 's necessary to be known for all Repetitions are not vain nor is all Length in Prayer to be accounted Babling First For Repetitions 1. When they express Fervency and Zeal they may be used And so we read Christ prayed over the same Prayer thrice Mat 26. 44. O my Father if it be possible let this Cup pass from me And another Evangelist sheweth that he did this out of special Fervency of Spirit Luk. 22. 44. Being in an Agony he prayed more earnestly And so we read of the Prophet Daniel chap. 9. 17 18 19. O our God hear the Prayer of thy Servant O my God incline thine Ear and hear O Lord hear O Lord forgive O Lord hearken and do defer not for thine own sake O my God All this was out of vehemency he goes over again and again the same Request When we use many Words of the same kind and signification and it be out of vehemency and fervency of Spirit it is not forbidden 2. This Repetition is not to be disproved when there is a special Emphasis and spiritual Elegancy in it as Psal. 136. you have it twenty six times repeated For his Mercy endureth for ever because there was a speciâ—â—â—eason in it his purpose there being to sheâ—â—â— Unweariedness and the unexhausted Riches of God's free Grace that notwithstanding all the former Experiences they had had God is where he was at first We waste by giving our Drop is soon spent but God is not wasted by bestowing but hath the same Mercy to do good to his Creatures as before Tho he had done all those Wonders for them yet his Mercy was as ready to do good to them still All along God saved and blessed his People For his Mercy endureth for ever But as there are Repetitions which have their Use so there are useless Tautologies and vain Repetitions And such they are when they neither come from the Heart nor go to the Heart when they come not from the abundance of the Heart but rather the emptiness of the Heart because we know not how to inlarge our selves to God therefore fall upon idle and useless Repetitions of the same Words and Requests As a Man that hath small Skill in Musick doth only play over the same Note so when Men have not a full spiritual Abundance they waste themselves in Prayer in these idle Repetitions And then they go not to the Heart they do not conduce to warm the Affections A vain clamorous ingeminating the same thing without Faith and without Wisdom meerly to fill up the Tale of Words or to wear out a little time in a religious Exercise that 's it which is here condemned under the notion of vain Repetitions Secondly For the other word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or much speaking Every long Prayer is not forbidden for our Lord Jesus himself centinued all Night in Prayer Luke 6. 12. And in extraordinary Duties of fasting Length seems to be very necessary Esther 4. 16. They fasted and prayed together for three days and nights without eating any Bread And Solomon pray'd long at the Dedication of the Temple But that which is forbidden is when Men speak Words without need and without Affection a needless lengthening out of Prayer and that upon a Conceit that it is more acceptable to God 1. In the General Prayer should be short as all Examples of Scripture teach us and the Lord's Prayer you see how concise and short it is for presently upon this our Lord teacheth his Disciples to pray For Prayer is a spending rather then a feeding Duty Those which affect long speaking many times run into this they make it a feeding Duty for they mingle Exhortations with Prayer which is a great Abuse A Man can bear up under the hearing of the Word for an Hour or two better than half an Hour in Prayer with that necessary Vigor of Spirit which God hath required Therefore the general Rule is Let your Words be concise but full of Affection Look as in vast and great Bodies the Spirits are more diffused and scattered and therefore they are more unactive than those which are of a smaller Compass so in a long Prayer there may be more of Words but less of Life 2. The Affectation of Prolixity is naught usually it comes from some evil Ground either from Pride and Ostentation of Gifts Thus we read the Pharisees were taxed for making long Prayers Mat. 23. 14. that under the colour of them they might devour Widow's Houses that is be credited and trusted with the Management of their Estates Or else it may come from Superstition such
as is in the Heathens who had unworthy Thoughts of God as if he were harsh and severe and delighted in much speaking and need to be quickened Or it may come from Folly for Folly abounds in Words though it be scanty in true Affection and hearty Respect to God A wise Man is content with Words enough to express his Mind Choice and measure of Speech discovereth Wisdom 3. So much time should be spent in Prayer and so many Words are necessary as may be convenient and profitable both for our selves and others For our Selves when we are alone so much as may express Faith and may argue great Plea in the Promises and so much as may reach fervent Desire while the Fervency continues the Speech should continue and so much as may express our filial Dependance that we have a Sense that God is our Father which are the ends for which Prayer was appointed And so as it may suit with the Conveniency of others that they may be warmed but not tired and may not be exposed to the Temptations of Weariness and Wandrings and Distractions in their Mind when things are spun out unto an unreasonable length for then it 's neither pleasing to God nor profitable to Men. Thus I have stated the Offence our Lord forbids what are those vain Repetitions and idle Babblings such as arise from Weariness of Soul and mis-conceit of God or some other base Grounds not that plentiful Expression which comes from a large and free Heart pouring out it self before the Lord. And if we be sway'd by his Authority these things should be regarded by us and we should remedy these Sins in Prayer II. Let us come to examine our Lord's Reasons which are produced against it and see how conclusive they are in the Case and you will discern the drift of Christ's Speech Our Lord reasons First From the Practice of the Heathens But when ye pray use not vain Repetitions as the Heathens do In this Reason several Propositions are couched and contained which deserve to be weighed by us 1. This is implied That the Heathens had a sense of the necessity of Worship as well as the Being of a God Though natural Light be inferioris Haemisphaerii of the lower Hemisphere and chiefly reacheth to Duties of the second Table of Commerce between Man and Man for that Light which was left in the Heart of Man since the Fall more directly respects our Carriage towards Men and there it is more clear and open yet it so far reaches to the Duties of the higher Hemisphere as that there is some discerning too of the Duties of the First Table of Piety as well as Honesty as that there is a God and if there be a God he is to be worshipped for these two Notions live and die together The rude Mariners were sensible of a Divine Power which was to be call'd upon and consulted with in case of Extremity and that the way of Commerce was by Worship Ionah 1. 5. when the Storm arose They called every Man upon his God 2. Though Heathens were sensible of the Being of a God and the necessity of Worship yet they were blind and dark in Worship for Christ saith Be not as the Heathen for they think they shall be heard for their much speaking Usually a half-Light misleads Men. The Heathens though they had some Notions of an eternal Power yet when they came to perform their Worship Rom. 1. 21. They glorified him not as God but became vain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in their Imaginations that is in their Practical Inferences They saw an infinite eternal Power which was to be loved trusted worshipped but when they came to suit these Notions to practice to love trust and worship him there they were vain frivolous and had Mis-conceits of God 3. Their Errors in Worship were many Here our Lord takes notice but of one that they thought to be heard for their much speaking and there the original Mistake of the Heathens and that which compriseth all the rest was this a Transformation or changing of God into the Likeness of Man which is very natural and incident to us upon all occasions we are apt to mis-conceive of God and to judg him according to our own Model and Scantling Ps. 50. 21. Thou thoughtest I was altogether such an one as thy self so did these Because Man is wrought upon by much speaking and carried away with a Flood of Words therefore they thought so it would be with God This Transformation of the Divine Nature into an Idol of our own shaping and picturing the turning of God into the form of a corruptible Man this hath been the Ground of all the Miscarriage in the World But more particularly their Error in this matter was charging Weakness and Harshness upon God or not worshipping him according to his Spiritual Nature 1. Charging Weakness upon God as if many Words did help him to understand their meaning or to remember their Petitions the better Hence that Practice of Baal's Priests 1 Kings 18. 26. They called on the Name of Baal from Morning till Night O Baal hear us They were repeating and crying again and again O Baal as if their Clamor would awaken their God whence Elijah's Sarcasm He sleepeth and must be awaked As those that for two hours together cried out Great is Diana of the Ephesians Great is Diana of the Ephesians Acts 19. 34. 2. Their ascribing Harshness to God as if he were hard to be entreated and delighted in the pain of his Creatures and would be more affected with them because they wearied themselves with the Irksomeness of a long Prayer Penal Satisfactions are very natural Superstition is a Tyranny it vexeth the Soul with unreasonable Duty affects outward length to the weariness of the Flesh. The general conceit is that Man thinks God must be served with some self-denial and the Flesh must be displeased but it shall be displeased but in a little and in an outward way as Baal's Priests gasht themselves as if God were pleased with our burdensom and long Exercises 3. There was this Error in it They did not conceive aright of the Spiritual Nature of God as if he were pleased with the meer Task a long Hymn and an idle Repetition of Words without Sense and Affection Whereas the Lord doth not measure Prayers by Prolixity but by the Vehemency not by the Labour of the external Work but by the inward Affection manifested therein and Words are only accepted with him as they serve to quicken continue or increase our Affection Secondly Our Saviour's next Reason is drawn from Vers. 8. Be not ye like unto them for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before you ask him It is inconsistent with the true Notion of God Here are three Propositions all which are of force to draw us off from babling or Affectation of many Words in Prayer As 1. That God is a Father and that both by Creation and
that we may know God doth all that he governeth all humane Affairs that we may live upon his Allowance and take our daily Bread from his hands and that we may see we hold all these Things from our great Landlord therefore we pray unto him We are Robbers and Thieves if we use the Creature without his Leave God is the great Owner of the World who gives us our daily Bread and all our Supplies therefore he will have it asked that we may acknowledg our dependance 2. It is most for our Profit Partly that our Faith should be exercised in pleading God's Promise for there we put the Promise in Suit Faith is begotten in the Word but it is exercised in Prayer therefore it is called the Prayer of Faith In the Word we take Christ from God in Prayer we present Christ to God That Prayer which is effectual it is an Exercise of Faith Rom. 10. 14. How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed And as it concerns our Faith so also our Love which is both acted and increased in Prayer It is acted for it is Delight in God which makes us so often converse with him Thus the Hypocrite Iob 27. 10. Will he always call upon the Lord Will he delight himself in the Almighty They that love God cannot be long from him they that delight in God will be often unbosoming themselves to him It doth also increase our Love for by Answers of Prayer we have new Fuel to keep in this holy Fire in our Bosoms We pray and then he gives direct Answers Psal. 116. 1. I love the Lord because he hath heard my Voice and my Supplication So our Hope is exercised in waiting for the Blessing pray'd for Psal. 5. 3. O Lord in the Morning will I direct my Prayer unto thee and will look up That looking up is the Work of Hope when we are looking and waiting to see what comes in from pleading Promises It is much too for our Peace of Conscience for it easeth us of our Burthens It is the Vent of the Soul like the opening of a Vein in a Fever When our Hearts swell with Cares and we have a Burthen upon us and know not what to do we may ease our selves with God Phil. 4. 6. Be careful for nothing but in every Thing by Prayer and Supplication with Thanksgiving let your Requests be made known to God And the Peace of God shall keep your Hearts O blessed Frame that can be troubled at nothing here in this World where there are so many Businesses Encounters Temptations What 's the way to get this Calmness of Heart Be much in opening your Hearts to God let your Requests be made known to God Look as in an Earthquake when the Wind is imprisoned in the Bowels of the Earth the Earth heaves and shakes and quakes until there be a Vent and the Wind be got out then all is quiet So we have many Tossings and Turmoilings in our Minds till we open and unbosom our selves to God and then all is quiet Also it prepareth us for the Improvement of Mercies when we have them out of the hands of God by Prayer For this Child I prayed said Hannah and I will lend him unto the Lord. 1 Sam. 1. 27 28. Those Mercies we expresly pray'd for we are more throughly obliged to improve for God What is won with Prayer is worn with Thankfulness APPLICATION VSE 1. To caution us against many Abuses in Prayer which may be disproved and taxed either formally or by just Consequence I shall instance in five 1. An idle and foolish Loquacity when Men take a liberty to prattle any thing in God's hearing and do not consider the Weight and Importance of Prayer and what a Sin it is to be hasty to utter any thing before God Eccles. 5. 2. It is a great Irreverence and Contempt of the Majesty of God when Men go hand over head about this Work and speak any thing that comes into their mind As Men take themselves to be despised when others speak unseemly in their presence Surely it is a lessening and a despising of God when we pour out raw tumultuous undigested Thoughts and never think of what we are to speak when we come to God Psal. 45. 1. My Heart is inditing a good Matter The Word signifieth it boils or fryes a good Matter It is an Allusion to the Mincah or Meat-Offering which was to be boil'd or fry'd in a Pan before it was to be presented to the Lord that they might not bring a Dough-bak'd Sacrifice and Offering to the Lord. Such ignorant dull sensless Praying it is a blaspheming of God and a lessening of the Majesty of God 2. A frothy Eloquence and an affected Language in Prayer this directly comes under Reproof As if the Prayer were more grateful to God and he were moved by Words and Strains of Rhetorick and did accept Men for their Parts rather than Graces Fine Phrases and quaint Speeches alas they do not carry it with the Lord They are but an empty Babble in his Ears rather than an humble Exercise of Faith Hope Love and Child-like Affections and holy Desires after God If we would speak with God we must speak with our Hearts to him rather than with our Words This is a Sin of Curiosity as the other was of Neglect 'T is not Words but the Spirit and Life which God looks after Prayer it is not a Work of Oratory the Product of Memory Invention and Parts but a filial Affection that we may come to him as to a Father with a Child-like Confidence Therefore too much Care of verbal Eloquence in Prayer and tunable Expressions is a Sin of the same nature with Babling Tho Men should have the Wit to avoid impertinent Expressions and Repetitions yet when Prayer smells so much of the Man rather than of the Spirit of God alas 't is but like the unsavoury Belches of a rotten Breath in the Nostrils of God We should attend to Matter to the Things we have to communicate to God to our Necessities rather than to Words 3. Heartless speaking filling up the Time with Words when the Tongue out-runs the Heart when Men pour their Breath into the Air but their Hearts are dead and sleepy or their Hearts keep not time and pace with their Expressions We oftner pray with our Tongues than with our Minds and from our Memories than our Consciences and from our Consciences than our Affections and from our Affections as presently stirred than from our Hearts renewed bended and inclined towards God Be the Prayer long or short the Heart must keep pace with our Tongues As the Poet said Disticha longa facit his Disticks were tedious so it is tedious and irksom to God unless we make Supplication in the Spirit Eph. 6. 18. Remember God will not be mocked 4. When Men rest in outward Vehemency and loud Speech Saith Tertullian Quibus Arteriis opus est si pro streno
audiamus What Lungs and Sides must we have if we be heard to speak to Heaven by the Noise and Sound In some there is a natural vehemency and fierceness of Speech which is rather stirr'd up by the heat and agitation of the bodily Spirits than any vehemency of Affection There is a Contention of Speech which is very natural to some and differeth much from that holy Fervor the Life and Power of Prayer which is accompanied with Reverence and Child-like Dependance upon God It is not the loud Noise of Words which is best heard in Heaven but the fervent affectionate Cries of the Saints are those of the Heart rather than of the Tongue Exod. 14. 17. it is said Moses cried to the Lord We do not read of the Words he uttered his Cry was with the Heart There is a crying with the Soul and with the Heart to God Psal. 10. 17. Lord thou hast heard the Desire of the Humble It is the Desires God hears Psal. 39. 9. Lord all my Desire is before thee and my Groaning iâ— not hid from thee The Lord needs not the Tongue to be an Interpreter between him and the Hearts of his Children He that hears without Ears can interpret Prayers tho not uttered by the Tongue Our Desires are Cries in the Ears of the Lord of Hosts the vehemency of the Affections may sometimes cause the extention of the Voice but Alas without this it is but a tinkling Cymbal 5. Popish Repetition and loose shreds of Prayer often repeated as they have in their Liturgy over and over again their Gloria Patri so often repeated their Lord have Mercy and in their Prayer made to Jesus Sweet Iesus Blessed Iesus and going over the Ave Maria and this to be tumbled over upon their Beads and continuing Prayer by tale and by number Surely these are but vain Repetitions and this is that much-speaking which our Lord aims at Thus I have dispatched the abuses of Prayer Vse 2. To give you direction in Prayer how to carry your selves in this holy Duty towards God in a comely manner I shall give you Directions 1. About our Words In Prayer 2. About our Thoughts 3. About our Affections First about our Words there is a use of them in Prayer to excite and convey and give vent to Affection Hos. 14. 2. Take with you Words and turn to the Lord and say Take away all Iniquity and receive us graciously Surely the Prophet doth not only prescribe that they should take Affections but take with them Words Words have an Interest in Prayer Now these may be considered either when we are alone or in Company 1. When we are alone Here take the advice of the Holy-Ghost Eccl. 5. 2. God is in Heaven and thou art upon Earth therefore let thy Words be few How few Few in Weight Conscience Reverence Few in Weight affecting rather to speak Matter than Words concisely and feelingly rather than with curiousness to express what you have to say to God Few in Conscience Superstition is a Bastard-Religion and is tyrannous and puts Men upon tedious Services and sometimes beyond their Strength therefore pray neither too short nor too long do it not meerly to lengthen out the Prayer or as counting it the better for being long the shortness and the length must be measured by the fervency of our Hearts our many necessities and as it tendeth to the inflaming our Zeal as it can get up the Heart let it still be subservient to that Few with Reverence and managed with that Gravity Awfulness and Seriousness as would become an Address to God As Abraham Gen. 18. 31. had been reasoning with God before therefore he saith Let not God be angry if I speak to him this once when he renewed the Suit Thus alone 2. In Company there our Words must be apt and orderly moving as much as may be not to God but to the Hearers managed with such Reverence and Seriousness as may suit with the Gravity of the Duty and not encrease but cure the Dulness of those with whom we join And what if we did in publick Duties choose out Words to reason with God as Iob saith Chap. 9. 14. Choose out my Words to reason with him If we did use Preparation and think a little before hand that we may go about the Duty with serious Advice and not with indigested Thoughts But this hath the smallest Interest in Prayer Secondly Our Thoughts That we may conceive aright of God in Prayer which is one of the greatest difficulties in the Duty 1. Of his Nature and Being 2. Of his Relation to us 3. Of his Attributes First Of the Nature and Being of God Every one that would come to God must fix this in his Mind That God is and that God is a Spirit And accordingly he must be worshipped as will suit with these two Notions Heb. 11. 6. He that cometh to God must believe that God is and then that God is a Spirit for it is said Ioh. 4. 24. God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and Truth O then when ever you come to pray to God fix these two Thoughts let them be strong in your Heart God is I do not speak to an Idol but to the living God And God is a Spirit and therefore not so much pleased with plausibleness of Speech or tuneable cadency of Words as with a right Temper of Heart Alas when we come to pray we little think God is or what God is much of our Religion is performed to an unknown God and like the Samaritans We worship we know not what It is not Speculations about the Divine Nature or high strain'd Conceptions which doth fit us for Prayer the discoursing of these things with some Singularity or Terms removed from common Understanding this is not that which I press you to but such a sight of God as prompteth us to a reverent and serious worshipping of him Then we have right Notions of God in Prayer when we are affected as Moses was when God shew'd him his Back-parts and proclaimed his Name Exod. 34. He made haste bowed his Head and worshipped when our Worship suiteth with the Nature of God 't is Spiritual and Holy not Pompous and Theatrical Well then these two things must be deeply imprinted in our Minds that God is and that He is a Spirit And then is our Worship right For Instance 1. For the first Notion God's Being Then is our Worship right when it doth proclaim to all that shall observe us or we that observe our selves there is a great an infinite eternal Power which sits at the upper end of Causes and governeth all according to his own Pleasure Alas the Worship of many is flat Atheism they say in their Hearts either there is no God or believe there is no God Therefore do you worship him as becomes such a glorious Being Is his Mercy seen in your Faith and Confidence His Majesty in your
where he discovereth his Glory in the utmost Latitude It is notable in Scripture sometimes God is said to dwell in Light 1 Tim. 6. 16. And sometimes to make Darkness his dwelling place Psal. 18. 11. How doth he dwell in Light and how in Darkâ—ess Because of the glorious maniâ—estations which are above therefore it is said he dwells in Light and because of the weakness and incapacity of our apprehension therefore he is said to dwell in Darkness 2. To try our Faith and our Obedience that he might see whether we would live by Faith yea or no whether a Believer would love him and obey him tho he were invisible and withdrawn within the Curtain of Heaven You know when the Israelites saw the Glory of God then they cryed All that God hath commanded us we will do Deut. 5. 27. But as soon as that Manifestation ceased they were as bad as ever If all were liable to Sense there would be no trial of this World but God hath shut up himself that by this means the Faith of the Elect might be manifested for Faith is the Evidence of things not seen Heb. 11. 1. Where there is no sight there is exercise for Faith And that our Love might be tried 1 Pet. 1. 8. Whom having not seen ye love in whom tho now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of Glory And this is that which discovereth the Faithless and disobedient World Job 22. 12 13 14. Is not God in the height of Heaven How doth God know Can he judg through the dark Cloud Thick Clouds are a Covering to him that he seeth not and he walketh in the circuit of Heaven 3. It is fit there should be a better place into which the Saints should be translated when the course of their Obedience is ended Eph. 1. 3. He hath blessed us with Spiritual Blessings in Heavenly Places The main of Christ's Purchase we have in Heavenly Places It is fit the place of Trial and place of Recompence should differ therefore the place of Trial that 's God's Foot-stool and the place of Recompence that 's God's Throne The World that 's a place of Trial it is a Common Inn for Sons and Bastards for the Elect and Reprobate a Receptacle of Man and Beast Here God will shew his Bounty unto all his Creatures But now in the place of his Residence he will show his Love to his People Therefore when we have been tried and exercised there is a place of Preferment for us Fourthly What Advantage have we in Prayer by considering God in Heaven Very much whether we consider God absolutely or with respect to a Mediator both ways we have an Advantage First If we consider the Father Son and Holy-Ghost who have their Residence in Heaven consider them without respect to a Mediator Why the looking up to God in Heaven 1. It sheweth us that Prayer is an act of the Heart and not of the Lips that it is not the sound of the Voice which can pierce the Heavens and enter into the Ears of the Lord of Hosts but Sighs and Groans of the Spirit Christians in Prayer God is near to us and yet far from us for we must look upon him as in Heaven and we upon Earth How then should we converse with God in Prayer Not by the Tongue only but by the Heart The Commerce and Communion of Spirits is not hindred by local Distance but God is with us and we with him when our Heart goeth up 2. It teacheth the great work of Prayer is to lift up the Heart to God To withdraw the Heart from all created things which we see and feel here below that we may converse with God in Heaven Psal. 123. 1. Vnto thee lift I up mine Eyes O thou that dwellest in the Heavens And Lam. 3. 41. Let us lift up our Heart with our Hands unto God in the Heavens Prayer doth not consist in a multitude and clatter of Words but in the getting up of the Heart to God that we may behave our selves as if we were alone with God in the midst of glorious Saints and Angels There 's a double Advantage which we have by this getting the Soul into Heaven in Prayer It 's a means to free us from Distractions and Doubts To free us from Distractions and other inter-current Thoughts Until we get our Hearts out of the World as if we were dead and shut up to all present things how easily is the Heart carried away with the Thoughts of earthly Concernments Until we can separate and purge our Spirits how do we interline our Prayers with many ridiculous Thoughts It is too usual for us to deal with God as an unskilful Person that will gather a Posy for his Friend and puts in as many or more stinking Weeds than he doth choice Flowers The Flesh interposeth and our carnal Hearts interline and interlace our Prayers with vain Thoughts and earthly Distractions When with our Censor we come to offer Incense to God we mingle Sulphur with our Incense Therefore we should labour all that we can to get the Heart above the World into the Presence of God and company of the Blessed that we may deal with him ad if we were by him in Heaven and were wholly swallowed up of his Glory Tho our Bodies are on Earth yet our Spirits should be with our Father in Heaven For want of practising this in Prayer these Distractions encrease upon us So for Doubts when we look to things below even the very manifestations of God to us upon Earth we have many Discouragements Dangers without and Difficulties within till we get above the Mists of the lower World we can see nothing of Clearness and Comfort but when we can get God and our Hearts together then we can see there is much in the Fountain tho nothing in the Stream and tho little on Earth yet we have a God in Heaven 3. This impresseth an Awe and Reverence if we look upon the Glory of God manifested in Heaven that Briâ—ht and Luminous Place This is urged by the Holy-Ghost Eccles. 5. 2. Thou art upon Earth and God is in Heaven therefore let thy Words be few Gen. 8. 27. Who am I that I should take upon me to speak unto the Lord who am but Dust and Ashes We are poor crawling Worms and therefore when we think of the Majesty of God it should impress an holy awe upon us Mean Persons will behave themselves with all Honour and Reverence when they supplicate to Men of Quâ—lity So should we to God who is so High and so much above us he is in Heaven It is a Diminution of his Greatness Mal. 1. 14. when we put off God with any thing and come slightly and carelesly into his Presence 4. It teacheth us that all our Prayers should carry a Correspondence with our great Aim What 's our great Aim To be with God in Heaven as remembring that 's the Center
foolish that had so late Experience of the Flood and when the Ark rested upon the top of the highest Mountains found themselves to be at so great and vast a distance from Heaven Some think it was as Iosephus to secure themselves from another Flood But that was sufficiently done by God's Promise who had engaged to them he would no more destroy the Earth by Water and if that were their intention why should they build in the Plain between the two Rivers of Tygris and Euphrates Moses gives the main reason there that they might have an immortal Name among Posterity But now see how ill they reckon that do reckon without God Those that are so busy about their own Name how soon will God blast them When in any Action we do not seek Glory to God but our selves it 's the ready way to be destroyed This was the Means to bury them in perpetual Oblivion Nebuchadnezzar when he re-edified the City Dan. 4. 30. Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the House of the Kingdom by the might of my Power and for the honour of my Majesty How doth God disappoint him and turn him out among the Beasts Thus are we sure to be disappointed and blasted when our Hearts run altogether upon our own Name But now Christ saith Thy Name when we are careful of that this is the way to prosper From the Words thus illustrated I shall only observe Doct. That God will be so glorified in the World as that his Name may be hallowed or sanctified Here I shall shew 1. How many ways God's Name is sanctified 2. Why God will be so glorified as that he may be sanctified First How many Ways is God's Name sanctified I answer either upon us or by us 1. Vpon us by the righteous Executions and Judgments of his Providence And so God is sanctified when he doth by a high hand of Power recover and extort the Glory of his Holiness from the dead and stupid World As by that notable stroke of the Bethshemites when Fifty thousand were slain for peeping into the Ark 1 Sam. 6. 20. This was the result of all Who is able to stand before this Holy Lord God There he discovered himself to be a Holy God to be one that hath a high displeasure against the Creatures Disobedience Now when he doth by a high hand extort this from the Wicked or from his Children then he sanctifieth himself upon us 2. By us And so he is sanctified in our Thoughts Words and Actions in our Heart Tongue or Life 1. In our Hearts 1 Pet. 3. 15. Sanctify the Lord God in your Heart How is God sanctified in our Hearts 1. When we have awful Thoughts of his Majesty Psal. 111. 9. Holy and Reverend is his Name Not only when we speak of the Name of God but when we think of it we should be seriously affected But 2. More especially God is sanctified when in Straits Difficulties and Dangers we can bear our selves upon the power and sufficiency of God and go on resolutely and chearfully with our Duty notwithstanding Discouragements This is to sanctify the Lord God in our Hearts I shall prove it by two places where the Phrase is used one is 1 Pet. 3. 15. Be ready always to give an answer to every Man that asketh you a reason of the Hope that is in you with Meekness and Fear Mark the Christians that did profess the Name of God which spake of God as their Hope or Object of their Religion were in great danger Now what direction doth he give them that they might not be afraid but bear up For he speaks before Be not afraid of their Terror or be troubled But sanctify the Lord God in your Hearts See the same Phrase used for the same purpose Isa. 8. 13. Sanctify the Lord of Hosts himself and let him be your Fear and let him be your Dread He opposeth it plainly there to Carnal Fear vers 12. Say ye not a Confederacy to all them to whom this People shall say a Confederacy neither fear ye their Fear nor be afraid But sanctify the Lord of Hosts himself and let him be your Fear How comes this direction to be used in the present Case Thus to sanctify is to set apart and to sanctify God is to set God apart as the alone Object of Fear and Trust that he alone is to be feared and trusted so that we can see no match for God among the Creatures Therefore we are to embolden our selves in the Lord and go on chearfully when we can counter-ballance all Fears and Dangers with his surpassing Excellency To Glorify God is to do that which simply and absolutely tendeth to the Manifestation of his Excellency without any Relation to the Creature But to Sanctify God is to set God above the Creature to do that which tends to exalt his Greatness and Excellency from and above all Terrors and all the Discouragements that we can have from the Creature It is to ascribe that Greatness that Power and Glory to God alone which cannot be ascribed to any thing else and so to go on chearfully with our Duty whatever Difficulties we meet with Thus Moses was chidden that was amazed with present Difficulty Numb 20. 12. And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron Because ye believed me not to sanctify me in the Eyes of the Children of Israel therefore ye shall not bring this Congregation into the Land which I have given them Because they were discouraged and thought they should never carry on their Business therefore God saith Ye believe not to sanctify me You sanctify not God or set him aloft as the alone and Supream Object of Fear and Trust. It is a practical acknowledgment of God's matchless Excellency Thus we sanctify God in our Hearts 2. God is sanctified with our Tongues when we use God's Name Titles Ordinances and Word as Holy Things When we speak of the Lord with Reverence and with great seriousness of Heart not takâ—ng his Name in vain especially when we are deeply affected with his Praise It is no slight thing to praise God God's People when they have gone about it see a need of the greatest Help Psal. 51. 15. O Lord open thou my Lips and my Mouth shall shew forth thy Praise And Psal. 45. 1. My Heart is inditing a good matter my Heart frys or boyls a good Matter When we will not give God Dough-bak'd Praise nor speak of his Name slightly but so as becomes his Greatness and surpassing Excellency 3. In our Actions Our Actions may be parted into two things Worship and ordinary Conversation 1. In our Worship there God especially will be sanctified Lev. 10. 3. I will be sanctified in all that draw near unto me God is very tender of his Worship Sancta Sanctis Holy Things must be managed by Holy Men in a Holy Manner Therefore what is it to sanctify God when we draw nigh to him To have a more excellent
over them bring them hither and slay them before me Christ himself will see Execution done in his own sight and presence upon those Rebels that will not submit to his Rule and Government How should the Hearts of wicked Men tremble which have violated the Laws of Christ and affronted his Authority when they consider how odious this is how certainly Christ will see Execution done upon them When Adonijah and his Guests heard of Solomon's sitting upon his Throne and the Shouts and Acclamations of Joy and Applause they were stricken with Fear and fled every one several ways 1 Kings 1. 49. You that cherish your Lusts which stand out against the Sovereignty of Christ that will not let him rule over you whose Hearts say tho their Tongues dare not We will not have this Man to reign over us you that seem to put him by his Kingdom he is furnished with absolute and irresistible Power to destroy you and will one day come and say Bring forth these Drunkards Worldlings Voluptuous that would not I should reign over them those that durst venture upon known Sin against the Checks of their own Conscience how will their Hearts tremble in the last Day at the Shouts and Acclamations of the Saints when they shall welcome this great King when he shall come forth in all his Royalty and Sovereignty And as for Punishment Christ will shew himself as a King so for Rewards Kings do not give Trifles Araunah gave like a King to a King 2 Sam. 24. 23. He was of the Blood-Royal of the Iebusites and he gave worthy of his Extraction And so Christ will give like a King God propounds nothing that was cheap and unworthy but He gives you a Kingdom Luke 12. 32. The Poor of this World are Heirs of a Kingdom the fairest Kingdom that ever was or ever will be as poor and as despicable as now they are yet they shall have a Kingdom What can you wish for and desire more than a Kingdom All shall reign with Christ for evermore Which shews the Folly of carnal Men that will hazard so great and so blessed Hopes Thus I have shewn you why the Gospel-State is compared to a Kingdom Now let me tell you it is a spiritual Kingdom not such as comes with Observation Jesus Christ when he was inaugurated into the Throne when he was to sit down at God's right-hand how doth he manifest it He gives Gifts as Princes use to do at their Coronation but they are spiritual Gifts Eph. 4. 8. And he sent abroad Embassadors poor Fishermen they and their Successors to go and treat with the World 2 Cor. 5. 19. Indeed they had a mighty Power with them as becoming such a great King as was under the Vail of Meanness and Weakness it was carried on in a spiritual manner And still he doth administer his Kingdom not by Force he rules not by the Power of the Sword but by his Word and Spirit so he governeth his People The Publication of the Gospel is a sending forth the Rod of his Strength Psal. 110. 2. And the Holy-Ghost as Christ's Viceroy he governeth them and administreth all things that are necessary to his Kingdom he doth it by the Holy-Ghost as his Deputy The Father chuseth a sort of Men gives them to Christ the Son dieth for them that they may be Subjects of his Kingdom and he commits them to be governed and ruled by the Holy-Ghost He useth the Ministry of Men and so unites them to Christ and Christ brings them to the Father by his Intercession committing them to his Care and Love and by a final Tradition at last which is the last Act of Christ's Mediatorial Kingdom 1 Cor. 15. 24. he shall deliver them up to the Father The Spirit blessing the Ministry of Men works Faith by which we are united to Christ and Christ intercedes for us and will bring us to God again And in this spiritual manner is this Kingdom carried on So that if we would enter into this Kingdom we must go to God the Father and confess we are Rebels and Traitors but desire he would not enter into Judgment with us but seek to be reconciled to God the Father Now as God bade the Friends of Iob to go to Iob chap. 42. 8. So God sends us to Christ in whom alone he is well-pleased with the Creature If we go to the Son he refers us to the Spirit to be reclaimed from our Impurity and Rebellion If we go to the Spirit he refers us to Moses and the Prophets Pastors and Teachers there we shall hear of him in Christ's way and there we feel the Rod of Christ's Strength the Efficacy of his Grace put into our Hearts Thus are we brought into his Kingdom and made to be a mystical Body and spiritual Society in whom Christ rules and there we come to enjoy those Freedoms I spake of and our Obedience to this Kingdom is carried on in a spiritual manner In Worship we give our Homage to God in the Word we come to learn his Laws in the Sacraments we renew our Oath of Allegiance to this King in Alms and Charity we pay him Tribute in Prayer we ask his Leave acknowledging his Dominion and Praise it is our Rent to the great Lord from whom we hold all things And thus is Christ's Kingdom carried on in a spiritual manner Vse 1. The Use is to press you to come under this Kingdom Consider what God hath proffered to draw you off from your carnal Delights and sinful Pleasures No less than a Kingdom to bear you out to call you off from your Sins O do not answer as the Olive-Tree and the Vine in Iotham's Parable Iudg. 9. 9. Shall I leave my Fatness and go to be promoted over the Trees God comes to a Worldling and makes him a Proffer of this blessed State which is represented by a Kingdom Shall I leave all my Sports and worldly Hopes according as the Man is affected Shall I renounce my Pleasures live a strict and austere Life Must I leave off Projects saith a Worldling and depend upon the Reversion of Heaven O consider it is for a glorious Kingdom Men will do much for an Earthly Crown tho lin'd with Cares for this Golden Ball which all hunt after and doth occasion so many Stirs in the World Turn your Ambition this way you may aspire to a Crown to the Kingdom of Heaven without the Crime of Treason this is a faithful Ambition It is indeed Treason against the Kingdom of Heaven not to look after this Crown and plot contrive and act and offer violence for the obtaining of it And therefore come under this Kingdom if you do not you will be left under the Power of a worse 2 Chron. 12. 8. God saith he would give them up to the King of Egypt why They shall be his Servants that they may know my Service and the Service of the Kingdoms of the Countries That they might see what
thou the Walls of thy Jerusalem But how cometh David who was in the depth of private Humiliation so suddenly to fall upon the Case of the Church There was a special Reason for annexing this Request to his own private Complaints and Confessions The Reasons will occasion so many Observations 1. Because of the Offence Scandal and Mischief done to the Church by his Fall and to make amends he prayeth the more earnestly Let not Zion fare the worse for my sake From thence observe That the Sins of particular Persons oft bring a Mischief upon the whole Community David had made a Breach in the Walls of God's Protection and left them naked and more in danger of Judgment Therefore do good c. 2. David was not only a private Member but a Prince and their Sins have a more universal Influence The Sins of Magistrates draw down Judgments on their People all smart for their Miscarriages Hezckiaâ— â—s Pride cost Israel dear 2 Chron. 32. 25. Wrath was upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem It did not stay upon his Person As a great Oak cannnot fall but all the Shrubs about it suffer Loss But 3. David having some comfortable Assurance of the Pardon of his Sins doth now seek Mercy for the Church From thence observe That we are never fit to pray for the Publick till we have made our Peace with God As the Priests under the Law offered Sacrifice first for their own Sins and then for the Peoples Heb. 7. 27. 4. Because being brought by such a solemn but sad occasion into God's presence he could not but have some thoughts of Zion And from thence observe That we should never come to God upon any private occasion but we should remember the Publick We are to pray in Love as well as Faith Christ hath not taught us to say My Father but Our Father to shew that we should take in the Interests and Concernments of the whole Body that there may be a Spirit of Communion breathing in our Prayers David doth not only say Have mercy upon me according to thy Loving-kindness but Do good unto Zion in thy good pleasure Every living Member will be careful for the Body Members should be careful one for another much more for the whole Is any Member pained or grieved all suffer If the Toe be trod upon the Tongue complaineth you have hurt me but now much more when all is concerned Therefore we should not altogether seek our own Things but wrestle with God for the Publick 1. This reproveth divers sorts of People Some are Enemies to the Publick Welfare as Vipers eat out the Dam's Belly especially Enemies to Zion Down with it down with it even to the Ground What Monsters hath this Age brought forth Others are indifferent and careless which goeth up Christ or Antichrist they only mind the Matters of their own Interest and Concernment All seek their own Things As to the Publick Interest of the Church let all go how it will Let me tell you To be selfish is a sort of Self-Excommunication you cast your selves out of the Bundle of Life And to be sensless 't is an implicit renouncing the Body Others there are that are gracious but full of discontent at some Passages of Providence and these seem to have lost their publick Affections 'T is a sad Symptom when a praying People are discouraged from praying for Publick Welfare God is very tender of the Prayers of his People he is loth they should be lost and sorry they cannot be granted We may sin in ceasing to pray 'T is a sad Judgment when the Hearts of God's People are taken off from praying Again Those that pray too coldly for the Publick not as those that would do their Work There is a great Decay of the Spirit of Prayer which is also a sad Presage But now to shew you II. What we should pray for for Zion 1. The Dilatation or Enlargement of it throughout the World The more ample God's Heritage is the more is his Glory known Prov. 14. 28. In the Multitude of the People is the King's Honour and the Glory of a Shepherd lieth in the Number of his Flock So Christ's Kingdom the more it is enlarged the more Honour God hath Psal. 67. 2. That thy Way may be known among the Heathen and thy Saving-Health among all Nations Especially when the Fulness of the Gentiles is brought in Psal. 54. 2. and when the Jews are brought in Hos. 3. 5. To be instrumental to enlarge Christ's Kingdom 't is an Honour to us to draw on Christ's triumphant Chariot let us be sure to have an hand in it These Prayers if sincere are never in vain if they profit not others they promote the Kingdom of God in our selves 2. The Preservation and Defence of the Churches already planted frustrating the Plots and Power of the Enemies That God would be a Wall of Fire round about them Zech. 2. 5. Qui comminus arccat eminus terreat When at the weakest God can protect them bridling by his secret Power the Rage of Adversaries or defeating their Attempts 3. For Comfort and Deliverance in Afflictions We should pity the distressed Church as before That God would redeem them out of all their Troubles Every true Member of the Church hath Life Christ and that Life giveth Feeling and that Feeling Affection and Sympathy to rejoice and mourn They that mourn for Zion rejoice with her Isa. 66. 10. Rejoice ye with Jerusalem and be glad with her all ye that love her rejoice for Ioy with her all ye that mourn for her 4. For the Furniture of the Church a Supply of all Good internal and external 1. Internal That God would bless them with Ordinances enrich them with Graces preserve Truth and Unity and continue his Presence with them his Ordinances that they may enjoy them in Purity that the Word Seals and Censures may be rightly administred till the Lord come These are Things pertaining to the Kingdom of God concerning which Christ spake to the Disciples Acts 1. 3. These are to be kept till Christ's appearing â— Tim. 6. 14. 'T is an Honour to God and of great Profit to the Church and a rejoycing to God's People to see them pure and unmixed Tho absent in the Flesh yet I am with you in the Spirit joying and beholding your Order Col. 2. 5. And then that God would enrich them with his Presence Mat. 28. 20. Lo I am with you always even unto the end of the World 'T is God that giveth the Increase Paul may plant and Apollos water but God giveth the Increase 1 Cor. 3. 6. for Conviction Conversion Confirmation 'T was not the Ark nor Mercy-Seat covered with Cherubims but the Answer from between the Cherubims given immediately by God that manifested his Presence It is not the Sound of the Gospel or outward Ministry but the Work of his Spirit Psal. 84. 2. My Soul yea even fainteth for the Courts of the Lord my
Heart and my Flesh crieth out for the Living God And Acts 10. 44. it is said The Holy-Ghost fell on all them which heard the Word And then for Unity Christ hath callëd us into a Body not only into a Family but into a Body It was Christ's own Prayer Iohn 17. Let them be one Disputes will not heal but Prayers may 2. For External Helps we should pray that God would give us Pastors after his own Heart Mat. 9. ult Pray ye the Lord of the Harvest that he would send forth Labourers into his Harvest Men that will discharge their Duty with all Faithfulness Men whose Hearts are set to the Building up of Christ's Kingdom Labourers And then for Schools of Learning A Man that hath many Orchards will also have Seminaries of young Plants to maintain them Schools are Seminaries without which the Church falleth to decay And then for good Magistrates to patronize and protect Gods People and promote his Work with them Isa. 49. 23. there is a Promise Kings shall be thy Nursing-Fathers and their Queens thy Nursing-Mothers c. Rest from Persecution is a great Blessing Acts 9. 31. Then had the Churches Rest and were edified walking in the Fear of God and the Comforts of the Holy-Ghost were multiplied It is a great Mercy that the Church hath any Breathings These are the Things that we should pray for sor Zion Thus much shall suffice to be spoken of the Kingdom of Christ in a publick Consideration with respect first to the publick visible Administration of the Kingdom of Grace I come now to speak of the second viz. The publick and solemn Administration of the Kingdom of Glory and for that I shall insist on that Portion of Scripture Rev. 22. 20. Surely I come quickly Amen Even so Come Lord Iesus Here you have 1. Christ's Proclamation 2. The Churches Acclamation in Answer thereunto I. Christ's Proclamation Surely I come quickly Where take notice of two Things 1. His Asseveration Surely 2. His Assertion I come quickly 1. His Asseveration Surely It is a certain Truth tho we do not so easily receive it All notable Truths about which there is the greatest Suspicion in the Heart of the Creature you will find them thus averred in Scripture as Isa. 53. 4. Surely he hath born our Griefs and carried our Sorrows The dying of the Son of God is so mysterious that the Holy-Ghost propounds it with a Note of Averment Surely that is how unlikely soever it seems yet this is a certain Truth So here the Coming of Christ is a thing so future so little regarded by Epicures and Atheists that it is propounded with a like Note of Averment Surely I come quickly Herein secretly is our Unbelief taxed and also our Confidence engaged 2. You have his Assertion I come quickly Let me explain what is meant by the Coming of Christ. There is a twofold Coming of Christ a personal and a virtual Some think that the virtual Coming is here meant his Coming in the Efficacy of his Spirit or in the Power of his Providence to accomplish those Predictions Here are many things prophesied of and behold I come quickly you shall find these things presently produced upon the Stage of the World So some carry it I think rather it is to be meant of his personal Coming There are two mystical Scriptures which do express all the Intercourse which passeth between God and the Church in the World and they are both closed up with a Desire of Chirst's coming The Canticles is one which declareth the Communion and Intercourse which is between Christ and his Church and you will find it thus closed up Cant. 8. 14. Make haste my Beloved and be thou like to a Roe or to a young Hart upon the Mountains of Spices And so here in this Book of the Revelations where are the like Intercourses recorded it is closed up with this Even so Lord Iesus come quickly The personal Coming I suppose is here meant Now Christ's personal Coming it is but twofold the first and the second the Scripture knows of no other Coming Heb. 9. 28. He shall appear the second time without Sin unto Salvation It is but a fond Dream to think of a personal Reign before Christ's coming to Judgment they reckon without-book that look for any other There was his first Coming which was to suffer his second Coming is to reign the first his gracious and this his glorious Coming The former is past and the latter is yet expected I come quickly How shall we make good that 1. In general Christ's Absence from the Church it is not long tho you reflect upon the whole Flux of Time from his Ascension to his second Coming it is but a Moment to Eternity some Hundreds of Years that may be easily counted 2. It is no longer than Need requires The High-Priest when he was gotten within the Vail was to tarry there until his Ministration was ended until he had appeared before God and represented himself for all the Tribes then he was to come out to bless the People Jesus Christ tarrieth within the Vail but until all the Elect be gathered He is not slack 2 Pet. 3. 9. but we are hasty Our Times are present with us but we must leave him to his own Time to go and come 3. Christ speaks this of the latter End of the World and then it will not be long When once he begins to set forth the old Prophecies are accomplishing apace and how little preparation soever there seems to be for this Work it comes apace It is said of the Antichristian State Her Plagues shall come upon her in one day Rev. 18. 8. And of the Jews it is said A Nation shall be born at once Isa. 66. 8. So much for the first part II. Here is the Churches Acclamation Amen So Lord Iesus come quickly This Acclamation is double 1. Implicite and infolded in the Word Amen 2. Explicite and unfolded Even so Lord Iesus come quickly 1. For the Implicite Acclamation of the Church in the Word Amen The Word sometimes is taken nominally Rev. 3. 14. Thus saith the Amen the faithful and true Witness He that is Amen as it is explained there true and faithful that will certainly give a Being to his Promises Sometimes it is used adverbially and translated Verily It is either an affectionate Desire Let it be or a great Asseveration It shall be It hath in it an affectionate Desire Ier. 28. 6. the Prophet said Amen the Lord do so the Lord perform thy Words c. When he had prophesied Peace to the People Amen the Lord perform thy Words not to confirm the truth of his Prophecy but to express his own Wish and hearty Desire if it might stand with the Will of God Then it expresseth a firm Belief that it shall be done Thus Christ often saith Amen verily verily I say unto you by way of strong Asseveration Well then the Church expresseth her Faith and Desire
implicitely Amen Lord that it were so and surely Lord it shall be so we believe it and we desire it with all our Hearts 2. Explicitely Even so Lord Iesus Come quickly From this latter Clause I might observe many things 1. The sweet and blessed Harmony that â—is between Christ and the Church Christ's Voice and the Churches Voice are Unisons Christ saith I come and the Church like a quick Eccho takes the Word out of Christ's Mouth Even so come There is the same Spirit in Christ and in the Church for it is his Spirit that resides with us Christ he speaks in a way proper to him by way of Promise I come and the Church in a way proper to her by way of Prayer Even so come 2. I might observe That in the Close of the World we should most earnestly desire Christ's Coming We have the Advantage of former Times to us Christ saith I come quickly Now the set time almost is come therefore our Pulses should beat more strongly in putting up this Request to Christ. Tertullian shews that the Primitive Christians did pray prâ— mora finis that the End might not come too soon Christ having â—s yet but a small Interest in the World they expecting Enlargement upon Earth but we have more cause to look for the Accomplishment of his Kingdom in Heaven Thâ—ey expected the Revelation of Antichrist and we expect the Destruction of Antichrist They that God might be known in the World we that he might be no longer dishonoured in the World When great Promises are near their Accomplishment there is a more lively Spirit stirring in the Hearts of the Saints Dan. 9. 2 3. I understood by Books the Number of the Years whereof the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the Prophet that he would accomcomplish seventy Years in the Desolations of Jerusalem And I set my Face to the Lord God to seek by Prayer and Supplication But quitting these Notes I shall mainly insist upon this Point Viz. Doct. That the Church and all the faithful Members of it do really and heartily desire Christ's second Coming They look for it they long for it they wait for it They look for it Phil. 3. 20. Our Conversation is in Heaven from whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Iesus Christ. They reckon upon it as Rebekah espied Isaac afar off He is gone within the Vail he is appearing before God but he will come out again When they see the Clouds upon these one day will our Saviour come Then they long for it It is their Description 2 Tim. 4. 8. They love his Appearing Wicked Men and guilty Sinners hate and abhor it he being to come to them as a terrible Judg. Malefactors do not long for the Assizes But now the Saints who are absolv'd and washed in the Blood of Christ it doth them good to the Heart to think of it that one day Christ will appear in all his Glory And then they wait for it 1 Thess. 1. 10. They wait for his Son from Heaven even Iesus who hath delivered us from Wrath to come It is Wrath to come something behind the Coming of Christ which makes it so terrible Hell makes the Day of Judgment terrible The Devil could not endure to hear of Christ's coming Mat. 8. 29. Art thou come to torment us c. So wicked Men have the Spirit of the Devil it is a Torment and Bondage to them to think of the Judges Coming But those which have their Discharge they wait for it it supports and bears up their Hearts in the midst of their present Afflictions and they go on chearfully in their Work notwithstanding Lets and Troubles To give some Reasons why the faithful Members of Christ so really and heartily desire Christ's second Coming They are of three Sorts 1. Some in respect of the Person who is to come 2. Some in respect of the Persons which desire his Coming 3. Some in respect of the Coming it self I. In respect of him who is to come 1. His Person that we may see him The Children of God have delighted to look upon him through a Vail and have had a king of Heaven upon Earth from beholding his Face in the Glass of an Ordinance Looking upon him in the Vail of Ordinances hath been a mighty Comfort and Refreshing to them now they would desire to see his Person face to face They know by Hear-say this great Redeemer and Saviour of theirs he wooeth them by Proxy As Eleazar Abraham's Servant was to go abroad and seek for a Match for his Master's Son So the great Business of the Ministers of God is to set forth our Master's Son Now the Saints would fain see him Nay they have not only heard of him but believed in him and received him into their Hearts nay not only believed in him but they have loved him greatly 1 Pet. 1. 8. Whom having not seen ye love in whom tho now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoice with Ioy unspeakable and full of Glory It hath been a ravishing thought to them to think of Christ. And they have tasted 1 Pet. 2. 3. If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious And they have felt him in the drawings of the Spirit they live by his Life they have found a Virtue going out from him Now all that they desire is that they may see this great Person who hath been their Redeemer and Saviour 2. Consider him as in his Person so in his Relations to them Here are two Titles Even so Lord Iesus He is Lord and he is Iesus He is Lord as a Master and Husband as Sarah called Abraham Lord. As a Master Good Servants will look for their Master 's coming Mat. 24. 46. And surely such a Master should be longed for and looked for for when he comes he will not come empty-handed Behold I come quickly and my Reward is with me Rev. 22. 12. Here Christ's Servants have their Vales but not their Wages Here they have present Maintenance that is all they have now but then they shall have their Reward and Wages here they have their Earnest but then they shall have the full Sum. Under the Law Masters were charged severely not to defraud their Servants of their Hire why He hath lift up his Soul to him that is in the middle of his hard Labours this was his Comfort when the Work of the Day was over he should have his Wages and his Hire at Night So you have lift up your Souls to him the great Pay-Day will come and this hath born you up in all your Labours and Travel of your Soul Therefore as he is our Lord so we should look for him And then as our Husband this is a sweeter Relation The Bride saith Come Rev. 22. 17. We are here contracted and betrothed to Christ I will betroth thee to me Hos. 2. 19. But the Day of solemn Espousals is hereafter Here we are betrothed to Christ in
improving our Talents Our Lord will come and reckon with his Servants Luke 19. 15. Thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven WE are come to the third Petition which is fitly subjoined to the former In the Preface we own our Relation to God Our Father in the first Petition we express our Care of his Glory in the second our Desires of his Kingdom and now we beg Obedience to his Will We may judg of our Respect to his Name and Kingdom by our Obedience to his Will without which we neither sanctify his Name nor submit to his Kingdom The Kingdom of God implieth two things his Government over us or the Privileges which we enjoy thereby 1. As it is taken for his Government over us so there is a fair Connection between these two Requests Before we pray that God would rule us and now for a soft and pliable Heart that we may be ruled by him Christ is not our King when we do our own Will These two are distinct Government is one thing and Obedience to it another As Mat. 6. 33. The Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof they are distinguished The Kingdom of God we plead for in the second Petition and here for the Righteousness thereof that Christ may not be a Titular Prince and Sovereign as certainly he is when we do our own Will Every Sovereign stands upon his own Will and the more absolute still the more his Will is to be looked upon as a Law and Rule Now God being so absolute a Soveraign it is but fit his Will should be done in the perfectest Manner Thy Will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven 2. If you take the Kingdom of God for the Privileges of his Government especially if they be considered in their Consummation and final Accomplishment for that which the Scripture calls the Kingdom of God by doing God's Will we enter into his Kingdom See Mat. 7. 21. Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven It is not the Blandishment of a spiritual Complement but a true and hearty Subjection to the Will of God that availeth in God's Kingdom and is intended by this Petitionary Clause Thy Will be done Here consider I. The Substance of the Petition II. The Circumstances thereof The Substance of the Petition Thy Will be done The Circumstances are two The Place where which indeed intimateth the Persons by whom by Men here upon Earth Then the Manner is set down in a Comparison Vpon Earth as it is in Heaven Let me first open these Passages then observe somewhat I. The Substance of the Petition Thy Will be done and there 1. The Matter about which it is conversant the Will of God 2. The Request about it Thy Will be done First The Matter of the Request Thy Will God's Name was under consideration in the first Petition his Kingdom in the second and now his Will And then here 's a Note of Appropriation Thy Will in contradistinction to all others God's Will it signifieth two things either his Decree concerning future Events or else that which God hath revealed concerning our Duty his intended or commanded Will. The first is spoken of Rom. 9. 19. Who hath resisted his Will that is his Decree and his Purpose And the second his revealed Pleasure concerning our Duty is spoken of 1 Thess. 4. 3. This is the Will of God even your Sanctification The Will not of his Purpose but it is his Law his revealed Pleasure Now it is not meant here of God's Decree or secret Will Why God's secret Will that is not known therefore how can it be done upon Earth To that all are subject Reprobates Devils But here this Petition speaks of a Will which is to be done in conformity to the good Angels Again we may without Sin will that which God wills not by his secret Will as the Life of a sick Parent which God purposeth to take away Nay a Man may fulfill this secret Will and yet perish for ever as Iudas and many which break his Commandments and yet fulfil his Decrees that do that which God had determined before to be done in his secret Purpose as it is said Acts 2â— 2â— To do that which his Hand and Counsel had determined before to be done Therefore his secret Will is not here meant but the Will of God revealed Therefore let me here distinguish again The Will of God is revealed two ways in his Word and in his Works the one to be done by us the other to be done upon us the one is Voluntas de nobis God's Will concerning us the other Voluntas in nobis God's Will in us and to be done by us the one maketh way for our Active the other for our Passive Obedience Our Active Obedience hath respect to his Laws and Commands but our Passive to his Providence we shew as much Obedience in the one as in the other in Patience as in Holiness For as in Holiness we own God as the supream Law-giver so in Patience we own him as the supreme Lord that hath a Dominion over all Events and all things which fall out in the World In the one we pray Vt nihil Dei displiceat nobis that nothing which comes from God may provoke us to unseemly Passion in the other we pray Vt nihiâ— nostrum displiceat Deo that nothing which comes from us may provoke God by unseemly and undâ—tiful Carriage We principally pray for the latter here that we may fulfil his Will revealed in the Word and yet the other cannot be excluded Take but this Reason because the Saints in Scripture express their Subjection to God's Providence in Words very agreeable to this Request to the Form of this Petition as those Believers when they saw God had determined Paul's Journey to Ierusalem when he went bound in the Spirit notwithstanding the Dangers of it and their Loss by his Departure they said The Will of the Lord be done Acts 21. 14. And Christ himself speaking of his Passion Mat. 26. 39. Not as I will but as thou wilt And not my Will but thine be done Luke 22. 42. So that we pray both for the one and the other tho with a plain difference why For our Active Obedience must be even without a conditional Desire that the Commands of God should be repealed we cannot so much as desire God should disannull his Law and repeal those Statutes he hath enacted Yet we may desire conditionally if God see â—it the removal of our Affliction and that Condition of Life to which we are determined by his Providence The Commandment is not grievous in it self 1 Iohn 5. 3. yet the Affliction in its own Nature is grievous Heb. 12. 11. We may desire more knowledg of God's Law yet we may not desire more experience of Affliction the one is more absolutely necessary than
14. Peace upon Earth Now God offereth Grace and now it is his Will we should come out of our Sins and accept of Christ to the ends for which he hath appointed him And here we must be sanctified else we shall be filthy for evermore Corn grows in the Field but it is laid up in the Barn Now is the time of minding this Work here upon Earth 3. That while we are upon Earth we might long for that happy Estate we shall have in Heaven wherein we might serve God Therefore Christ in his Prayer would have us think how God is glorified and obeyed there that we might send up hearty Wishes after that perfect Estate when we shall serve God without Weariness and without Distraction 4. Upon Earth to shew that we pray not for those in the other World but for those upon Earth We do not pray for the Saints departed they are out of harms way past our Prayers being in their final Estate We pray not for the Dead but for the Living Thus for the first Circumstance in this Petition the place where Secondly There remains nothing but the last and that 's the manner how this is to be done As it is in Heaven Chrysostome observes that this Clause may be referred to all the former Petitions Hallowed be thy Name upon Earth as it is in Heaven Thy Kingdom come upon Earth as it is in Heaven But certainly most proper it is to the matter in hand But what is the sense How is God obeyed in Heaven There are in Scripture three Heavens the Airy Heaven the Starry Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens In all these Heavens God's Will is done God is obeyed in the lower Heaven you shall see in Psal. 148. 8. Fire Hail Snow and Vapours stormy Winds fullfilling his Word Winds and Storms and all those things which seem to be most tempestuous and unruly to be the disorders of Nature they are at God's beck Then in the Starry Heaven vers 6. He hath made a Decree which shall not pass They are under a Law and Statute and are not exorbitant and excentrick do not alter their Path the Sun riseth setts and knows the just point of his Compass But it is chiefly meant of the Heaven of Heavens where Angels and blessed Spirits are and they obey God perfectly Psal. 103. 20 21. Bless the Lord ye his Angels that excel in Strength that do his Commandments hearkening unto the voice of his Word Bless ye the Lord all ye his Hosts ye Ministers of his that do his Pleasure The Angels do his Commandments and are hearkening to the Voice of his Word are at God's beck to be sent up and down to ascend and descend as God will have them so with respect to this doth Christ say Thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven But here again why is this added As it is in Heaven 1. To sweeten our Subjection to God's Will We upon Earth are not held to a harder Law and Task than they in Heaven The Angels they are not sui juris at their own dispose They have many Priviledges above Man yet have no Exemption from Homage and Duty to God They have an Exemption and Freedom from Trouble and Sicknesses and Diseases and the necessities of Meat and Drink and all the Molestations and Infirmities of the Flesh which we lie under but are not freed from the Will of God but they obey his Commandments hearkning to the voice of his Word These Courtiers of Heaven are Servants of God and Fellows with us in the same Obedience none is too great to obey God The Angels which excel in Strength they obey his Will and so must we nay they obey his Will with a holy Awe and Fear that they may not displease him in the least for it is said of Michael the Arch-angel Iude vers 9. That he durst not bring against the Devil a railing Accusation but said The Lord rebuke thee He had not boldness to speak one uncomely Word or one unseemly Word to do any thing that was displeasing to God 2. As to sweeten our Obedience so to shew us the Reasonableness of this Obedience We would have the Happiness of the Angels and therefore certainly we should come into a Fellowship in their Duty it is but equal we should imitate their Holiness If we would have Communion with them in Glory we should have Communion also with them in Grace Mat. 22. 30. it is said we shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like the Angels of God We seek after the same Glory and Happiness which they have to stand before the Lord and to behold his Face that 's their Happiness Surely if we would have the reward of Angels which we upon Earth are aspiring and looking after it is but equal we should do the Work of Angels and write after their Copy 3. Therefore doth Christ use this Comparison that we might not miscarry by a low Example How apt are we to follow the track and to take up with an easy and low rate of Obedience Luke 18. 11. that put great Confidence in that God I thank thee I am not as other Men. Now because we have few Examples in the World and those we have have their Spots and Defects and are very susceptible of Evils and apt to miscarry by them therefore Christ would carry us up to look after a Heavenly and Coelestial Patern he propoundeth the Angelical Perfection as a Patern and Example He that shoots at a Star will shoot higher than he that aims at a Shrub Surely the higher the Patern that we aim at the greater will our Obedience be Wicked Men they think that every thing is enough in Religion though it be never so little but the Godly cannot so easily satisfy themselves they are pressing and hastening on more and more 4. To teach us that we are not only to look to the Quid but to the Quomodo not only to what we do but also in what manner we yield Obedience to God therefore Christ would not teach us to pray only Thy Will be done but as it is in Heaven in such a manner God respects not only the doing of what he hath required but also the manner of it that we may not only do good but well it is the Adverb which crowns the Action We are to consider with what Heart we go about it Prov. 2. 16. The Lord weigheth the Spirits That which he putteth into the Ballance of the Sanctuary is with what Spirit with what Heart we go about the Work that 's it he weigheth and regardeth Now that we may look not only to the matter of Obedience but also to the manner how we do it therefore doth Christ give us this Patern Object But you will say Our Obedience is accompanied with many Defects and Infirmities therefore how can we serve God as the Angels do in Heaven How shall we take Comfort in our Obedience if this be our Patern I answer
greatest Good that possibly can come of it we should not cross God's revealed Will. Many times this is a Snare Men think to be justified by their good Intentions We must not do Evil that Good may come thereof Rom. 3. 1. If one Lie could save the World we were not to do it for the least Evil is not to be done contrary to God's Will tho the greatest Good come of it Vse 3. Examine how you stand affected to God's Will This is very needful Because 1. There be many Mistakes about it 2. Hereby we may discern whether we are thus entirely affected with the Lord 's Will. Men flatter themselves with a pretence of Obedience and cry Lord Lord but do not do his Will They give God good Words but do not break out into an actual Contest as those Wretches Ier. 18. 12. VVe will every one do the Imagination of his evil Heart And Ier. 44. 17. VVe will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own Mouth There are many things wherein we are apt to mistake As 1. We pretend to do God's Will in general but when it comes to Particulars we stick at it Usually when we take up Duty by the Lump it doth not exasperate opposite Propensions and Inclinations This is our great Fault we please and flatter our selves with Notions and abstract Conceits What say you to this Will of God concerning you in particular How forward were the Israelites O they would do the whole VVill of God they run away with the general Notion Yea but saith Ioshua chap. 24. 19. Ye cannot serve the Lord for he is an holy God he is a jealous God he will not forgive your Transgressions nor your Sins We vvill do the Will of God in general but when it comes to cross our Lusts and private Inclinations these make us grudg at it and shrink back again 2. Some commend and approve the Will of God and talk of it but do not practise it It is here Thy VVill be done it is not Let it be talked of spoken and conferred of by me but done And it is not giving good words You know the Parable of the two Sons One said I will not and did the other I go Sir and went not Mat. 21. 29 30. Where Christ prefers the open Sinner before the Hypocrite that is talking of God's Will and seems at a distance to be like the Carbuncle all of a Fire but touch him he is Key-cold When we are approving much of the VVill of God in our Judgments and commending of it and do it not this is in effect to say I know what my Father commands me but I will do as I list 3. Another Deceit about the VVill of God is this For the present vvhile vve are in a good Humour vvhen our Lusts lie lovv vvhen the Heart is vvarm under the Impulsions of a present Conviction or Persuasion Men have high thoughts of doing the VVill of God Deut. 5. 27. Speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee we will hear it and do it There are several Acts of our VVills there is Consent Choice Intention and Prosecution It is not enough to consent these things may be extorted from us by moral Persuasion but there must be a serious Choice an invincible Resolution such an Intention as is prosecuted with all manner of Industry and serious Endeavours whatever Disappointments we meet with from God and Men. Then this Intention or invincible Resolution is such as will not be broken by Difficulties weakned by Loss of Interest not discouraged by the many Disappointments we meet with even in our waiting upon God 4. We have many times a seeming Awe upon the Conscience and so are urged to do God's Will yet the Heart is averse from God all the while therefore they strive to bring God's Will and theirs together to compromise the Difference A notable Instance of this you have in Balaam He had a Message sent to him and a great Bribe now he had a carnal Heart which ran out upon the Wages of Unrighteousness and therefore tho he knew the People of Israel were blessed of the Lord yet first he will go to God Numb 22. 8. Lodge here this Night and I will bring you word again as the Lord shall speak into me He is very tender he durst not go with them unless the Lord say Go. But God denies him v. 12. Thou shalt not go with them What then The Lord refuseth to give him leave Then Balak sends more honourable Messengers and propounds Rewards again then his carnal Will is for God v. 18. Balaam answered If Balak would give me his House full of Silver and Gold I cannot go beyond the Word of the Lord my God to do less or more Was not this spoken with an honest Mind think you This was the Dictate of his Conscience not for a House-full of Gold durst he go against God the Lord Yet you shall find 't was a sore Temptation to him for he goes again to God v. 19. Tarry here this Night that I may know what the Lord will say unto me more Then saith God Go when he saw his Heart was set for the Wages of Unrighteousness There was a Reluctancy in his Conscience he durst not go therefore he would fain bring the Will of God to his Will In many Cases we are thus divided between our own Affections and God's Will between our Interests and the Will of God It is a Case often falls out when there is a Quarrel between Conviction and Corruption When Light is active and strong in Conscience Men dare not go against the apparent Will of God yet their Hearts hang another way We have one carnal Affection or other and then all our Business is to bring God's Will and ours together and how to disguise and palliate the Matter that with greatest leave to Conscience we may seem to contradict the Will of God 5. A fifth Deceit about the Will of God and that is a Wish that we were brought under the Power of it as he that stretcht himself upon his Bed and said O that this were to labour Many Men have a Velliety a languid and incompleat Will they have a Wish but not a Volition not a serious Desire and sometimes they may draw it out to a cold Prayer that God would make them better It is just like a Man that should lie down and complain O that I were at such a place and never travel Would I had performed such a Task yet puts not his hand to the Work Men would but they will not set themselves in good earnest to get the Grace they wish for there is not striving to accomplish their Will A Chapman no doubt would have the Wares it is like he hath a cold Wish but will not come to the Price I will buy it whatever it cost me They have not those active and industrious Resolutions such a strong and serious Bent of
but they are hidden among others Therefore Reprobates are called obiter by the by as others are called according to purpose and therefore they have the Benefit of the common Call and the common Offer The World stands for the Elects sake yet others have the Benefit of the World and worldly Things So the Word is preached for the Elects sake yet others have the Benefit of an external Call The Sun shines tho blind Men see it not The Rain falls upon Rocks and Mountains as well as fruitful Valleys So God may suffer these Exhortations to light upon wicked Men. And again as to them it is for their Conviction it is to bridle their Corruptions it is at least a means to civilize them and keep them from growing worse Therefore such kind of Doctrines and Persuasions restrain their Wickedness Therefore it stands well enough with the Wisdom of the Law-giver to call upon Men and invite them with Promises and Threatnings to Repentance Therefore now let me shew How doth God reduce and frame our Hearts to the Obedience of his Will The Ways God useth are of two sorts Moral and Real 1. God works morally so as to preserve Man's Nature and the Principles thereof therefore he works by sweet Inclination not with Violence So he comes with Blandishments and comfortable Words Hos. 2. 14. I will allure her and bring her into the Wilderness and speak comfortably unto her So Gen. 9. 27. The Lord shall persuade Japhet and he shall dwell in the Tents of Shem. By fair and kindly Words he draweth on Men to the liking of the Gospel He offereth no violence to our natural Principles but to our Corruptions God doth not make the Will to be no Will but to be a good Will He restoreth the Faculties to their right Use and Exercise He layeth forth the Beauty and Excellency of his Grace and a glorious Estate he sets before our Eyes and â—o out-bids Temptation and draweth our Hearts to himself And God not only doth work suitably to our general Nature as we are reasonable Creatures but suitably to the particular Frame of the Heart Some are of a stout and stubborn Temper and will not be subdued by milder Means and Motives therefore God breaks them with Fears and Terrors and with a Spirit of Conviction And others he draws them on by Love and by a gentle Application That God hath respect to Mens particular Tempers was figured in those extraordinary Ways of Appearance and Manifestation they are fitted according to the State of Men. To Moses that was a Shepherd and was acquainted with Bushes God appears in a Bush of Fire And to the Wise Men that were skill'd in the Motions of the heavenly Bodies he appears in a Star And to Peter that was a Fisherman he appears to him and shews his Power first in the Draught of Fishes So still these are Pledges of this kind of Dispensation that God will work suitably not only to our general Nature as Men but to our particular State and Temper Yea yet further to set on this moral Way of working there is a fit Subordination of the Circumstances of Providence God takes the wild Asses in their Month and he hath his Season wherein to surprize the Heâ—rts of Sinners Prov. 25. 11. A Word fitly spoken is like Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver God comes in in a fit Season as when a Soul is humbled by some sudden Accident As one was converted by seeing a Man fall down dead suddenly by him God ordereth some Providences to work and awaken the Hearts of Men. Or else by some great Affliction Hos. 2. 14. I will bring her into the Wilderness and speak comfortably unto her God finds many a Sinner in the Briars as Abraham found the Lamb. Stubborn Humors are then most broken Metal in the Furnace is capable of any Form God may suit and dispose us so that he may come in in a fit season to the Soul Or in Terrors of Conscience when the Heart is scourged with remorse for great Sins All this is God's moral Work 2. There is a real Work which goes along with this Persuasion there is an Almighty Power For bare Persuasion cannot make the Blind to see the Dead to live or open the Heart of Man that is so desperately and obstinately wicked until he puts his Fingers upon the Holes of the Lock until he begins to open the Heart Concerning this real Work observe it is secret yet thorow and prevailing so as the Effect doth follow when God will convert The exact Manner of God's drawing is unknown Austin calls it an inward hidden and unspeakable Power which God putteth forth together with the Word it is marvellous in our Eyes but he that knew how to creat Souls knows how to work upon them This Power it is like the Influences of the Heavens which so insinuate themselves with the Operation of second Causes that they cannot be seen so there is such a mighty Power working in us tho we cannot tell how to express it We cannot say there is no such Power because we do not know what it is And as this Power is secret so when this Power is put forth it is prevailing he works prevailingly so as the Effect must necessarily follow The Grace God gives to Men to convert them it is not a Power to be converted repent and believe if they will no but he gives Repentance he gives Faith and works so as the Effect shall succeed He works efficaciously and determinately so as to oppose all the Resistance of the Will and accomplish his Work That 's the first Branch Secondly When we are thus framed by Grace after Conversion God still concurreth and must help us to do his Will He doth not only give us the Habit of Grace but actual Help in the Work of Obedience Isa. 26. 12. Thou hast wrought all our Works in us But why is it that still the Lord worketh in us both to will and to do unto the last and not only begins with us but still keeps Grace in his own hands so as we shall have our Supplies from Heaven from day to day There are several Reasons 1. Because it endeareth God to a gracious Soul The more Visits we have from God and the more he is mindful of us at every turn the more is God endeared to us In such a Duty there we met with Comfort and Enlargement because God was there that is noted and regarded so that the Lord is rendred the more precious The Experiment we have of God in every Duty doth the more make us prize his Grace As David Psal. 119. 93. I will never forget thy Precepts for with them thou hast quickned me I shall never forget such a Sermon and such a Prayer because there I met with God So in Affliction Rom. 5. 3. Patience worketh Experience or in such a Conflict we had such a Support this endeareth God to the Soul As mutual Acts of
thy self to him and then come and offer thy Gift It is not said if any have ought against thee but if thou hast ought against any one I confess in some Cases it is enough to lay it aside before the Lord. But at other times we are to seek reconciliation with the Party which hath wronged us But this Case is mightily to be guided by Spiritual Prudence As for God's Example God is Superior bound to none he acts freely it is his Mercy that pardons any and yet God gives us a Heart to repent of his good Pleasure he begins with a Sinner But this is nothing to our Case who are under Law who are bound to forgive others III. The Person to whom we Pray Our Heavenly Father The Note is That God doth alone forgive Sin There is a double forgiveness of Sin In Heaven and in a Man 's own Conscience and therefore sometimes compared to the blotting out of something out of a Book sometimes to the blotting out of a Cloud To the blotting out of a Book Isa. 43. 25. I even I am he that blotteth out thy Transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy Sins That it may be no more remembred or charged upon us To the blotting out of a Cloud Isa. 44. 22. I have blotted out as a thick Cloud thy Transgressions and as a Cloud thy Sins As the Sun when it breaketh forth in its Strength dispelleth the Mists and Clouds Sin interposeth as a Cloud hindring the Light of God's Countenance from shining forth upon us Both these are God's Work to blot the Book and to blot out the Cloud 1. Pardoning of Sin in the Court of Heaven it belongeth to God peculiarly Dan. 9. 9. To the Lord our God belong Mercies and Forgivenesses c. 'T is God alone can do it for two Reasons 1. He is the wronged Party 2. He is the Supream Judg. 1. He is the wronged Party against whom the Offence is committed Psal. 51. 4. Against thee against thee only have I sinned He had sinned against Bathsheba against Vriah whose Death he projected How is it said against thee only There may be wrong and hurt done to a Creature but the Sin is against God as 't is a breach of his Law and a despising of his Sovereign Authority the Injury done to the Creature is nothing in Comparison of the Offence done to God against so many Obligations wherein we stand bound to him Amongst Men we distinguish between the Crime and the Wrong And a Criminal Action is one thing and an Action of Wrong and Trespass is another If a Man steal from another 't is not enough to make him Restitution but he must satisfy the Law 2. He is the Supream Judg. Father Son and Holy Ghost as one God are the Judg of all the Earth to whom they must be accountable for the Offence Gen. 18. 25. Shall not the Iudg of all the Earth do right But in the Mystery of Redemption the Father as first in order of the Persons is represented as the Judg to whom the Satisfaction is tendred and who doth Authoritatively pass a Sentence of Absolution And therefore 't is said 1 Joh. 2. 1. We have an Advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the Righteous He is to deal with him as the Supream Judg and 'T is God that justifieth Rom. 8. 33. The whole Business of our Acquitment is carried on by the Father who is to receive the Satisfaction and our humble Addresses for Pardon But to answer some Objections that may arise Object 1. 'T is said Mat. 9. 6. The Son of Man hath power on Earth to forgive Sins I answer That is brought there as an Argument of his God-Head He that was the Son of Man was also very God And therefore upon Earth in the time of his Humiliation he had power to forgive Sins for he ceased not to be God when Incarnate And it became him to discover himself as by his Divine Power in the work of Miracles so his Divine Authority in the Forgiveness of Sins Object 2. Is taken from the Text Forgive us our Debts as we forgive those that trespass against us I answer In Sin there is the Obliquity or Fault in it and the Hurt or Detriment that redounds to Man by it As it is a Breach of the Law of God or an Offence to his Infinite Majesty God can only pardon it or dispense with it As it is an hurt to us so restitution is to be made to Man and Man can pardon or forgive it Object 3. 'T is said Joh. 20. 23. Whosesoever Sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whosesoever Sins ye retain they are retained So that it seemeth Man hath a power to remit Sins I answer They do it Declaratively and by Commission from God The Officers of the Church have the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven committed to them the Key of Knowledg or Doctrine and the Key of Order and Discipline Accordingly this Power is called The Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 16. 19. And the use of them is to open or shut the Doors of God's House and to bind or loose as the Expression is Mat. 18. 18. That is to pronounce Guilty and liable to Judgment or to absolve and set free declaratively and in God's Name or as it is litterally expressed in the place alledged To remit or retain The Key of Doctrine is exercised about all Sin as Sin were it never so secret and inward and the Key of Order and Discipline about Sin only as 't is Scandalous and Infectious Now what they act Ministerially according to their Commission 't is ratified in Heaven for it is a Declaration or Intimation of the Sentence already passed there So that a Declarative and Ministerial Power is given to the Church but the Authoritative Power of forgiving Sins that God hath reserved to himself Man can remit doctrinally and by way of Judicial Procedure but that is only by way of Commission and Ministerial Deputation Such as are Penitent and feel the Bonds of their Sins they do declaratively absolve and loose them or take off the Censure Judicially inflicted for their scandalous Carriage This Ministerial forgiving however Carnal Hearts may slight it both in Doctrine and Discipline yet being according to the Rules of the Word is owned by God and the Penitent shall feel it to their Encouragement and the Obstinate to their Terror 2. As he pardoneth Sin in the Conscience and there God alone can forgive Sin or speak Peace to the Soul upon a double Account 1. Because of his Authority 2. Because of his Power 1. Because of his Authority Conscience is God's Deputy and till God be pacified Conscience is not pacified upon sound and solid Terms Therefore 't is said where Conscience doth its Office 1 Joh. 3. 20 21. If our Hearts condemn us God is greater than our Hearts and knoweth all things if our Hearts condemn us not then have we confidence towards
upon this Account He is known among his People not so much by acts of Power as acts of Grace and the greatness of his Mercy in pardoning Sins for Christ's sake 3. He is willing to dispence a Pardon Miâ— 7. 18. He delighteth in Mercy God delighteth in himself and all his Attributes and the Manifestation of them in the World but above all in his Mercy Justice is his strange act Isa. 28. 21. There is not any thing more pleasing to him 'T is the Mercy of God that he hath drawn up a Petition for us he would never have taught us to have asked Mercy by Prayer if he had not been willing to shew us Mercy 4. God will do it for his own sake and not for any forreign Reasons Isa. 43. 25. I even I am he that blotteth out thy Transgressions for mine own sake and out of a respect to his own Honour See how God casts up his Accounts It is Mercy Jer. 3. 12. I am merciful saith the Lord and I will not keep Anger for ever So his Truth Psal. 106. 45. He remembred for them his Covenant and repented according to the Multitude of his Mercies Not from any desert of theirs who do so neglect him and wrong him God will do it upon his own Reasons 5. He will do it in such a way as Man doth not in a way of infinite Mercy Hos. 11. 9. I will not execute the fierceness of mine Anger for I am God and not Man 'T is the great Advantage of us Sinners that we have to do with God and not Man in our Miscarriages For Man's Pity and Mercy may be exhausted be it never so great What seven times a Day But God is Infinite Man may think it dishonourable to agree with an Inferior when he stoops not to him but God is so far above the Creature that we are below his Indignation Man is soon wearied but not God Isa. 55. 8 9. For my Thoughts are not your Thoughts neither are your Ways my Ways saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are higher than the Earth so are my Ways higher than your Ways and my Thoughts than your Thoughts I now come to the fourth and last Consideration IV. That Forgiveness of Sins is one great Benefit that we must ask of God in Prayer Here it will be needful to shew First The Necessity of treating with God about Forgiveness Secondly The Nature of this Benefit Thirdly The Terms how God dispenseth it First The Necessity will appear in these Propositions 1. Man hath a Conscience Rom. 2. 15. Thoughts accusing or excusing c. A Beast cannot reflect 2. A Conscience inferreth a Law 3. A Law inferreth a Sanction 4. A Sanction inferreth a Judgment 5. A Judgment a Condemnation to the fall'n Creature 6. There is no avoiding this Condemnation unless God set up a Chancery or another Court of Grace 7. If God set up another Court our Plea must be Grace Of this see more at large 20. Serm. 1 Serm. on Psal. 32. 1 2. Secondly The Nature of this Benefit or manner how God forgiveth 1. Freely 2. Fully 1. Freely and meerly upon the Impulsions of his own Grace Isa. 43. 25. I even I am he that forgiveth your Iniquities for my Name sake Nothing else could move him to it but his own Mercy and he could have chosen whether he would have done so yea or no For he spared not the Angels but offereth Pardon to Man and all Men are not actually pardoned And therefore the only reason why he sheweth us Mercy and not others is meerly his own Grace The Intervention of Christ's Merit doth not hinder the Freedom of it Tho dearly purchased by Christ yet freely bestowed on us For 't is said Rom. 3. 24. Iustified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Christ. Why partly because it was Mercy that he would not prosecute his Right against us Partly because he found out the way how to recompense the wrong done by Sin unto his Majesty and out of his Love sent his Son to make this Recompence for us Ioh. 3. 16. 'T was Love set all a-work And lastly not excited hereunto by any worth on our parts but the external moving cause was only our Misery and the internal moving cause his own Grace Nor is the Freedom of this Act infringed by requiring Faith and Repentance on our part because that only sheweth the way and order wherein this Grace is dispensed not the cause why 'T is not for the worth of our Repentance or as if there were any Merit in it A Malefactor that beggeth his Pardon on his Knees doth not deserve a Pardon only the Majesty of the Prince requireth that it should be submissively asked These are not Conditions of Merit but Order not the Cause but the way of Grace's working And these Conditions are wrought in us by Grace Acts 5. 31. not required only but given In all other Covenants the Party contracting is bound to perform what he promiseth by his own strength But in the Covenant of Grace God doth not only require that we should Believe and Repent but causeth it in us Conditions of the Covenant are Conditions in the Covenant God requireth Faith and Repentance and giveth Faith and Repentance compare Isa. 59. 20. with Rom. 11. 26. 'T is Christ's Gift as well as his Precept So that when we come about pardon of Sin we have only to do with Grace We beg Pardon and a Heart to receive it 'T is a Free Pardon 2. 'T is a Full Pardon 'T is Full in several respects 1. Because where the Party is forgiven he is accepted with God as if he had never sinned Psal. 103. 12. As far as the East is from the VVest so far hath he removed our Transgressions from us And Mich. 7. 19. Thou wilt cast all their Sins into the depth of the Sea Isa. 38. 17. Thou hast cast all my Sins behind thy Back It shall not be remembred nor laid to their charge any more 'T is true for a while after they may trouble the Conscience as when the Storm ceaseth the Waves rowl for a while afterwards So may Sin in the Consciences of God's Children work trouble after the fiducial Application of the Blood of Christ But the Storm ceaseth by degrees And 't is possible that the commitment of new Sins may revive old Guilt as a new Strain may make us sensible of an old Bruise Yet we must distinguish between the full Grant of a Pardon From the full sense of it when we are not Thankful Humble Fruitful former Sins may come into remembrance and God may permit it as matter of Humiliation to us and to quicken us to seek after new Confirmation of our Right and Interest Yet God's Pardon is never reversed nor will the Sin be charged again or put in suit against him to the final condemnation of the Person so pardoned Once more though the Sins of the Justified should be remembred at the Day
God by the Death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his Life Thirdly The Terms upon which 't is dispensed are Faith and Repentance 1. Faith Acts 10. 43. To him give all the Prophets witness that through his Name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of Sins Faith is necessary to honour the Mercy of God to own the Surety to consent to his Undertaking to encourage the Creature to look after this Benefit 2. Repentance Which implieth a sorrow for Sin with a serious purpose of forsaking it Sorrow for Sin no Man can seriously desire a Pardon but he that is touched with a sense of his Sin moved and troubled at it And then for purpose of forsaking Ezek. 33. 12. As for the wickedness of the Wicked he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his Wickedness Sin pardoned must be left otherwise a Pardon given to a wicked Man would be a confirmation of his Sin or a concession of leave to sin Well then let us seek Pardon of God in this way And lead us not into Temptation WE are now come to the sixth Petition which is doubly exprest I. Negatively Lead us not into Temptation II. Affirmatively But deliver us from Evil. The first part doth more concern preventing Grace that we may not fall into Evil and the second recovering Grace that if we fall into Evil we may not be overcome of it nor overwhelmed by it but may find deliverance from the Lord. Here we pray 1. that we may not be tempted Or 2. if the Lord see it fit we should be tempted that we may not yield Or 3. if we yield that we may not totally be overcome As the former Petition concerned the guilt of Sin so this concerns the Reign and Power of it In this first Part take notice First Of the Evil deprecated or that which we pray against and that is Temptation Secondly The manner of Deprecation Lead us not In which there is something implied and something formally asked â— Something implied and that is 1. God's Providence when we say to God Lead us not we do acknowledg he hath the disposal of Temptation 2. God's Iustice and our Desert that for former Sins God may suffer this Evil to befal us We have so often provoked the Lord that in a judicial manner he may suffer us to be tempted 3. Our weakness that we are unable to stand under such a condition by our own strength therefore we go to God 2. Something formally asked that is either that God would prevent the Temptation or if he should use such a Dispensation towards us give us Grace to overcome it Of these things I shall speak in their Order First Of the Evil deprecated and from thence observe Doct. 1. That Temptations are a usual Evil wherewith we encounter in the present World Here I shall I. Open the Nature of Temptations II. I shall give you some Observations concerning them III. The Reasons of it I. For the Nature of Temptations Temptation is a proving or making tryal of a Thing or Person what he is and what he will do And thus sometimes we are said to tempt God and at other times God is said to tempt us 1. We are said to tempt God when we put it to the proof whether he will be as good as his word either in the Cominatory or Promissory part thereof Psalm 95. 9. When your Fathers tempted me proved me and saw my Works they tempted God as they put him often upon the trial To note that by the way there 's a two-fold tempting or proving of God either in a way of Duty or Sin In a way of Duty when we wait to see his Promise fulfill'd And so Mal. 3. 10. Prove me now herewith saith the Lord of Hosts I will not open you the Windows of Heaven and pour you out a Blessing come pay your Tithes and Offerings He would have the Portion which belonged to himself and prove me now herewith c. God submits to a Trial from Experience when we wait for the Good promised Thus we try God and try his Word Psal. 18. 30. The Word of the Lord is a tried Word He is a Buckler to all those that trust in him All those which build upon it that wait to see what God will do they will find it upon experience to be accomplished to a tittle Never did any build upon it or wait for the accomplishment of it in vain 2. In a way of Sin Many ways we are said to tempt God When we set God a task in satisfying our Conceits and Carnal Affections Psal. 78. 18. They tempted God in their Hearts by asking Meat for their Lusts And when we will not believe in him but upon Conditions of our own making or when we consine him to our Means or Time or manner of working or would have some extraordinary proof of his Being and Power and Goodness or see whether God will punish us though we sin against him All these ways we are said to tempt God in a way of Sin But that 's not my business now Therefore 2. As Man tempts God so is Man himself tempted Now Man is either tempted First By God Secondly By Satan Thirdly By his own Heart First Man is tempted by God Gen. 22. 1. And it came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham How is God said to tempt Man When he trieth what is in us Deut. 8. 2. To humble thee and to prove thee to know what was in thine Heart either what of Grace or what of Sin is in our Heart 1. What of Grace Thus the Lord tries us by Afflictions by delays of Promises and other means becoming his Holy Nature By Afflictions for they are called a Trial 1 Pet. 1. 6. Now for a Season if need be ye are in heaviness through manifold Temptations The Afflictions of the Gospel are called Temptations And so by delay of Promises God trieth us sometimes by delaying the accomplishment of his Promise as in Psalm 105. 19. Vntil the Time that his Word came the Word of the Lord tried him that is until the Promise was fulfilled and accomplished A Man is put to trial of all the Grace that is in his Heart 2. God tries what Corruption there is in us He trieth this either by offering Occasions or withdrawing his Grace or by permitting Satan to tempt us 1. By offering Occasions in the course of his Providence God puts us upon trial there sometimes by want sometimes by fulness By Want John 6. 5 6. Whence shall we buy Bread that these may eat saith Christ to Philip. And this he said to prove him for he himself knew what he would do Christ will have the weakness of his Followers tried as well as their strength And he trieth his People often by this kind of trial when there are many Mouths and no Meat and a Man cannot see which way his visible Supplies shall
but the Preface and the Conclusion and then you have a full Description of God Look upon him as an Eternal Being whose is the Kingdom absolute Right to dispose of all things in the World backed with All sufficiency and Strength And look upon him as your Father that is in Heaven for Our Father which art in Heaven relates to Christ that is in the heavenly Sanctuary appearing before God for us This will help you in your Conceptions of God that you may not be puzled nor intangled in Prayer 3. It directs us as to the Manner of praying with Reverence with Self-abhorrency and with Submission 1. With Reverence for he is a great powerful and glorious King Thine is the Kingdom Power and Glory O shall we serve God then in a slight and careless Fashion Mal. 1. 8. If ye offer the Blind the Lame and Sick for Sacrifice is it not evil Offer it now unto thy Governour will he be pleased with thee or accept thy Person saith the Lord of Hosts Go to an Earthly King would you come to him with rude Addresses not thinking what to say tumbling out Words without Sence and Understanding And compare this with Vers. 14. saith God when they brought him a sickly Offering I am a great King implying it is a lessening of his Majesty You do as it were dethrone God you put him besides his Kingdom you do not treat him as he doth deserve if you do not come into his presence with a holy Trembling 2. With Self-abhorrency and a Sense of your own Nothingness I observe this because all the Arguments in Prayer are not taken from us but from what is in God from his Attributes Thine is the Kingdom Power and Glory It is a blessed thing to have God's Attributes on our side to take an Argument from God when we can take none from our selves Christ teacheth us to come with Self-denial The two first Words Kingdom and Power shew that all things come from God as the first Cause and the last Word Thine is the Glory shews all must be referred to God as the last End So that Self must be cast out So that all the Reasons of Audience and Acceptance are without us not from within us Dan. 9. 8 9. To us belongeth Confusion of Face to the Lord our God belong Mercies and Forgivenesses Therefore thus it directs us to place all our Confidence in God's fatherly Affection in his Power Goodness and Glory and in his absolute Authority nothing to move God from our selves 3. To come with Submission Thine is the Kingdom that is he hath an absolute Power to dispose of all Blessings therefore it is lawful for him to do with his own as he pleaseth We must come not murmuring or prescribing to God but expecting the fulfilling of our desires as it shall seem good to the Lord according to his Wisdom and Power by which he exercises his Kingdom over all Things as may be for the Glory of his Name Psal. 115. 1. Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name give Glory for thy Mercy and for thy Truths sake Not to satisfy our Revenge not to gratify our private Interest and Passions but Lord for thy Name-sake as may be for manifesting thy Mercy and Truth so do it Not too passionate for our own Ends but confident that God who hath the Kingdom and Government of the World in his own hands will administer and carry on all Things for his own Glory 4. It directs us again what are the Duties of the Persons praying 1. Freely to resign up our selves to God's Service Otherwise we mock God when we acknowledge his Dominion over all the World and we our selves will not be made subject to God Therefore certainly a Man that useth this Prayer Thine is the Kingdom Power and Glory will also say I am thine save me Psal. 119. 94. Let us freely resign up our selves for him to reign over us Can you say with any face to God Thine is the Kingdom yet cherish rebellious Lusts in your own Hearts It 's the most unsuitable thing that can be Thine is the Power He is able to bear you out in his Work however the World rage And therefore we should not think scorn of his Service for his is the Glory The Service of such a King will put honour upon you 2. Another Duty of him that is to pray is to depend upon God's All-sufficiency Shall we speak thus of God and say Lord Thine is the Power and yet not rely upon him He that cannot rely upon him for this Life and the other doth but reproach God when he saith Thine is the Power Thine is the Power yet I will not trust thee but fly to base Shifts as if the Creature had Power and Man had Power as if they could better provide for us then God Therefore we are to live upon him and cast our selves into the Arms of his All-sufficiency 3. Another Duty of them that would pray this Prayer is sincerely to aim at and seek the Lord's Glory in all things Why for the Glory is thine Wilt thou say Thine is the Glory and yet give and take the Glory which is due to God to thy selâ— All is due to him from whom we have received all things But he that prides himself in Gifts and Graces cannot be in good earnest Wilt thou rob God of the Honour and wear it thy self Did â—en believe all Glory belongs to God they would not take Vain-glory to themselves Heroâ— was eloquent and the People cried out The Voice of a God and not of a Man He did but receive this Applause and usurped the Glory due to God and God blasted him Therefore when we pride our selves in our Sufficiencies and abuse our Comforts to our own Lusts we cannot with a good Conscience say Thine is the Glory Forâ—â—ver Amen ALL this is seal'd up to us in the last Word Amen Which may signify either so be it so let it be or so it shall be The Word Amen sometimes is taken Nominally Rev. 3. 14. Thus saith the Amen the faithful and true Witness the beginning of the Creation of God Sometimes it is taken Adverbially and so it signifieth Verily and Truly and so either it may express a great Asseveration or an affectionate Desire Sometimes it expresseth a great and vehement Assâ—veration John 6. 47. Amen Amen Verily Verily I say unto you In other places it is put for an affectionate Desire Ier. 28. 6. When the false Prophets prophesied Peace and Ieremiah pronounced War Amen! the Lord do so the Lord perform thy Words which thou hast prophesied Amen 't is not an Asseveration as confirming the Truth of their Prophecy but expressing his own hearty wish and desire if God saw it good Two things are required in Prayer a fervent Desire and Faith A fervent Desire therefore it is said James 5. 16. The effectual fervent Prayer of a righteous Man availeth much And then Faith James 1.