entered into the World and death by Sin and Vers 19. By one Mans Disobedience many were made Sinners 1 Cor. 15.22 In Adam all die And by this Sin of Adam all were made Sinners by these two wayes 1. By actual participation of his disobedience for we were then in him but that is not all for upon that reason every Man should stand guilty of all the Sins committed by any of his Progenitors since Adam which seems not to agree with the profession of Almighty God Ezek. 18.20 The Son shall not bear the Iniquity of the Father But the case is not alike for Adam was created in integrity and perfection in an ability to perform the Law and so was a fit person to stipulate for his posterity 2 And as he was a person so qualified so the Covenant was made between God and him both for him and his posterity and 3 As we suffer in the penalty of his Disobedience so we had enjoyed the benefit of his Obedience we had come into the World with the same Liberty of Will and Integrity and Perfection of Nature that he had But all these are wanting in any other person in the World 1. A defect of Nature is gone over all that none is fit to stipulate for himself and his posterity 2. No such contract hath been at any time made between God and any other Man 2. By a necessary Consequence for God having justly withdrawn from Man his Blessedness and Perfection and Sin having corrupted and imbased his Nature we by propagation from him derive a corrupted depraved Nature full of impotence and rebellion and disorder Job 14.4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean God was pleased to communicate to Man a being in the Essence of a Man and to communicate unto him a degree of Purity Immortality Wisdom and Perfection beyond the compass of his Natural subsistence but this latter was communicated to him under a covenant which when he broke he lost and not only lost that but even stained and corrupted and imbased that very being that after he had sinned he retained And this is the old Man corrupt according to the deceivable Lusts Ephes 4.22 A body of death Rom. 7.24 And this Depravation of our Nature was followed with the continual Corruption and at last with the dissolution of Nature and that not only in those who had sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression by an actual breach of an express Law Rom. 5.14 But in all that were partakers of Adams corrupted Nature even Infants and so Death passed over all And as thus we partake of Original Sin as well by being virtually actors in it as also by derivation of a corrupted Nature so this corruption of our Nature produceth in all our Lives continued and renewed Actual Sins the conceptions of Lust Jam. 1.15 And these Actual Sins according to the difference of those commands of God which are violated are either Sins of Omission or of Commission and both come under the extent of this Petition by the name of Sins or Trespasses Luk. 11. by the Name of Debts Matt. 6. For we owe unto God Duty and Obedience and every Violation of that duty leaves us so much indebted unto God the least of which is impossible to be paid when once incurred because it is impossible for us to make that not to have been which hath already been and impossible for us by all our future Obedience were it as exact as the will of God requires to expiate a Sin past for still that perfect obedience is no more then we owe we have therein but done our duty and are but unprofitable Servants but if it were possible to think that one act of perfect obedience to God would expiate for any Sin past yet such is the Corruption of our Nature that not one such act can be found there is in our best actions a mixture and adherence of some defect or other that makes it become the subject still of this Petition that which needs Mercy to Pardon and therefore cannot contain Merit to Deserve So then all are concluded under Sin Gal. 3.22 and consequently under Guilt the effect of Sin and consequently under death and a curse the wages of Sin And this Sin guilt and curse is so closely bound to every one of Adams posterity that there is no possibility in the best of them to deliver themselves from it therefore O Lord teach us to pray Forgive us Forgiveness is an act of Free Grace whereby our offended God freely and without any Merit of ours remits the Sin the Guilt and Punishment the Person offended is he only that can forgive the rule was true though misapplyed Mar. 2.7 Who can forgive Sins but God only and Forgiveness is an act of most free Mercy and nothing of Merit in the person forgiven Isa 43.25 I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my own sake and will not remember thy Sins Misery which is the effect of Sin is the Object of Mercy but it is not the Desert of it especially when that very Misery under which we are brought by Sin is a Misery wilfully contracted by our selves and not only so but is still a sinning Misery a Misery accompanied with stupidity and senslessness with aversion opposition against that God and that very Mercy that should deliver us God commends the freeness and fulness of his Goodness to us by taking that season to be Merciful when our condition is most Miserable not because our misery deserves his pity Ezek. 16.6 I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood Live Yea I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood Live This Forgiveness is thus wrought Man that was infinitely bound to love and obey the Author of his Being most unrgatefully and unnecessarily sinned against him and thereby deservedly incurred the everlasting curse of the most Just and True God and forfeited his being yet though Man had destroyed himself Almighty God of his own Free Will and without any other Motive and by his own Infinite Wisdom contrived a way whereby his most exact Truth and Justice might be satisfied and yet his creature saved and his Mercy and Goodness might be infinitely evidenced unto Men and Angels By an Everlasting Covenant between the Father and the Son the Son he must assume our Nature and offer it up as One Sacrifice for Sin for ever Heb. 10.12 This was that Mystery hid from Ages and Generations the Mystery that the Angels desire to look into 1 Pet. 1.12 The Great Mystery of Godliness God manifested in the Flesh 1 Tim. 3.16 The great End of the Creation of Man And by this Sacrifice thus freely given by our offended Lord we have Redemption even the Remission of our sins Ephes 1.7 Colos 1.14 And Pardon thus freely given by the Father and yet thus dearly bought by the Son is with abundance of Love and Grace proclaimed and tendred unto all in all the World
its proper Actions so doth the Sins and Defilements and Guilt the result of it upon the Soul disable it in its Works and Offices and this is the evidence of it Every thing is then in its right Constitution when it is in that state that the Wise God of Nature ordered it and so far as it declines from that position or state so far forth it looseth its Usefulness and proper Happiness and therefore it is consequently evident that every thing that loseth its Usefulness and Happiness is out of that Constitution that God Almighty meant for it and therefore in as much as apparently all Sin doth introduce this Disorder and Irregularity it is plain that Mankind thereby is in another condition than God at first made him and intended he should be in Hence therefore It is apparent That all Sin is against Nature and a Violation and Breach even of the Law and Order of Nature which is nothing else but the Station Course and Frame that God with most Admirable Wisdom and Goodness framed for Man Man stands in a double subordination 1. A Subordination within himself viz. Of the Faculties inferiour to the Superiour And 2. A Subordination to something without himself viz. To the Will of his Creator which though it seems extrinsecal yet in truth it is essential and necessary The Internal Subordination is of the inferiour parts and faculties to the Superiour viz. The Sensual Appetite and Passions to Reason and to Judgment God hath committed the Body of Man and those Faculties that are subservient to it unto the Government of the Light of Judgment and Understanding that he hath put into the Soul and because as it is most just that the Soul and its Superiour Faculties should be subordinate to the Will and Direction of God so the Soul stands in need of that Direction in order to the Government of his little Province committed to him and therefore as it happens in Government when the People break the subordination to the Intermediate Magistrate or the Intermediate Magistrates break the subordination to the Supream presently there insues Disorder and Mischief and Confusion so when the Body or those Faculties that are exercised in order to it as the natural Lusts and inclinations of the Body or those that result much from it as the Passions prevail upon the Judgment or Reason either by their Violence or want of due Vigilance and Severity in the Soul in its Administration or if the Reason and Judgment do neglect or cross the Commands of God or make not use of the Divine Directions to assist and guide her in her Administration this is Sin and presently brings Confusion and Disorder and Discomposure in the whole man and makes it Unserviceable for the Ends to which it was ordained Of Self-Denial 1. GOd Almighty hath substituted the Soul of Man as his Deputy or Vieegerent in that Province which is committed to him and expects an Account from the Soul at his return or sooner how he hath managed that Province or petty Dominion committed to him 2. The Province or Territory committed to the management of the Soul are his Body and those Affections and Inclinations incident to it and the Place Condition Relation Abilities and opportunities put into his hand by Providence and Divine dispensation together with that Body in this World 3. The end of this Substitution of the Soul in this Province is first the Improvement of the Revenue of this Principle viz. The Glory of his Name Secondly The improvement of the perfection and advantage of the Soul the perfecting of the Soul thereby in a Conformity to his Masters will and fitting of it self and the Body with it for a more noble and divine condition and imployment 4. The Breach of that Trust committed to the Soul consists either in the want of that due Improvement of the Province committed to the Souls Vicegerency according to the Advantages that it hath which is the Case of the unprofitable Servant that did not mis-imploy his Talent but did not Improve it to his Masters Advantage or which is worse Mis-government and Misimployment of the Province committed to its Charge to the disadvantage of the Soveraign and it self 5. The Mis-government of our Province consists principally in one of these particulars viz. Either in the original and primary Defection of the Soul it self in its Commands and Proceedings whereby it Studieth Practiseth and Commands Originally and Primarily against its Principal and this is Devilish or Secondly in the want of Exercise of a due Superintendency over its Province whereby the Subjects which should be under its Rule and Superintendency are not kept in their due Subjection neither to the Vicegerent nor to the Soveraign but rebell and by their Rebellion either wholly cast off their Vicegerent and Soveraign together or by degrees draw over the Vicegerent or Deputy to their Defection 6. The great Engins of this Defection are the Corrupt Inclinations of the sensual Appetite Lusts and Passions of the Body and especially those which are the great Favorites and most powerful in respect of their Congruity to the Natural Inclinations and temper or rather distemper of the Body or those Temptations which the World offers especially such as are most incident to the Place Station Relation or Condition wherein we stand in the World The former come under the name of the Lust of the Flesh the latter under the name of the Lusts of the Eye and Pride of Life 7. Those Lusts and Temptations are the Instruments in the hand of Satan either by Solicitation to Corrupt or by Power to oppose the Vicegerency of the Soul under God and to bring it over by Allurements or Force to a Defection from him and in both ways fight against the Soveraignty of God and consequently his Glory and against the Perfection of the Soul and consequently its Happiness 8. Those Lusts are of greatest Power that have the greatest dearness to the Body either in respect of Age Complexion Inclination Condition or Station and therefore of greatest Danger to the Soul and fight against it with greatest Advantage In a young Man or a strong sanguine Complexion Luxury Wantonness and Uncleanness are most ordinarily most prevalent In an old or Melancholy Man Covetousness In a middle Aged or Cholerick Man Anger Ambition Violence In a Rich or Powerful Man Oppression Disdain Pride In a Poor Man Discontent Rapin. And there is scarce any Man but hath some Beloved Lust or Sin that he will be content to sell all the rest of his Lusts for the enjoyment of that tempt him to a Lust not suitable to his Complexion Age or Condition he will easily reject it but if it be a Lust suitable to his Age Complexion or Condition he will hardly or with difficulty enough refuse it 9. As every Lust suitable to our Age Complexion or Condition is of greatest power and consequently of greatest Danger so every such Lust once entertained in Practice becomes of
come before thee and beg thee to pardon my Sins assuredly trusting that thou that hast created in me a mind of Mercy and Forgiveness unto others wilt shew thy self a God of Mercy and Pardon unto me 6. Forgive us for we forgive It is true our Pardon of others deserves not thy Mercy nor can it make thee a debtor unto us but Bountiful Lord thou hast been pleased in Christ in whom all thy Promises are Yea and Amen by thine own free Promise to engage thy self unto thy creature Psal 18.25 That with the merciful thou wilt shew thy self merciful Matt. 5.7 That the merciful shall obtain Mercy Mat. 6.14 That if we forgive men their Trespasses thou wilt forgive us and these Promises of thine freely and undeservedly made by thee I lay before thee when I beg my Pardon in Jesus Christ thereby to strengthen my Soul in thy Goodness in the free remission of all my Sins To conclude In this Petition the Soul breathes out such thoughts as these O Lord I confess before thee I am a sinful creature I have a sinful and polluted Nature a Body of sin and death and this sinful Nature sends forth through all my Thoughts Words and Actions foul and filthy streams in every moment of my Life and if thou shouldest pass by all the sins of my Nature and Life unto this day and shouldest call me to an account for my errors since I last begged my Pardon there were guilt enough left to press me down to the lowest Hell And this guilt of the least of any of my sins as it is more than I am able to answer so it is more than I am able to expiate there is no escaping but by thy free Pardon and that Pardon I beg of thee in the Name and Righteousness and Promise of thy Son who knew all thy mind and taught me to seek my Pardon as often as to seek my daily bread And in confidence only of that free Mercy of thine I beseech thee pardon me and as I beg the Pardon of my sins in general so in special I beg the Pardon of those Sins which I committed since thy last act of remission granted and manifested and ratified unto me this or that neglect of my Duty to thee or my neighbour this or that sinful proud unclean vain Thought which hath stained my Soul and grieved thy Spirit and polluted or weakned my Conscience this or that uncharitable or malicious or unseemly or vain Word this or that unjust or unbecoming or unchristian or ungodly Action every one of these leaves a spot in my Soul which nothing but the Blood of Christ and thy Free Grace can take away It leaves a Disease a Weakness a Wound in my Soul which nothing but thy Free Spirit can heal and recover And though I know that my greatest mercy to others cannot merit mercy from thee because that mercy is but my duty and a duty mingled in the performance of it with many of my own imperfections which stand in need of thy mercy to pardon it and that little good that is in it is not my own but the work of thy Grace as free as thy Pardon yet it is an evidence to me that thou wilt be merciful unto me in that thou hast contrary to my own nature wrought a merciful temper in my heart to others the same mind that was in thy Son and therefore I am humbly confident that thou hast given me that Spirit of thy Son and consequently the relation and priviledge of a Son that in as much as thou hast given me a heart to pardon others thou wilt make good thy Promise of Mercy and Pardon unto me I make mention of my remission of others not as the merit of thy forgiving of me but thereby to strengthen my Faith and to lay hold of thy Promise made in and by thy Son that if we forgive Men their offences thou wilt also forgive us And this I beg not to make room for new offences by pardoning the old nor to continue in sin that Grace may abound but with a resolution to forsake my sins as well as to confess them and not turn again to folly strengthen me so with thy Grace that as thou hast now cleansed my Soul from my past sins and spots so I may keep my self from mine Iniquity that I may live more to thy Honour that I may walk with more Vigilance that I may every day find my account less and thy Spirit and Grace more and more effectual in me to conform me to the Will and Example of thy Son in all Holiness and Blamelessness of mind and life and to that end Lead us not into Temptation c. This Petition directs us to pray for 1 Preventing Mercy Lead us not into Temptation 2 Delivering Mercy but deliver us from Evil. Keep us from falling into Evil but if we fall into it deliver us from it The Former part wherein is considerable 1. What is meant by Temptation 2. What to lead into Temptation Temptation may be understood 1 for an Active Solicitation unto Evil of Sin this is done either by the Devil thus our Saviour was led by the Spirit into the Wilderness to be tempted of the Devil Matt. 4.1 And therefore he is often called the Tempter who being a Spirit is by the advantage of his Nature and by the permission of God able to mingle himself so with our Souls and faculties that he can immediately solicite unto Evil. Thus he mingled himself with the Spirits of the Prophets of Ahab and became a lying Spirit in their Mouths 1 Kings 22.21 Thus he mingled himself with the Spirit of Judas tempting him to betray Christ Luke 22.7 with the spirit of Ananias Act. 5.3 Why hath Satan filled thy Heart or it is done by Evil Men either by their Counsels Perswasions or Examples or by our own corrupt hearts James 1.14 Every Man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own Lusts and inticed Our corrupt and sinful flesh breathes and evaporates into our Souls those ill and filthy vapors which infect and disorder and seduce it from God the Law of our Members bringing us into captivity to the Law of sin Rom. 7.23 2. For that Objective Temptation or the Object from whence occasionally Temptation ariseth And thus almost every Object of our sense is a Temptation not that there is any proper active motion or action of the Object to perswade to sin but the corruption of our sensual Nature meeting with such an Object acts amiss upon it and so it becomes a Temptation to sin and especially if the Object be such as bears a disproportion to our enjoyment of it The beauty of the Apple was a Temptation to Eve the wedge of Gold and the Babylonish Garment to Achan Naboths Vineyard to Ahab Bathsheba to David yet in these the Objects were innocent and had in themselves no active solicitation to Evil but because they were seemingly good yet prohibited corrupted
us to think that if the Inferiour Animals have a kind of Felicity or Happiness attending their being and suitable to it that much more Man the nobler being should not be destitute of any Happiness attending his being and suitable to it 3. But rather consequently that Man being the nobler Creature should not only have an Happiness as well as Inferiour Animals but he should have it placed in some more Noble and Excellent rank and kind than that wherein the Brutes have their Happiness placed 4. It is plain that the Inferiour Animals have a Happiness or Felicity proportionate to their Nature and Fabrick which as they exceedingly desire so they do in a great measure Enjoy namely a sensible Good answering their sensible Appetite Every thing hath Organs and Instruments answerring to the Use and Convenience of their Faculties Organs for their Sense and Local motion and for their Feeding for their Generation of their kind Every thing hath its peculiar Instincts and Connatural Artifices and Energies for the Exercises of their Organs and Faculties for their Preservation and Nourishment Every thing hath a supply of External Objects answering those Faculties Desires and Instincts Meats proper for their Nourishment Places proper for their Repose difference of Sexes in their several kinds answering their Procreative Appetite And most commonly such a proportion of Health and Integrity of Nature as goes a long to that period of time allotted for their duration and in default thereof they are for the most part furnished with Medicines naturally provided for them which they naturally know and use so that they seem to want nothing that is necessary to the complement of a Sensible Felicity It is true they are in a great measure Subjected to the Dominion of Mankind which is sometimes over severely exercised but then they have the Benefit of Supplies from them Protection under them and if they meet not with Masters more unreasonable than themselves they find Moderation from them They are also exposed to the Rapine one of another the weaker Beasts Birds and Fishes being commonly the prey of the greater but yet they are commonly endued with Nimbleness v. Lactant. de Opific Dei c. 2. Artifices or Shifts to avoid their Adversaries But be these what Abatements of their Sensible Happiness may be yet they have certain Negative Advantages that conduce very much to their Happiness or at least remove very much of what might abate it and thereby render their fruition more free and perfect and uninterrupted for instance they seem to have no Anticipations or Fear of Death as a common Evil incident to their nature They have no Anticipations of Dangers till they immediately present themselves unto them They have no great sense or apprehensions of any thing better than what at present they enjoy They are not under the Obligation of any Law or under the Sense of any such thing and consequently the Sincereness of what they enjoy not interrupted by the strokes of Conscience under a sense of deviation from Duty or Guilt 5. It is therefore plain that if the Humane Nature have no greater or better Happiness than what is accommodate only to a Sensible Nature they have no greater Happiness than the Beasts have which is not reasonable to be supposed for a Nature so far exceeding them 6. Farther yet if the Humane Nature were not under a capacity of a greater Happiness than what is terminated in Sense mankind were much more Vnhappy than the basest Animal and the more Excellent the Humane Nature is above the Beasts nay the more excellent any one individual of the Humane kind were above another the more miserable he were and the more uncapable of being in any measure happy for the more Wise and Sagacious any man were the more he must needs be sensible of Death which sense would sower all the Happiness of a sensible Good the more sensible he must needs be not only of the shortness and uncertainty of sensible Enjoyments but also of their Poorness Emptiness Insufficiency Dissatisfactoriness It is evident that a Fool sets a greater rate upon a Sensible Good than a Man truly Wise and consequently the Fool could be the only man capable of Happiness for it is most certain that according to the measure of the Esteem that any man hath of any good he enjoys such is the measure of his Happiness in that Enjoyment Since the Happiness is somewhat that is intrinsecal to the Sense or Mind that enjoys it A thing really Good can never make that man Happy who is under a Sense of Evil or Inconvenience by that enjoyment so long as he is under that sense Since therefore it is preposterous and unreasonable to suppose that Man the best of terrestrial Creatures and Wise men the best of men should be Excluded from at least an equal degree of Happiness with the Beasts that perish and since it must needs be that a bare Sensible Good can never communicate to a man an Equal degree of Happiness with a Beast nor to a Wise man an Equal degree of Happines with a Fool it remains there must needs in common reason be some other subject wherein the Happiness of a Man of a Wise Man must consist that is not barely Sensible Good 7. All the good things of this Life they are but Sensible Goods and therefore they cannot be the true matter of that Happiness which we may reasonably think belongs to the reasonable Nature as such the former will appear by an induction of particulars which I shall pursue in order with the particular instances of their Insufficiencies to make up a true Happiness to the Reasonable Nature as well as that general that they are but Sensible Goods and meerly accommodated to a Sensible Life and Nature 1. Life it self is not as such a sufficient constituent of Happiness and the Instance is Evident because it is possible that Life it self may be Miserable there may be Life where there is Sickness Pain Disgrace Poverty and all those External Occurrences that may render life Grievous and Burthensome Life may indeed be the Subject of Happiness when it hath all those contributions that concur to make it such but Life alone and as such cannot be Happiness because there may be a Miserable Life 2. Those Bona Corporis or Compositi the Goods of the Body are not sufficient to make up a suitable Happiness to the Reasonable Nature as Health Strength for the Beasts themselves enjoy this and for the most part the Brutes enjoy a greater measure of these than Mankind and besides still there is that which is like the Worm at the root of the Gourd that spoils the Happiness that must arise from it viz. Mortality and Death which will certainly pull down this Tabernacle and Man hath an unintermitted Pre-apprehension of it which sowers the very enjoyment it self And in this as hath been said the Beasts that perish have a pre-eminence over Mankind for though both are
and interweaving of the Actions and Motions of one Creature with another by which conjunctures though to us accidental he brings about most Wise and various Events according to his own Counsel So that while Natural Agents move necessarily according to their Natures Voluntary Agents move freely according to their liberty Contingent Agents move and are moved contingently yet every one of them apart and all of them together are guided and managed to the most infallible fulfilling of his most wise and free Counsel And by this Kingdom all things in the World though to us seemingly casual and confused are led to Ends and by Means which they themselves neither see nor intend But the same is most admirably Evinced and Discovered in the Sacred History wherein we see how his determinate and positive Counsels are most infallibly and yet most strangely brought about through divers varieties of Actions and Events seemingly most casual sometimes expresly contrary but always besides the Minds Intentions or Designs of the Instruments and Means as is evident among divers others so especially in these viz. that Counsel of God Gen. 15.13 and the strange conjunctures that were used to effect it that hapned from the dislike that grew between Joseph and his Brethren till the going of Jacob into Egypt and the Prophesie of Gen. 15.16 And the strange varieties that were used to fulfil it from the time that the Egyptian King grew jealous of them till their coming into Canaan That ever to be admired Connsel and Promise of God of sending Christ and his suffering for Mankind first manifested in Paradise Gen. 3.15 And all the several particular Predictions of him and concerning him and the most wonderful Connexion of Millions of Events many of them seemingly inconsiderable all of them seemingly casual through the whole series of 4000 years led on to the fulfilling of it even from the sin of Adam till the death of Christ and the Revelation of that Mercy for the sake of which the World was created To these may be added the Counsels and Prophesies of the Rejection of the Jews the desolation of the Temple the Conversion of the Gentiles for the most certain fulfilling whereof it is most conspicuous that all the Conjunctures of Natural Voluntary casual Agents and Events were most infallibly and certainly managed by the most powerful hand of God And this Kingdom is not that which is principally intended in this Petition for this Kingdom hath been and is come Ever since the Creation only it should be our desire that the true and wise knowledg and observation of this Kingdom may enter into the hearts of all men that thereby we may admire and adore his Wisdom and Power in the governing and disposing of all things that we may depend upon his All-sufficiency submit unto the Dispensations of this Government attribute all the Successes Events and Occurrences in the World to his Justice Power and Providence 2. His Kingdom over his Reasonable Creatures Men and Angels which though they are under the general Kingdom of his Providence in the consideration above mentioned yet they are under a more especial Kingdome then other Creatures To these he hath given Understanding and Will and so they are capable not only of a subjection to the Will of his Counsel as they are Creatures but of an Active Obedience to the Will of his Command as they are reasonable Creatures and so are subjects of his Justice in Rewards and Punishments as well as of his Power And in reference to this Kingdom it is said Psal 89.14 Justice and Judgment are the habitation of his Throne And Psal 45.6 The Seepter of his Kingdom is a right Scepter Now the Administration of this Kingdom consisteth especially in these things 1. In giving the Children of Men a Law to be their Rule 2. In dispensing Rewards and Punishments according to the obedience or disobedience of this Law 3. In Protection 1. As touching the Law given to Man In the first Creation of Man he did acquaint Man with his Will and Mind and surely by some special Manifestation of it did reveal that Law unto him which should be a Rule of Righteousness to him and all his posterity And as he gave to all things propensions inclinations and motions suitable to the several degrees of their beings so to Man he gave a Law or Rule suitable to his Nature and by a Manifestation convenient for the condition of his Nature And though Man by his Fall introduced that disorder and disconformity to that Law whereby he became unable to keep it yet many of those Principles of Righteousness which God had manifested unto him he retained in his knowledge and traduced to his posterity And these as they grew corrupted by the corruption of our Nature and forgotten so he did re-imprint them upon men by the several Acts of his Providence Sometimes by new publication of his Law unto some persons which was by that means traduced over to divers others thus the Law given to Noah the Law given to the Jewes was questionless propagated and derived over to others by tradition and relation Sometimes by inlightning and exciting men of Eminence as divers of the Heathen Law-givers who were Eminent in their generations but most ordinarily and universally sending down into the Consciences of men some discoveries of his Will and inclinations to acknowledg them and to obey them Rom. 2.15 a Law written in their Hearts their Consciences also bearing witness So that there can scarcely be found any time or person wherein God's Providence did not by some of these wayes convey at least some Directions of Righteousness which should be the Rule by which they should live and by which they should be judged So that they that have sinned without the Law should perish without the Law and they that have sinned in the Law should be judged by the Law Rom. 2.12 that is Somewhat of the Will of God touching Righteousness is derived to all men though to some more to some less to some by a more clear Dispensation to some by a more obscure Dispensation yet such is the Exact Justice of God that though he might Judge all Mankind according to the Exactest Rule of his Law given to Man even in his Innocency yet that Every Mouth may be stopped he will Judge them according to so much of his Law as he hath communicated to them He will not Judge the Heathen that never heard of the Law of God so clearly published to the Jewes by that Law but by that manifestation or conviction of Righteousness that he hath Thus if he sin he shall be condemned without the Law that is without calling in any other Law to Judge him by then that Law which hath been in some measure declared unto him 2. As the Administration of this Kingdom over men is by giving them a Law so there is likewise an Execution of that Law by Rewards of Obedience and by Punishments of Disobedience And
his Lusts And this variety may arise by the difference of stations or degrees that may be but Bread for Solomon's Table which may be Quails for a meaner person the difference of relations and dependencies the difference of tempers and constitutions of body the difference of seasons and occurrences There may be a Season when our Lord gives us a commission to eat whatsoever our Soul desireth so it be done before the Lord and as in his presence Deut. 14.26 And there is a Season when slaying of Oxen and killing Sheep and eating Flesh is an iniquity not to be purged Isa 22.12 13 14. The Wise God that ordereth and disposeth all times and persons and circumstances doth with the same Wisdom fit them with suitable Concomitants and Adjuncts He hath made every thing beautiful in its time Eccles 3.11 But besides this Bread for our Bodies there is Bread for our Souls which comes under this Petition The Bread of Life and the Water of Life John 6.33 this is the Life of our Souls And as much as the Good and Support and Life of our Souls is of more concernment to us than the Life of our Bodies so is the Bread of our Souls of more concernment for us to ask than the Bread of our Bodies this is Christ John 6.34 I am the Bread of Life he that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst Bread like the Widows Barrel of Meal that shall never diminish unto all Eternity This Bread our Lord hath been pleased already to give us Christ and his fulness and nothing is wanting if we have but a hand to receive it And this Bread we eat when we believe the Truth of God concerning him when we often contemplate upon the Mercy of God in giving him and upon that mighty Salvation which in him he hath given us when we have often recourse unto him for Grace and Mercy when we carry unto him all our stock of Love and Admiration and Dependence and Recumbence and Resolution of Spirit And here we find Bread for our Souls in the most comprehensive latitude accommodate to every condition of the Soul Here is Bread to feed and to strengthen it the Grace and Spirit of Christ Physick to cure and recover it the Satisfaction and Merit of Christ Varieties to feast and to refresh it the Promises of God Joy in believing unspeakable and full of Glory Bread that will satisfie yet never satiate but the more we feed upon him the greater is our plenty and the better our stomach To conclude then the whole consideration of this Petition When I pray for my daily Bread my Soul doth or should run out into such thoughts as these O Lord thou did'st at first freely give me my Being I could not deserve it when I was not The same Title that I have to my Being I have to my Preservation and Support of my Being it is still free gift and therefore I come to thee for my Bread upon no other terms than as a poor Beggar to a most bountiful Lord. And because thou hast commanded me to cast my care upon thee therefore I seek my Bread of thee for this day which thou hast hitherto lent me I desire to trust thee with my Portion and it is my happiness that my Portion is not in my own hands but in thine Give therefore I pray thee Bread for this day and when to morrow comes I will beg Bread of thee for to morrow and if thou givest me this day supplies beyond the expence of this day I will use it thankfully and nevertheless dependingly for I will renew my Petition for my daily Bread still It is thy blessing that gives my Bread power to nourish me And that which is Bread to day and sufficient for to morrow may without thy blessing upon it like the Israelites Manna kept beyond thy Command be Worms to morrow And because thou hast promised that verily I shall be fed Psal 37.3 upon that promise of thine I beg food and cloathing convenient for me If thou givest me no more or not so much give me Contentedness and Thankfulness and if thou givest me more give me Thankfulness for it Sobriety in the use of it and Liberality in the dispencing of it In giving me but Enough I am Steward for my self and in giving me more than Enough I am but a Steward of that abundance for others But above all Ever give me of the Bread of Life that whilest my Body is fed my Soul may not be starved either for want of that Everlasting Bread or for want of an appetite to it And forgive us our Debts Matt. 6. Our Sins Luk. 11. Sins We are all under the guilt of sin No man lives and sins not Eccles 7.20 If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves 1 John 1.8 God made Man Righteous at first and gave him a Righteous Law and in as much as Man owed an infinite subjection to the Authour of his Being he owed an Exact Obedience to the Law of his Maker yet God was pleased to give him this Law not only as the Rule of his Obedience but as a Covenant of Life and of Death viz. that so long as he and his Seed should observe that Law so long they should enjoy Blessedness and Immortality and if they should break any part of that Law they should die the death The first man made a stipulation for himself and his Posterity and this was but just for he had in himself the Race of all Mankind all succeeding Generations are but pieces of Adam who had not nor could have their Being but from him and so it was but Reasonable and Just for him to contract for all his Posterity And as it was just in respect of the Person contracting so it was just in respect of the Manner of the Contract the Law that was his covenant was a just and righteous Law a Law sutable to the indowments and power of his Nature Again the Blessedness which by his obedience he was to hold was not of his own creating nor obtaining it was the free gift of God and it is but reasonable that the Lord of this gift might give it in what manner he pleased and it could not be unjust that the Lord that gave him this Blessedness should give it him under what Conditions he pleased but he gave it him under most reasonable and just Conditions viz. an Obedience to a most just and reasonable Law which suited with the ability and perfection of his Nature and therefore when upon the breach of Covenant by Man he withdrew that blessedness from him and his posterity he did no more than what was most just for him to do And thus we stand Guilty of that Sin which our first Father committed and are deprived of that Blessedness and Life which our first Father had and the Privation of that Blessedness and Immortality is Death Rom. 5.12 By one Man sin