and that which is infinite eternall and incorruptible Woe bee unto that man that shall be thus audaciously blasphemous as to say hee hath merited any thing but condemnation For that man appearing before God and wanting his wedding garment the righteousnesse of Jesus shall surely be stripped naked and his nakednesse shall be seene of men and Angels But thou wilt enquire If man bee not able to obey the Law how can God in his justice give him a Law or correct him for the breach thereof To the first I answer thee out of naturall reason Although thou hast rendered thy selfe unable to obey what injustice is it with God to exact thy obediēce for he created thee able to obey whatsoever hee required of thee Is it not so amongst the sonnes of men in civill actions but what is more God giveth thee although thou be unable a law to square thy life by for three causes Vt scias quid acceperis ut videas quid amiseris ut intelligas unde repetendum sit quod amiseris and as he requireth the obedience of his law of thee for these 3 causes so doth he also correct the breach therof for 3 causes 1. Ad ostētationē debitae miseriae 2 ad emendationem labilis vitae And 3. ad exercitationē necessariae patientiae Vse Since in the tenour of the Law and the Gospell the revealed will of God is shut up as in a treasury or store-house Why is it that man delights in ignorance for from the knowledge of the will of God in these there ariseth light to the understanding and sanctification to the affections If it bee so why then doth the Church of Rome inhibit her followers the reading of the Scriptures and injoyne to them an implicite faith Is this any thing else but to make the blinde lead the blinde that both may fall or is it any thing else but to shut up the key of knowledge and neither enter themselves into the kingdome of God nor suffer others to enter And finally is this any thing else but to keep captive in chaines of darknesse the poore people making them by the tradition of men to account the will of God of no effect The Lord open their eyes to see the vanity of the way wherein they walke and the Lord establish our hearts in the obedience of the light revealed to us lest this be our condemnation that light hath shined but wee have continued contemners of the light because our workes were evill The second thing offered to our consideration is what are the points of his revealed will and what are the duties which hee requireth to bee done of us To this I answer It were a tedious worke to runne over all the duties of a Christian required of him in this word yet for an instance the word of God requireth of us 1. The knowledge of Gods will 2. Faith in his word 3. Obedience to the word beleeved 4. Suffering for the testimony thereof when wee shall be called to it 5. And finally an hungring after our dissolution because we cannot get these things done I say first God requireth of us to know him for thus it is written This is life everlasting to know thee to bee the onely true God And againe I have decreed to know nothing but Iesus Christ and him crucified But thou wilt say how shall I know God I answer God is knowne by nature for the naturall man although hee know not the true God yet by naturall knowledge hee propoundeth something to himselfe for a God And this shall serve for a witnesse against him for whilst by nature hee doth the things of the Law he becommeth a law to himselfe By his workes God also is knowne For the invisible things of him that is his eternall power and Godhead are knowne in the workes of his hands Yet this is not sufficient to salvation For the more a man knoweth of the works except hee bee sanctified the more hee evanisheth in the vanity of his owne imaginations and his foolish heart is the more replenished with darknesse By his word hee is knowne for in the Law hee sheweth what wee ought to doe And in the gospell what we should beleeve For the Law was but a pedagogue to Jesus Christ and all the ceremonies figures and types thereof were but shadowes of things to come the body was Jesus Christ and whosoever in his difficulty hath not recourse to the Law and to the testimony it is because there is neither light nor life in him By grace God is knowne for all the knowledge that man can have of God either from the Law or from the Gospell is in vaine unlesse our hearts bee inclined by the spirit of grace to obey or beleeve for it is written As many as are lead by the Spirit of God are the Sonnes of God and heires of glory By glory wee shall know him fully for here wee know but in part but there we shall see as wee are seene and know as wee are knowne being exchanged to his image from glory to glory by the spirit of the Lord. The second thing that God in his word willeth us to do is to beleeve in him for there is a faith that beleeveth God to be there is a faith that beleeveth God to bee true and there is a faith that beleeveth in God Every faith is not a saving faith this onely saveth when we beleeve in God and rest upon him for the life of our bodies saying Give us this day our daily bread And for the life of our soules saying Forgive us our sinnes So that in faith there must bee three things Sensus assensus appropriatio sense assent and appropriation Now it is the applying faith that saves for it is written Thy faith hath made thee whole The third thing God requireth of us in his word is a sanctified obedience of that which we know and beleeve For it is written This is the will of God even your sanctification Againe Be ye holy as I am holy who hath called you And againe Let your light so shine before men c. For it is not hee who cryeth Lord Lord that shall enter into the Kingdome of heaven but hee that knoweth the will of my Father and doth it It is the will of God that wee suffer for him for it is written Let him that would follow me deny himselfe and take up his crosse and follow mee Brethren this is a lesson the hardest of all for man to learn concerning God for man would learne to know God out of curiosity that he might dispute and reason concerning him Man would beleeve both Gods word and Gods worke out of necessity when they cannot better do Like Pharaoh and his Magicians confessing the finger of God Man also out of custome for civill shame will some time obey God for feare of punishment more then for filiall affectiō but let these all be knit together they shall not so evidently demonstrate the
his young infant to come the child cannot goe but creepeth to him He calleth on him by his name the child cannot speake but he bableth Hee biddeth him stand upright and alone but he straight fals Yet the father doth not measure his obedience by the perfection but by the endeavour It is so with God Hee calleth upon us to come to him wee cannot come unlesse wee bee drawne He biddeth us stand stedfast but wee fall till he strengthen us He biddeth us call upon him but wee cannot till he first call upon us and say as to Mary Mary then straight we answere him Rabony Finally hee biddeth us doe his will on earth as it is in heaven and be perfect as he is perfect But we cannot till he first give us the thing that he craveth of us What shall wee then doe shall wee languish because wee are weake or retire because we are faint No let us creepe and bable and struggle We are acceptable not because of our practise but because of our endeavour Not because of our action but because of our affection Coll. 3.2 LECT 10. Give us this day c. HAving spoken of the first three Petitions which concerne the honour and glory of God It resteth now that we looke on those Petitions which concern man and his utility either bodily or spiritually It is bodily wants are poured out here in this Petition and the support and reliefe thereof petitioned In handling hereof wee shall observe the very same order and Method which we observed in the former For first we will looke to the coherence of this Petition and next to the matter comprehended therein The coherence is remarkable For the Petition lookes with a twofold aspect viz. a reference to the former Petitions and a relation to the ensuing The reference it hath to the first three Petitions is that it serves for a touchstone to try the right and true title which wee have to the things of this life For wee live in a world wherein there is nothing which men doe so much affect as plenty and abundance And there is no man so much abhorred and despised as the poore man and hee that wants Howsoever it be absolutely true that the felicity of man consists not in the possession of the earth or earthly things for the Kingdome of God standeth neither in Meat Drinke nor Apparrell but in Righteousnesse peace and joy in the Holy Ghost But wouldest thou know O man whether thou hast a true title and right to the things that thou possessest or not and wouldst thou know whether or not thou enjoyest and brookes them with a good conscience Then for thy resolution looke to the first three Petitions and see how farre they have taken root in thy heart and how farre thy heart hath beene set on their obedience So farre thou hast right and true title to the things of this life and no farther For I will assure thee unlesse Gods honour hath beene deare to thee and dearer then thy owne Unlesse Gods Kingdome hath beene dearer to thee then all the world besides Yea and all the world in thy accompt hath beene but losse to thee in respect of it And finally unlesse Gods will have beene so deare to thee that thou hast denyed thy selfe and undergone the Crosse patiently captivating thy will to Gods I will tell thee thus much an use of the creatures of God thou mayest have had but a true title or right to them thou never hadst And to speake it in one word an usurper of Gods creatures thou maist bee but a true owner thou never wast No I must tell thee more There is never a bitt of bread that goeth downe into thy belly nor one drop of water that goeth into thy mouth but shall one day accuse thee of the wrong and tyranny that thou hast done unlesse thou canst shew by thy charter that thou art a member of Gods Kingdome And that for thy Reddendo thou hast honored his name and captivated thy will to his obedience For as all things are ours whilst wee are Christs So without Christ nothing in the world is ours No they are so farre from being ours that they sigh and groane against us Rom. 8. And woe bee to us if when they sigh against us wee cannot sigh for our selves But this is not all For as this hath a respect to the former Petitions by way of tryall so doth it also carry a reference and relation to the subsequent and that more wonderfull and observable then the former For it may bee enquired whence it commeth that hee who was the Son of God and thought it no robbery to bee made equall with God himselfe Againe whence it was that he who laid downe the life of his body that hee might save the life of our soules And finally whence it comes that hee who did forbid us to care what wee should eate or what apparrell we should put on should in this measure be so carefull of our bodies and the naturall life thereof that he should preferre a petition concerning the body before that which concerneth the soule Is not the soule of much more worth then the body and are not the things that concerne the soule of farre greater excellencie then those which concerne the body How is it then that hee who is the Prince of our salvation should bee thus preposterous in his Alphabet as to recommend to us the care of our bodies before the care of our soules and the worth of a peece of bread before the worth of the remission of our sinnes To this I answer Wisdome is justified of all her children and therefore it becomes us not to judge any thing before the time for hee is the wisdome of the Father who hath thus taught us and as there was no iniquity found in his wayes so there was no guile found in his tongue Hee hath then suffered us to prefixe the Petition which concerneth our body before those that concerne our soule not for dignities but for necessities sake For behold as hee made us so hee knoweth our frame and of what mould wee are made and for this cause hee submitteth himselfe to our infirmities that by doing so he may gaine us for wee have not such an High-priest as cannot bee touched with the sense of our infirmities but who was made like unto us in all things sinne excepted Will any man then aske the reason of this order I answer God hath done it wisely for three causes First to shew us the infirmity of our flesh or fleshly nature Secondly to shew us the riches of his mercy Thirdly to shew us the true refuge to the which wee should runne in the day of our bodily wants I say first it is done to shew us our naturall infirmity and the weaknesse of flesh who live by sense and not by faith For it is with man walking in the way to heaven as it is with little children walking in their parents families
of Jesus and as the weight thereof pressed the Sonne of God downe to the grave and then if thou dare come and call sinne veniall I hope thou wilt not when it turned the moisture of Davids body to the drought of summer when it made Ezechiah chatter like a swallow and mourne like a dove when it made Iob that hee could not swallow his spitle was there any word of a veniall nature in sinne no no no such thing The Saints of God have not known this dialect nor spoken in this Idiom it is but the voice of him that is dead in sinne and trespasses The Lord learne us to see our sinnes aright and then surely wee shall confesse that our sinnes are not veniall but mortall Secondly as this serveth for the rebuke of our neighbour Church in Rome so it serves also for our comfort and consolation whom God hath delivered from the yoke of that bondage and the night of that darknesse for tell mee O man what greater consolation can come to the soule of the Christian burthened with the weight of sinne then to say thy sinnes are forgiven thee but such is the force of these words Forgive us our debts for as in the word of debt he sheweth the weight of our misery so here in the words of forgivenesse hee sheweth us the riches of his mercy Was it not I pray you a great worke a work passing the capacity of man when God created the world he made all things of nothing whē nature telleth us that of nothing nothing can bee was it not a great worke to call for light out of the midst of darknesse and by the power of a naked word to make a glorious splendor of light shine out of the midnight of darknes Finally was it not a great worke to animate a peece of clay and by blowing on the dust of the earth to make it a living soule All of these were great indeed as workes of creation but as it was said behold a greater then Salomon is here so is there here in the matter of our redēption a worke greater then all these for loe he made not all things of nothing but of that which is worse then nothing sinne for sinne is nothing but a privation Hee brought light out of darknes but here a greater light out of a greater darknesse for when wee sate in darknesse and in the shadow of death hee made a great light to arise unto us for in his light hee made us to see light hee animated our clay and breathed the breath of life in our nostrels being dead in sinnes and trespasses hee quickned and begot us to the hope of immortality finally here is that worke passing in excellence and eminent above all humane admiration that wee being his debtors for tenne thousand talents not having one farthing to pay him hee hath freely forgiven us all our debt to the admiration both of man and Angels when the Angels who fell have not obtained a way of reconciliation hee hath found out for poore man a way of peace insomuch that what man could not pay hee hath freely fully and finally released requiring nothing of man but that hee should in sincerity say Forgive and it shall bee forgiven him Now what more could hee doe to thee O man or what lesse could he require of thee What more could hee do to thee then lay downe his life for thee and what lesse could hee require of thee then that in true sorrow forthy sinne and in full assurance of his mercy thou shouldst come unto him and say Forgive mee that so thou maist be forgiven The word in it selfe is so full of comfort I cannot as yet passe by it There is another place in Scripture that lookes so like to this place like Hippocrates two twinnes they are borne together they live together and dye together The place is the 12. of Matthew Come to mee all yee that are weary and laden and I will ease you There as the Saviour and Redeemer of the world and the true Physitian of soules that are sicke hee desires him that is spiritually sicke to come to him and he promiseth to ease him and give him rest but upon a condition that hee feele his sore and acknowledge his burthen Now it is remarkable that hee first promiseth ease and then rest first ease from the cōmanding power of sin next rest frō the condemning power of sin It is even so here that the spirituall Physition of our sick wearied soules leadeth us to bee sensible of our soule that by sinne wee are made Gods debtors and lyable to his judgements In the next place the cure of this our disease is given for wee shall no sooner confesse and acknowledge our sinnes to him but hee shall forgive it But you will say to mee what is this that hee forgives mee I answer looke to the place of Scripture immediately before cited see there what he promiseth to ease thee of as also all these things he here promiseth to forgive thee hee promiseth there to ease thee of all thy burthen of sinne of the law of affliction Of sinne for the burthen of it is as a talent of lead Zach. 5.6 And David saith it is a burthen too heavy for him to beare Of the law for it is a yoake which neither wee nor our fathers nor our forefathers were able to beare Act. 15. Of affliction for it is a weighty crosse and hee that follows Jesus Christ must take it up and follow him daily Of sinne while he not knowing sinne was made sin for us Of the Law whilst hee was made of a woman and made under the law Of affliction not by taking all afflictions from us but by sanctifying them unto us both in their nature and their end Their nature whilst hee maketh them testimonies of our adoption their end whilst he by them keepes us to eternall life for as the lyon that killed the Prophet kept still his dead body so afflictions may well kill the naturall man yet they do keepe the life of God in our soules Now know then for your comfort that what there hee promised to ease us of here hee promiseth to forgive and to forgive is more then to ease for a Physitian will ease his patient for a while of a hard binding which afterward he will binde againe And a master will ease his servant of the taske of captivity and slavery but afterwards hee will imprison him And finally a beast will be eased of his burthen for a while but afterwards it will be imposed and laid upon him but such is the great and rich depth of the mercy of our God what hee easeth us of that hee forgiveth us for while hee giveth pardon to man and speakes peace to his soule he pardoneth not as man pardoneth neither giveth he peace as man giveth peace My peace I give you my peace I leave with you not as the world giveth peace give I
some to command and some to obey some to governe and some to be in subjection their commandement and authority he calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our obedience and subordination hee calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 13. And in that same place hee threateneth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 him that opposeth himselfe to that ordination Thirdly God hath ordained a just and beseeming order in his Church in times places persons and proceedings In times a Sabbath is appointed for his service In places hee hath appointed his Church to bee the place wherein his name shall be called on In persons some must teach some must observe and correct and some must collect and distribute almes In the proceedings also of the Church there must bee order for admonition must goe before censure and smaller censures before the greater according to that which is written Let all things be done with order and decencie 1. Cor. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fourthly there is order also in our severall families for there hee placed the husband and the wife the parent and the children the master and the servant and all to this end that they who are in authority may command and they who are subordinate may obey Finally in every mans private carriage there is an order to bee kept that wee walke not inordinately as busie bodies every man talking and pratling of his neighbours charge with the neglect and contemptible forgetfulnesse of his owne these the Apostle 2. Thess 3 calleth Busie bodies and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There are two things also which I had almost forgot in which order is to be found looke to the grave yea and to hell it selfe to the grave for wee shall rise in our order 1. Cor. 15. The dead in Christ shall rise first To hell for there is a Beelzebub the prince of devils Now if in all things it hath pleased God to establish an order in the heavens in the elementary spheares in common wealths and civill societies of men in the Church communion of his Saints in our private families in our private charges and conversasions in our graves and in hell it selfe O how carefull should man be to submit himselfe to order in this life not onely in things temporall but also in things spirituall remembring in all our supplications which wee present to God First the duty wee owe to God himselfe Secondly the duty we owe to our own soules Thirdly the duty wee owe to our fellow-brethren as mutuall members with us in the mysticall body of Jesus Christ and what better order can bee given and followed for the rule of thy life then first in all things and above all things to looke unto God from him to reflect thy contemplation upon thy owne soule as the seat of his Image and from thy owne soule to cast a ray and beame of commiseration on thy brother and his necessities knowing assuredly that though in the matter of reckoning rationis reddendi every man must beare his owne burthen yet in the matter of compassion Infirmitatis tolerandae every one of us is borne and bound to beare one anothers burthen and to commiserate not onely their temporall but also their spirituall necessities as well as our owne for hee that wants the sympathy and fellow-feeling of a member of the body declares himselfe not to be of the body But thou wilt say unto me shal a man pray for that which hee beleeves doe we not acknowledg and confesse in our beleefe the forgivenesse of our sinnes why do wee then pray for that which wee doe beleeve I answer I doe not doubt but according to the Articles of our Creed God hath pardoned and forgiven mee my sinnes and my fellow brethren their sinnes yet will I pray daily hourely for their further pardon whereby I may feele engraven in my heart the assurance of that pardon for as every particular sinne weakeneth the particular assurance of our pardon so is it well done on our part by renewed reiterated supplications to renew and reiterate our confidence and assurance of mercy not that I thinke in any case the eternall and immutable pardon of God given us from eternity in the blood of Jesus can ever bee fully or finally lost or inverted no no the gifts and callings of God are without change or alteration but because the frequencie of our sinnes doe weaken our confidence and hope of pardon therefore it is requisite that by the reiteration of our prayers wee may strengthen and renew our hope confidence of remission and that as oft as our sinnes are reiterated and renewed But it may bee yet enquired why the word should be plurall Vs and not Mee It is written in the Scripture There is a sinne for which thou shouldst not pray and againe Many are called but few are chosen Now brethren if there bee some sinnes and some sinners for whom wee should not pray how is it that we are commanded here to pray for all men as well as for our selves To this I answer I may and should pray for the greatest sinners in the world the reason is because the purpose of God concerning the salvation or cōdemnation of man though one in it selfe yet is two wayes to bee considered of us first as hidden and kept close in the bosome of the Father Secondly as revealed and manifested by his word whilst the salvation and reprobation of man is only knowne to God wee are bound to pray for them and the pardon of their sinnes but if at any time God in his word make their rejection manifest then and then onely is it time for us to shut up our mouthes and not to pray for them This truth shall be cleared by examples whilst Samuel was ignorant of the purpose of God concerning Saul hee ceased not continually to pray for him but how soone God once made his secret purpose of rejection knowne to Samuel hee stopped his mouth prayed no more for him Whilst David knew not the will of God concerning his child begotten with Bathsheba hee fasted prayed and would not be comforted but how soone God made his secret will manifest by the death of the child hee mourneth no more but riseth straight refresheth himselfe and eateth bread Finally this was the ground of all that partiality which by many is condemned in Rebecca concerning her sonne Esau shee was acquainted with the secret purpose of God concerning him I have loved Iacob and hated Esau And againe The elder shall serve the yonger Thus so long as God makes not his secret purpose known concerning man wee are bound to pray for all men but so soone as God maketh knowne his will concerning mans last end where God ceaseth to love we should cease to pray It is the part therfore of a good Christian to pray for all men to love them that hate us to blesse thē that curse us and to pray for them that persecute us that wee not being overcome of evill
for ever to our children Let this disswade and perswade us Disswade us from the world for all things in it are changeable as time honour wealth pleasure and beauty perswade us to perfection as our father which is in heaven is perfect standing stedfast in the faith holding fast what wee have received and continuing constant to the end that wee may receive the crowne in heaven LECTIO 3. In Heaven HEre it may be enquired and not amisse how it is that the presence of God is tyed to the heaven Seeing hee is every where so filling all things that hee is comprehended of nothing and so without all things that hee is excluded of nothing For answer hereof it is requisite that wee know that the dispensation of the presence of God is manifold and diverse There is a generall there is a particular there is a personall and there is a locall presence of God By his generall presence hee is present with all his creatures For in him wee live wee move and have our beeing By his particular presence he is present with man and because the sonnes of men are of two sorts therefore the dispensation of this presence is twofold with the child of disobedience hee is present by his providence his power and his justice by his providence maintaining his life by his power ordering his wayes to their appointed ends and by his justice binding him up in the secret of his soule with chaines of darknesse to the judgement of the great day with the child of his free love he is present by his providence maintaining his life by his power keeping him that he dash not his foot against a stone and by his mercy keeping him through faith to eternall salvation By his personall presence hee is present with his Sonne the Lord Jesus by his locall presence he is said to bee in heaven not that the heaven of heavens is able to containe him who is infinite but that there chiefly he manifesteth his glorious presence and his glorious essence to the Angels who have kept their originall integrity to the Soules of the Saints departed and to all of us both in soule and body in the day of our last and finall refreshment In a word God is said to be in heaven as the soule is said to be in the head or heart of man The soule we know animates the whole body and by her presence in every member thereof communicateth life thereto yet by way of preheminencie and excellencie it is said to be in the head and in the heart of man Because in these two parts and from these two parts shee exerciseth her chiefest fnnctions communicateth and deriveth her chiefest influence So is it with God for howsoever by his infinite essence he be every where and filleth all his creatures yet by way of preheminencie and excellencie he is most specially said to be in heaven because there it is that the rayes and glorious beames of his Majestie are chiefly seene and from thence it is that he maketh the steps and impressions of his power knowne to the sonnes of men It is true indeed wee can no where cast our eyes on the creatures but wee do straight perceive the characters of his wisdome power and Majestie For will we looke on the naturall course of the world we see init foure several sorts of creatures The first bare naked and simple substances without either life sense or reason of this sort are the Heavens the Sun the Moone and the Starres The second sort have substance and life but not sense or reason such are the trees plants herbs of the field all which have a vegitative life but no sense nor reason The third sort have life and sense but no reason such as the fowles of the aire the beasts of the field and the fishes of the sea The fourth and last sort hath all of these substance life sense and reason and that is man Now every one of these severall sorts of creatures do exceed one another and serve one for anothers use for wee see the first which are but mere substances serve for the use of them who have life These who have life do serve for the use of them who have reason and man who hath reason hee doth serve hee should serve and shall serve for the use of that God who dwelleth in the Heavens above Now who can looke on the beauty of these creatures Who can consider the reference or who can contemplate aright their correspondence but must straight know and confesse both that there is a God and that hee both made himselfe visible and palpable in his creatures and yet that the full streine of his glory is in Heaven for here wee see but in part wee know but in part and all that we either can see or know of him is but imperfect our perfection is hidden up with him in the Heavens and when wee shall by his power be brought thither wee then shall fully see him as wee are seene and know him as wee are knowne and be changed into his image from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord. Now brethren having laid this for a foundatiō that is immoveable that howsoever the Lord is every where yet chiefly hee is in heaven the habitation of his holinesse and that howsoever hee be made visible in all his creatures yet the full and accomplished vision of his glory wee shall not have but in the heavens It resteth that from the consideration hereof wee learne to make use of the same for our spirituall advantage The use that wee make of this is threefold Vse First it teacheth us to whom we should pray Secondly how wee should pray And thirdly how wee should live when wee have prayed First to whom should wee pray but to God and to him who is in heaven There are but two motives which direct man in the time of need to have his recourse to another for helpe The first is affection the second is power who but a foole will in the time of need run for helpe to any man whō hee knoweth doth not love him for it is madnesse for a man to become a suiter where love pleadeth not as a mediator it is for this cause that Christ Jesus our Redeemer hath in the frontispice of this prayer given us the assurance of Gods love to wards us whilst he calls him Our Father that from the assurance of his fatherly love wee may draw neere to the Throne of Grace with boldnesse and there poure out our supplications before him with assurance to be heard in that which we feare The other motive why men in the time of need have their recourse to another is the assurance of his power For though hee were never so wel affected if he be not able our petitions are all in vaine The Lord liveth let the people tremble hee sits betwixt the Cherubins let the Earth be moved let the people imagine vaine things and
the sonnes of men and the children of nature And to testifie that God is the God of Order and not of confusion he hath in his wisedome set a distinction amōgst his creatures by way of soveraignty three manner of waies 1. He hath given a Kingdome and soveraignty to the celestiall bodies 2. He hath given and established a Kingdome and soveraignty in man 3. Hee hath given a Kingdome and soveraignty to man The soveraignty and Kingdome given to the celestiall bodies is two-fold Of influence and of dominion The soveraignty of influence is acknowledged in nature and by all the children of nature For not only doe these celestiall bodies expresse their influence on the earth the sea and the fruits thereof But also on man and the naturall body of man For man having his body composed of the temperature of the foure Elements Fire Ayre Earth and Water it doth sensibly feele the influence of these celestiall bodies in the mutation and alteration of his health and constitution And as God hath given a soveraignty of influence so hath he likewise given a soveraignty of dominion For it is written Gen 1.16 Hee made two Great lights the Sunne the greater light to rule the day and the Moone the lesser light to rule the night As he gave a Kingdome and soveraignty to the celestiall bodies So did he also establish a soveraignty and Kingdome on man For hee gave unto him soveraignty and dominion over the fishes of the Sea the fowles of the Ayre and over every living thing that moveth on the earth Neither did hee alone subjugate the unreasonable creatures unto him But what is more hee did by his wisedome establish a soveraignty to man amongst men and the sonnes of men For amongst them he hath in his wisdome appointed some to be Masters some to be servants some to be Parents some to bee children some to bee husbands some to bee wives some to bee Judges some to be people some to bee Ministers some to be hearers some to bee Princes and some to bee subjects And in all of these what hath hee done but imprinted in man the Characters and vestiges of his owne primacy and authority For as he is God ouer all and in all blessed for ever So hee hath given unto man as the chiefe and soveraigne of his creatures a chiefe and soveraigne authority not only over his fellow creatures but also over his fellow Brethren that in man as the little world man might perceive the soveraignty of God the creator and Soveraigne of the whole world Last of all he hath set and established a Kingdome and soveraignty in man and that was the Kingdome and soveraignty of the image of God in man For as some celestiall bodies have a Kingdome over the inferiour bodies As man hath authority over the creatures and his fellow Brethren So God hath a Kingdome in man wherein the soule of man is that throne whereon he doth sit The conscience is Gods immediate deputy his assessors are the light of knowledge and understanding writing out a law his Sheriffe or Justice of peace is the will The common people whom he ruleth are the affections Now in all of these being composed and drawne up to an universall bulke and incorporation the image of God stood in man For as man was created the immediate King of the world So God did let him see that hee was his immediate King and Superiour And least that at any time hee should waxe proud and evanish he established a spirituall Kingdome in man Both that he might bee subdued to him that made him and that he might learn to rule aright the Kingdome concreded unto him This then is the Kingdome of man a Kingdome over his fellow creatures a Kingdome over his fellow Brethren a Kingdome over his innated affections Sathan also hath a Kingdome now will you enquire what that Kingdome is It must be answered it is no true Kingdome it is but a tyrannick usurpation like that of Ieroboam the sonne of Nebot who made Israell to sinne or like that of the Bramble who became King of the trees of the forrest That it is no true Kingdome it is cleere out of these severall instances And the instances of his usurpation are foure 1. His inauguration 2. His Vassalls 3. His government 4. His remuneration or reward His inauguration in the first place doth cleere this For he is neither borne to bee a King nor chosen to bee King Not borne a King for hee is but a creature and there is no true King but the Creator who is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords And as he is not a King by birth so also he is not a King by election for none have chosen him to be King over them Yea all that he possesseth he doth possesse by Tyranny Hee said to Christ in the day of his temptation All these are mine But he lied for the earth is the Lords and the fulnesse thereof in it Sathan hath not one foot breadth but what hee either robs or usurpes 2. His Vassalls shew also his illegitimation for as it is in the Kingdome of God so is it also in the true and lawfull Kingdomes of men In Gods Kingdome as he giveth a law so they obey and say Thy Will be done in earth as it is in heaven He is the shepheard they are the flock His sheep heare his voice and they will not follow a stranger In the Kingdome of Sathan it is otherwise they are all children of disobedience howsoever conspiring an evill yet unto every good worke they are reprobate Of whom the true Christian may say as Iacob said of Simeon and Levi They are brethren in evill but in their secret let not my soule come and my glory be not thou joyned with their Assembly 3. In his government how ruleth he I pray you Not as a true soveraigne but as a trecherous usurpator Hee hath no part in man but that which he hath stolne For he steales First light out of the understanding then true desire out of the affections and thereafter full authority and commandement out of the will Where I pray you had hee ever place since his fall but what he stole He stole away by a lie the heart of Eve from God the heart of Cain from his brother the heart of Cham from his father the heart of Esau from his blessing the heart of Ieroboam from his God and the heart of Iudas from the Saviour of the world Yea now he is amongst us and he is likewise stealing either our hearts from the word by sleepe or the seed of the word out of our hearts that it may not take root and bring forth increase to our peace 4. His usurpation is knowen in his remuneration and reward A true King rewards answerably the service of a good subject and when hee findes his coffers emptie hee will coyne occasions to gratifie his faithfull servant God acclaimes this to himselfe as a
life of the Christian as by his patience under the Crosse Looke to Ely to David to Iob to the Disciples and Martyrs who suffered not onely the losse of their name and the spoyle of their goods but also rejoyced that they were counted worthy to suffer for the testimony of Jesus Looke to Jesus Christ in his agony Not my will c. Last of all because these things O man cannot be gottē nor made so perfect in thee as they should be yet if thou canst sigh for thy deliverance and groane under the burthen of thy imperfection it is an evident assurance that hee who hath begunne that work of grace in thee will in due time perfect it for these sighs are not from nature but from the Spirit of grace for of our selves wee know neither how to pray nor what to pray but the spirit helpeth our infirmities and maketh request in us with sighs which cannot be expressed But thou wilt say to mee I have sighed and groaned yet I have had no audience I answer thee there is no reason why thou shouldest bee so heard thy sinne hath dwelt long in thee and thou art but chastised of late and from yesterday Is it reason that when thou cryest in the anguish of thy soule either for health or heaven that thou shouldest bee immediately obeyed No no God called long at the dore of thy heart but thou wouldest not heare him why then should hee so suddenly heare thee I tell thee it is not onely patience but exercise in patience that doth the turne Againe he hath more then reason to refuse thee for thou seekest to him not so much for the desire of glory as to bee eased of thy smart and therefore hee dealeth with thee as with Ionah that thou mayest say with Simeon Lord let thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seene my salvation LECT 9. In Earth as it is in Heaven IN the handling of this Petition wee have already spoken of two things first of the word Will and secondly bee done Wee must now come and looke to the word Thy and in it consider whose will must bee done For understanding hereof wee must know that will is only truly properly attributed ascribed to three to sathan to man and to God I speake of will as it is a faculty of the reasonable soule and so do exclude from it the unreasonable creature to whom appetite and desire may be assigned but a will cannot truly bee ascribed To return then Sathan is the first to whom will is ascribed in Scripture for to him are applyed the words of the Prophet Isay 14.13 I will ascend into heaven and I will exalt my selfe above the starres of God as some expound But by abuse of this his will hee hath captived it both himselfe and his will to evill and in so doing hath lost the true priviledge of his will For howsoever hee willeth nothing but that which is evill yet he getteth not done all the evill that he willeth for God hath so thrust a bridle in his lips a hooke in his nostrels that without the bounds and limits of his chaine he neither dare nor can go 2ly Man hath a title of a will ascribed to him for as hee is a reasonable creature consisting of a soule and a body so also in his soule there are these three things An understanding holding forth light to him some affections delighting more or lesse in their object according to the light which is premonstrated thē And a will chosing or refusing freely the object set before him both according to the light of his understanding the delight of his affectiōs I have said that man willeth freely for unlesse will had the liberty free scope thereof it were no more a willing but a nilling power it were not voluntas but noluntas Now concerning this liberty or freedome in mans will the Church of Rome and we have had and do still as yet maintaine a long and serious debate yet not concerning the freedome and liberty of the will but concerning the object which the will of man chuseth or refuseth It is their errour to alleage that man in the state of corruption can will good and will it freely But wee on the contrary do averre that man in the state of corruption can onely will evill and that continually For clearing of this truth and that wee may bring the light of God out of this darknesse Wee must first consider the severall and different estates in the which man hath lived doth live or shall live Secondly wee must consider how farre his will did freely extend it selfe to good or evill in these severall postures or conditions of estate When I looke on the estate cōdition of man I find it threefold First an estate of integrity Secondly an estate of corruption Thirdly and an estate of reparation His estate of integrity is that in the which he was created to the image of God being perfectly righteous and holy in soule and body His estate of corruption is that wofull estate of sinne and misery in the which hee involved himselfe by his apostacie from God His estate of redintegration is that happy estate to the which hee is exalted in Jesus Christ whilst by the vertue of his death and the power of his resurrection hee is made partaker of the grace of God in this life and shall be also of his glory in the life to come Now these being the severall estates and conditions of man the question is what is the true onely or adequate object of the will of man good or evill To this I answer good is threefold There is a naturall good a morall good and a spirituall good The naturall good is that which serveth for the preservation of the naturall life such are eating and drinking sleep rest or refreshment The morall good is that which preserves the morall life or civill society of men such are to be a Judge to bee a Magistrate a Merchant an Artisan a Trafiquer c. The Spirituall good is that which serveth for the begetting and preserving of a spirituall life in man Of this sort are the preaching of the word the administration of the Sacraments prayer meditation c. Now if it shall be enquired which of these goods the naturall man by the power of nature can freely will I answer that in the estate of integrity hee willed them all In the estate of his corruption he may will and do the first two but not the last In the estate of grace he willeth the last yet not freely for God must first renew his will before hee can will any spirituall good And when hee hath willed it it is not fully and absolutely willed or done as it becomes him for the law of his body striveth against the law of his minde and captivates him to death In the estate of glory wee shall onely and continually will that which is good and spiritually good
for there wee shall bee exchanged into his image c. Thus the truth stands cleere That the naturall man as a naturall man and before hee bee renewed by grace can and may will both naturall good and a morall good But to will a spirituall good in that measure as that it may bee acceptable to God hee neither can nor may For howsoever he may preach distribute the Sacraments give almes pray and meditate yet are these not acceptable For the naturall man knoweth not the things that are of God 1. Cor. 2. Hee is dead in his sins and trespasses Ephes 2. Hee hath not the sonne of God and therefore can have no life in him 1. Iohn 5.12 Hee hath not the spirit of God in him and therefore cannot be the child of God Rom. 8.14 And finally although his workes were finished from the foundation of the world yet is hee but a stranger from the life of God For till his person bee first acceptable in Jesus Christ his workes shall never be approved Last of all a Sathan hath a will and as man hath a will so God also hath a will And to him chiefly and above all yea most truly and most properly is the liberty of will ascribed For hee willeth that which is good and that most freely most solely most absolutely and most perfectly because continually Gods will then yea and his revealed will being holy righteous and just in it selfe and of it selfe is that only which wee crave in this Petition But thou wilt perhaps aske me may I not say my will be done No no for as God is primumens primum agens so is he also Liberrimumens Liberrimum agens Hee is the first essence and the first agent and hee is the freest essence and freest agent that ever was No creature in heaven or in earth hath either a being action or will but that which is duely and truely subordinated to his Essence action or will Wouldest thou then crave a reason why thou must not intermixe thy will with Gods will The reasons are these 1. As thou art a naturall man there is great enmity betwixt thy will and Gods will The Apostle tells us this Rom. 8. The wisedome of the naturall man is enmity with God Hee saith not only that it is an enemy to it but enmity it selfe Now we know that it is more to be enmity then to bee an enemy for an enemy may bee reconciled but enmity never 2. It is not good that wee say my will bee done For if we get our will wee would many times will the things which would tend to our destruction Thus the children of Israel willed and desired Quailes in the wildernesse and they got their will but not their well For when their meat was in their mouth it came out at their nostrels 3. If wee got all our will wee should many times sinne against God willing the things which hee willeth not and nilling the things which he willeth Thus did Israel will their returne to Aegypt against the will of God leading them to the land of their rest And thus they would have a King and got one in Gods anger Thus I may say boldly that mans will should not bee sought but Gods For mans will differeth more from the will of God then the heaven differeth from the earth For it is mans will to live in wealth and prosperity but God willeth it not knowing that want is better for us For when wealth maketh mans wit to waver and prosperitie maketh him to misknow God want maketh him wise and with the prodigall child reclaimeth him from his errour Secondly wee would alwayes live at randome and be free from the Crosse but God willeth it not for hee knoweth that without the yoake we are but wilde heifers But when the Crosse is on our backe it will teach us to keepe his law Finally wee desire to live long and see many dayes God willeth it not And therefore cutteth off the thred of our life sometimes in the morning sometimes in the noone-tide and sometimes in the evening of our dayes And by so doing preventeth the growth of sinne in us Sometimes shutteth our eyes from seeing the evil that is to come and sometimes draweth us away from the love of the world that wee may bee invested with our Masters joy Thus by all these palpable documents hee cleerely teacheth thee to submit thy will to his and both in wealth and in want to say Not my will but thy will be done And truely till this time come and till thougrow up to this measure of grace A Scholler thou may be in the Schoole of grace but a perfect man in Christ Jesus thou art not For he that would be his Disciple must deny himselfe and take up his Crosse and follow him dayly The totall summe then of this part of the Petition is this O Lord since by nature we are created to thy image and since in that estate of our integrity we were sufficiently enabled to doe thy will But now since by our fall wee are so debilitated weakned as that we can neither know thy will nor doe it Wee runne to thee in the secret and sincerity of our soules And we begge of thee that by the grace of thy spirit thou wouldest so reenable us and strengthen us againe that thy will may not only bee done by us but also upon us That is to say that we may not onely doe that which thou commandest us in thy word but also patiently beare whatsoever crosse or calamity thou shalt bee pleased to exercise us with And so having ended the first part of the Petition wee come to the second The first part was materiall the last is formall Formatur we craved that Gods will might be done in us and upon us For manner we crave that his will may be done in earth as it is in Heaven To come then to the consideration hereof Whilst our Redeemer prescribeth unto us the matter of Gods obedience he prescribeth it in two subordinate periods of consideration 1. In the place thereof 2. In the patterne thereof The place hee will have it done on earth The patterne As it is in heaven We will first looke to the place of this obedience And it is earth By earth many divers men have meant many things diversly Tertullian by earth said our body was meant and by heaven our Soule Because our bodies are of the earth and earthly and our Soules a spirituall and celestiall substance And the ordinary glosse following Tertulltan writing on this place by the earth have understood the flesh and by the Heaven the spirit So that they make the meaning of the words to bee Let the flesh and the lusts thereof be subdued to the Spirit and the good motions of the same Cyprian by earth understands the unregenerate and such as doe not know God and by Heaven just men to whom God is knowne and by whom he is obeyed And he makes the
secondly for instruction It serves for rebuke to the Church of Rome who by the imposition of their extraordinary and unnecessary fastings hope to enter into the kingdome of God But to those I say yet not I but Jesus Christ for me Fooles and hypocrites you make cleane the outer side of the cup and the platter but within all is foule and full of ravening Foole dost thou thinke that the kingdome of God standeth in meate and drinke or in apparell No no it standeth in righteousnesse peace and joy in the holy Ghost What careth God I pray thee for a bit of meat that goeth into thy belly or for that rag of clothes that covereth thy nakednesse When he is hungry will he tell thee or when hee is thirsty will hee that thou shouldest give him drinke or if he were cold or naked would hee begge the use of thy garment No surely those things are not for him but for us and for our use Hee made our bodies of the earth earthly hee hath breathed the breath of life in our nostrils that by it wee may live in the body he hath given us also the use of his creatures for the preservation of that sparke till hee recall it What is it then should make man so bold to inhibit the use of that thing which God hath licenced or what art thou O man that darest pollute that which God hath sanctified to thee Well hath the Apostle Paul fore-prophesied of thee that in so doing thou hast a shew of godlinesse but in effect thou hast denyed the power thereof for these things may have a shew of wisdome in a will-worship and neglect of the body but in effect they are but the rudiments of the world and the ordinances and traditions of men for they hold not of our head which is Christ Jesus I graunt indeed it fareth not with the soule and the body as it fareth betwixt an evill matched man and his wife the thing that the one willeth the other willeth not and if any neighbour shall pacifie the strife with reason hee hath gained a soule It is even so with the matter of fasting if whilst the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit fighteth against the flesh wee can beate downe our bodies and bring them in subjection it is more then requisite But if wee shall think hypocritically by so doing to merit or procure to our selves the Kingdome of heaven wee deceive our soules and our labour is in vaine for the kingdome of God standeth neither in meat drinke or apparell but in righteousnesse peace and joy in the Holy Ghost Vse 2. And as it serves for rebuke of the Church of Rome so doth it also for instruction to our reformed Church and that in a twofold manner for it teacheth a lesson to the rich man and another also to the poore man It teacheth the rich man to eschew covetousnesse for if God give him bread hee giveth him all that hee oweth him wee cannot bee content till our table be richly decked and our cup overflow but alas these things ought not to be so for we came naked into the world and naked we shall returne againe If wee get therefore food and rayment it becomes us therewith to be contented Nature is not curious in herd yet nor chargeable in her fare shee can say with the Poët Vivitur parvo bene all that she craveth is but bread and water a clout to cover her nakednesse and a hole to hide her head in when God sendeth more she can use it with sobriety when God denyeth it shee can bee thankfull and say with Iob The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken c. And when she seeth the best chear in the world set before her she accounteth it all but bread The crummes of the rich mans table was bread although refused to Lazarus and the rich mans sumptuous fare was but bread Daniels pulse and water was bread and the Kings royall fare was but bread the huskes of the swine was bread to the prodigall child and his fathers feast was but bread Thus the true christian in all things is content hee canne bee abased and hee can abound he can bee hungry and he can bee full he can want and he can have Philip. 4. And in the midst of his fulnesse hee is carefull of nothing so much as that the Lord send not a leannesse upon his soule Secondly as it teacheth the richman to measure the things of this life not by the ell of his desires which have no end but by the ell of nature which is short soone contented so from this the poore man hath a lesson of content When hee looketh to his neighbour and seeth him better cloathed better fed better followed and better favored then himselfe truly nature would grudge and murmure in a naturall man But if thou bee a christian let mee exhort thee in the name of Jesus whose name is called upon by thee represse these fond imaginations Consider that God hath taken nothing from thee but what hee gave thee And that in wisdome hee holdeth thee short of those things that hee himselfe may be thy portiō Blessed art thou if he be so to thee It may be for a time thou hunger and thirst but thou shalt bee satisfied and it may be for a time that thou mourne and weepe but thou shalt be comforted The way to procure thy content it not to measure thy want with other mens wealth No no but looke to the woe that their wealth hath bred them and consider how ease and fulnesse of bread hath made their hearts fat and hath lulled them into the lethargie of a giddie minde whilst by means of thy want God hath preserved his life in thy soule Wouldst thou then change estates no doe not if thou be wise for they who possesse those things stand in slippery places they seldome or never leave their owners without a fall How many this day are in hell who would goe naked to bee partakers of the garment of righteousnesse who would be still hungry to get a poore crumme of the booke of life and dye a thousand deaths for thirst to get one drop of that water that could coole the heate of that flame which they sustaine but oh they cannot obtaine it they have lost their time and their judgement is sealed While therefore thou hast time in time redeeme the time for the daies are evill and if thou get food and raiment learne therewith to be content and if thou be greedy of any thing in the world be greedy of grace for if thou hast the grace of God thou art richer then Cresus because thou hast Christ who when hee was rich became poore that in his povertie thou mightest be made rich LECT 11. Give us this day our daily bread THe second thing considerable in these words is the person of whom wee aske this and it is of God for whilst in the preface wee say Our
of his person could onely and absolutely say unto him My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee and say to us for our comfort I goe to my Father and to your Father and to my God and to your God shewing us that by nature wee are without hope and without God in the world but that in him wee have a fellowship with God and are made partakers of the divine nature And now as in the preface hee would not suffer us to go to God unlesse wee were first incorporate and made members of his mysticall body so here hee will not suffer us to begge any thing at his hands whether temporall or spirituall but that wherein we must represent the necessities of our brethren as well as our owne and supplicate their reliefe as well as our owne In a word as in the preface hee taught us how wee should draw neere to God begge a blessing with Iacob under the garment of Esau So the use wee should make thereof should be a due remembrance of that Christian communion and fellowship wee have one with another in him rejoycing with them that rejoyce and mourning with them that mourne and remembring them that are in bonds as if wee our selves were afflicted in the body Secondly I say that we are taught so to say to make us submit our selves to the providence of God For there are many in the world upon whom God hath bestowed both riches and wealth in abundance and they have no sooner received thē but straight they forget both God as the giver and their brethren as fellow owners of their portion And of this sort of men it is that the Prophet Hosea speaketh whilst hee reproveth Israel and Judah for sacrificing to their owne nets To the end therefore that man may know that hee hath nothing but what God giveth him and that God giveth it to him to this end that hee should communicate to the necessities of them that want hee will not suffer him to say Give mee but Give us Would you see the truth of this cleared in a naturall and domesticke example Looke upon the Mariner when hee goeth to sea his ship is fraughted by some owners he is ladened and her wares are full The tide offereth occasion and shee is towed out to the road to wait upon the winde shee lyeth there a good space and findes no winde Would you know what maketh her want winde so long I can tell you because she prayeth for nothing but for her faire winde If her sailes were filled shee careth not whose be empty nor whose voyage be crossed But tell mee O man hath God in his ever-ruling providence nothing to doe but to serve thee and thy appetite alone No no hee hath more to serve then thee and therefore in his infinite wisdome he sometimes sendeth thee a faire and prosperous gale of winde sometimes againe hee maketh the winde to blow contrary that thou mayest learne in the sense of thy owne weaknesse to rest content on his providence and with a contempt and disdaine of thy owne selfe-love to rejoyce as much at the good of thy brother as if it were thy owne and to greeve as much at his losse as if the losse redounded to thee equally with him Last of all in this direction wee have a square rule limiting to us the use of the creature which is this as in the begging of it wee should bee faithfull so in the managing thereof wee should bee charitable It was the errour of Naball to possesse a well covered table to himselfe but to forget David and his distresse It was also the errour of the rich man in the Gospell to crye peace to himselfe and to the rich glutton to forget the necessities of Lazarus But were these things tolerable and approved of God No nothing lesse for wee are all members of one body and wee should communicate one to anothers necessities and that in love I say first we are all members of one body for where have you seene at any time the members of one body forgetfull or senselesse of the indigence of another if a thorn do but pricke us in the toe all the body hath a sympathy and fellow feeling with it the tongue can complaine the eye can search for it and the hand can pluck it out againe It is right so with us in our spirituall incorporation Wee are all parts of the mysticall body whereof Christ is the glorions head Is it seeming then that any one part shall suffer and the other shall have no sympathy or fellow-feeling No surely for it is an evident testimony that wee are not of the body unlesse we have that fellow sense that is here required Looke to the example of the politicall body and to the example of the waters running through the whole veines and chanels of the earth And learne with Augustine to say that God Per eum qui habet juvat egentem per eum qui non habet probat habentem But what is more thou must not onely give him for the reliefe of his necessities but also thou must give him a love and sincerity of affection for if thou should give all that thou hast to the poore unlesse thou have love it is all abomination in the presence of God for our wealth of it selfe it is not a blessing unlesse charity animate quicken and give it motion Vse Now out of al this which hath beene said there ariseth to our instruction two things remarkable the first rebukes the miser the second rebukes the proud I say first we have here a lesson of rebuke to the miser the worldly worme the earthly wretch and that for 3 causes first for that hee is a murtherer secondly for that he is a perverter of the ordinance of God and thirdly for that hee is a foole I say first he is condemned here as a murtherer for while God hath ordained meat for the belly and the belly for meat hee starves in his misery and for a miserable preservation of an handfull of dust hee kills his body which should have an habitation to the holy Ghost I say secondly that the miser and the wretch is a perverter of Gods ordinance for God hath said In the sweat of thy browes thou shalt eate thy bread now the miser can toile and turmoile himself in sweat and in blood sometimes to get a peece of bread but when hee hath gotten it hee cannot for the heart of him make use of it nor take of it to serve his owne necessities I say thirdly he is rebukeable as a foole and why because out of a diffident care of his body hee killeth his soule for whilst hee distrusteth the providence of God towards him manifested in the widdow of Sarepthas barrels hee hoardeth up treasures against the last day which in the fulnesse of time shall eate up his flesh as it were a fire Secondly it rebukes the proud for if God but once distinguish us one from another
with never so meane a portion of estate it is a wonder to see how farre hee that hath dispiseth him that wanteth as if either wee had procured that of our selves which wee have or that they were not of our mould that want But foole why should thou bee so miscarried All the power that thou hast cannot make a white haire of thy head blacke nor a graine of seed that thou castest in the ground to grow up againe nor thy clothes to keepe thee warme or thy meat to feed thee except God adde a stasse to thy bread Why shouldest thou bee proud then or why shouldest thou misknow thy neighbour knowest thou not that a short time can make thee equall with the poorest begger that goeth abroad Iob in one day was rich in posterity ere Even he had not one to pisse against the wall the Sunne at his rising saw him rich in Asses Oxen and Sheepe ere night he had none of them In the morning hee was strong and vigorous in his health ere night hee scraped his sores with a potchard In the morning hee had a wife to lye in his bosome ere the noone-tide in the day shee is turned to a rocke of offence Curse God and dye God bee mercifull to us how uncertaine and transitory are the things of this life Why should wee either bee proud and overjoy in them or niggards or sparers of them not lending to the necessities of the poore The Lord teach us humility and commiseration that our soules may be safe in the day of our Lord Jesus Now in the fourth place wee have set downe to us a word of conscience whilst wee call it Our bread For in so doing wee crave of God that hee would so accompany our travels with his blessing that wee walking and travelling in our calling for our necessities may have rather to be helpefull unto others then burthenable to any But here there would a doubt seeme to arise wee have confessed already that we are indigent and have no power of our selves to procure any reliefe of our necessities unlesse it bee given us from above how is it then since wee have nothing but what wee receive of God that we should be bold to rejoyce and call it Our I answere it is no vaine rejoycing to call that which God giveth us Ours For the blessings of God communicated to us are ours in three respects first as they are given to us in Christ Secondly as they are acquired by us in our lawfull calling Thirdly as they are sanctified to our use by the Word and Prayer I say first they are Ours as wee are in Christ for if wee bee living and true members of the mysticall body of Jesus Christ then all the things in the world are ours for it is written All things are ours whilst wee are Christs for Christ is Gods Get once a gripe of Christ by faith and thou may boldly call the world and all that is in it thine It is true indeed many men in the world have a better gripe of the world then the Christian Looke to the Apostles Yet none had so good a right to it for though they wanted the use yet they had the onely title And though they possesse nothing yet had they true title to all things Secondly the creatures of God are ours and we acquire them in our lawfull calling not robbing not spoiling nor deceitfully or trecherously living on the sweat of another mans brow and eating the bread of violence Prov. 14. Thinkest thou O man or woman that there is no more required of thee but that thou shouldest rise in the morning and having washed thy hands sit downe to thy dinner and from thy dinner to thy supper and from thy supper to thy bed No no this life is too easie to bee honest Thou must eate thy bread in the sweat of thy brow Art thou a Magistrate goe to the bench exercise there justice and judgment defend the innocent and relieve the widdow and fatherlesse Art thou a Mariner get thee to the helme and travell through the deepe Art thou a Minister get thee to thy booke reade meditate and pray and look to whatsoever calling God hath called thee to that therein thou bee exercised or else cover thy table as well as ever the rich gluttō did It shal be turned to a snare and thy prayer to sin except thou can say that this bread is my bread being won in a lawfull calling and procured by the sweat of my brow Thirdly it cannot be called thine except thou hast sanctified it by the word and prayer The children of Israel had a table prepared for them in the wildernesse but for want of this grace of sanctification it turned to their ruine for whilst the meat was in their mouth it came out at their nostrels and they perished in the wildernesse having fat bodies and leane soules It was not so in the dayes of our saviour Christ Jesus in the dayes of his flesh hee had five thousand people to feed with five loaves and two fishes but hee lifting up his eyes to his father did not onely procure satisfaction to the eater but also superabundance Thus then the creatures of God are justly called ours when wee get any right to them in Jesus Christ Secondly when wee eate them in the sweat of our brow And thirdly when they are sanctified to our use by the word and by prayer Vse Hence wee have these lessons to learne first Labour O man to be ingrafted in Jesus Christ for all things in heaven and earth are his and submitting themselves to him acknowledge him their onely Lord. It is hee by whom the Sunne giveth his radiation light It is hee that covers the earth with fertility and plenty It is he that commands the windes and they blow he speakes to them peace againe and they are hushed and still It is hee lastly who sayeth to raging waves of the sea here shall ye come and go no further and behold they obey him with feare Since reines of all things are in his hands and the dispensation thereof in his power labour thou to get a gripe of him by faith and nothing shall be defective to thee it may be that he can sometimes out thee short of these things that he gave thee house wife children prosperity or health what matters it of all these give him his will therein and let it bee seene to the world that thou art in him by thy patience I will promise thee in the name of the living God Hee shall either restore thy captivity seaven fold or else hee will give thee something better then all the world even himselfe It is a pitty to see so carefull as the men of the world are to get the things of this world and so carelesse as they are to get him without whom they can never have true title nor right to the world or to any thing in it Can a house stand without the
this is one and the chiefe that his heart is become earthly and muddy in the beginning hee had a body earthly and from the earth but his soule was celestiall and from above not onely in respect of essence but also in respect of the faculties and the qualities of these faculties now by his fall his soule is made like his body though not in essence or faculties for they are still spirituall yet in respect of the qualities of these faculties for the understanding of the naturall man knoweth nothing but the things of the earth his affections delight in nothing but that which is earthly and his will practiseth nothing but that which is of the earth and in the earth but these things ought not to bee so wee are come from home and are returning thither againe Doth it become a pilgrim whilst he is in the way to be overtaken with the pleasures of the way no certainly for if hee bee in love with the pleasures of the way hee shall never attaine to his journeyes end Do you not remember what is written in prophane stories concerning Theseus and Atalanta a woman of exceeding swiftnesse who being overtaken with the love of the golden balls which Theseus let fall by the way lost the race and the reward of it But why do I cite a prophane story looke to the word of God and the truth therein contained there you shall finde Iudges 7. That the Lord chosing out an army for Gedion to overthrow Midian he first sent away the fearfull and faint hearted which were two and twenty thousand then hee sent away those who fell downe on their knees and dranke water which were nine thousand and seaven hundred so that there remained of all the host of Gedion but three hundred to overthrow their enemies and these were such as stooped not downe to inebriate themselves with the waters of the river but snatched at them onely with their hand refreshing onely the tip of their tongues and continuing their journey It should bee so with us in using the things of this life wee should use them as though wee used them not hee that rejoyceth should not bee over-joyed in his rejoycing and hee that is in griefe should not bee over-grieved in his sorrow He that hath should not be proud hee that wanteth should not dispare 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and moderation should bee showne as men knowing that the fashion of this world perisheth Let us therefore bee like Iacob Gen. 28.20 And like Christs disciples Ioh. 6. Labour not for the meat that perisheth And like Israel Hos 2. Secondly wee have here a second lesson which serveth for our instruction and I pray you consider it Man if hee want he murmures he grudgeth and repines It was the errour of Israel in the want of water to murmure against Moses in the want of bread and of flesh So that his heart was grieved Rachel in the want of children could murmure and say to Iacob Give mee children else I die And Abraham himselfe in his barrennesse could say to God Eliazar my servant shall bee my heire So hard and indured are the hearts of men till God both make them see and feele the force of his care and providence towards them neither is the discontentment and grudge of men cleare in the example of these Fathers but also in our own daily and quotidian practice the poore man is no sooner fallen from his estate then through distrust of the providence of God hee must steale the sick man is no sooner in the bed of his disease but hee sends for a wisard to see if hee can recover The man that is wronged hath no sooner received his affront or word of reproach but straight his sword must bee his judge and decider of his quarrell and his owne hand must censure that which hee can neither digest nor cast up againe But tell mee O man from whence proceeds this thy folly wantest thou is there not a God in heaven of whom it is said The eyes of all things do looke up and trust in thee O Lord. Art thou sicke is there not a God in Israel in whose hands are the issues of life and death Art thou wronged knowest thou not that vengeance is the Lords and he will repay For it is a righteous thing with the Lord to render tribulation to them that trouble us and peace unto us in the day of rest Why do wee then in the day of our trouble wrong both our selves and our sufferings by our precipitations Knowest thou from whence this thy precipitation floweth because thou knowest not I will tell thee It floweth absolutely from the want of the sight of thy sinne If thou knewst wherefore thy goods were taken frō thee wouldst thou murmure No. If thou knewst wherefore thy health was taken from thee wouldst thou grudge No. if thou knew from whence thy wrong came wouldst thou repine No. All the distemper cōmeth from this thou knowst not the cause of it Thy sinnes that are not forgiven thee are the cause of all thy calamity If thou hadst but truly repented thee of thy sinnes and by faith gotten the assurance of thy pardon I will assure thee thy captivity should have bin redeemed thy righteousnesse should have shined as the Sun at the noontide of the day but as long as thou hast neither gotten thy sins pardoned thee nor hast pardoned others their sinnes against thee it is no wonder though thou say to God Give mee this day my daily bread and get it not for it is sure that the Lord heareth not nor accepts of sinners for as it is true that the seede of the righteous man was never seene to beg his bread for want so on the other part it is as true The candle of the wicked shall be put out and another man shall take his charge The evidence hereof is cleare in Israel in the dayes of the Judges Looke to Sheba and Iesabel Thirdly and lastly as it rebuketh us for the dirty and muddy quality of our hearts and instructeth us in the true cause and occasion of our wants so it teacheth us how to use the creatures aright or rather how wee should examine our selves aright after the use of the creatures when man sitteth downe to use the creatures of God Three things are required of him Premeditation sobriety examination Premeditation in acknowledging his unworthinesse of them for in themselves they are the good creatures of God as well as thou art yea in some respect they are better then thou for though thou wert created to a more glorious image yet by their innocency they have kept a more glorious station for thou hast sinned and not they and they subject to vanity not because of themselves but because of him who hath subdued thē under hope Sit never downe therefore O man to thy dinner without preponderatiō Whē thou seest the creatures of God set before thee know and remember they lived once as thou
livest now and what reason had God to bring them from afarre and take their life from them and to give thee liberty to use them but his mercy and not thy merit his favour not thy deserving that the sense hereof may teach thee that his grace is every way his grace though thy sin be out of measure sinfull Adde hereunto that as prepremeditation is requisite before their use so sobriety in their use for it becomes us not to sit downe and glut with them as if wee had nothing to do but to fill our bellies and satisfie our desires No no meat is ordained for the belly and the belly for meat but God will destroy them both And he that hungers but for the food that perisheth may satisfie himselfe for a while but in the end hee shall both hunger and thirst and shall not bee satisfied at all This was the advertisement that our Master Christ Jesus gave to his Disciples Take not care for your belly what you shall eate or for your back what you shall put on for your heavenly Father knoweth whereof ye stand in need before you aske and he will not suffer you to want the thing without the which you cannot serve him Use then the things of this life soberly for thou hast more thē thou broughtest into the world with thee thou hast more then thou usest well and thou hast more then thou canst take out of the world If thou get therefore food and raiment learne therewith to be content Thirdly before thou rise from the table examine thy selfe and see wherein thou hast made thy selfe unworthy of the succeeding use of his creatures by the abuse of those which thou hast received For I will assure thee when man is full hee waxeth wanton and the plenty of his table maketh him oftentimes fall into those sinnes which the hungry heart falleth not into Is was not in the time of Noahs sobriety that his nakednesse was discovered but in the time of his excesse It was not in the time of Lots sobriety that hee fell into incest but in his excesse It was not in the time of Ammons fasting that hee fell before Absolon but in the time of his feasting When God therefore hath filled our bellies with good things let us not rise without due examination of our owne hearts to see wherein wee have sinned Let us with Iob sacrifice every morning after our festivities for it may bee that the fulnesse of our cups hath made us blaspheme our God as it was with Israel they sate downe to eate and to drinke and rose up to play and they felt the wrath of God upō thē in the fatnes of their bodies in the leannesse of their soules Since therefore God hath coupled these things together let no man put them asunder but let all flesh in trembling examine himselfe and when hee hath said Give us this day our daily bread let him withall adde And forgive us our trespasses Now I feare I spend too much time in the description of the dependance and coherence of this petition with the former and of the uses arising therefrom It resteth now that wee come to the Petition it selfe In which two things are remarkable a supplication and a covenant or condition by which the supplication is sealed first the supplication is Forgive us our trespasses the condition sealing the covenant is As wee forgive them that trespasse against us We must return to the supplication it selfe in which five things do subordinately offer themselves to our consideration First what wee are by nature sinners Gods debters Secondly what wee aske concerning our naturall estate in sinne and that is pardon and forgivenesse Thirdly from whom it is that wee aske this pardon and it is neither from Angels in heaven nor man on earth but from God our Father in Jesus Christ whose habitation is in heaven and who hath given us in his Sonne the hope of the same inheritance Fourthly wee have to consider the interest wee have unto this sinne that wee crave to be pardoned and it is Ours Fiftly and lastly wee must consider the extent of this our supplication and it reacheth not onely to our selves alone but also to all our brethren and fellow-members of the mysticall body of Jesus Christ and therefore wee say not Forgive mee but forgive us and this I thinke is the true and lively anatomy and opening up of the first part of the Petition the other wee shall weigh and examine when we come to it The first thing considerable here is our estate condition by nature which is two waies expressed first in the essence thereof next in the denominatiō the one privatly couched in the bosome of the other the other publique manifesting the death of mans misery the essēce of his misery is that hee is a sinner The true title indigitatiō of that his estate in sin is that it maketh him to be Gods debter But to return our estate by nature is not essentially set downe here but by way of denomination for here Matthew saith Forgive us our debts while St Luke saith in his 11. Chap. Forgive us our sinnes Now to returne to the consideration of this our naturall estate it is here set downe two wayes first by denomination and then by confession It is denominated a debt it is confessed whilst wee begge pardon for it The denomination is a debt many titles and names of signification are given to sinne in Scripture Sometimes it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and here it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All of these words important enough to signifie and expresse the depth of that misery into the which man by sinne hath fallen Yet none doth more truly expresse his misery then this that by sinne hee is become Gods debtor but thou wilt say O man How comes it to passe that by sinne man is made Gods debter seeing God neither requireth sinne of man nor is sinne a debt due to God But to answer this I would have thee to know that there are divers sorts of debts which man oweth there is a naturall debt which man oweth there is a spirituall debt and there is a civill debt which hee oweth The naturall debt is that which hee oweth to death and shall pay it will hee nill hee for wee came all of us into the world but upon this condition that wee shall goe out of it againe for dust wee are and to dust wee must returne for it is appointed for all men once to dye and after death judgement shall come Our earth must returne to earth and our spirit to God that gave it Finally this earthly house of our tabernacle must bee dissolved c. And this is called the first death which is nothing else but a separation of
will not suffer mee to paint them out to the life yea I know how many large volumes have beene published already on this subject by worthy and learned men only by the by as it were and in so farre as the vvords here shall offer us occasion I will point at them and from their weake considerations speake some words of comfort and instruction to your soules It is certaine that the chiefe and arch enemy of mans salvation is Sathan the devill who hath beene a lyer to man and a murtherer of man from the beginning But because he is a spirit therefore invisible that man cannot know him whilst hee fights with him he suborneth two souldiers against man the world from without man the flesh the lusts thereof within man that man having fightings within terrors without may fall and never rise againe But that I may make you senfible of these his assaults and temptations know that whilst I speak of the world I do not understand this great and majesticke frame of the world composed of these foure elements fire aire earth and water for by these man is not tempted all and every one of these Sathan hath imployed to punish man for sin but by none of these hath hee at any time tempted man for sinne But by the world I understand the children of disobedience and wicked ones that are in the vvorld and that not simply or absolutely as they are flesh of our flesh and bone of our bones but conditionally and as they are either cloathed with prosperity and wealth or else as they are stripped naked in the day of their want and misery And that the wicked of the world are called of God the world it is cleare out of that prayer of our Saviour Christ whilst hee saith I pray not for the world but for those whom thou hast given mee out of the world Now these as they stand either invested or cloathed with prosperity or stripped naked with calamity and want do prove a stumbling blocke and snare or temptation to the children of God For in the day of their prosperity by their carnall joy wherewith they are overjoyed in their pleasures by their carnall security whereby they cry peace to themselves when God mindeth them no peace and by their proud trampling upon the weake and despising of them that want what do they but invite us to runne with them in the excesse of their riot and by their temporall felicities labour to draw away if it were possible the very elect of God from the search and purchase of that felicity which is immortall and undefiled Againe in the day of their adversity what do they but cry to us with Iobs wife Curse God and die With Iehoram I will wait no longer on the Lords leisure And with Israel in the wildernesse Would God wee had dyed by the flesh pots of Egypt But brethren vvith these things let us not be moved let neither the prosperity of the vvicked draw thee to a carnall rejoycing or love of the vvorld for the prosperity of the vvicked is but like cracking of thornes under a pot nor let the calamity of the godly vvho suffer justly for their sinnes dravv thee to apostacie and back-sliding from the faith for it is better to suffer affliction with the children of God then to enjoy the perishing pleasures of sinne for a season Heb. 11. And it is more honourable for us to imbrace the Crosse of Jesus Christ then all the treasures of a corrupt and perishing Egypt Againe Sathan in the second place hireth our flesh to fight against us and here by the word flesh I do not understand this body of ours alone which is composed of flesh blood but also that naturall corruption which we have drawne from the loynes of our first parents who have infected us both soule and body and dwelling in us fighteth desperately and maliciously against us This corruption the Scripture expresseth by many names and titles as The old man The old Adam The naturall man The law of our members and The lusts of the flesh which fight against the soule Thus wee see that the flesh is also our enemy and so much the more odious by how much it is traiterous For of it wee may say what David said in Psalm 41. My familiar friend whom I trusted and hee that lay in my bosome and did eate bread with mee hath lifted up his heele against mee To this Iudas who betrayeth us wee may justly say It were good for thee thou hadst never bin borne To this Dalilah wee may say If thou hadst not plowed with my heyfer thou couldst not have read my riddle To this wife of Iob wee may say Thou speakest like a foolish woman And lastly to this unadvised counseller wee may justly say Get thee behinde mee Sathan for thou knowest not the things that are of God but the things that are of man Now wouldst thou know O man why thou shouldst so encounter thy flesh I answer because it is thy deadly enemy and that in three respects In respect of malice of power and policy In respect of malice for it is written In mee that is in my flesh there dwelieth no good Rom. 7.18 Now that wherein there is no good must of necessity bee exceedingly malicious and fully replenished with evill Tucaro saith a Father cunctis virtutibus denudata es ideo diceris caro a carendo quia cares omni bono And would you have a true anatomy of the flesh looke to St Paul Rom. 3. Her eyes are full of adultery her throat an open sepulcher her mouth the mouth of deceit the poyson of aspes is under her lips her feet are swift to shed blood destruction and calamity are in her wayes and the way of the Lord shee hath not knowne Secondly the flesh is a powerfull enemy both in respect of the unregenerate and also in respect of the regenerate In the unregenerate it is a mighty King in the regenerate it is a cruell tyrant In the unregenerate I say it is a mighty king for as a King in his kingdome swayes the scepter enacteth lawes forceth obedience and subdueth rebells So is it in the unregenerate man sinne beareth dominion giveth a law to the members and leadeth all the affections captive to disobedience And from this it is that the Apostle exhorteth us not to suffer sinne to raigne in our mortall bodies And as the flesh is a King in the unregenerate so in the regenerate it is a cruell tyrant for howsoever by the grace of God in Jesus Christ wee are set free from the law of Sinne and of death yet so long as wee dwell in the body it dwelleth in us and both tormenteth us with the torture of a wounded conscience for sinne past with continuall molestation to sinne in time to come So that the best of Gods Saints have deeply sighed and groaned under the yoke and bondage thereof David could say I dwell too long in
some men into temptation and out again and others he leadeth not onely in Temptation but also leaveth them in it To this I answer Tu homo à me petis causam ego quoque homo sum sed audiamus ambo Apostolum dicentem O home tu quis es melior est fidelis ignorantia quam temeraria scientia Quaere merito non invenies nisi poenam O altitudo Petrus negat latro credit O altitudo tu disputa ego credam tu ratiocinare ego mirabor sed cave ne dum doctores quaeras presumptores invenias August de verb. Apost Serm. 20. So then the answer is full Even so O Father because it hath so pleased thee For hee hath mercy on whom hee will have mercy and whom hee will he hardeneth LECTIO 21. But deliver us from evill VVEe have already spoken of the first part of this Petition which was deprecatory wee come now to speake of the second part which is supplicatory and contained in these words But deliver c. For explication whereof there are foure things considerable 1. Our captivity 2. Who and how are they captives 3. The deliverance or release 4. The deliverer or redeemer Our captivity is evill The captives are imported in the word us the release in the word deliver the deliverer must bee understood God the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost Before wee enter into the delineation of the first to wit our captivity it is requisite that wee looke a little on the tye by which these words are knit to the former And for clearing hereof wee must know that as it is in the matter of physick or military art so it is in the spirituall diseafes or conflicts of the soule True physicke hath two parts the one is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first preserveth our health by good dyet and so preventeth our diseases before they come the other by medicine expelleth and purgeth away diseases after they be come It is so in the diseases of the soule The preventing grace of God leadeth us not into temptation The fellow-working or second grace delivereth us from evill Againe as it is in the discipline of warre here on earth so it must bee with the soule In a battell and conflict on earth our Generall and Leader must first be carefull that wee fall not before our enemy And secondly if we fall and be taken captive it is his part to bee carefull to pay our ransome and deliver us from the captivity and tyranny of our enemie It is so with us also in the spirituall fight and conflicts of the soule Our leader should not onely be carefull that wee get not the foile but also if wee bee put to the rowte and taken captives of our enemies it becommeth him to be carefull to redeeme and ransome us out of the hands of all those to whom wee were prisoners and captives I hope now by these two similitudes you understand the conjunction and tye that is betwixt this part of the Petition and the former For if we shall looke upon our selves as being sick and diseased in soule two things are requisite for our health and cure First our physician should prescribe us a dyet whereby our disease may bee prevented This is done and prescribed in the words Lead us not into temptation The other thing which the Doctor of our soules oweth us is medicine potions plaisters and purgations to cure us of the sicknesse we are falne in and this he promiseth to do unto us whilst he delivereth us from all evill Againe wilt thou looke on thy selfe as a souldier in the field of Jesus fighting against the spirituill enemies of thy soule thy leader Christ Jesus promiseth thee two things First that though thou stumble before the enemy yet thou shalt not fall This hee promiseth in these words Leadus not c. Secondly he promiseth that if at any time thou fall and get the foile and be taken captive and prisoner yet he will not let thee dye in prison no hee will redeeme thee and ere any of thine enemies sinne death or condemnation tryumph over thee he will lay his owne life downe for thee and his heart blood as a ransome for thy deliverance and this hee promiseth in these words But deliver us from evill Vse Now from this in a word it is evident that man by nature is a wofull and dolorous creature sicke and diseased dead in sinnes and trespasses and so much the more heavily sicke and desperately diseased that hee militateth against his physician yet the reason is hee feeleth not the soare and like one transported in the fury of his passion hee cannot tell where his paine holds him But here is the riches of the mercy of our God and physician hee preventeth us with his cure and not onely that but also prescribeth helpes against our recidivations and relapses This the woman of Samaria felt when shee knew not the grace of God nor who it was spake to her by seeking a drinke of pure water he prevented her and gave her a drinke of the well of the water of life Thus he prevented the man at the poole of Bethesda Thus hee prevented us all in the loines of our first parent Adam where art thou And againe when our father was an Amorite and out mother an Hetyte when our haire was not cut nor our nailes pared when wee were wallowing in our blood and were neither washed with water nor softened with oyle hee came by and preventing us with his love said to us live and made us live and only because of his word commanding us to live and therefore wee lived Seeing then whilst wee are sicke and diseased in soule hee preventeth us with his unexpected cure seeing also whilst wee are taken prisoners hee preventeth us with our undeserved ransome what are wee that wee should either proudly reject or faithlesly distrust the Ocean of his goodnesse There bee some I know that hearing of this preventing grace will proudly lay this conclusion that they will continue still in sin that grace may abound But knowest not thou O vaine man that the long suffering patience of God should lead thee to repentance and that if thou tread the blood of the covenant under thy feet that blood which speaketh better things then the blood of Abel to the righteous shall speak judgemēt to thee even a judgement intolerable incurable Know again thou that art weake in faith that that sicknesse and disease cannot befall thy soule that should make thee distrust the Physician whose love hath prevented thee with an unexpected cure Whilst hee was in our flesh hee quickned three sorts of dead the Centurians daughter the widows sonne and Lazarus three dayes dead and all to make thee strong in faith Why wrongest thou him first in his justice by sinning against him and next in his mercy by distrusting his goodnesse No no beleeve him under hope and aganst
in their obedience so God who is our Supreme and dread Soveraigne as hee requireth the obedience of his statutes to testifie our homage and loyalty to him so also as a mighty and just king hee will both enable us to do that which hee requireth of us and protect us in the doing thereof against all our enemies whatsoever Againe as it carryeth a direct reference and reciprocation with the second Petition so doth it also import a direct opposition to the last Petition for therein wee acknowledged that wee had many enemies the devill the world and our owne flesh as Kings and Tyrants not only dwelling in us but also tyrannizing over us and leading us captive unto sinne and what comfort could wee have in this our conflict or what hope of victory should there bee left to David against the sonnes of Zerviah unlesse our leader were a King more mighty then these A monarch more powerfull to save then they to destroy Surely none at all But knowing that there are more with us then against us and knowing that the lyon of the tribe of Iudah is stronger then the strong man which keepeth us in captivity what need wee to be afraid if an earthly king will not suffer a wrong done unto his subject to bee unrepaired do wee thinke that King of Kings our Lord and our God will suffer Sathan to keepe us alwayes in captivity No surely he may wel suffer us like David for a while to tarry at Jericho untill our beards and garments be renewed but at last hee will smite our enemies hippe and thigh and wound them with a wound in their loynes that they shall not bee able to rise againe This then is the cause why he stileth himselfe not onely a King but the King by way of excellency and eminencie above all Kings whatsoever You may remember whilst we spake of the kingdome of God in the second petition of this prayer wee told you that Sathan had a kingdome man had a kingdome and God had a kingdome Sathans kingdome was no true kingdome for it was and is no other thing then a meere usurpation and an inforced tyranny over the hearts of men which onely of due appertaine unto the Lord. Mans kingdome is onely a kingdome by toleration and dispensation from God but Gods kingdome onely is the true kingdome both in name and nature for all things are of him and through him and for him that in all things hee may have the preheminence Justly therefore may our Saviour teach us and we learne to say unto God Thine is the kingdome For Sathans kingdome Carcer est non regnum saith St Augustine Mans kingdome is but subordinate for it is written Per me reges regnant by mee kings raigne onely God is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords higher then the highest a mongst the sonnes of men and to him onely of due appertaineth the kingdome the power and the glory for ever Vse The consideration hereof should comfort us exceedingly in the middest of our greatest calamities and distresse For wee are not the subjects of that king who is carelesse of our captivity and tribulation No but wee have him for our head and soveraigne who knoweth our necessities from a farre and is touched with a sense of our sufferings and finally which is more materiall for our consolation hee is the King of Kings the supreme and dread soveraigne of all creatures not onely willing but also powerfull and able superabundantly to helpe us As it is written to the Ephes To him that is able to worke exceeding abundantly in us above all that wee can aske or thinke And Sr Iude testifieth the same To him that is able to keepe you that you fall not c. What need wee then bee afraid of the pestilence that flyeth by day or of the sword that roareth abroad in the night season If wee dwell in the tabernacle of the most high and abide under the shadow of his wings no evill shall come neare us for he hath a hooke for the nostrels and a bridle for the lips of thē that rise against us They may come out one way against us but they shall fly seaven waies before us for hee is a mighty King that leadeth us and who hath wrastled with him at any time and beene victorious Let us not feare then what man can do unto us Men are Kings but none can say that hee is the King except God alone It is true indeed Kings are called Gods and as S. Basill telleth us a King is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a visible God but God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an invisible King Yet that is true of all these Kings which David telleth us I have said ye are Gods and the sonnes of the most high yet ye shall die like men And ye Princes shall perish as well as others It is neither their state glory pompe nor authority that can redeeme their soules from the grave Nam Principes Imperatores Reges saith S. Gregory imo Imperia Principatus regna paulatim senescunt aegrotant concidunt What need we then be afraid of man or of the sonnes of men whose breath is but in their nostrells they can but kill the body But let us feare the Lord in our heart for when hee hath killed the body he can cast both soule and body into hel fire where their worme shall not die and their fire shall not goe out againe Now having spoken this concerning the kingdome of God wee must come now to these titles and attributes by which hee describeth this kingdome And from consideration whereof hee laboureth to give us arguments and assurance of audience at the hands of God The titles are three Power Glory and Eternity First then hee saith that Gods kingdome is a kingdome of power Wee must know that the power of God is taken many severall wayes in Scripture First for the essentiall propertie of God which being in himselfe is himselfe and of him and from him communicated to the creature giveth unto it an essence beeing power and force of action to do whatsoever hee doth and this essentiall propertie is common to the Father with the Sonne and the holy Ghost Secondly it is taken for Jesus Christ the second person of the Trinity 1 Cor. 1.24 To them that are called as well of the Iewes as of the Gentiles wee preach Iesus Christ the power and wisdome of God Thirdly it signifieth the Ghospell of Jesus and the word of the Evangell Rom. 1.16 I am not ashamed of the Gospell of Christ for it is the power of God to salvation to every beleeving soule But here by the word power is understood that all-sufficient omnipotencie which being in God is God and by him maketh all things to bee which are And as all power is in him Tanquam in capite so is all power from him tanquam à fonte This our Saviour acknowledged when hee told Pilate Thou couldest have no power over
mee unlesse it were given thee from above Unto this the Apostle Paul subscribeth Rom. 13.1 There is no power but of God and the powers that are ordained of God Now this title of Gods power Christ bringeth in here as an attribute by which hee may underproppe our weakenesse And his meaning is O man why doubtest thou and why art thou fearfull to come to God and pray to him How many evidences hast thou of his power manifested to thee for thy protection Is it not by him and by his power that thou livest movest and hast thy beeing was it not by him by the word of his power that all things were made of nothing Is it not by him and by the might of his power that all things are preserved in that state order and frame in which they now are Was it not by him and the might of his power that fire came downe to destroy Sodome That the seadrowned Pharo the earth swallowed up Corah Dathan and Abirom That Ieroboams hand was dryed up that the mercilesse fire had mercy on the children and the hungry lyons fed not on Daniel That the windes and seas are stilled and calmed and finally that the very devills of hell are curbed that they cannot goe beyond the chaine of his power and good pleasure These things are all evidences of his power But his power is yet not knowne in things that are spirituall Looke to our eternall election our temporall redemptiō our effectuall calling the resurrection of our bodies and upon the glory bestowed both upon soule and body and from thence let us never doubt of his power Hee of himselfe is able to do all things and by his power wee are able to do all things and hee hath manifested his power towards us that by it wee may be instructed by it comforted and by it corrected In a word it serveth for our instruction correction and consolation For our instruction in the path of charity for our correction in the way of our presumption and for our consolation in the day of our trouble First for our instruction in the path of charity For wee do no sooner see our neighbour fall but straight way we are precise and prejudicate censurers not remembring our selves lest wee also bee tempted Nor yet remembring the power of God who is able to ingraffe those againe Rom. 14.4 Secondly it serveth for our correction in the way of our presumption for wee thinke if man can befriend us wee are safe and sure but as fooles wee vanish for the Egyptians are but men not gods and their horses are but flesh not spirit When Ephraim saw his wound and Iudah felt his soare they ranne to Iacob and Ashur but their wound was not healed for there is no helpe but in the Lord And whosoever shall seeke helpe beside him may aske counsell at his stocke but his staffe shall answer him for the Lord shall meete him as a lyon and as a lyons whelpe shall teare him in peeces and none shall deliver him Last of all it serveth for our comfort in the day of trouble Man beare thou the crosse that God hath laid upon thee for thy haires bee numbred thy teares be put in his bottle be thou assured that the Lord will deliver thee in the day of trouble when thou art incompassed with the waters of affliction The second attribute of his kingdome is glory which hath many severall significations in Scripture First it is taken for the majesty of God which whilst man doth celebrate it is said they shew forth his glory Thus did the sheepheards heare that sweete Haliluiah sang by the Angells Glory bee to God on high And David Psalm 8. The heavens declare the glory of God Secondly by the glory of God in the time of the Law was meant the Arke of God 1. Sam. 4. The glory is departed Thirdly it signifieth the visible testimony of Gods presence in a cloud Exod. 16.8 Fourthly it is taken for the light of the Gospell 2. Cor. 4.4 Fifthly by the glory of God is understood the image of God according to which man was created Rom. 3.23 All flesh have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God Vse First bee carefull of the glory of God that his name bee not ill spoken of because of thy bad conversation Secondly suffer for him For all the sufferings of this life are not worthy of the glory that shall be revealed in us Thirdly sigh and groane for Christs appearing for it is the day of the revelation of thy glory For ever and ever Amen THis is life everlasting to know thee to bee the onely true God and whom thou hast sent thy Sonne the Lord Iesus This is the absolute excellencie of mans knowledge But to attaine hereunto the way is hard for No man hath knowne the Father at any time save the Son and he to whom the Sonne hath revealed him And till the Sonne hath revealed him in his beeing by delineating to them the back-parts of the Father for No man can see God and live It is true indeed if wee shall compare our knowledge of God who live under the Gospell with those who went before us under the Law wee cannot but confesse that our light in regard of theirs is before the light of the Sunne compared to the morning starre for it is written They saw but from a farre and under a vaile but wee behold his glory with open face And yet notwithstanding this our illumination we are imperfect our perfection may bee full in respect of parts yet is not in respect of degrees For our helpe therefore whilst wee dwell in the valley of Meseck tents of Kedar he is pleased to manifest unto us though not absolutely what he is that is to say his nature yet who hee is that is to say what are his attributes for by this hee teacheth us to know both who hee is in himselfe and how he carries himselfe to us Now thus we may know him in his wayes and dispensations towards us Hee hath revealed himselfe three manner of wayes Per viam negationis per viam causationis per viam eminentiae By way of negation by way of causation and by way of excellency By way of negation or denyall hee makes himselfe knowne to us while hee denies the imperfections of the creatures to appertaine unto him as creator and therefore it is said of him that he is immortall invisible immutable that hee cannot lie that hee cannot repent By way of causation while hee makes himselfe to bee knowne to be the cause of all things that are for it is written By him were made all things and without him was made nothing that was made And againe In him wee live wee move and have our beeing And againe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By way of excellency while as we looking on the excellencie of the creature are lead to consider the supereminent excellencie of the creator in his wisdome power strength
or permanency Hence it is that by way of eminent excellency above the creature hee hath made amongst many his other attributes himselfe known to us by his eternity an attribute so absolutely proper to him that it cannot properly be attributed to any creature beside him It is true indeed the decrees of God are truly called eternall in their act but not if wee consider them in their execution for howsoever they were decreed from all eternity yet they are finite in respect of time for in time they receive their accomplishment The soules of men are truly called eternall yet not properly for howsoever they be eternall essences induring for ever yet had they a beginning in time for till God breathed in mās nostrels man was not a living soule The Sacrament of Circumcision was called the eternall covenant Exod. 17. yet it is but catachrestically termed so for properly it was not so it had a beginning in the dayes of Abraham Nothing then can be properly called eternall but God himselfe in respect of his eternall essence and the blood of the Sonne of God in respect of the eternall value thereof God in respect of his eternall essence trinity of persons is from everlasting to everlasting for this is his name I am that I am The value also of the blood of the Son of God is eternall though not in respect of the incarnation yet in respect of the operation thereof for by the blood of that immaculate lambe slaine before the foundations of the world in time wee have received peace attonement 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and after all time a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 conformity vnto his image and establishment in the grace wherein we stand But thou wilt enquire if God onely bee truly and properly eternall how is eternity according to his kingdome and that his kingdome is for ever and ever The answer is easie whatsoever is in God is God and his attributes are like unto himselfe for as hee is in himselfe eternall so is his kingdome his power and glory The consideration of these things serves us for a manifold use First our God is eternall and so is his love to wards us Who shall separate us from the love of God shall tribulation or anguish famine or nakednesse c. No in all these things wee are more then conquerers Secondly the vertue of the death of Jesus is eternall Who shall lay any thing then to the charge of Gods chosen It is God that justifies who shall condemne It is Iesus Christ who hath died for us and now in the heavens makes intercession for us at the right hand of the Majesty Thirdly God is eternall and his kingdome is for ever what need wee then to feare what man can doe unto us they can but kill the body but Let us feare him who can cast both soule and body in hell fire where the worme dyes not and the fire goes not out Fourthly our God is eternall and his kingdome for ever and ever Why should wee then seeke the things of this life that perish No no it becomes us not to set our eyes on things that are seene and are temporall but on those things that are not seenand are eternall Finally since our God is eternall his kingdome endureth for ever why should we weary or murmur under the rod of our visitation for all the afflictions of this present time are not worthy of the glory to be revealed for our afflictions are but light and endure for a moment but it is an eternall weight of glory passing in excellency that is laid up for us who are kept by the power of his Sonne through faith to eternall salvation Amen THis is the last gaspe and breath of this prayer many such ejaculations have the servats of God breathed in the last period of their extremities Iacob said O Lord I have waited for thy salvation Old Father Simeon could say Now let thy servant depart in peace The righteous say in the 8. to the Romans That they having received the first fruits of the spirit do sigh in themselves waiting for the adoption and redemption of their mortall bodies and the soules of the Saints under the Altar in the Revelation can say O Lord how long Our Saviour Christ Jesus in place of all these things teacheth us to say Amen And for understanding hereof let us first learne what it is or how it must be said As to the first Amen is a word taken in Scripture three manner of waies nominally adverbially and verbally Nominally it signifies to us Jesus Christ the second person of the Trinity for it is thus written Revel 3.14 These things saith Amen the faithfull and the true witnesse Neither this alone but what is more it gives a reality to what hee hath spoken or promised for it is written his promises are not yea and nay but yea and Amen Adverbially it is a word of earnest asseveration for so useth our Saviour Verily verily I say unto you whose primitive is Amen Amen dico vobis Verbally and so it is equivalent to so be it whether it be in the matter of thank esgiving of praise or of prayer In the matter of thanksgiving 1. Cor. 14.16 That Amen may be said In the matter of praise Psal 41.13 Blessed bee the Lord from everlasting to everlasting Amen and Amen In the matter of prayer and then it hath a double use for then it is vel signaculum consensus nostri vel votum desiderly nostri To all of the former Petitions it is not only signaculum consonsus nostri but also votum desiderij nostri for in these we do not onely acknowledge that our Father dwells in heaven that his name must bee hallowed that his kingdome must come that his will must be done in earth as it is in heaven but withall it is votum desiderij nostri our earnest desire Give us this day our daily bread Forgive us our sinnes Lead us not into temptation and deliver us from all evill And in all of these wee are taught not onely to assent but also to desire to assent and acknowledge the glory power and soveraignty of his dread essence to desire and begge from his all-sufficiency the support of our infirmity that his strength may be knowne in our weaknesse and his power may be made manifest in our infirmity Thus then knowing that all things are of him and by him and for him what rests but that in respect of his all-sufficiencie and eternall kingdome power and glory wee should draw neare unto him begge of him that he who is only able may keep us that we fall not and that he would present us without spot or blemish before the presence of his glory with joy who is God only wise immortall and invisible in whose presence is the fulnesse of all joy and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore Amen God of his infinite mercy and goodnesse make us all carefull of his glory whilst wee are in this life that in the day of Christs appearance we may be made partakers of that eternall glory which is laid up for us in the heavens and purchased to us by his blessed merits Amen FINIS