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
by an indeleble character shall man seale to himselfe the assurance of Gods mercy if hee himselfe can bee mercifull For it is written Condemnation mercilesse shall be to the man that will not shew mercy but mercy rejoyceth against judgement Againe on the other part whilst St Luke forbeareth the word As for feare of wounding the weake conscience and useth the word For it is not to make the word causall but cōmiserative for he setteth not down that word as a cause or meritorious occasion procuring and adjuring God to bee mercifull unto us but the word is a word of commiseration and pitty drawing the argument from the lesse to the more and importuning God onely with the remembrance of our weaknesse as if hee should have said If we who are evill can forgive in any condition O thou who art rich in mercy forgive us fully freely and finally I have looked thus upon the word in the native genuine signification thereof freeing both the wounded conscience from the terrour of severity and withall putting a bridle in the lips of the presumptuous man lest at any time hee should runne out It resteth now that wee make use of the word in the true signification thereof Vse The use wee make is this I see heaven is so good a thing that all men would be at it and mercy so sweet that every man would have a part and portion in it Yet O behold the vanity of man whilst wee all ayme at the end wee are forgetfull of the way and whilst we gape after the felicity of the covenant wee forget the condition Will you enquire the cause It is this the covenants of God are peacefull and the promises of his rewards are rich and plentifull but the way to their fruition is thorny and hard Hee covenanted with Adam the dominion over his creatures and the fruition of all the garden but when the Impostor came hee made the condition hard and in so doing hee shut them up from the knowledge of good and evill Hee covenanteth with Abraham the possession of the land of Canaan but the condition was hard Offer to mee thy first borne of the free woman Isaack Hee covenants with Gedion the deliverance of his people from the tyranny of Midian but the condition was hard Cut downe thy fathers grove c. neither are these termes hard as being the voice of the Law but what is more they have beene of the very like and equall severity under the Gospell For will you consider to whom it is that Christ Jesus promiseth comfort it is to them that mourne To whom promiseth he the kingdome of God but to them that are poore in spirit To whom satisfaction onely to those who hunger and thirst after righteousnesse And finally to whom doth hee promise ease and relaxation from their sinnes onely to those who are weary and laden and to such as take up their crosse and follow him daily O then what a folly is this amongst the sonnes of men to snatch at the grace of the covenant with the mis-prise of the conditiō yet behold for reformation of our weaknesse in this point it hath pleased our Redeemer to annexe the condition to the covenant shewing us that unlesse we be carefull of the restipulation wee cannot bee able to crave the benefit of the first bargian for as it is generally holden amongst men that our one handed contract cannot stand so is it also with God and us Hee never broke his part of the covenant hee made nor forfeited at any time his part of the obligation the forfeiture is onely ours for though hee keepe wee breake and though hee covenant mutually yet wee scorne the restipulation but alas wee do pittifully deceive our selves it shall not bee so with us as it was said to Simon Magus in the case of his bribery when hee thought to purchase the grace of God by money Peter answered him Thou hast no part nor portion with us in this inheritance because thy heart is not upright in the sight of God but thou art in the gall of bitternesse and in the bond of iniquity Act. 8.21 So shall it be said to us in the time wee deprecate our iniquities thou hast no part nor portion O man in the worke of mercy because thou wilt not bee mercifull and I will not forgive thee shall God say because thou wilt not forgive thy brother From the particle of simimilitude wee come now to the persons to whom this similary practice of pardon is imposed and the word is plurall and indefinite plurall Wee indefinite tending and extending it selfe to all sexes sorts and conditions of men whatsoever When I reade and ponder these words I cannot but call to minde some other places and passages of Scripture in the which the like peremptory dealing is expressed to us I remember Iacob on a time wrestling with the Angell of the covenant the great Angell seeing that he could not prevaile said to Iacob Let mee goe I pray thee but Iacob answered I will not let thee goe till thou blesse mee Likewise Ioshuah being desired to goe up with Israel to the land of promise answered I will not goe on forward except thou goe with mee And as it hath beene the wisedome and care of the children of God to wrestle with him for the attaining of his blessing so it hath beene alwaies the care of God to wrestle with his Saints in the day that hee would blesse them to propound unto them a condition of difficulty by the obedience whereof hee might draw them from themselves to an absolute reposing and relying upon his mercy This is his practice also here wherein howsoever he be a God rich in mercy slow to anger and of great kindnesse forgiving transgression iniquity and sinne yet when hee dispences his pardon and disposeth his love mercifully towards us that hee may seale the assurance thereof to us hee will wrestle with us a little while in controlling the humour of our corrupt nature that when hee lets us see our corruptions subdued to him wee may by way of argumentation from the lesse to the more assure our selves of the riches of his favour towards us So that the meaning of the word is this Man wouldst thou have favour surely I thinke thou wouldst beginne thou then first thou madest the first fault make the first amends for it is reason so to bee What art thou in respect of mee or what is thy pardon in respect of mine What art thou I say in respect of mee Dust and ashes and to dust and ashes shalt thou returne againe But loe I am a great and incorruptible God before whom the heavens are not pure and in whose presence the Angels doe cover their faces as uncapable of my glory And as there is a difference betwixt thee a finite and corruptible creature and mee an infinite and incorruptible Creator so is there also as large an extent of difference betwixt thy wayes and my wayes
giveth the increase And as we must deny our selves so we must also follow him because of his sufficiency for hee is all-sufficient in his mercy in his wisedome in his power and in his truth In mercy for where our sinne abounded his mercy hath superabounded In wisedome for hee hath so wisely reconciled his mercy to his Justice that hee is satisfied and wee saved In his power for he dwelleth in the heavens and doth on the earth whatsoever hee willeth In his truth for heaven and earth shall passe away but one jot of his word falleth not to the ground If we seeke him he will bee found of us but if we forsake him he wil forsake us too LECT 4. Hallowed bee thy name AFter the Preface wee come in order to looke to the Petitions which are six whereof three have a reference to God and three unto man and his humane weakenesse In handling of these Petitions this shall God willing be the path wherein wee shall walke Wee will first looke to the order of the Petition and see in what distance it standeth with the rest And then wee will look upon the matter conteined in the Petition and see wherin it doth concerne us The order of this Petition is cleere and easie for if these three Petitions which concerne God bee justly preferred to those which concerne man then of necessity that Petition which doth most truly point out Gods honor unto us should first have place and that is this For it doth most lively represent unto us the care of Gods glory To it therefore precedency is duly given Now that this may be a little more cleere I shall labour to give you the evidence thereof both from the commandement of God and the practise of his Saints Shall we looke to the commandement of God it is more then manifest for amongst those ten Commandements which hee gave to Israel the first foure which concerne himselfe are prefixed to those other sixe which concerne but us And amongst these foure that which doth most eminently and evidently set forth his Glory hath both preheminency and precedency of place Answerable unto this is that direction of Christs Matthew 6.33 Seeke first the Kingdome of God and the righteousnesse thereof and the things of this life shall be cast unto you As God by the authoritie of his word doth require this of us So also at all times it hath beene the practise of his Saints in whom the Spirit of God hath dwelt powerfully ever to preferre the Glory of God to all things in this life yea to their owne life it selfe Looke to the practise of Moses Exodus 32. And of Paul that elect vessell of Mercy Rom. 9.3 Both of them in a burning zeale to the honor of God did wish themselves to bee thrust out from God that in their overthrow his honor might bee the more manifested Let me yet adde to this another consideration of the order and we shall see that it is not without reason that this Petition hath the precedency For in it I finde a wonderfull strain of the wisedom of our Redeemer Christ Jesus In the preface and entry of this prayer he hath led us to direct our Petitions in the termes of affection in the termes of faith and in the termes of feare In the termes of affection whilst we call God a Father In the termes of faith whilst we call him our Father and by faith make him to be ours in Christ Jesus And in the termes of feare whilst we acknowledge his power in heaven and in earth And then being to order our Petitions either according to the riches of Gods mercy or to the depth of our misery The first thing that we are desired to crave of God is a heart that can be desirous of his Glory For it is impossible that wee should at any time walke in the obedience of the succeeding Petitions unlesse that our hearts be first inflamed with the zeale of Gods glory For if wee consider aright who is hee that can ingeniously say let thy Kingdome come or thy will be done on earth unlesse he bee first enamored with the love of Gods glory Or who is hee that can content himselfe with his Daily bread or hunger and thirst for the Pardon of his sinnes or strive and wrestle against Temptation who hath not his heart inflamed with the sparkes of the Glory of God surely amongst the sons of men there shall not bee found one no not one For we are here In via non in patria Viatores non cōprehensores And therefore it is impossible for us to desire the reparation of the lost image of God in us or to make a right use of the things of this naturall life unlesse God illuminate our eyes and inflame us with the love of his glory who dwells in glory and hath cloathed himselfe with glory inaccessable which no flesh can conceive and live That the Jewes should have had a chiefe care of this glory it was well demonstrated unto them in the motto of their High Priests that was on their frontlets Sanctitas Iehovae The High-priest was glorious every way in the lower hemne of his garment hee had a fringe interlaced with bells and pomegranats of gold in his brestplate he had the Vrim and the Thummim on his shoulders hee had two Onix stones but on his forehead as one consecrated to the service of God hee had engraven Holinesse to the Lord. Wherein hee did both confesse and petition confesse that God was holy and holinesse it selfe and petition him that he would make him holy as he was who had called him and as the Jewe was thus instructed so also are we who are Gentiles not left without instruction For I must say here of this petition what Paul spoke of faith hope and charity in preferring of charity to the other two hee giveth a reason Those two shall evanish but charity shall convey us to the Kingdome of heaven So fareth it with this petition the rest shall all so evanish Thy kingdome come shall cease whē it cōmeth to us by death Thy will be done in earth shall cease when wee shall rest from our labours and our workes shall follow us Give us this day our daily bread shall cease when wee shall eate of the bread of life Forgive us our sinnes shall cease when wee shall enter into our Masters joy Lead us not into temptation shall cease when God shall tread death sinne and sathan under our feete Thus an end of all these petitions shall come only this one shall have no end at all but shall be like to him to whom it is here ascribed for hee in himselfe is A and Ω the first and the last so shall his honour and glory bee also like unto him a new song hee shall put into our mouth and a deepe Hallelujah in the secret of our hearts wherein the heavens and the earth and the hoasts thereof shall onely resound the praise the
part of his distributive justice Who ever amongst you kindled a fire upon my Altar in vaine And againe Try me if I shall not blesse thee No in this he hath made all flesh unexcusable For he maketh his sunne to shine upon the good and upon the bad and his raine to fall upon the wicked as upon the righteous Neither is this alone the goodnesse of God to be liberall in his dispensation for hee neither denyeth nor upbraideth But amongst the sonnes of men also it hath even in nature beene accounted foule and base to bee ingrate Alexander could say to Permenio it is not enough for Alexander to give Pharaoh could say to Ioseph Only in the Throne shall I be before thee and Herod though in an evill course can say Aske of mee to the halfe of my Kingdome I will not deny it Onely this base slave Sathan who hath nothing but what hee hath usurped and stolen can both trecherously entice the sinne and thereafter cruelly torment for sinne greedy by his temptation to make a proselite and by his torture and ingratitude to make a reprobate The Kingdome of man and the kingdome of Sathan being thus pointed out it rests only that wee looke on the Kingdome of God of the which it is said Thy Kingdome come Of this wee must enquire what it is and then how manyfold it is Gods Kingdome is that spirituall rule and authority which he hath in man through Christ communicating to him his grace in this life and keeping him by the power of his spirit through faith to eternall glory This Kingdome is different from the former two For as concerning the Kingdomes of men they were subordinate and under anothers authority This is suprem and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of himself from himself The Kingdom of Sathan was usurped and trecherously ingrate This is due authoritative and liberall This being knowne for the nature of this Kingdome wee will now enquire a little of the severall kindes thereof Know then that the Kingdome of God is three-fold 1. He hath a Kingdome of power 2. A Kingdome of grace 3. And a Kingdome of glory The first is an externall the second an internall the third an eternall Kingdome By the first hee ruleth all his creatures All the sonnes of men and all the divells in hell also He ruleth the creatures for his voice maketh the foundations of the earth to shake The Cedars of Lebanon to tremble and the goats of a thousand mountaines to calve He ruleth the sonnes of men either doing in them his will by his Spirit of grace or doing upon them his will by the stroake of his justice He ruleth the divells in hell also For howsoever they goe about like roaring Lions seeking to devoure us Yet hath he kept a bridle in their lips and a hooke in their nostrells so that they cannot doe what they would for as their Master himselfe confesseth concerning Iob Whom can harme the man whom the Lord hedgeth about Vse But that wee may make use of these things to our comfort Let us looke on the Kingdome of God in the second signification which is his Kingdom of grace Wherin we must understand that this internall Kingdome of God whereby he ruleth in the hearts of men hath an opposite Kingdome rebelling against it to wit the Kingdome of Sathan for the overthrow whereof and the maintenance of his owne God hath established in this his militant Church and Kingdome these things 1. A King and some subordinate subjects 2. Oathes of allegiance 3. Lawes for obedience 4. Punishment for offendors 5. And rewards for well-doers The King is God himselfe A Trinity in unity and unity in Trinity The Father the Son and Holy Ghost God one in Essence but distinguished in Persons The Subjects of this Kingdome are all the Saints of God from the first Adam to the last man that shall stand upon the earth The Fathers before the flood the Patriarkes after the flood The Prophets under the law The Apostles under the Gospell The Martyrs their successors and we who are now in the end of time become their fellow Brethren as the posterity of Iacob dwelling in the tents of Shem. And finally all that shall beleeve the Gospell of Jesus for now there is no more Jew nor Gentile nor Grecian nor Barbarian nor bond nor free but all are in Christ Jesus Our Oath of allegiance we have given in our baptisme and communion with him at his table In the first a vowing to bee his people as hee is our God In the second promising to grow up in him and in the grace given us untill hee consummate his grace with his Glory The law of this Kingdome is that which is written partly in the tenor of the law and partly in the tenor of the Gospell Neither so sharpe as alwaies to have their censure written in the blood of the offendor like Draces lawes nor yet so remisse that partiality might make of them a spiders webbe like those of Solon but so contemperate that what justice required was satisfied and what mercy craved was freely yeelded The reward of transgressors and of well-doers is not defective here also For as every man soweth so shall he reape He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reape corruption But he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reape life and peace Now all of these doe shew her to be a Church and a spirituall Kingdome Yet withall let us remember I pray you that it is but a militant Church and a militant Kingdome that wee have here Against whom the Prince of darknesse and he that ruleth in the children of disobedience rageth fiercely and fearfully because his time is but short And for his more sure triumph hee hath confederated our nearest enemies our flesh and the world against us We are weake as a little David and they strong as the sonnes of Zeruiah how can we then resist and be victorious Blessed bee God through Jesus Christ our Lord For there bee more with us then they that be against us If Sathan bee a strong man yet is our head and captaine farre stronger is Sathan a roaring Lion our captaine is the great Lion of the Tribe of Judah Is Sathan a mighty Pharaoh yet our captaine is the great Archangell of the covenant who seeth our wrongs and oppressions and who by a mighty hand and outstretched right arme shall worke out our deliverance For in the day of conflict and spirituall contest our captaine leaveth us not to our selves and our owne weaknesse But which serveth wonderfully for our comfort hee is made and hath become in our flesh to us these foure things 1. He is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the moderator and marshall of our campe to us not suffering our temptations to exceed his appointed bounds 2. He is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with us our Second offering himselfe to all our danger as well as our selves 3. Hee is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
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
but overcoming evil with goodnes may bee perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect Now this being spoken concerning the persons for whom we offer up this our supplication we must come consider the reason wherfore we must pray so and the reason is because our sins are ours Our Take heed I pray you to this my brethren The reason why wee crave pardon of our sinnes is because sinnes are ours and besides these nothing else in the world is ours I have said that sinne is truly ours This shall serve for the doctrinall part And that nothing in the world is ours besides sinne this shall serve for the morall part First then sinne is truely ours in three respects first in respect of patrimony secondly in respect of practise thirdly in respect of purchase In respect of patrimony The sinnes of our first parents Adam and Eve are ours In respect of practice our actuall sinnes are ours In respect of purchase the sinnes of our neighbours are made ours The sinnes of our first parents are ours for they not onely sinned for themselves but for us also they before us wee in them and after them Do wee not impute the bitternesse of the streame to the fountaine the rottennes of the branch to the root yes surely so is it with us hee was the root wee are the branches he the fountaine we the streames and to expresse this more clearly let me aske you that are acquainted with the art of numbers if that any figure in the first place doth signifie any more but it selfe onely yet by the addition of a cypher 1.2.3 or 4 multiplyeth the signification from ten to hundreds from hundreds to thousands and from thousands to millions It is even so with us Adam Eve sinned and being considered in their own place sinned alone for thēselves but being considered with our addition as being in their loines wee as cyphers have multiplied their burthen they as figures have made us significative they then have not sinned alone but we also in them and with thē their sins are not theirs alone but ours also by copartnership Secondly sin is ours by practise for as our first parents sinned and by their sinne made sinne ours originally so wee also by walking in the footsteps of our fathers and sinning after their examples have made that which was ours by descent from our fathers to be ours actually for as by one man sinne entred into the world and by sinne death so death hath universally runne over all men in respect that in one man all men have sinned yea further because wee have actually built up the sepulchers of our fathers therefore tribulation and anguish is upon the soule of every man that doth evill to the Jew first and also to the Grecian Lastly I say sin is ours by purchase by drawing on us the guilt and punishment of ours neighbours sinne And now thou shalt enquire of mee how a man can bee guilty of his neighbours sinne I answer it may bee done five manner of wayes 1. By connivence 2. By negligence 3. By assent 4. By example 5. By provocation By connivence winking at other mens faults when wee should reprove them to this effect it is written Levit. 19. Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbours sinne lest thou beare sinne for him By negligence in not correcting such for sin as are under our authority This was the sinne of Eli in sparing his sonnes and this is the threatning of Ezechiah in case of silence at the sinnes of his people Ezec. 3. By assent Thus Aaron was guilty of Idolatry when he assented to make the golden calfe By example thus Ieroboam is marked that hee made Israel to sinne And David that hee made the name of God to bee ill spoken of amongst the Gentiles Last of all by provocation this was the sinne of Lots daughters to their incestuous father and Baalams sinne to Israel with the daughters of Moab This then being the doctrinall part shewing how sinnes are ours the morall part succeedeth in which we must cleare this That nothing is so really ours as sinne That wee may the better understand this we must know that there is no creature on earth so naked and indigent as man for naked hee was borne and naked shall he returne againe and hee hath no peculiar or proper thing in the world that hee can justly call his but sinne and infirmity To prove this let us take a survey of all the things in the world Is wealth ours No for riches are painfully gotten carefully kept and wofully lost and yet when we have most adoe with them like an eagle shee takes her wings and flies away so swiftly as she cannot bee recovered and though they bide with us till the end of our dayes yet then they take their leave and wee reserve nothing saving a wounded conscience for the abuse of them Is beauty ours No surely let but a dayes sicknesse take thee by thy hand and loe thou shalt find nothing but age wrinkles the lineaments of death the characters of deformity which shall make thee affraid of thy selfe Is honor thine no surely it vanisheth as the morning cloud as the smoake of a chimney is liker to nothing then our Sun dyalls which point out the houres so long as the Sunne shineth but if a cloud shall intervene serve for nothing but are a dimme statue Is strength thine No let God but write one line of toleration and put it in the hand of thine and straight like Beltazzer thy knees shall beat one against another And with Iob thou shalt scrape thy sores with a potsherd on the dunghill Finally is that breath that wee draw into our nostrels ours no surely it is but sucked up and borrowed from the next aire If God lend thee power thou canst both exhale and evaporate it but if he say not Amen it shall choake thee in the passage Or is this body that thou bearest about thee thine No surely it is of the dust and to the dust it shall returne againe Pittifull wretched man that thou art what is thine nothing but sin and a wounded conscience for sin these are ours by patrimony by practice and by purchase of the which we can never be freed till we put off and change our patrimony practise and purchase Our patrimony by shewing our selves heires not to the first Adam but to the second Our practise by walking no more after the flesh but after the spirit for if wee walke after the flesh we shall dye but if wee walke after the spirit wee shall live Our purchase whilst wee crucifie our selves to the world and the world to us that the life of Jesus may bee made manifest in our mortall bodies and whilst wee forget the things that are behind us c. and account all things as dirt and dung to us in respect of the advantage that wee have in the crosse of Jesus Christ The
in thy young dayes Hee can say to the covetous man Pull downe thy barnes and make them more large and then cry a peace to thy soule Hee can say to the furious man Smite him at once that thou may not smite him the second time And What thou dost do quickly And in a word whatsoever seed of iniquity or bitter root of corruption hee soweth or planteth in our hearts this is his policy hee first bewitcheth the sense then enflameth the appetite or desire and last of all he bringeth sinne to accomplishment Vse In respect hereof it becommeth us carefully to watch over our senses as the gates and dores of our soules Secondly to keepe a guard about our affections that though our senses be infected yet our hearts be not affected Psal 139. And last of all wee should be earnest and carefull to mortifie both of these least their infection prevayling sin in thee come to a maturity and thou reape as thou hast sowne for hee that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reape corruption and hee that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reape life and glory and honor and life immortality Thus whilst wee seeke to bee free from temptations wee seek to be freed from the temptations of the devill the world and the flesh And if God at any time shall suffer us to fall into these temptations wee then begge of him that wee may not bee overcome of them Non enim petimus ut non tentemur sed ut a tentatione non vincamur Now followeth the third thing remarkable in the words and that is who are the souldiers that must fight the battell To this I answer all those that are subject to temptation the whole have no neede of the physitian but the sicke if any man therefore thinke himself free from the dint of temptation forbeare to say Lead us not into temptation but if none can exempt himselfe then what I say to one I say to all Watch and pray that yee enter not into temptation But that I may speake more clearely The souldiers of this Christian warfare are all those who are members of the mysticall body of Jesus To what end else hath hee clothed them with his livory put his badge on them given them their earnest and covered them under his banner hee hath clothed us with his livory whilst he hath imputed to us his righteousnesse hee hath put his badge on us whilst hee hath baptized us in his name hee hath given us earnest whilst hee hath given us the first fruits of the Spirit to dwell in us and hee hath convocated us under his banner whilst hee calleth to bee within the pale and precinct of his Church But this is not all thou wilt enquire yet who are those to whom hee hath concredited these endowments I answer the Saints militant and tryumphant By the Saints militant I understand men and women on earth By the Saints tryumphant I understand those who fought the fight finished their course and now are entred into their masters joy But here two questions may arise the first is this Have none beene tempted but the sonnes and daughters of men I answer none for howsoever it be true that Jesus Christ was the Sonne of God yet as the sonne of man hee was also tempted with us and that for these foure causes First Ad cautelam 2. In auxilium 3. Ad exemplum 4. In fiduciam The sonne of God was tempted in our flesh for our caution and for warning sake that looking on him no man might thinke himselfe set free from temptation for if hee hath not spared the Cedar of Lybanon how shall hee spare us poore Isop bushes Secondly hee was tempted for our assistance and aid for what shall it availe a man to know that his enemy approacheth against him unlesse hee be able to resist him therefore Christ came and in our flesh was tempted also that hee might deliver us in all our temptations both from the feare of death and from him who had the power of death the devill Thirdly hee was tempted for our example for as hee said of himselfe learne of me for I am mecke and lowly and as the Evangelist St Iohn saith of his washing of his disciples feet I have given you an example that you should do one to another as I have done to you So also hath hee suffered our temptations and was tempted like unto us that hee might leave us an example to follow his foot steps 1. Pet. 2.21 Fourthly hee was tempted for our comfort and assurance of victory for it is written Heb. 4.15 Wee have not such an High Priest as cannot be touched with our infirmities but hee was tempted in all things like unto us yet without sinne Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace and wee shall finde grace to helpe us in the time of need The second question is this Who are those amongst the sonnes and daughters of men who can truly say that they are tempted to this I answer If temptation be a fight those onely are truly said to be tempted who do bravely couragiously resist and fight against their adversary It is not the sluggard that lyeth down to sleepe nor the coward that rūneth away nor the feeble hearted that yeeldeth that can truly be called the souldies of God but they only who hold fast what they have received who stand fast within the liberty wherewith they are made free and who continue constant unto the end that as the good souldiers of Jesus Christ shall receive the crowne Seeing then amongst the sonnes of men there are some who are in the gall of bitternesse who are taken captive of Sathan at his will who are given over to their vile affections and to the power of error 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sure I am these are not worthy of the title of this fight nor to have their names billeted for the souldiers of Jesus onely they then in whom though sinne dwell yet doth not raigne are the true soldiers of Jesus who can with Abraham refuse to be enriched from Sodome and with Moses refuse to leave a howfe behind him are worthy and shall be clothed in white and receive a white stone and in it a new name which no man knoweth but hee that possesseth it Vse Now what shall I say concerning man the Christian souldier and the necessity of his resistance Alas there is so much in man enemy to man and so little left in him that is able to resist or fight for him much lesse to triumph and conquer or subdue his enemy to him I thinke I can onely intreat man to looke continually on his captaine And yet because hee must either fight or else never tryumph there are two things of which I would advertise him First let him not thrust himselfe into temptation unlesse as David said There be a cause And that with Jesus hee bee led with the spirit For our adversaries are
hope and thou shalt finde that thy expectation shall not want his reward for hee that said to thee Call upon mee in the day of thy trouble and I will deliver thee shall surely deliver thee And thy ransome shall not be wanting to thee if thy faith bee not wanting to thy selfe Now having spoken thus much concerning the tye of this part of the Petition with the former it followeth now that wee looke on the words and these foure things considerable in them I was telling you before in my last Sermon that wee are souldiers fighting under the banner of Jesus who being the leader and Generall of our army here telleth us that the fight is desperate for if wee dye not and perish in the conflict yet the best souldier that ever carryed armes except Jesus Christ hath beene taken captive this figuratively he calleth evill he teacheth us to pray against the same whilst he saith But deliver us from evill That wee may understand this evill the better wee must looke on the opposite thereof which is good Know therefore that there is a twofold good one personall another reall The personall good is hee who is the fountaine and welspring of all goodnesse both in himselfe and also in the creature This is God who is not onely good but goodnesse it selfe nothing beside him can truly bee called good And for this cause Christ said There is none good but one that is God Matt. 19. The reall good is that which is communicated from the fountaine to the streames from the root to the branches from the head to the members This is also twofold naturall or morall The naturall good is that which God hath communicated to all his creatures by vertue of their creation For God beheld the things which hee had made and behold they were all very good This goodnesse being considered in the creature is called Vestigium deitatis the character of the deity for by vertue hereof it is that whatsoever perfection wee finde in the creature wee call it good because in this and by this it expresseth the Creator who in himselfe is absolutely good in so farre as a finite creature can expresse an infinite and incorruptible Creator The morall good is that which God hath communicated to man in making him a reasonable soule a good so much the more excellent then that of nature by how much man is more eminent then the beast and reason more excellent then life or sense Well then the creature is naturally good Man is both naturally and morally good But wee must know a little further that the morall good concredited to man is twofold it is either Bonum obedientiae or benum praemij the good of obedience or the good of reward The good of obedience carrying a reference to the commandement of God is more then Vestigium deitatis for surely it is Ipsa imago Dei his true and lively character for by the obedience which wee give to the Commandements of God wee shew our selves to be the sonnes of God and that by the grace of his spirit wee are begotten againe to bee conformed to his image The other to wit the good of reward is the free donation of grace to us in this life or of glory in the life to come To both which wee may adde the good use of all the good creatures of God for godlinesse is great gaine having allotted to it not onely the promises of this life but also of that which is to come Now that I may bee found in my text seeing I have shewed you how many sorts of good and goodnesse there is let us looke now by way of opposition and know the nature of evill for this is common in the Schooles Quot modis unum oppositorum tot modis dicitur alterum Evill then is either personall or reall the personall evill must be opposite to the personall good God was and is the absolute and personall good Sathan must then be the great though not the absolute evill The absolute evill I will not call him for hee was good by creation and as hee remaineth yet in his nature and essence a creature hee remaineth still good but the prime and chiefe evill of the world hee is both in respect of himselfe and man The reall evill cannot bee given in true termes of opposition opposed to the reall good for that was either naturall or morall Now to say that there is any creature naturally evill wee cannot for they are by nature created good onely the ill which is in the creature is morall for the beeing or essence of the creature is good whatsoever is vitious or peccant in the creature is bad because of the bad quality thereof In man then as in a reasonable creature there are two evills one of disobedience another of punishment opposed to the good of obedience and reward The evill of disobedience we call malum culpae the evill of punishment Malum poenae The first is simply and absolutely evill because it is repugnant to the will of God and contrary to his law The last is not so but conditionally evill to wit in respect of us because it seemeth so to our taste for howsoever the evil of punishment seemes evill to man yet it is not so in respect of God in whose presence and by whose providence this malum poenae is bonum justiciae the evill of punishment is the good of his justice But thou wilt enquire O man seeing there be so many sorts of evill what evill is it that we pray against here I answer wee pray only against the evill of sinne For the clearing whereof know that there is a fourefold combination and mutuall reciprocatiō betwixt good and evill First the good of good Secondly the ill of good Thirdly the good of ill fourthly the ill of ill The good of good is that benefit which man reapeth of all the creatures of God health wealth peace liberty instruction of the soule by the ministrie of the word The ill of good is that detriment and harme which the wicked of the world reape out of the benefits and blessings of God for whilst hee maketh his Sunne to shine upon them his raine to fall on them his creatures to feed them and his word to bee preached to them though these things be good of themselves yet the wicked get no good but evill by them for by these bodily and temporall favours they are made inexcusable and by his spirituall mercies their condemnation is aggravated The good of evill is that good which the Lord as a wise Physician extracteth out of the evills of this life which befall them for as the physician maketh of a viper a soveraigne remedy and as Sampsons dead lyon afforded him a honey combe so the Lord out of the worst and baddest estate that can befall his servants he worketh their good Their bodily hunger teacheth them a spirituall hunger their bodily thirst to thirst after righteousnesse their poverty