meaning of the words to bee Let them that are not yet called bee brought within the compasse of thy covenant and the bosome of thy Church that as wee beleeve so they may beleeve also and as thy will is done by us so it may bee done by them Both of these opinions are not only tolerable but also laudable For we are bound by religion not only to subdue the lusts of our flesh and to live after the Spirit but also wee are bound in charity to begge of God that all such as appertaine to his election may be in due time called justified and glorified That so there may be but one shepheard and one sheepfold and God may bee over all and in all blessed for ever But if I may speak it without the prejudice of so great lights Howsoever both these Petitions be requisite for the Christian yet doe not I thinke that either of them be here meant But with Chrysostome I doe thinke that this Petition differs nothing from that precept of the Apostles Collos 3.1 If yee bee risen with Iesus Christ seeke those things that are above By earth then I understand men that are on earth and by heaven the Angels of God and the Spirits of good and just men departed So that the meaning of the petition is Since it hath pleased thee O Father who dwellest in Heaven to make thy name knowne to us and be called upon of us And seeing thou hast honored us by the making us members of thy true Church and thy Kingdome of grace here on earth O let thy Spirit of Grace dwel so powerfully and plentifully in us that as thy holy Angells and glorified Saints doe thy will in heaven So we that are but weake and sinfull men may captivate our wils to thy obedience here on earth Well then by Earth wee must understand not only earthly men but also the place where Even on earth and while we live in it But let us remarke the word for it is generall Our Saviour teaching us the person the time and the place of Gods obedience saith not Thy will be done in the field in the city in the sea or in the dry land but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 per universum terrarum orbem Through all the whole world And as David sayes in his 97. Psalme Make thy way knowne on earth and thy saving health to all Nations The persons then by whom he will have Gods will done are men who are of the earth and to the earth returne again And the place where in the earth and whilst wee live in it For unlesse wee doe the will of God here wee shall not enter into our Masters joy hereafter In the second roome wee must looke to the patterne and it is called heaven by the which as I told you already Augustine and Chrysostome do understand the holy Angells of God and the glorified Spirits of men These are said to bee in heaven But by these alone the word is not only understood For as there are more heavens then one so are they more that do the will of God in heaven then those blessed Spirits alone I say there are more heavens then one and it is cleere For it is said in the preface of this prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the plurall number and it is knowne and manifest in nature For this expansum or void wherein are the fowles is called a heaven and they the fowles of the heaven Againe these seaven subordinate spheares in the which the seaven Planets doe raigne are called heaven also Againe that place wherein are the fixed Starres is called a heaven also And finally that place of felicity which is above all of these is called heaven and the third heaven and the heaven of heavens and the Paradise of God Now as all of these are furnished with their severall host and inhabitants So is the will of God done in all of these by their severall host and inhabitants For in the lower heavens which we call our firmament the will of God is done by the fowles of the ayre and by the treasures of windes raine snow haile and the thunder In the second heaven the will of God is done by the Sunne the Moone and the Starres In the third heaven also the will of God is done by the holy Angells who have kept their originall integrity and by the congregation of the first born who rest from their labours and have entred into their Masters joy The words then are cleere By earth is meant man made of earth returning to the earth and living on the earth By heaven is meant all the host and inhabitants of the whole heavens of God whether they be the first second or third heaven But chiefly the third Now the resemblance and parallel of the obedience is remarkable As it is in Heaven For it may be enquired how doe the Angells and Saints departed obey the will of God in heaven I answere they obey it five manner of wayes Speedily Cheerfully Fully sincerely constantly and perfectly Speedily and without delay cheerfully and without murmuring fully and without omission sincerely without dissimulation constātly without wearying and perfectly without halting Now is it possible for man so to doe Gods will No certainly wee cannot doe it speedily for like Lot we linger to goe out of Sodome We cannot doe it cheerfully for like Israel wee grudge and murmur in the way to our rest We cannot doe it fully for the good that wee would doe we doe not c. We doe it not sincerely and without dissimulation for although wee honour him with our mouthes our hearts are farre from him We doe it not constantly and without wearying for to day we are fervent and to morrow wee are lukewarme neither hot nor cold Neither doe we it perfectly for we know but in a part and see but in a part and our perfection is laid up for us in the life to come But why doe we then pray for it since wee cannot attaine to it I answere though we cannot attaine to it yet wee should strive after it For there is a time comming wherein we shall obtaine and attaine to that perfection wee aime at And that is our last moment and day of our dissolution Like Israel compassing Jericho And Sampson groaning under his blindnesse Vse Now the use of all this When God made man he made him conforme to his patterne for he made him like to himselfe and to his owne Image When God commanded to build him a Tabernacle he gave a patterne to it in the mount and never a pinne was in the Tabernacle but what was commanded So it is here when Christ Jesus desireth us to doe Gods will he writeth to us a copy doe it in earth as it is done in heaven Not that we are able to attaine to it but that we must strive after it Let us looke but to a naturall Parent Hee calleth upon
last thing remarkable in the words is the person at whose hands wee sue for this release and pardon of sinne which is neither man nor angell nor Saint departed but God alone for all these with the wise virgins haue adoe with their owne lamps except this onely to wit God for it is against him onely that wee sinne and it is hee onely who can forgive sinne and if pardon of sinne bee in the Church it is onely a conditionall declaration no absolute condonation LECT 17. As wee for give our debtors NExt to the consideration of that part of this Petition which is supplicatory wee come to that which is restipulatory The first part was supplicatory in begging pardon of our sinnes against God this carries the restipulation of the covenant and promiseth in our names the pardon and forgivenesse of our brethren whensoever they sinne against us The covenant of it selfe in it selfe is hard so much the harder by how much it hath both the fairer provocations for obedience and the fouler stumblings in disobedience It hath the fairer provocations to obedience for in all the covenāts that God hath made with man there is none like to this God hath made three covenants with man a naturall a Legall and an Evangelicall The naturall covenant was made with man in the day of creation The legall in the day of his temporall redemption and the Evangelicall in the fulnesse of time when the Sonne of God being made man and not knowing sinne was made sinne for our sakes and expiated our sinnes by his sufferings The tenor of the first covenant was naturall and just Naturall because he made man in nature perfect and just because hee required nothing of man but that to the obedience whereof hee had given him naturall ability The second covenant was in some condition preternaturall and just preternaturall in so farre that nature could not obey it yet just because he once strengthened nature to obey it The third covenant was supernaturall and gracious Supernaturall in requiring things that nature could not give yet supernaturally gracious in finding out a remedie for the defect of nature making the Sonne of God to become man and him that knew not sinne to bee made sinne for us that wee in him might bee made partakers of the riches of the mercy of God Now remember I pray you what I have said I said that this covenant was so much the harder by how much the provocations were gracious and the disobediences foule To have sinned against the covenant of nature was foule indeed because nature was made perfect and able to doe what was required of the naturall man To sinne against the covenant of workes which I called preternaturall was foule also for howsoever nature was then corrupt and weake yet their deliverance from the bondage of Egypt prefigurating to them the hope of a better deliverance and therefore rendred the smell of their disobedience the more odious and abominable by how much in it they had not onely the pardon of their naturall uncleannesse but also the hope of a better inheritance sealed up unto them But above all the breach of this covenant made with us in the blood of Jesus under the Gospell is so much the more foule and abominable by how much the seale of the covenant was gracious and easie For the condition of the first covenant was strict because naturall The condition of the second was fearfull because supernaturall for the time But the condition of the last covenant was easie be cause gracious and our rebellion so much the more foule because it was easie and to the corrupt nature of man so much the more hard by how much it was facilitated by the obedience of another for it is written the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth after envie And againe I do not the good that I would but the evill that I would not yet the Law in it selfe is pure holy righteous and just Well then it hath pleased God in his wisedome to adjoyn these words As we for give c. To the former to be a seale of his righteousnesse and withall to be a testimony of our uncleannesse and prevarication A seale of his righteousnesse in that hee hath freely forgiven us our sinnes A seale of our uncleannesse and prevarication in that wee cannot forgive one another Now the words being thus taken up in their dependence it is requisite that wee looke upon them in their severall stations and from thence gather their severall uses for our instruction If wee shall narrowly look upon them foure things offer themselves to our consideration First a condition imposed to man serving for the seale of the covenant As. Secondly to whom this condition is both proposed and imposed wee Thirdly the duty annexed to the condition Forgive Fourthly the persons to whom wee are obliged in this duty to our debters or them that finne against us To returne to the first of these the condition As the words are diversly read in divers Evangelists Matthew saith Forgive us our debts as wee forgive our debtors Luke in his 11. Chapter saith Forgive us our sinnes for wee even forgive them that sinne against us And according to the diversitie of the readings so hath there also diversitie of interpretations of the words arisen Some looking too strictly upon the particle of similitude here used As have been led a little to doubt of the free pardon and remission of their sinnes For if God shall forgive man no otherwise then man forgiveth his neighbour then for the most part our sinnes shall neither bee fully freely nor finally forgiven for as I have showne you in our last Sermon mans pardon is but partiall constrained and for a time and the rest laid up against the day of revenge and his more full retaliation On the other part the reading of this prayer as St Luke hath recorded it to us by way of causality in the word For hath led many to presumption thinking that if they can pardon their neighbours their sinnes then God is bound to pardon them theirs and so they would inforce by way of merit their pardon at Gods hands But that the words may be cleared and the wisedome of God in them freed from both these impostures know that the word used by Matthew is not set downe by way of parity but by way of seale And the word used by Luke is not set downe by way of causality but by way of commiseration I say that the word used by St Matthew as is not a word of parity and reciprocation but of seale so that the purpose and meaning of God in it is not to tye man to that strict and precise rigour of his conformity which either the severity of his Law or the sincerity of his nature requireth but in mercy hee leadeth man to bee confident and assured of the remission of his sinnes at Gods hands by the seale of his owne heart for by this as
knowne by his name to Adam to Moses to Abraham Isaack Iacob and the Prophets And by these his names point out to them the fulnesse of his grace in Jesus Christ I answer thee It is true indeed but the differēce of the revelatiō is great for God in the manifesting of his name unto us hath now done it more neerly more cleerely more fully and more familiarly First more neerly for what is neerer to us then our nature which he did assume hee became flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone yea like unto us in all things sinne onely excepted that wee might bee made to God in him flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone in a spirituall regeneration Secondly more clearely for they saw but darkly and under a veile but wee have seene him in the prime and strength of his light for it is written All these things were but shadowes of things to come but the body was Christ Iesus Galat. 2. Thirdly more fully for he hath kept back no part of the counsell of the Father from us which was necessary to our salvation Fourthly more familiarly for what could be more familiar then to have the Sonne of God walking in our flesh amongst us thirty three yeares and an halfe And what greater familiarity then to make both Jew and Gentile who were estranged from God to bee one in himselfe Let us therefore boldly looke upon him in the revelation of his name and learne in every thing in heaven or in earth on the which we set our eyes to reverence this great and mighty name the Lord our God This being spoken concer-cerning the subject of the petition the Attribute now followeth in order to bee considered and it is laid before us in a word of sanctification or hallowing Hallowed bee thy name For understanding hereof wee will first looke what it is to hallow or sanctifie Secondly in whose power it lyeth to sanctifie Thirdly how Gods name is hallowed or can be sanctified of us First to hallow or to sanctifie any thing is to vindicate the same from any absurd or profane use to its owne holy and proper end and therefore to hallow Gods name is to vindicate it from all abuse whatsoever and to attribute to it the due honour and glory thereof But let this be made a little more cleare Secondly God sometimes halloweth man sometimes halloweth and God and man both do sometimes hallow God hallowed man by creation making him to his image God halloweth man by regeneration in the day of his new birth and God shall totally and finally hallow man in the day of his totall and finall redemption so that whatsoever God halloweth it is positively hallowed Man halloweth God not by making him blessed for what can a finite creature adde to the felicity of the great and infinite Creator Man therfore halloweth Gods name but declaratively when hee confesseth to the honour and glory of God that hee hath nothing but that which hee hath received and when hee giveth praise unto him for the same So that the hallowing and sanctification of God to man in respect of mans to him back againe is as the cause to the effect or as Gods election knowledge love to us from eternity causeth our election knowledge love of God back againe in time Finally there be some things that God and man both halloweth and these are persons times places i. his Ministers his Sabbaths and his Churches for these God hath hallowed and consecrated to himselfe Man halloweth them by observing and keeping them holy without prophanation and sanctifying himselfe in them and by them To speake then in a word Gods name is hallowed two wayes notionally and practically Notionally when wee acknowledge him aright and in the thoughts of our heart do yeeld unto him that due reverence which becommeth the creatures to give to the Creator Practically when in the tenour of our lives we do rightly acknowledge the truth of his word the riches of his mercy the equity of his justice and the majestie of his workes Vse Now that wee may make use of this Petition let us call to minde a little what hath beene said that under the name of God was understood his essence his word and his worke his essence we cannot hallow for wee can adde nothing to that which is infinite neither can we declare it sufficiently for here wee know but in a part and see but in a part Gods name is honoured in his word First when it is reverenced Secondly when it is trusted Thirdly when it is obeyed First when it is reverenced not as the word of man but as the word of God for this cause the Apostle St Paul at Corinth preached not in the vaine inticing eloquence of humane wisdome lest the crosse of Christ should be of no effect Secondly when it is trusted for want of this trust the old world was drowned and Moses debarred the land of Canaan and mockers in the last time shall receive a judgement that lingers not Thirdly when it is obeyed and men walke worthy of the calling wherunto they are called The wāt of this made Eli his house desolate and Shilo a mockingstocke The want of this made the sword to stay on the house of David surely the want of this shall one day beare witnesse against the children of this generation One thing resteth to honour God in his workes and this sort of sanctification is threefold according to the threefold estate of his creatures for some of them wee contemplate onely some of them wee acquire with toyle and much travell and some of them wee use with freedome and true liberty Wee contemplate the Sunne the Moone and the starres all made for the glory of God and the praise of his name we possesse the earth the seas with toyle difficulty and paine wee use with liberty and freedome our meate our drinke and our apparell In the first wee honour God if from the excellencie of the creature wee looke up to the admirable glory of the Creatour In the second we honour God whilst we care for them not with a thornie but a sober care 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the last wee honour God whilst wee sanctifie their use by the word by prayer and by sobriety But shall not man honour God in the words of his mouth also Yes surely but because hee who honoureth God in his heart doth also honor him with his mouth è contra by the one wee shall easily judge of the other For this it is that the wicked man is reproved Psalme 50. And that Christ commandeth Sathan to be silent speaking out of a possessed man for hee knew that his name would be dishonoured whilst it was named out of the mouth of the father of lyes let our speech therefore bee powdered with salt Now onely resteth the word of appropriation Thy which is set as a band and tye knitting the Attribute
wee know this to be the defect and weaknesse of our children that hardly or seldome can they bee brought to put on their apparell or say their prayers till first they get the promise of their breakfast it is so with us in the way to heaven all the promises of God concerning our felicity there which in themselves are so large and infinite that neither hath the eye seene them or the eare heard them or can the minde of man understand them Yet all of them of what quality or number soever they bee can never lead a man to the earnest pursuit of those things that are eternall unlesse hee get a palpable possession of those things that are temporall But as David said This is our death I saysecondly he hath done it for a demonstration of the riches of his mercy towards us letting us see that hee will passe by many of our infirmities and overlooke many of our weakenesses ere hee want us So pretious a thing in the eyes of the Lord is the Soule of a man that hee will give much for it ere hee want it looke to the Father looke to the Sonne to the Holy Ghost looke to the elect angels to the Saints departed to the senselesse creatures and looke to sathan himselfe and all shall teach you that nothing on earth is so pretious as the soule of man And if our soules and the redemption of them bee a matter of so great excellencie doe you thinke that God will want it for a meale of meat no no farre bee it from us to thinke so for will hee that feeds the fowles of the aire and clothes the lillies in the field be forgetfull of us No surely a haire of our head shall not fall to the ground but by his providence and if any shall fall it is not for want of his favour but for the weaknesse of our faith I say thirdly it is done to shew us the true refuge unto the which we should all leane in the day of our want whether bodily or spirituall and that is onely to God For will wee looke to the things of this earth in the day of our bodily want from whom shall we seeke them but from God for it is hee that heareth the heaven and maketh the heaven to heare the earth and the earth to heare the come and the come to heare Israel If hee heare thee all shall heare thee but if hee stop his eare all shall bee deafe and dumbe to thee For the eyes of all things do wait and depend on him While he openeth his hand they are filled with his blessing But if hee over-cloud his countenance they are sore affraid and perish Now this being the reason of the coherence I come to the Petition wherein six things are remarkable First what we crave Bread Secondly of whom wee crave it of God for wee say Give Thirdly to whom wee crave it and it it not in the singular number to mee or to thee but in the plurall number Vnto Vs Fourthly what a bread it is that we crave a Daily bread not a dainty bread Fifthly whose bread is it that we crave not our neighbours bread but our owne Our And sixtly for what time it is that wee crave it not for the morrow but for to day Give us this day our daily bread Whilst I looke on the thing that is petitioned Bread It is requisite that I search what is meant and understood by it The Ancients and Fathers of the Church have thought diversly of it Tertullian lib. de Orat. Cap. 6. will have by this bread Christ himselfe to bee meant and saith that there is nothing can have a more orderly progresse then that after we have sought the honor of Gods name the advancement of his Kingdome and the obedience of his will to seeke also the bread of life by the which wee may bee enabled to do those things And this is Christ himselfe saith hee for of him it is written I am the bread of life Ioh. 6. Athanasius lib. De humana natura suscepta Tom. 1. doth by the word bread understand the Holy Ghost and for proofe thereof bringeth the words of this very Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our daily bread for hee saith God hath taught us in this present time to seeke that bread for our entertainment whose first fruits shall preserve our soule in life to the life to come Augustine writing of the sermon of Christ in the mountaine Tom. 4. lib. 2. cap. 7. pag. 349. by bread doth understand the bread of the Sacrament or else the bread of Gods word by the which our soules are kept in life to the obedience of his statutes But with reverence let me say that Tertullians opinion meaning by bread Christ cannot stand with the due order of this prayer for then it were tautologick for that was sought in the petition Thy Kingdome come Againe Athanasius his interpretation cannot bee received whilst by bread hee meaneth the holy Ghost for of him wee receive but the first fruits in this life But of this bread we many times receive both satiety and surfeit Last of all I cannot subscribe to Augustine in this his opinion nor to the Rhemists his followers who by bread here understand the bread of the Sacrament for if it were so I see no reason wherefore they should debarre the laicks from eating thereof one licenciating the use thereof to the Priests whilst God calleth it our bread and our daily bread and alloweth to us both the use and the daily use thereof It resteth then that the truth bee cleared and so it shall by taking the words literally and under the name of bread by understanding bakers bread yet not so strictly but that figuratively also under it we may cōprehend all things requisite for the maintenance of this our naturall life such as are strength of body by nourishment health by Physick warmnesse by apparell sufficiencie and correspondencie to our labours and finally all the meanes and helpes that leads to these things as Christian magistracie peace in the land and seasonable weather So that Ambrose looking on the large extent of the word bread sayeth of this Petition Haec postulatio maxima est corum quae petuntur For since as man cannot live without bread so his bread cannot quicken him except he have a stomack to disgest and when his stomack is able hee cannot get it unlesse the earth afford it and the earth doth not afford it except it be laboured and it cannot bee laboured except there bee peace amongst men and in the very time of peace mens travels cannot be profitable unlesse God send both the first and the latter raine Therefore saith hee in this one word of bread many things are couched yea all things that are requisite for the entertainment of our life The meaning of the words being thus interpreted let us make some use of them Their use is twofold Vse For the word serves first for rebuke and
our shippe teight Who can cure our wounds but hee who is the spirituall carpenter and Physitian of our Soules In all our distresses let us have our recourse to him For hee will not weary in doing us good if we can come to him without wearying For in due time wee shall receive our reward if wee faint not Secondly in this word wee are taught how to bridle our affections for the desires of men are infinite and have no end they are like the horse-leech that saith alwayes Give give and like the grave that is never satisfied Yet behold O man it were good for thee to set bounds to thy desires for God in his wisdome hath put in this Petition a word of content daily That as the globe of the earth is girded about with the Meridian line so these earthly hearts of ours may be girded about and kept in frame with the compasse of content It is with us in this last age as with Israel in the wildernesse for when they gathered their Manna God commanded that they should gather but an Omer and either under or above according to the number of their family It is even so with us God will not give us a liberty to seeke the things of this earth but with measure and mediocrity so much as may refresh and maintaine nature with a reasonable content But though this bee the ordinance of God O how exorbitant are the desires of men how wastfull is our excesse in meate drinke and apparell purchasing of lands I say wee are wastfull in excesse of our meate drinke and apparell for there is more on one of our tables at one time then would satisfie all the poore of the city if it were well parted We drinke at once more cups of health then Bacchus did in his Orgyes And one suit of apparell on our backe is bought at a dearer rate then all the revenue of many of our heires can amount to Looke againe upon our purchasing God commandeth us to seeke nothing but our daily bread but behold wee joyne house to house land to land and inheritance to inheritance and when wee have done all that wee can to make it large and ample if there bee but one foote bredth of ground under our window or within the smoake of our chimney that is not ours O how sicke are we of discontent with Achab till Naboths vineyard bee added to our inclosures And yet if wee would consider how soone wee may be taken from it how deboist an heire wee shall leave it to or how little ground will content and conteine us when wee dye I hope wee should not bee so earth hungry But all our errour is in this wee forget the word of Gods ordinance daily And wee dreame of a word of eternity Evermore So the folly of the one overshadowes the truth of the other in us and wee become forgetfull of the word of God If thou get food and raiment thou should bee therewith content Thirdly it should captivate our will to the entertainment of a daily familiarity with God for this is sure we have nothing but what God giveth us daily why should wee not then run to him daily hourly to seeke it Brethren I cannot looke without pitty upon the estate of the weake Christian in this point for in it hee is inferiour to the poorest begger that goeth in the streete the begger because he knows that he hath nothing but what good people gives him hee goeth into the open wayes where people have greatest resort and because his necessities are daily and quotidian therefore hee is not ashamed to bee a daily and quotidian begger but in this wee come short of him for we are all as indigent of grace as hee of meanes and yet hee can begge daily wee cannot hee can betake himselfe into the place of support but wee will not the place of our support is the Church the strength of our begging lyeth in prayer The begger wearyeth not to goe into the high wayes we weary to come to the Church he wearyeth not to supplicate with all the termes of necessity hee can invent wee weary ere wee can breath two or three words though but for fashion But heare O my hearers these things should not be so for as our necessities are so much the more urgent by how much they are spirituall so should our prayers be both the more frequent and fervent by how much the Kingdome of Heaven is not obteined but by violence and if at any time our petitions be returned to us without successe it is because they want heart I have many times told from this place that that which Martha said to Christ concerning Lazarus may be truly said to our soules concerning prayer and the continuance thereof shee said Lord if thou hadst beene here my brother Lazarus had not dyed so thou and I and all of us may say If prayer had beene here this ill turne had not falne in our hands for prayer is not the worke of flesh and blood but of the Holy Ghost where it is hee is and where hee is guide wee cannot so stumble but of necessity wee must rise againe So much I have spoken concerning the word daily which I called a word of content there rests now in all this Petition but a word This day This I called a word of limitation and by it I meane to limit and put an end to this Sermon By the word then of This day I understand this present moment of time in which we live called by David a yeare The yeares of men are but threescore and ten Iob calleth it a moneth I have had for my inheritance but the moneths of vanity and here it is called a day because as yesterday is gone and is no more so wee shall bee to morrow Wee have nothing in time or of time which wee can truly call ours but this day and in it but this moment God then in his wisdome hath not onely set bounds to the quality of our desires calling them but daily but also limiteth the time and continuance of them to this day but if any worldling shall grudge at his lease as being too short let him know that the words are not mine but Gods For whatsoever endowments of grace hee hath given to the sonne of man hee hath given it under the title and precinct of this day he said to the Sonne of man his own Sonne the Lord Christ Jesus in his instalment Thou art my beloved Son this day have ' I begotten thee Psal 2. Hee said to his people Israel his sons by adoption The Lord hath chosen thee this day to bee a peculiar people unto him Deut. 26. Hee said to his servant the Prophet Isay in the time of his calling This day have I set thee up over Kingdomes over nations Isay 1.10 Lastly hee said to the theefe on the Crosse This day thou shalt bee with mee in paradise Neither is this the onely and
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
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