Our Father

Having (through the good providence of God) gone over the chief grounds and fundamentals of religion, and enlarged upon the Decalogue or Ten Commandments, I shall now at the close, speak something upon the Lord's Prayer.

Matthew 6:9. After this manner therefore pray you, Our Father which is in Heaven, Hallowed, etc.

In this Scripture are two things observable.

- 1. The Introduction to the Prayer. - 2. The Prayer itself, which consists of three parts. 1. A Preface. 2. Petitions 3. The Conclusion.

1. The Introduction to the Lord's Prayer, sic orate vos, After this manner pray you.] Our Lord Jesus in these words prescribed to his disciples and us a directory for prayer. The Ten Commandments are the rule of our life, the Creed is the sum of our faith, and the Lord's Prayer is the pattern of our prayer: as God did prescribe Moses a pattern of the Tabernacle (Exodus 25:9), so Christ has here prescribed us a pattern of prayer. After this manner pray you, etc. The meaning is, let this be the rule and model according to which you frame your prayers; Ad hanc regulam preces nostras exigere necesse est. Not that we are tied to the words of the Lord's Prayer: Christ says not after these words, pray you, but after this manner; that is, let all your petitions agree and symbolize with the things contained in the Lord's Prayer; and indeed well may we make all our prayers consonant and agreeable to this prayer, it being a most exact prayer. Tertullian calls it breviarium totius Evangelii, a breviary and compendium of the Gospel: it is like a heap of massy gold. The exactness of this prayer appears, 1. In the dignity of the author: a piece of work has commendation from the artificer; and this prayer has commendation from the author; it is the Lord's Prayer. As the moral law was written with the finger of God, so this prayer was dropped from the lips of the Son of God. Non vox Hominem sonat, est Deus. 2. The exactness of this prayer appears in the excellency of the matter. I may say of this prayer, it is as silver tried in a furnace, purified seven times (Psalm 12:6). Never was there prayer so admirably and curiously composed as this. As Solomon's Song for its excellency is called the Song of Songs; so may this well be called the prayer of prayers. The matter of it is admirable; 1. For its succinctness, it is short and pithy, [in non-Latin alphabet], multum in parvo, a great deal said in a few words. It requires more art to draw the two globes curiously in a little map. This short prayer is a system or body of divinity. 2. Its clearness. This prayer is plain and intelligible to every capacity: clearness is the grace of speech. 3. Its completeness. This prayer contains in it the chief things that we have to ask, or God has to bestow.

Use. Let us have a great esteem of the Lord's Prayer; let it be the model and pattern of all our prayers: there is a double benefit that arises from framing our petitions suitable to the Lord's Prayer. 1. Hereby error in prayer is prevented: it is not easy to write wrong copy; we cannot easily err having our pattern before us. 2. Hereby mercies requested are obtained; for the Apostle assures us God will hear us when we pray according to his will (1 John 5:14), and surely we pray according to his will, when we pray according to his pattern he has set us. So much for the Introduction to the Lord's Prayer, After this manner pray you.

2. The Prayer itself, which consists of three parts.

- 1. A Preface. - 2. Petitions. - 3. The Conclusion.

1. The Preface to the prayer: 1. Our Father, 2. Which is in Heaven. To begin with the first words of the Preface.

(1.) Our Father.] Father is sometimes taken personally; John 14:28. My Father is greater than I: but Father in the text is taken essentially for the whole Deity. This title, Father, teaches us to whom we must address ourselves in prayer, to God alone. Here is no such thing in the Lord's Prayer, as, O you saints or angels that are in heaven hear us, but our Father which is in heaven.

Question. In what order must we direct our prayers to God? Here is only the Father named, may we not direct our prayers to the Son and Holy Ghost?

Answer. Though the Father only is named in the Lord's Prayer, yet the other two persons are not hereby excluded: the Father is mentioned because he is first in order, but the Son and Holy Ghost are included, because they are the same in essence: as all the three persons subsist in one Godhead, so in our prayers, though we name but one [illegible]rson, we must pray to all. To come then more closely to the first words of the Preface, [Our Father]. Princes on earth give themselves titles expressing their greatness, as High and Mighty: God might have done so, and expressed himself thus, Our King of Glory, Our Judge, but he gives himself another title, Our Father, an expression of love and condescension. God, that he might encourage us to pray to him, represents himself under this sweet notion of a Father, Our Father. Dulce nomen Patris: the name Jehovah carries majesty in it; the name Father carries mercy in it.

Question 1. In what sense is God a Father?

Response. 1. By creation; it is he that has made us; Acts 17:28. [in non-Latin alphabet], we are his offspring (Malachi 2:10). Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? But there is little comfort in this; for so God is Father to the devils by creation, but he that made them will not save them.

2. God is a Father by election, having chosen a certain number to be his children, whom he will entail heaven upon; Ephesians 1:4. [in non-Latin alphabet], he has chosen us in him.

3. God is a Father by special grace; he consecrates the elect by his Spirit, and infuses a supernatural principle of holiness, therefore they are said to be born of God (1 John 3:9). Such only as are sanctified can say, Our Father which is in heaven.

Question 2. What is the difference between God being the Father of Christ, and the Father of the elect?

Response. God is the Father of Christ in a more glorious transcendent manner. Christ has the primogeniture; he is the eldest Son, a Son by eternal generation: Proverbs 8:23. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. Isaiah 53:8. Who shall declare his generation? Christ is a Son to the Father, yet so, as he is of the same nature with the Father, having all the incommunicable properties of the Godhead belonging to him: but we are sons of God by adoption and grace; Galatians 4:5. That we might receive the adoption of sons.

Quest. 3. What is that which makes God our Father?

Resp. Faith: (Galatians 3:26) You are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. An unbeliever may call God his Creator, and his Judge, but not his Father. Faith does legitimate us, and make us of the blood-royal of Heaven: You are the children of God by faith. Baptism makes us church members, but Faith makes us children. Without Faith the devil can show as good a coat of arms as we.

Quest. 4. How does Faith make God to be our Father?

Resp. As Faith is a uniting grace; by Faith we have coalition and union with Christ, and so the kindred comes in; being united to Christ the natural Son, we become adopted sons: God is the Father of Christ; Faith makes us Christ's brethren (Hebrews 2:11), and so God comes to be our Father.

Quest. 5. Wherein does it appear that God is the best Father?

Resp. 1. In that he is most ancient; (Daniel 7:9) The Ancient of Days did sit: A figurative representation of God who was before all time. This may cause veneration.

2. God is the best Father, because he is perfect; (Matthew 5:48) Your Father which is in Heaven is perfect. He is perfectly good: Earthly fathers are subject to infirmities: Elijah (though a prophet) was a man of like passions (James 5:17), but God is perfectly good: All the perfection we can arrive at in this life is sincerity; we may a little resemble God, but not equal him: He is infinitely perfect.

3. God is the best Father in respect of wisdom; (1 Timothy 1:17) The only wise God. He has a perfect idea of wisdom in himself: He knows the fittest means to bring about his own designs; the angels light at his lamp. In particular, this is one branch of his wisdom, that he knows what is best for us: An earthly parent knows not in some intricate cases how to advise his child, or what may be best for him to do; but God is a most wise Father; he knows what is best for us; he knows when comfort is best for us; he keeps his cordials for fainting; (2 Corinthians 7:6) God who comforts them that are cast down: He knows when affliction is best for us, and when it is fit to give a bitter potion: (1 Peter 1:6) If need be, you are in heaviness. He is the only wise God; he knows how to make evil things work for good to his children (Romans 8:28), he can make a sovereign treacle of poison: Thus he is the best Father for wisdom.

4. He is the best Father because most loving; (1 John 4:16) God is love. He who causes bowels of affection in others, must needs have more bowels himself; quod efficit tale: The affections in parents are but marble and adamant in comparison of God's love to his children, he gives them the cream of his love, electing love, saving love; (Zephaniah 3:17) He will rejoice over you with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over you with singing: No Father like God for love; if you are his child, you cannot love your own soul, so entirely as he loves you.

5. God is the best Father for riches; God has land enough to give to all his children, he has unsearchable riches (Ephesians 3:8). He gives the hidden manna, the tree of life, rivers of joy, gates of pearl: Who ever saw gates of pearl? God has treasures that cannot be emptied, pleasures that cannot be ended. Earthly fathers if they should be ever giving, they would have nothing left to give: God is ever giving to his children, yet has not the less; his riches are imparted, not impaired. Like the sun that still shines, yet has not the less light. He cannot be poor who is infinite. Thus God is the best Father, he gives more to his children than any father, or prince can bestow.

6. God is the best Father, because he can reform his children. A father when his son takes bad courses, knows not how to make him better, but God knows how to make the children of the election better; he can change their hearts. When Paul was breathing out persecution against the saints, God soon altered his course and set him a praying; (Acts 9:11) Behold he prays. None of those who belong to the election are so rough-cast and unhewn but God can polish them with his grace, and make them fit for the inheritance.

7. God is the best Father because he never dies, (1 Timothy 6:16) Who only has immortality. Earthly fathers die, and their children are exposed to many injuries, but God lives forever; (Revelation 1:8) I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the last. God's crown has no successors.

Quest. 6. Wherein lies the dignity of such as have God for their Father?

Resp. They have greater honor than is conferred on the princes of the earth; They are precious in God's esteem; (Isaiah 43:4) Since you were precious in my eyes, you have been honorable; the wicked are dross (Psalm 119:119), and chaff (Psalm 1:4), but God numbers his children among his jewels (Malachi 3:17), he writes all his children's names in the Book of Life (Philippians 4:3), Whose names are in the book of life. Among the Romans the names of their senators were written down in a book, Patres conscripti; God enrolls the names of his children, and will not blot their names out of the register: (Revelation 3:5) I will not blot his name out of the book of life. God will not be ashamed of his children; (Hebrews 11:16) God is not ashamed to be called your God. One might think it were something below God, and he might disdain to father such children as are dust and sin mingled, but he is not ashamed to be called our God; and that we may see he is not ashamed of his children, he writes his own name upon them; (Revelation 3:12) I will write upon him the name of my God; that is, I will openly acknowledge him before all the angels to be my child. I will write my name upon him, as the son bears his father's name: What an honor and dignity is this.

2. God confers honorable titles upon his children: 1. He calls them the excellent of the earth (Psalm 16:2), or the magnificent, as Junius renders it. They must needs be excellent who are e Regio Sanguine nati, of the Blood-Royal of Heaven; they are the spiritual phoenixes of the world, the glory of the creation. God calls his children his glory (Isaiah 46:13): Israel my glory. God honors his children with the title of kings (Revelation 1:6): And has made us kings. All God's children are kings: though they have not earthly kingdoms, yet, 1. They carry a kingdom about them (Luke 17:21): The kingdom of God is within you: grace is a kingdom set up in the hearts of God's children. They are kings to rule over their sins: to bind those kings in chains (Psalm 149:8). 2. They are like kings, they have their insignia Regalia, their ensigns of royalty and majesty. 1. They have their crown: In this life they are kings in a disguise: They are not known, therefore they are exposed to poverty and reproach; they are kings in a disguise (1 John 3:2): Now we are the sons of God, and it does not appear what we shall be. Why what shall we be? Every son of God shall have his crown of glory (1 Peter 5:4), and white robes (Revelation 6:11). Robes signify dignity, and white signifies sanctity.

3. This is their honor who have God for their Father, they are all heirs; the youngest son is an heir. 1. God's children are heirs to the things of this life: God being their Father they have the best title to earthly things, they have a sanctified right to them, though they have often the least share, yet they have the best right, and they have a blessing with what they have; that is, God's love and favor. Others may have more of the venison, but God's children have more of the blessing: Thus they are heirs to the things of this life. 2. They are heirs to the other world: heirs of salvation (Hebrews 1:14), [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉], joint-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17). They go sharers with Christ in glory. Among men commonly the eldest son carries away all, but God's children are all joint-heirs with Christ, they have a copartnership with him in his riches. Has Christ a place in the celestial mansions, so have the saints (John 14:2): In my Father's house are many mansions, I go to prepare a place for you. Has he his Father's love, so have they (Psalm 146:8; John 17:26): That the love with which you have loved me may be in them. Does Christ sit upon a throne, so do God's children (Revelation 3:21)? What a high honor is this?

4. God makes his children equal in honor to the angels (Luke 20:36). They are [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] equal to the angels: nay, those saints who have God for their Father, are in some sense superior to the angels; for Jesus Christ having taken our nature, Naturam nostram nobilitavit, has ennobled and honored it above the angelical (Hebrews 2:16). God has made his children by adoption, nearer to himself than the angels. The angels are the friends of Christ, believers are the members of Christ, and this honor have all the saints. Thus you see the dignity of such as have God for their Father. What a comfort is this to God's children, who are here despised and loaded with calumnies and invectives (1 Corinthians 4:14): We are made as the filth of the world, etc. But God will put honor upon his children at the last day, and crown them with immortal bliss, to the envy of their adversaries.

Question 7. How we may know that God is our Father? All cannot say Our Father: The Jews boasted that God was their Father (John 8:36): We have one Father, even God. Christ tells them their pedigree, verse 44: You are of your Father the Devil. They who are of Satanical spirits, and make use of their power to beat down the power of godliness, cannot say God is their Father, they may say, Our Father which art in Hell. Well then, how may we know that God is our Father?

Response 1: By having a filial disposition. This is in four things. 1. To melt in tears for sin: A child weeps for offending his father. When Christ looked on Peter, and he remembered his sin in denying Christ, he fell to weeping. Clemens Alexandrinus reports of Peter, he never heard a cock crow but he wept. This is a sign God is our Father: When the heart of stone is taken away, and there is a gracious thaw in the heart, it melts in tears for sin; and he who has a child-like heart mourns for sin in a spiritual manner, as it is sin. He grieves for it, 1. As it is an act of pollution. Sin deflowers the virgin soul; it defaces God's image; it turns beauty into deformity; it is called the plague of the heart (1 Kings 8:38). It is the spirits of evil distilled. A child of God mourns for the defilement of sin; sin has a blacker aspect than hell. 2. He who has a child-like heart grieves for sin, as it is an act of enmity. Sin is diametrically opposite to God: It is called a walking contrary to God (Leviticus 26:40): If they shall confess their iniquity, and that they have walked contrary to me. Sin does all it can to spite God: If God be of one mind, sin will be of another. Sin would not only unthrone God, but it strikes at his very being; if sin could help it God should be no longer God. A child-like heart grieves for this, O says he, that I should have so much enmity in me, that my will should be no more subdued to the will of my heavenly Father, this springs a leak of godly sorrow. 3. A child-like heart weeps for sin as it is an act of ingratitude. Sin is an abuse of God's love; it is a taking the jewels of God's mercies and making use of them to sin. God has done more for his children than others; he has planted his grace, and given them some intimations of his favor, and to sin against kindness, dyes a sin in grain, and makes it crimson: Like Absalom, as soon as his father kissed him and took him into favor, plotted treason against him. Nothing so melts a child-like heart in tears, as sins of unkindness; O that I should sin against the blood of a Savior, and the bowels of a Father: I condemn ingratitude in my child, yet I am guilty of ingratitude against my heavenly Father: This opens a vein of godly sorrow, and makes the heart bleed afresh; certainly this evidences God to be our Father, when he has given us this child-like frame of heart, to weep for sin as it is sin, an act of pollution, enmity, ingratitude. A wicked man may mourn for the bitter fruit of sin, but only a child of God can grieve for the odious nature of sin. 2. A filial (or child-like) disposition is to be full of sympathy. We lay to heart the dishonors reflected upon our heavenly Father, when we see God's worship adulterated, his truth mingled with the poison of error, it is as a sword in our bones to see God's glory suffer (Psalm 119:158): I beheld the transgressors and was grieved. Homer describing Agamemnon's grief when he was forced to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia, brings in all his friends weeping and condoling with him; so when God is dishonored, we sympathize, and are as it were clad in mourning. A child that has any good nature, is cut to the heart to hear his father reproached. An heir of heaven takes a dishonor done to God more heinous than a disgrace done to himself. 3. A filial disposition is to love our heavenly Father: He is unnatural that does not love his father. God who is crowned with excellency, is the proper object of delight, and every true child of God says as Peter, Lord you know that I love you. But who will not say he loves God? If ours be a true genuine love to our heavenly Father, it may be known, 1. By the effects. 1. Then we have a holy fear: There is a fear which arises from love to God; that is, we fear the loss of the visible tokens of God's presence (1 Samuel 4:13): Eli's heart trembled for the Ark. It is not said his heart trembled for his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, but his heart trembled for the Ark; because the Ark was the special sign of God's presence, and if that were taken the glory was departed. He who loves his heavenly Father, fears lest the tokens of his presence should be removed, lest profaneness should break in like a flood, lest popery should get head, and God should go from a people. The presence of God in his ordinances is the glory and strength of a nation. The Trojans had the image of Pallas, and they had an opinion, that as long as that image was preserved among them, they should never be conquered. So long as God's presence is with a people so long they are safe. Every true child of God fears lest God should go, and the glory depart. Try by this whether we have a filial disposition: Do we love God, and does this love cause fear and jealousy? Are we afraid lest we should lose God's presence? Lest the Sun of Righteousness remove out of our horizon. Many are afraid lest they should lose some of their worldly profits, but not lest they lose the presence of God. If they may have peace and trading they care not what becomes of the Ark of God. A true child of God fears nothing so much as the loss of his Father's presence (Hosea 9:12): Woe to them when I depart from them. 2. Love to our heavenly Father is seen by loving his day (Isaiah 58:13): If you call the Sabbath a delight. The ancients called this Regina Dierum, the queen of days. If we love our Father in heaven we spend this day in devotion, in reading, hearing, meditating: On this day Manna falls double. God sanctified the Sabbath: He made all the other days in the week, but he has sanctified this day; this day he has crowned with a blessing. 3. Love to our heavenly Father is seen by loving his children (1 John 5:1): Every one that loves him that begat, loves him also that is begotten of him. If we love God, the more we see of God in any, the more we love them; we love them though they are poor: A child loves to see his father's picture, though hung in a mean frame; we love the children of our Father though they are persecuted (2 Timothy 1:16): Onesiphorus was not ashamed of my chain. Constantine did kiss the socket of Paphnucius's eye, because he suffered the loss of his eye for Christ. It appears they have no love to God, who have no love to his children; they care not for their company; they have a secret disgust and antipathy against them. Hypocrites pretend great reverence to the saints departed, they canonize dead saints, but persecute living: I may say of these as the Apostle (Hebrews 12:8): They are bastards, not sons. 4. Effect of love, if we love our heavenly Father, then we will be advocates for him, and stand up in the defense of his truth. He who loves his father will plead for him when he is traduced and wronged. He has no child-like heart, no love to God, who can hear God's name dishonored, and be silent. Does Christ appear for us in heaven, and are we afraid to appear for him on earth? Such as dare not own God and religion in times of danger, God will be ashamed to be called their God; it would be a reproach to him to have such children as will not own him. 2. A child-like love to God is known, as by the effects, so by the degree; it is a superior love. We love our Father in heaven above all other things; above estate or relations, as oil runs above the water (Psalm 73:25). A child of God seeing a supereminency of goodness, and a constellation of all beauties in God, he is carried out in love to him in the highest measure: As God gives his children such a love as he does not bestow upon the wicked, electing love; so God's children give God such a love as they bestow upon none else, adoring love; they give him the flower and spirits of their love; they love him with a love joined with worship; this spiced wine they keep only for their Father to drink of (Song of Solomon 8:2). 4. A child-like disposition is seen in honoring our heavenly Father (Malachi 1:6): A son honors his father.

Quest. How [illegible] show our honor to our Father in Heaven?

Resp. 1. By having a reverential awe of God upon us (Leviticus 25:17). You shall fear your God: This reverential fear of God is when we dare do nothing that he has forbidden in his Word (Genesis 39:9). How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? It is the part of the honor a son gives to his father, he fears to displease him. 2. We show our honor to our Heavenly Father by doing all we can to exalt God, and make his excellencies shine forth; though we cannot lift up God higher in Heaven, yet we may lift him higher in our hearts, and in the esteem of others. When we speak well of God, set forth his renown, display the trophies of his goodness, when we ascribe the glory of all we do to God, when we are the trumpeters of God's praise; this is honoring our Father in Heaven, and a certain sign of a child-like heart (Psalm 50:23). Whoever offers praise glorifies me.

2. We may know God is our Father by our resembling of him: The child is his father's picture (Judges 8:18). Each one resembled the children of a king: Every child of God resembles the King of Heaven; herein God's adopting children and man's differ. A man adopts one for his son and heir that does not at all resemble him, but whoever God adopts for his child is like him; he not only bears his Heavenly Father's name, but image (Colossians 3:10). And have put on the new man, which is renewed [illegible] — after the image of him that created him. He who has God for his Father resembles God in holiness: Holiness is the glory of the Godhead (Exodus 15:11). The holiness of God is the intrinsic purity of his essence. He who has God for his Father partakes of the divine nature; though not of the divine essence, yet of the divine likeness: As the seal sets its print and likeness upon the wax, so he who has God for his Father has the print and image of his holiness stamped upon him (Psalm 106:16). Aaron the saint of the Lord. Wicked men desire to be like God hereafter in glory, but do not seek to be like him here in grace; they give it out to the world that God is their Father, yet have nothing of God to be seen in them, they are unclean, they not only lack his image but hate it.

3. We may know God is our Father by having his Spirit in us. 1. By having the intercession of the Spirit: It is a Spirit of prayer (Galatians 4:6). Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Prayer is the soul's breathing itself into the bosom of its Heavenly Father. None of God's children are born dumb; implet Spiritus sanctus organum suum, and tanquam Pila chordarum tangit Spiritus Dei corda sanctorum. Prosper. Acts 9:11: Behold he prays: But it is not every prayer that evidences God's Spirit in us. Such as have no grace may excel in gifts, and affect the hearts of others in prayer, when their own hearts are not affected: As the lute makes a sweet sound in the ears of others, but it itself is not sensible; how therefore shall we know our prayers are directed by God's Spirit, and so he is our Father?

Resp. 1. When they are not only vocal but mental; when there are not only gifts but groans (Romans 8:26). The best music is in consort; the best prayer is when the heart and tongue join together in consort.

2. When they are zealous and fervent (James 5:16). The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. The eyes melt in prayer, the heart burns: Fervency is to prayer as fire to the incense; it makes it ascend to Heaven as a sweet perfume.

3. When prayer has faith sprinkled in it: Prayer is the key of heaven, and faith is the hand that turns it (Romans 8:15). We cry, Abba, Father. We cry, there is fervency in prayer: Abba, Father, there is faith. Those prayers suffer shipwreck which dash upon the rock of unbelief. Thus we may know God is our Father by having his Spirit praying in us: as Christ intercedes above, so the Spirit intercedes within. 2. By having the renewing of the Spirit, which is nothing else but regeneration, which is called a being born of the Spirit (John 3:5). This regenerating work of the Spirit is a transformation, or change of nature (Romans 12:2). [in non-Latin alphabet], Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. He who is born of God has a new heart: new, not for substance, but for qualities. The strings of a viol may be the same, but the tune is altered: before this regeneration, there are spiritual pangs, much heart-breaking for sin. Regeneration is called a circumcising of the heart (Colossians 2:11). In circumcising there was pain in the flesh: so in this spiritual circumcision there is pain in the heart; there is much sorrow arising from the sense of guilt and wrath. The jailor's trembling (Acts 16:30) was a pang in the new birth. God's Spirit is a spirit of bondage before it be a spirit of adoption. This blessed work of regeneration spreads over the whole soul; it irradiates the mind, it consecrates the heart, and reforms the life: though regeneration be but in part, it is in every part (1 Thessalonians 5:23). Regeneration is the signature and engraving of the Holy Ghost upon the soul. The new born Christian is bespangled with the jewels of the [illegible] which are the angels' glory: regeneration is the spring of all true joy. At our first birth we come weeping into the world, but at our new birth there's cause of rejoicing; for now God is our Father, and we are begotten to a lively hope of glory (1 Peter 1:3). We may try by this our relation to God. Has a regenerating work of God's Spirit passed upon our souls? Are we made of another spirit? Humble and heavenly? This is a good sign of sonship, and we may say, Our Father who is in heaven. 3. By having the conduct of the Spirit: We are led by the Spirit (Romans 8:14). As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. God's Spirit does not only quicken us in our regeneration, but leads us on till we come to the end of our faith, salvation. It is not enough the child have life, but he must be led every step by the nurse. I taught Ephraim to go, taking them by their arms (Hosea 11:3). Their arms — as the Israelites had the cloud and pillar of fire to go before them, and be a guide to them; so God's Spirit is a guide to go before us, and lead us into all truth, and counsel us in all our doubts, and influence us in all our actions (Psalm 73:24). You shall guide me by your counsels. None can call God Father but such as have the conduct of his Spirit. Try then what spirit you are led by? Such as are led by a spirit of envy, lust, avarice, these are not led by the Spirit of God; it were blasphemy for them to call God Father: these are led by the spirit of Satan, and may say Our Father who is in hell. 4. By having the witness of the Spirit (Romans 8:16). The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. This witness of the Spirit, suggesting that God is our Father, is not a vocal witness, or voice from heaven: the Spirit in the Word witnesses: the Spirit in the Word says, he who is so qualified, who is a hater of sin, and a lover of holiness, is a child of God, and God is his Father; if I can find such qualifications wrought, here is the Spirit witnessing with my spirit, that I am a child of God. Besides, we may carry it higher, the Spirit of God witnesses to our spirit by making more than ordinary impressions upon our hearts, and giving some secret hints and whispers that God has purposes of love to us: here is a concurrent witness of the Spirit with conscience, that we are heirs of heaven, and God is our Father: this witness is better felt than expressed, this witness scatters doubts and fears, silences temptations; but what shall one do that has not this witness of the Spirit? If we [reconstructed: want] the witness of the Spirit, let us labor to find the work of the Spirit; if we have not the Spirit testifying, labor to have it sanctifying, and that will be a support to us.

4. If God be our Father we are of peaceable spirits: (Matthew 5:9) Blessed are the peacemakers, they shall be called the children of God. Grace infuses a sweet amicable disposition; it files off the ruggedness of men's spirits; it turns the lion-like fierceness into a lamb-like gentleness (Isaiah 11:7). They who have God to be their Father, follow peace as well as holiness. God the Father is called the God of Peace (Hebrews 13:20). God the Son, the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). God the Holy Ghost is a Spirit of Peace: it is called the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:3). The more peaceable the more like God. It is a bad sign God is not their Father: 1. Who are fierce and cruel, as if with Romulus they had sucked the milk of a wolf (Romans 3:17). The way of peace have they not known, they sport in mischief; these are they who are of a persecuting spirit, as Maximinus, Dioclesian, Antiochus, who (as Eusebius) took more tedious journeys, and ran more hazards in vexing and persecuting the Jews, than any of his predecessors had done in getting of victories: these furies cannot call God Father, if they do, they will have as little comfort in saying Father, as Dives had in Hell, when he said, Father Abraham (Luke 16:24). 2. Who are makers of division (Romans 16:17). Mark them which cause divisions, and avoid them: such as are born of God are makers of peace, what shall we think of such as are makers of division, will God father these? The Devil made the first division in Heaven; they may call the Devil Father; they may give the cloven foot in their coat of arms; their sweetest music is in discord; they unite to divide. Samson's fox-tails were tied together only to set the Philistines' corn on fire (Judges 15:4). Papists unite only to set the Church's peace on fire. Satan's kingdom goes up by divisions. Saint Chrysostom observes of the Church of Corinth, when many converts were brought in, Satan knew no better way to dam up the current of religion, than to throw in an apple of strife, and divide them into parties; one was for Paul, and another for Apollos, but few for Christ. Would not Christ have his coat rent, and can he endure to have his body rent? Sure God will never father them who are not sons of peace: of all them who God hates, he is named for one, who is a sower of discord among brethren (Proverbs 6:19).

5. If God be our Father, then we love to be near God, and have converse with him. An ingenuous child delights to approach near to his Father, and go into his presence. David envied the birds that they built their nests so near God's altars, when he was debarred his Father's house (Psalm 84:3). True saints love to get as near to God as they can: in the Word they draw near to his holy oracle, in the Sacrament they draw near to his table; a child of God delights to be in his Father's presence; he cannot stay away long from God; he sees a Sabbath day approaching and rejoices; his heart has been often melted and quickened in an ordinance, he has tasted the Lord is good, therefore he loves to be in his Father's presence, he cannot keep away long from God. Such as care not for ordinances cannot say Our Father which art in Heaven: is God their Father who cannot endure to be in his presence?

Use 1. Of Instruction. See the amazing goodness of God that is pleased to enter into this sweet relation of a Father. God needed not to adopt us, he did not want a Son: God did not want a Son, but we did a Father; God showed power in being our Maker, but mercy in being our Father: when we were enemies, and our hearts stood out as garrisons against God, that he should conquer our stubbornness, and of enemies make us children, and write his name, and put his image upon us, and bestow a kingdom of glory; what a miracle of mercy is this? Every adopted child may say, Even so Father, for so it seemed good in your sight (Matthew 11:26).

2. Branch or Inference: If God be a Father, then hence I infer, whatever he does to his children is love.

(1.) If he smiles upon them in prosperity it is love: they have the world not only with God's leave, but with his love. God says to every child of his, as Naaman to Gehazi (2 Kings 5:23), Be content take two talents: so says God to his child, I am your Father, take two talents. Take health and take my love with it; take an estate and take my love with it; take two talents. God's love is a sweetening ingredient into every mercy.

Question: How does it appear that a child of God has worldly things in love?

Answer 1. Because he has a good title to them. God is his Father, therefore he has a good title: a wicked man has a civil title to the creature, but no more; he has it not from the hand of a Father; he is like one that takes up cloth at the draper's, and it is not paid for; but a believer has a good title to every foot of land he has, his Father has settled it upon him.

2. A child of God has worldly things in love, because they are sanctified to him. 1. They make him better, and are lodestones to draw him nearer to God. 2. He has his Father's blessing with them: a little blessed is sweet (Exodus 23:25). He shall bless your bread and your water. Esau had the venison, but Jacob got the blessing: while the wicked have their meat sauced with God's wrath (Psalm 78:30-31), believers have their comforts seasoned with a blessing. It was a secret blessing from God made Daniel's pulse nourish him more, and make him look fairer, than they that ate of the king's meat (Daniel 1:15).

3. A child of God has worldly things in love, because whatever he has is an earnest of more: every bit of bread is a pledge and earnest of glory.

(2.) God being a Father, if he frowns, if he dips his pen in gall, and writes bitter things, if he corrects, it is in love. A Father loves his child as well when he does chastise and discipline him, as when he settles his land on him (Revelation 3:19). As many as I love, I rebuke. Afflictions are sharp arrows, says Gregory Nazianzen, but they are shot from the hand of a loving Father. Correctio est Virtutis gymnasium; God afflicts with the same love he gives Christ; he does it to humble and purify: gentle correction is as necessary as daily bread; nay, as needful as ordinances, as Word and Sacraments. There is love in all; God smites that he may save.

(3.) God being a Father, if he desert and hide his face from his child, it is in love. Desertion is sad in itself, a short Hell (Job 6:9). When the light is withdrawn, dew falls: yet we may see a rainbow in the cloud, the love of a Father in all this. 1. God hereby quickens grace; perhaps grace lay dormant (Song of Solomon 5:2), it was as fire in the embers, and God withdraws comfort to invigorate and exercise grace. Faith is a star that sometimes shines brightest in the dark night of desertion (Jonah 2:4). 2. When God hides his face from his child, yet still he is a Father, and his heart is towards his child; as Joseph when he spoke roughly to his brothers, and made them believe he would take them for spies, still his heart was full of love, and he was obliged to go aside and weep. So God's compassion yearns to his children, when he seems to look strange (Isaiah 54:8). In a little wrath I hid my face from you, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on you. Though God may have the look of an enemy, yet still he has the heart of a Father.

Branch or Inference. Learn hence the sad case of the wicked: they cannot say, Our Father in Heaven; they may say Our Judge, but not Our Father; they fetch their pedigree from Hell (John 8:44). You are of your father the Devil. Such as are unclean and profane are the spurious blood of the Old Serpent, and it were blasphemy for them to call God Father. The case of the wicked is deplorable: if they are in misery, they have none to make their moan to; God is not their Father, he disclaims all kindred with them (Matthew 7:23). I never knew you, depart from me, you that work iniquity. The wicked dying in their sins can expect no mercy from God as a Father. Many say, he that made them will save them, but (Isaiah 27:11): It is a people of no understanding, therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them. Though God was their Father by creation, yet because they were not his children by adoption, therefore he that made them would not save them.

USE 2. Of Exhortation: To persuade all who are yet strangers to God, to labor to come into this heavenly kindred: never leave off until you can say, Our Father who is in Heaven.

Question. But will God be a Father to me who have profaned his Name, and been a great sinner?

Response. If you will now at last seek to God by prayer, and break off your sins, God has the compassion of a Father for you, and will in no wise cast you out. When the prodigal did arise and go to his father, his father had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him (Luke 15:20). Though you have been a prodigal, and almost spent all upon your lusts, yet if you will now give a bill of divorce to your sins, and fly to God by repentance, know that he has the compassion of a Father; he will embrace you in the arms of his mercy, and seal your pardon with a kiss. What though your sins have been heinous? The wound is not so broad as the plaster of Christ's blood. The sea covers great rocks: the sea of God's compassion can drown your great sins; therefore be not discouraged, go to God, resolve to cast yourself upon his fatherly compassion; God may be entreated of you, as he was of Manasseh (2 Chronicles 33:13). He prayed to the Lord, and he was entreated of him. Manasseh made the streets run with blood, yet when his eyes ran with tears, God's fatherly compassion began to melt, and he was entreated of him.

USE 3. Of Comfort: To such as can upon good grounds call God Father: there is more sweetness in this word Father than if we had ten thousand worlds. David thought it a great matter to be son-in-law to a king (1 Samuel 18:18). What is my father's family, that I should be son-in-law to the king? But what is it to be born of God, and have God for our Father?

Question. Wherein lies the happiness of having God for our Father?

Response 1. If God be our Father then he will teach us; what Father will refuse to counsel his son? Does God command parents to instruct their children (Deuteronomy 4:10), and will not he instruct his? (Isaiah 48:17) I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit. (Psalm 71:17) O God, you have taught me from my youth. If God be our Father he will give us the teachings of his Spirit: the natural man receives not the things of God, neither can he know them (1 Corinthians 2:14). The natural man may have excellent notions in divinity, but God must teach us to know the mysteries of the Gospel after a spiritual manner. A man may see the figures upon a dial, but he cannot tell how the day goes unless the sun shine. We may read many truths in the Bible, but we cannot know them savingly until God by his Spirit shines upon our soul. God teaches not only our ear but our heart; he not only informs our mind, but inclines our will; we never learn until God teaches us. If God be our Father he will teach us how to order our affairs with discretion (Psalm 112:5), how to carry ourselves wisely (1 Samuel 18:5). David behaved himself wisely; he will teach us what to answer when we are brought before governors, he will put words into our mouths (Matthew 10:18-20). You shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, but take no thought how or what you shall speak: for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.

2. If God be our Father, then he has bowels of affection towards us: If it be so unnatural for a father not to love his child, can we think God will be defective in his love? All the affections of parents come from God, but a spark from his flame. He is the Father of mercies (2 Corinthians 1:3). He begets all the mercies and bowels in the creature: His love to his children is a love which passes knowledge (Ephesians 3:19). It exceeds all dimensions, it is higher than heaven, it is broader than the sea. That you may see God's fatherly love to his children; 1. Consider God makes a precious valuation of them (Isaiah 43:4). Since you were precious in my sight: A father prizes his child above his jewels; their names are precious, for they have God's own name written upon them (Revelation 3:12). I will write upon him the name of my God: Their prayers are a precious perfume, their tears God bottles (Psalm 56:8). God esteems his children as a crown of glory in his hand (Isaiah 62:3). 2. God loves the places they were born in the better for their sakes (Psalm 87:6). Of Sion it shall be said, this man was born there; this and that believer was born there: God loves the ground his children tread upon. Hence Judea, the seat of God's children and chosen, God calls a delightsome land (Malachi 3:12). It was not only pleasant for situation and fruitfulness, but because God's children, who were his Hephsibab or delight, lived there. 3. He charges the great ones of the world not to prejudice his children; their persons are sacred (Psalm 105:14). He suffered no man to do them wrong; yes, he reproved kings for their sakes, saying, Touch not my anointed. By Anointed, is meant the children of the High God, who have the unction of the Spirit, and are set apart for God. 4. God delights in their company, he loves to see their countenance and hear their voice (Song of Solomon 2:14). He cannot refrain long from their company: Let but two or three of his children meet and pray together, he will be sure to be among them (Matthew 18:20). Where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am in the midst of them. 5. God bears his children in his bosom, as a nursing father does the sucking child (Numbers 11:12; Isaiah 46:4). To be carried in God's bosom shows how near his children lie to his heart. 6. God is full of solicitous care for them (1 Peter 5:7). He cares for you. His eye is still upon them, they are never out of his thoughts. A father cannot always take care for his child, he sometimes is asleep, but God is a father that never sleeps (Psalm 121:4). He neither slumbers nor sleeps. 7. He thinks nothing too good to part with to his children: He gives them the kidneys of the wheat, and honey out of the rock, and wine on the lees well refined (Isaiah 25:6). He gives them three jewels more worth than heaven, the blood of his Son, the grace of his Spirit, the light of his countenance. Never was there such an indulgent affectionate father. 8. If God has one love better than other, he bestows it upon them; they have the cream and quintessence of his love. He will rejoice over you, he will rest in his love (Zephaniah 3:17). God loves his children with such a love as he loves Christ (John 17:26). It is the same love for the unchangeableness of it: God will no more cease to love his adopted sons than he will to love his natural Son.

3. If God be our Father he will be full of sympathy (Psalm 103:13). As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities them that fear him. Is Ephraim my dear son? my bowels are troubled for him (Jeremiah 31:20). God pities his children in two cases.

(1.) In case of infirmities. (2.) Injuries.

(1.) In case of infirmities: If the child be deformed, or has any bodily distemper the father pities it: If God be our Father, he pities our weaknesses, and he so pities them as to heal them (Isaiah 57:18). I have seen his ways, and will heal him. As God has bowels to pity, so he has balsam to heal.

(2.) In case of injuries. Every blow of the child goes to the father's heart; when the saints suffer, God does sympathize (Isaiah 63:9). In all their afflictions he was afflicted: He did as it were bleed in their wounds. Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? When the foot was trod on, the head cried out. God's soul was grieved for the children of Israel (Judges 10:16). As when one string in a lute is touched, all the rest of the strings sound: When God's children are stricken, his bowels sound. He that touches you touches the apple of my eye (Zechariah 2:8).

4. If God be our Father, he will take notice of the least good he sees in us; if there be but a sigh for sin, God hears it (Psalm 38:9). My groaning is not hid from you; if there be but a penitential tear comes out of our eye, God sees it (Isaiah 38:5). I have seen your tears. If there be but a good intention, God takes notice (1 Kings 8:18). Whereas it was in your heart to build a house to my name, you did well that it was in your heart. God punishes intentional wickedness, and crowns intentional goodness; you did well that it was in your heart: God takes notice of the least scintilla, the least spark of grace in his children (1 Peter 3:6). Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord. The Holy Ghost does not mention Sarah's unbelief, or laughing at the promise, he puts a finger upon the scar, winks at her failing, and only takes notice of the good that was in her, her obedience to her husband, She obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord; indeed, that good which the saints scarce take notice of in themselves, God in a special manner observes (Matthew 25:35). I was hungry and you gave me meat, I was thirsty and you gave me drink: Then shall the righteous say, Lord, when did we see you hungry, and fed you? They did as it were overlook and disclaim their own works of charity, yet Christ does take notice, I was hungry, and you fed me: What a comfort is this, God spies the least good in his children; he can see a grain of corn hid under chaff, grace hid under corruption.

5. If God be our Father, he will take all we do in good part. Those duties we ourselves censure, God will crown. When a child of God looks over his best duties, he sees so much sin cleaving to them, that he is even confounded: Lord, he says, there is more sulphur than incense in my prayers; but for your comfort, if God be your Father, he will crown those duties which you yourselves censure; God sees there is sincerity in the hearts of his children, and this gold (though light) shall have grains of allowance. Though there may be defects in the services of God's children, yet God will not cast away their offering (2 Chronicles 30:20). The Lord healed the people. The Tribes of Israel being straitened in time wanted some legal purifications, yet because their hearts were upright, God healed them, he pardoned them; God accepts of the good will (2 Corinthians 8:12). A father takes a letter from his son kindly though there are blots, or bad English in it: what blottings are there in our holy things, yet our Father in Heaven accepts: God says, it is my child, and he would do better; I will look upon him through Christ with a merciful eye.

6. If God be our Father then he will correct us in measure (Jeremiah 30:11). I will correct you in measure; and that two ways: 1. It shall be in measure for the kind; God will not lay upon us more than we are able to bear (1 Corinthians 10:13). He knows our frame (Psalm 103:14). He knows we are not steel or marble, therefore will deal gently, he will not over-afflict: as the physician that knows the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and temper of the body, will not give physic too strong for the body, nor will he give one dram or scruple too much. God has not only the title of a father, but the bowels of a father; he will not lay too heavy burdens on his children, lest their spirits fail before him. 2. He will correct in measure for the duration; he will not let the affliction lie on too long (Psalm 125:3). The rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous: it may be there, and not rest. I will not contend for ever (Isaiah 57:16). Our heavenly Father will love for ever, but he will not contend for ever. The torments of the damned are for ever (Revelation 14:11). The smoke of their torment ascends up for ever and ever: the wicked shall drink a sea of wrath, but God's children only taste of the cup of affliction, and their heavenly Father will say, transeat calix, let this cup pass away from them (Isaiah 35:10). A sting, a wing.

7. If God be our Father he will intermix mercy with all our afflictions: if he give us wormwood to drink, he will mix it with honey. In the Ark, the rod was laid up, and manna: with our Father's rod there is always some manna. Asher's shoes were iron and brass, but his foot was dipped in oil (Genesis 33:24). Affliction is the shoe of brass that pinches, but there is mercy in the affliction, there is the foot dipped in oil. When God afflicts the body, he gives peace of conscience; there is mercy in the affliction. An affliction comes to prevent falling into sin, there is mercy in the affliction. Jacob had his thigh hurt in wrestling, there was the affliction; but then he saw God's face, and received a blessing from the angel (Genesis 32:30). There was mercy in the affliction. In every cloud a child of God may see a rainbow of mercy shining. As the painter mixes dark shadows and bright colors together; so our heavenly Father mingles the dark and the bright together, crosses and blessings; and is not this a great happiness for God thus to checker his providences, and mingle goodness with severity.

8. If God be our Father, the evil one shall not prevail against us. Satan is called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the evil one, emphatically: he is the grand enemy of the saints; and that both in a military sense, as he fights against them with his temptations; and in a forensic or law-sense, as he is an accuser and pleads against them, yet neither way shall he prevail against God's children. As for his shooting his fiery darts, God will bruise Satan shortly under the saints' feet (Romans 16:20). As for his accusing, Christ is advocate for the saints, and answers all bills of indictment brought in against them. God will make all Satan's temptations promote the good of his [reconstructed: children]: 1. As they set them more a praying (2 Corinthians 12:8). Temptation is a medicine for security. 2. As they are a means to humble them (2 Corinthians 12:7). Lest I should be exalted above measure, there was given me a thorn in the flesh. The thorn in the flesh was a temptation; this thorn was to prick the bladder of pride. 3. As they establish them more in grace. A tree shaken by the wind is more settled and rooted; the blowing of a temptation does but settle a child of God more in grace. Thus the evil one, Satan, shall not prevail against the children of God.

9. If God be our Father, no real evil shall befall us (Psalm 91:10). There shall no evil befall you: it is not said no trouble, but no evil. God's children are privileged persons; they are privileged from the hurt of everything (Luke 10:19). Nothing shall by any means hurt you. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Chrysostom: the hurt and malignity of the affliction is taken away. Affliction to a wicked man has evil in it; it makes him worse (Revelation 16:9). Men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God: but no evil befalls a child of God, he is bettered by affliction (Hebrews 12:10). That you may be made partakers of his holiness. What hurt does the furnace do to the gold, it only makes it purer. What hurt does affliction do to grace, only refine and purify it. What a great privilege is this to be freed, though not from the stroke of affliction, yet the sting: no evil shall touch a saint. When the dragon has poisoned the water, they say the unicorn with his horn does draw out the poison. Christ has drawn out the poison of every affliction, that it cannot prejudice a child of God. Again, no evil befalls a child of God, because no condemnation (Romans 8:1). No condemnation to them in Christ Jesus. God does not condemn them, nor does conscience condemn them: both jury and judge acquit them, then no evil befalls them; for nothing is really an evil but that which damns.

10. If God be our Father this may make us go with cheerfulness to the Throne of Grace. Were a man to petition his enemy there were little hope; but when a child petitions his Father he may come with confidence to speed: the word Father works upon God, it touches his very bowels. What can a Father deny his child? If a Son ask bread will he give him a stone? (Matthew 7:9). This may embolden us to go to God for pardon of sin, and further degrees of sanctity. We pray to a Father of mercy, sitting upon a Throne of Grace; (Luke 11:13). If you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give his Spirit to them that ask him. This did quicken the Church, and add wings to prayer. (Isaiah 63:15). Look down from heaven: (verse 16). Doubtless you are our Father. Who does God keep his mercies for but his children? Three things may cause boldness in prayer: we have a Father to pray to, and the Spirit to help us to pray, and an Advocate to present our prayers. God's children should in all their troubles run to their Heavenly Father as that sick child, (2 Kings 4:19). He said to his Father, My head, my head: so pour out your complaint to God in prayer, Father, my heart, my heart: my dead heart, quicken it; my hard heart, soften it in Christ's blood; Father, my heart, my heart. Surely God that hears the cry of the ravens, will hear the cry of his children.

11. If God be our Father he will stand between us and danger. A Father will keep off danger from his child. God calls himself scutum, a shield: a shield defends the head, guards the vitals; God shields off dangers from his children, (Acts 18:10). I am with you, and none shall set on you to hurt you: God is a hiding place, (Psalm 27:5). God preserved Athanasius strangely; he put it into his mind to depart out of the house he was in the night before the enemies came to search for him: as God has a breast to feed, so he has wings to cover his children; (Psalm 91:4). He shall cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you shall trust. God appoints his holy angels to be a life-guard about his children, (Hebrews 1:14). Never was any prince so well guarded as a believer. The angels, 1. are a numerous guard, (2 Kings 6:17). The mountain was full of horses of fire round about Elisha. The horses and chariots of fire were the angels of God to defend the prophet Elisha. 2. A strong guard. One angel in a night slew a hundred and eighty-five thousand, (2 Kings 19:32). If one angel slew so many, what would an army of angels have done? 3. The angels are a swift guard; they are ready in an instant to help God's children; therefore they are described with wings to show their swiftness, they fly to our help, (Daniel 9:21, 23). At the beginning of your supplication the commandment came forth, and I am come to you? Here was a swift motion for the angel to come from heaven to earth between the beginning and ending of Daniel's prayer. 4. The angels are a watchful guard, not like Saul's guard, asleep when their Lord was in danger; (1 Samuel 26:12). The angels are a vigilant guard, they watch over God's children to defend them; (Psalm 34:7). The angel of the Lord encamps round about them that fear him. There is an invisible guardianship of angels about God's children.

12. If God be our Father we shall not want anything that he sees is good for us: (Psalm 34:10). They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. God is pleased sometimes to keep his children to hard commons, but it is good for them; sheep thrive best on short pasture; God sees too much may not be good; plenty breeds surfeit; Luxuriant animi rebus secundis: God sees it good sometimes to diet his children and keep them short, that they may run the heavenly race the better. It was good for Jacob there was a famine in the land, it was a means to bring him to his son Joseph; so it is that God's children sometimes see the world's emptiness, that they may acquaint themselves more with Christ's fullness. If God sees it is good for them to have more of the world they shall have it; God will not let them want any good thing.

13. If God be our Father all the promises of the Bible belong to us: God's children are called heirs of the promise; (Hebrews 6:17). A wicked man can lay claim to nothing in the Bible but the curses; he has no more to do absolutely with the promises, than a plowman has to do with the city charter; the promises are children's bread. The promises are mulctralia Evangelii, the breasts of the Gospel milking out consolation; and who are to suck of these breasts but God's children. The promise of pardon is for them; (Jeremiah 33:8). I will pardon all their iniquity whereby they have sinned against me. The promise of healing is for them; (Isaiah 57:18). The promise of salvation, (Jeremiah 23:6). The promises are supports of faith, they are God's sealed deed, they are a Christian's cordial. O the heavenly comforts which are distilled from the alembic of the promises. Saint Chrysostom compares the Scripture to a garden, the promises are the fruit-trees that grow in this garden. A child of God may go to any promise in the Bible, and pluck comfort from it: he is an heir of the promise.

14. God makes all his children conquerors: They are born of God, and are conquerors. 1. They conquer themselves: Fortior est qui se quam qui fortissima vincit maenia: The saints conquer their own lusts; they bind these princes in fetters of iron (Psalm 149:8). Though the children of God may sometimes be foiled, and lose a single battle, yet not the victory. 2. They conquer the world. The world holds forth her two breasts of pleasure and profit, and many are overcome by it; but the children of God have a world-conquering faith (1 John 5:4). This is the victory over the world, even your faith. 3. They conquer their enemies. How can that be, when they oft take away their lives? (1.) They conquer by not complying with them: The three children would not fall down to the golden image (Daniel 3:18), they would rather burn than bow; here they were conquerors. He who complies with another's lust is a captive, he who refuses to comply is a conqueror. (2.) God's children conquer their enemies by heroic patience. A patient Christian, like the anvil, bears all strokes invincibly: Thus the martyrs overcame their enemies by patience; or rather, God's children are more than conquerors (Romans 8:37). [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉], We are more than conquerors? How are God's children more than conquerors? Because they conquer without loss, and because they are crowned after death, which other conquerors are not.

15. If God be our Father, he will now and then send us some tokens of his love. God's children live far from home, and meet sometimes with coarse usage from the unkind world; therefore God to encourage his children, sends them sometimes tokens and pledges of his love: What are these? He gives them a return of prayer, there is a token of love; he quickens and enlarges their hearts in duty, there is a token of love; he gives them the first fruits of his Spirit, which are love tokens (Romans 8:23). As God gives the wicked the first fruits of Hell, horror of conscience and despair, so he gives his children the first fruits of his Spirit, joy and peace, which are foretastes of glory. Some of God's children having received these tokens of love from their heavenly Father, have been so transported that they have died for joy; as the glass often breaks with the strength of the wine put into it.

16. If God be our Father he will indulge and spare us (Malachi 3:17). I will spare them as a man spares his own son that serves him: God's sparing his children imports this, his clemency toward them, he does not punish them as he might (Psalm 103:10). He has not dealt with us according to our sins: We often do that which merits wrath, grieve God's Spirit, relapse into sin; God passes by much, and spares us: God did not spare his natural Son (Romans 8:32), yet he will spare his adopted sons. God threatened Ephraim to make him as the chaff driven with the whirlwind, but he soon repented (Hosea 13:4). Yet I am the Lord your God: verse 10. I will be your King: Here God spared him as a Father spares his son. Israel often provoked God with their complaints, but God used clemency toward them, he often answered their murmurings with mercies; here he spared them as a father spares his son.

17. If God be our Father he will put honor and renown upon us at the last day. 1. He will clear the innocency of his children: God's children in this life are strangely misrepresented to the world; they are loaded with invectives, they are called factious, seditious: Elijah, the troubler of Israel; Luther was called the trumpet of rebellion; Athanasius was accused to the Emperor Constantine to be the raiser of tumults; the primitive Christians were accused to be infanticidii, incestus rei, killers of their children, guilty of incest; as Tertullian; St. Paul reported to be a pestilent person (Acts 24:5). Famous Wycliffe called the idol of the heretics, and that he died drunk. If Satan cannot defile God's children, he will disgrace them; if he cannot strike his fiery darts into their conscience, he will put a dead fly into their name; but God will one day clear his children's innocency, he will roll away their reproach: As God will make a resurrection of bodies, so of names (Isaiah 25:8). The Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces, and the rebuke of his people shall he take away: God will be the saints' compurgator. (Psalm 37:6) He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light. The night casts its dark mantle upon the most beautiful flowers, but the light comes in the morning and dispels the darkness, and every flower appears in its orient brightness; so the wicked may by misreports darken the honor and repute of the saints, but God will dispel this darkness, and cause their names to shine forth: He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light. As God did stand up for the honor of Moses when Aaron and Miriam went about to eclipse his fame (Numbers 12:8). Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? So will God say one day to the wicked, why were you not afraid to defame and traduce my children? They having my image upon them how dared you abuse my picture. At last God's children shall come forth out of all their calumnies, as a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold (Psalm 68:13). 2. God will make an open and honorable recital of all their good deeds: As the sins of the wicked shall be openly mentioned to their eternal infamy and confusion, so all the good deeds of the saints shall be openly mentioned, and then shall every man have praise of God (1 Corinthians 4:5). Every prayer made with melting eyes, every good service, every work of charity, shall be openly declared before men and angels (Matthew 25:35). I was an hungred and you gave me meat, thirsty and you gave me drink, naked and you clothed me: Thus God will set a trophy of honor upon all his children at the last day. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father (Matthew 13:43).

18. If God be our Father he will settle good land of inheritance upon us: (1 Peter 1:4) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, who has begotten us again to a lively hope, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled. A father may be fallen to decay, and have nothing to leave his son but his blessing; but God will settle an inheritance on his children, and an inheritance no less than a kingdom; (Luke 17:32) It is your Father's good pleasure to give you a kingdom. This kingdom is more glorious and magnificent than any earthly kingdom; it is set out by pearls and precious stones, the richest jewels; (Revelation 21:19) What are all the rarities of the world to this kingdom? The coasts of pearl, the islands of spices, the rocks of diamonds? In this heavenly kingdom is that which is satisfying, unparalleled beauty, rivers of pleasure; and this for ever: (Psalm 16:11) At your right hand are pleasures for evermore: Heaven's eminence is its permanency; and this kingdom God's children shall enter into immediately after death. There is a sudden transition and passage from death to glory: (2 Corinthians 5:9) Absent from the body, present with the Lord. God's children shall not stay long for their inheritance; it is but winking and they shall see God: How may this comfort God's children, who perhaps are low in the world, your Father in Heaven will settle a kingdom upon you at death, such a kingdom as eye has not seen; he will give you a crown, not of gold but glory; he will give you white robes lined with immortality. It is your Father's good pleasure to give you a kingdom.

19. If God be our Father it is comfort: 1. In case of loss of relations: Have you lost a father, yet if you are a believer you are no orphan, you have a heavenly Father, a Father that never dies, (1 Timothy 6:16) Who only has immortality. 2. It is comfort in case of death: God is your Father, and at death you are going to your Father: Well might Paul say, Death is yours, (1 Corinthians 3:22) it is your friend that will carry you home to your Father. How glad are children when they are going home? This was Christ's comfort at death, he was going to his Father; (John 16:28) I leave the world and go to the Father; and (John 20:17) I ascend to my Father. If God be our Father we may with comfort at the day of death resign our souls into his hands. So did Christ; (Luke 23:46) Father into your hands I commend my Spirit. If a child has any jewel, he will in time of danger put it into his father's hands, where he thinks it will be kept most safe: Our soul is our richest jewel; we may at death resign our souls into God's hands, where they will be safer than in our own keeping; Father into your hands I commend my Spirit: What a comfort is this, death carries a believer to his Father's house, where are delights unspeakable and full of glory. How glad was old Jacob when he saw the wagons and chariots to carry him to his son Joseph; the text says, His spirit revived; (Genesis 45:27) Death is a triumphant chariot to carry every child of God to his Father's mansion house.

20. If God be our Father, he will not disinherit his children; God may for a time desert them, but not disinherit them: The sons of kings have been sometimes disinherited by the cruelty of usurpers; as Alexander the Great his son was put by his just right, by the violence and ambition of his father's captains; but what power on earth shall hinder the heirs of the promise from their inheritance? Men cannot, and God will not cut off the entail. The Arminians hold falling away from grace, and so a child of God may be defeated of his inheritance; but I shall show you that God's children can never be degraded or disinherited, their heavenly Father will not cast them off from being children. 1. It is evident God's children cannot be finally disinherited by virtue of the eternal decree of Heaven. God's decree is the very pillar and basis on which the saints' perseverance depends; God's decree ties the knot of adoption so fast, that neither sin, death or hell, can break it asunder; (Romans 8:30) Whom he did predestinate them he also called, etc. Predestination is nothing else but God's decreeing a certain number to be heirs of glory, on whom he will settle the crown; whom he predestinates he glorifies; what shall hinder God's electing love, or make his decree null and void? 2. Besides God's decree, he has engaged himself by promise, that the heirs of Heaven shall never be put by their inheritance. God's promises are not like blanks in a lottery, but as a sealed deed which cannot be reversed: The promises are the saints' royal charter; and this is one promise that their heavenly Father will not disinherit them; (Jeremiah 32:40) I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, but I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me. God's fidelity, which is the richest pearl of his crown, is engaged in this promise for his children's perseverance; I will not turn away from them. A child of God cannot fall away while he is held fast in these two arms of God, his love and his faithfulness. 3. Jesus Christ undertakes that all God's children by adoption shall be preserved in a state of grace till they inherit glory: As the heathens feigned of Atlas that he did bear up the heavens from falling; Jesus Christ is that blessed Atlas that bears up the saints from falling away.

Question: How does Christ preserve the saints' graces till they come to Heaven?

Response: 1. Influxu Spiritus. Christ carries on grace in the souls of the elect by the influence and co-operation of his Spirit. Christ does Spiritu continually excite and quicken grace in the godly; his Spirit does [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] blow up the sparks of grace into a holy flame. Spiritus est Vicarius Christi; The Spirit is Christ's vicar on earth, his proxy, his executor to see that all that Christ has purchased for the saints be made good: Christ has obtained an inheritance incorruptible for them, (1 Peter 1:4) and the Spirit of Christ is his executor to see that this inheritance be settled upon them.

2. Christ carries on grace perseveringly in the souls of the elect, vi orationis, by the prevalence of his intercession (Hebrews 7:25): He ever lives to make intercession for them. Christ prays that every saint may hold out in grace till he comes to Heaven. Can the children of such prayers perish? If the heirs of Heaven should be disinherited, and fall short of glory, then God's decree must be reversed, his promise broken, Christ's prayer frustrated, which were blasphemy to imagine. 4. That God's children cannot be disinherited or put by their right to the crown of Heaven, is evident from their mystical union with Christ. Believers are incorporated into Christ, they are knit to Christ as the members to the head, by the nerves and ligaments of faith, so that they cannot be broken off (Ephesians 1:22-23): The church which is his body. What was once said of Christ's natural body, is as true of his mystical: A bone of it shall not be broken. As it is impossible to sever the leaven and the dough when they are once mingled and kneaded together; so it is impossible when Christ and believers are once united, that they should ever by the power of death or hell be separated. Christ and his spiritual members make one Christ; now is it possible that any part of Christ should perish? How can Christ want any member of his mystical body, and be perfect? Every member is an ornament to the body, and adds to the honor of it: How can Christ part with any mystical member, and not part with some of his glory too? So that by all this it is evident that God's children must needs persevere in grace and cannot be disinherited. If they could be disinherited then the Scripture could not be fulfilled, which tells us of glorious rewards for the heirs of promise (Psalm 58:11): Doubtless there is a reward for the righteous. Now if God's adopted children should fall finally from grace, and miss of Heaven, what reward were there for the righteous? And Moses did indiscreetly to look to the recompense of reward, and so there would be a door opened to despair.

Object. This doctrine of God's children persevering, and having the heavenly inheritance settled on them, may cause carnal security, and make them less circumspect in their walking?

Resp. Corrupt nature may as the spider, suck poison from this flower, but a sober Christian who has felt the efficacy of grace upon his heart, dares not abuse this doctrine: He knows perseverance is attained in the use of means, therefore he walks holily, that so in the use of means he may arrive at perseverance. Saint Paul knew that he should not be disinherited, and that nothing could separate him from the love of Christ, but who more holy and watchful than he (1 Corinthians 9:27): I keep under my body, and (Philippians 3:14) I press toward the mark. God's children have that holy fear in them as keeps them from security and wantonness; they believe the promise, therefore they rejoice in hope; they fear their hearts, therefore they watch and pray. Thus you see what strong consolation there is for all the heirs of the promise. Such as have God for their Father are the happiest persons on earth, they are in such a condition that nothing can hurt them; they have their Father's blessing, all things conspire for their good; they have a kingdom settled on them, and the entail can never be cut off. How may God's children be comforted in all conditions, let the times be what they will; their Father is in Heaven, he rules all: If troubles arise they shall but carry God's children so much the sooner to their Father. The more violently the wind beats against the sails of a ship, the sooner the ship is brought to the haven; and the more fiercely God's children are assaulted, the sooner they come to their Father's house. Therefore comfort one another with these words (1 Thessalonians 4:18).

Use 4. Of Exhortation. Let us behave and carry ourselves as the children of such a Father. In several particulars.

1. Let us depend upon our heavenly Father in all our straits and exigencies; let us believe that he will provide for us. Children rely upon their parents for the supply of wants: If we trust God for salvation shall we not trust him for a livelihood? There is a lawful provident care to be used, but beware of a distrustful care (Luke 12:24): Consider the ravens, they neither sow nor reap, and God feeds them. Does God feed the birds of the air, and will he not feed his children? (Verse 27) Consider the lilies how they grow, they spin not, yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Does God clothe the lilies, and will he not clothe his lambs? Even the wicked taste of God's bounty (Psalm 73:7): Their eyes stand out with fatness. Does God feed his slaves, and will not he feed his family? God's children may not have so liberal a share in the things of this life, but little meal in the barrel; they may be drawn low, but not drawn dry; they shall have so much as God sees is good for them (Psalm 34:10): They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. If God gives them not ad voluntatem, he will ad sanitatem; if he gives them not always what they crave, he will give them what they need; if he gives them not a feast, he will give them a viaticum a bait by the way: Let God's children therefore depend upon God's fatherly providence; give not way to distrustful thoughts, distracting cares, or indirect means; God can provide for you without your sins. (1 Peter 5:7) Casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you: An earthly parent may have affection for his child, and would provide for him, but sometimes he is not able; but God can create a supply for his children; yes, he has promised a supply (Psalm 37:3): Verily you shall be fed. Will God give his children Heaven, and will he not give them enough to bear their charges there? Will he give them a kingdom and deny them daily bread? O depend upon your heavenly Father, he has said he will never leave you, nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5).

2. If God be our Father let us imitate him: The child does not only bear his Father's image, but does imitate him in his speech, gesture, behavior; if God be our Father let us imitate him; [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉], Gr. Nyssen. Be followers of God as dear children (Ephesians 5:1). 1. Imitate God in forgiving injuries; I have blotted out as a thick cloud your transgressions (Isaiah 44:22). As the sun scatters not only thin mists, but thick clouds, so God pardons great offenses; imitate God in this, forgiving one another (Ephesians 4:32). Cranmer was a man of a forgiving spirit, he did bury injuries, and requite good for evil: He who has God for his Father, has God for his pattern. 2. Imitate God in works of mercy: He loosens the prisoners (Psalm 146:7). He opens his hand, and satisfies the desire of every living thing (Psalm 145:16). He drops his sweet dew as well upon the thistle as the rose; imitate God in works of mercy, relieve the wants of others, be rich in good works; be merciful as your Father also is merciful (Luke 6:36). Be not so hard-hearted as to shut the poor out of the lines of communication. Dives denied Lazarus a crumb of bread, and Dives was denied a drop of water.

3. If God be our Father let us submit patiently to his will; if he lay his strokes on us, they are the corrections of a Father, not the punishments of a judge: This made Christ so patient, shall not I drink the cup which my Father has given me? (John 18:11). He sees we need affliction (1 Peter 1:6). He appoints it as a diet-drink to purge and sanctify us (Isaiah 27:9), therefore dispute not but submit; we had fathers of the flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence (Hebrews 12:9). They might correct out of a mood, but God does it [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] for our profit (Hebrews 12:10). Therefore say as Eli, it is the Lord, let him do what seems good to him (1 Samuel 3:18). What gets the child by struggling but more blows? What got Israel by their murmuring and rebelling, but a longer and more tedious march, and at last their carcasses fell in the wilderness.

4. If God be our Father let this cause in us a childlike reverence; if I be a Father where is my honor? (Malachi 1:6). This is a part of the honor we give to God when we reverence and adore him. If you have not always a childlike confidence, yet always preserve a childlike reverence; and how ready are we to run into extremes, either to despond or grow wanton. Because God is a Father therefore do not think you may be secure, and take liberty to sin; if you do, God may carry it so as if he were no Father, he may throw hell into your conscience. When David presumed upon God's paternal affection, and began to wax wanton under mercy, God made him pay dear for it, he withdrew the sense of his love; and though he had the heart of a Father, yet he had the look of an enemy. David prayed, Cause [reconstructed: me] to hear the voice of joy (Psalm 51:8). He lay several months in desertion, and it is thought he never recovered his full joy to the day of his death. Oh keep alive holy fear; with a childlike confidence preserve a humble reverence: The Lord is a Father, therefore love to serve him; he is the Mighty God, therefore fear to offend him.

5. If God be our Father let us walk obediently; as obedient children (1 Peter 1:14). When God bids you be humble and self-denying, deny [reconstructed: yourself], part with your bosom sin, be sober in your attire, savory in your speeches, grave in your deportment, obey your Father's voice: Open to God as the flower opens to the sun. As you expect your Father's blessing obey him in whatever he commands, first and second table duties. A lutenist that he may make sweet music, touches upon every string of the lute: The Ten Commandments are like a ten-stringed instrument, touch upon every string, obey every command, or you cannot make sweet melody in religion. Obey your heavenly Father, though he commands things contrary to flesh and blood. 1. When he commands to mortify sin; that sin which has been dear to you: Pluck out this right eye, that you may see the better to go to heaven. 2. When he commands you to suffer for him, be ready to obey (Acts 21:13). Every good Christian has a spirit of martyrdom in him, and is ready rather to suffer for the truth, than the truth should suffer. Luther said, he had rather be a martyr than a monarch. Peter was crucified with his head downwards, as Eusebius. Ignatius called his chains his spiritual pearls, and did wear his fetters as a bracelet of diamonds. This is to carry it as God's children when we obey his voice, and count not our lives dear so that we may show our love to our heavenly Father; they loved not their lives to the death (Revelation 12:11).

6. If God be your Father, show it by your cheerful looks that you are the children of such a Father. Too much drooping and despondency disparages the relation you stand in to God. What though you meet with hard usage in the world, you are now in a strange land, far from home, it will be shortly better with you when you are in your own country, and your Father has you in his arms: Does not the heir rejoice in hope? Shall the sons of a king walk dejected? Why are you, being the king's son, lean? (2 Samuel 13:4). Is God an unkind Father, are his commands grievous? Has he no land to give to his heirs? Why then do God's children walk so sad? Never had children such privileges as they who are of the seed-royal of heaven, and have God for their Father; they should rejoice therefore who are within a few hours to be crowned with glory.

7. If God be our Father, let us honor him by walking very holily; (1 Peter 1:16) Be holy for I am holy. A young Prince asking a Philosopher how he should behave himself, the Philosopher said, Memento te filium esse Regis, Remember you are a King's Son; do nothing but what becomes the Son of a King: So remember you are the adopted sons and daughters of the high God, do nothing unworthy of such a relation. A debauched child is the disgrace of his father. Is this your son's coat said they to Jacob, when they brought it home dipped in blood? (Genesis 37:32) So when we see a person defiled with malice, passion, drunkenness, we may say, is this the coat of God's adopted son? Does he look as an heir of glory? It is a blaspheming the name of God to call him Father, yet live in sin. Such as profess God is their Father, yet live unholily, they will slander and defraud, these are as bad to God as heathens: (Amos 9:7) Are you not as children of the Ethiopians to me, O children of Israel, says the Lord? The Ethiopians were uncircumcised, a base ill-bred people; when Israel grew wicked they were no better to God than Ethiopians. Loose scandalous livers under the Gospel are no better in God's esteem than pagans and Americans; or rather, they shall have a hotter place in Hell. O let all who profess God to be their Father, honor him by their unspotted lives. Scipio abhorred the embraces of a harlot because he was the general of an army. Abstain from all sin because you are born of God, and have God for your Father; (1 Thessalonians 5:22) Abstain from all appearance of evil. It was a saying of Augustus, An Emperor should not only be free from crimes, but from the suspicion of them; by a holy life you would bring glory to your Heavenly Father, and cause others to become his children: Est pellax virtutis odor—. Causinus in his Hieroglyphics, speaks of a dove, whose wings being perfumed with sweet ointments did draw the other doves after her: The holy lives of God's children is a sweet perfume to draw others to religion, and make them to be of the family of God. Justin Martyr says, that which converted him to Christianity was the beholding the blameless lives of the Christians.

8. If God be our Father, let us love all that are his children; (Psalm 133:1) How pleasant is it for brothers to dwell together in unity. It is compared to ointment (verse 2) for the sweet fragrance of it: (1 Peter 2:17) Love the brotherhood. Idem est motus animae in imaginem & rem; The saints are the walking pictures of God; if God be our Father we love to see his picture of holiness in believers; we pity them for their infirmities, but love them for their graces; we prize their company above others; (Psalm 119:63) it may justly be suspected that God is not their Father, who love not God's children; though they retain the Communion of Saints in their Creed, yet they banish the Communion of Saints out of their company.

9. If God be our Father let us show heavenly mindedness: They who are born of God do [⟨in non-Latin alphabet⟩], set their affections on things that are above; (Colossians 3:2) O you children of the high God do not disgrace your high birth by sordid covetousness. What a Son of God, and a slave to the world? What spring from heaven, and buried in the earth. For a Christian who pretends to derive his pedigree from heaven, yet wholly to mind earthly things, is to debase himself, as if a King should leave his throne to follow the plow; (Jeremiah 45:5) Do you seek great things for yourself? As if the Lord had said, what you Baruch, you who are born of God, akin to angels, and by your office a Levite, do you debase yourself, and spot the silver wings of your grace, by beliming them with earth? Do you seek great things, seek them not. The earth chokes the fire: earthliness chokes the fire of good affections.

10. Lastly, If God be our Father let us own our Heavenly Father in the worst times, stand up in his cause, defend his truths. Athanasius owned God when most of the world turned Arians: If sufferings come do not deny God: He is a bad son who denies his Father: Such as are ashamed of God in times of danger, God will be ashamed to own them for his children; (Mark 8:38) Whoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous generation, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he comes in the glory of his Father, with his holy angels. So I have done with the First Part of the Preface, Our Father.

2. The Second Part of the Preface, (which I shall but briefly touch on) is, [which art in Heaven.] [⟨in non-Latin alphabet⟩]. God is said to be in Heaven, not that he is so included there that he is no where else, for the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him, (1 Kings 8:27) but the meaning is, God is chiefly resident in the Empyrean heaven, which the Apostle calls the third Heaven, (2 Corinthians 12:2) there God does most give forth his glory to his saints and angels.

Question. What may we learn from this, that God is in Heaven?

Answer 1. Hence we learn that we are to raise our minds in prayer above the earth. God is no where to be spoken with but in Heaven. God never denied that soul his suit who went as far as Heaven to ask it.

2. We learn from God's being in Heaven his sovereign power. Hoc vocabulo intelligitur omnia subesse ejus imperio. Calvin. (Psalm 115:3) Our God is in the heavens, he has done whatever he pleased. God being in Heaven governs the universe, and orders all occurrences here below for the good of his children: When the saints are in straits and dangers, and see no way of relief, he can send from Heaven and help them; (Psalm 57:3) He shall send from heaven and save me.

3. We learn God's glory and majesty: He is in Heaven, therefore he is covered with light, (Psalm 104:2) clothed with honor, (Psalm 104:1) and is as far above all worldly princes as Heaven is above Earth.

4. We learn from God's being in Heaven, his Omniscience: All things are naked and unmasked to his eye (Hebrews 4:13). Men plot and contrive against the Church, but God is in Heaven, and they do nothing but what our Father sees. If a man were on the top of a high tower or theatre, he might from there see all the people below: God is in Heaven as in a tower or theatre, and he sees all the transactions of men. The wicked make wounds in the backs of the righteous, and then pour in vinegar; God writes down their cruelty (Exodus 3:7). I have seen the afflictions of my people. God is in Heaven, and he can thunder out of Heaven upon his enemies (Psalm 18:13). The Lord thundered in the heavens; indeed, he sent out arrows and scattered them, and he shot out lightnings and discomfited them.

5. We learn from God's being in Heaven, comfort; for the children of God when they pray to their Father, the way to Heaven cannot be blocked up: One may have a Father living in foreign parts, but the way both the sea and by land may be so blocked up that there is no coming to him; but you, saint of God, when you pray to your Father he is in Heaven, and though you are never so confined, you may have access to him. A prison cannot keep you from your God; the way to Heaven can never be blocked up.

So I have done with the word Father, I shall speak next of the Pronoun Our Father. In the first there is an Appellation, Father; in the second an Appropriation, Our Father. Christ by this word (Our) would teach us thus much, that in all our prayers to God we should act faith. Our Father; Father, denotes reverence, Our Father, denotes faith. In all our prayers to God we should exercise faith, Our Father. Faith is that which baptizes prayer, and gives it a name, it is called the prayer of faith (James 5:15). Without faith it is speaking not praying. Faith is the breath of prayer. Prayer is dead unless faith breathe in it. Faith is a necessary requisite in prayer. The oil of the sanctuary was made up of several sweet spices, pure myrrh, cassia, cinnamon (Exodus 30:23). Faith is the chief spice or ingredient in prayer, which makes it go up to the Lord as sweet incense (James 1:6). Let him ask in faith. Matthew 21:22: Whatever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive. Invoco te Domine quanquam languida & imbecilla fide, tamen fide; Lord, said Cruciger, I pray, though with a weak faith, yet with faith. Prayer is the gun we shoot with, fervency is the fire that discharges it, and faith is the bullet which pierces the throne of grace; prayer is the key of Heaven, faith is the hand that turns it; pray in faith, Our Father. Faith must take prayer by the hand, or there is no coming near to God; prayer without faith is unsuccessful. If a poor handicraftsman, that lives by his labor, has spoiled his tools so that he cannot work, how shall he subsist? Prayer is the tool we work with, which procures all good for us, but unbelief spoils and blunts our prayers, and then we can get no blessing from God: a prayer that is faithless is fruitless. As Joseph said, You shall not see my face unless you bring your brother Benjamin with you (Genesis 43:3). So prayer cannot see God's face, unless it bring its brother faith with it. What is said of Israel, They could not enter in because of unbelief (Hebrews 3:19), is as true of prayer, it cannot enter into Heaven because of unbelief. This makes prayer often suffer shipwreck, because it dashes upon the rock of unbelief: O sprinkle faith in prayer. We must say, Our Father.

Quest. 1. What does praying in faith imply?

Resp. Praying in faith implies the having of faith; the act implies the habit: To walk implies a principle of life, so to pray in faith implies a habit of grace. None can pray in faith but believers.

Quest. 2. What is it to pray in faith?

Answ. 1. To pray in faith is to pray for that which God has promised; where there is no promise we cannot pray in faith.

2. To pray in faith is to pray in Christ's meritorious name (John 14:13). Whatever you shall ask in my name that will I do. To pray in Christ's name is to pray in the hope and confidence of Christ's merit. When we present Christ to God in prayer, when we carry the Lamb slain in our arms, when we say Lord, we are sinners, but here is our surety, for Christ's sake be propitious, this is coming to God in Christ's name, and this is to pray in faith.

3. To pray in faith is in prayer to fix our faith on God's faithfulness, believing that he does hear and will help; this is a taking hold of God (Isaiah 64:7). By prayer we draw near to God, by faith we take hold of him. 2 Chronicles 13:14: The children of Judah cried to the Lord; and this was the crying of faith; verse 18. They prevailed because they relied on the Lord God of their fathers: Making supplication to God, and staying the soul on God, is praying in faith. To pray and not rely on God for the granting of our petitions, irrisio Dei est, said Pelican, it is to abuse and put a scorn upon God. By praying we seem to honor God, by not believing we affront him. In prayer we say, Almighty, merciful Father, by not believing, we blot out all his titles again.

Quest. 3. How may we know that we do truly pray in faith? We may say Our Father, and think we pray in faith, when it is in presumption, how therefore may we know that we do indeed pray in faith?

Answ. 1. When our faith in prayer is humble: A presumptuous person hopes to be heard in prayer for some inherent worthiness in himself; he is so qualified, and has done God good service, therefore he is confident God will hear his prayer. See an instance (Luke 18:11-12). The Pharisee stood and prayed thus, God I thank you that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust: I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess: This was a presumptuous prayer. But a sincere heart does as well act humility in prayer as faith (Luke 18:13). The publican standing afar off would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. God be merciful, there was faith, to me a sinner, there was humility, and a sense of unworthiness.

2. We may know we pray in faith, when though we have not the present thing we pray for, yet we believe God will grant, therefore we will stay his leisure. A Christian having a command to pray, and a promise, he is resolved to follow God with prayer and not give over; as Peter he knocked, yet the door was not opened, but he continued knocking, and at last it was opened (Acts 12:16). So a Christian prays and prays, but has no answer, but he will continue knocking at heaven's door, knowing an answer will come; (Psalm 86:7) "You will answer me": here is one that prays in faith. Christ says, Pray and faint not (Luke 18:1). A believer at Christ's word lets down the net of prayer, and though he catch nothing, he will cast the net of prayer again, believing that mercy will come. Patience in prayer is nothing but faith spun out.

USE 1. It reproves them that pray in formality, not in faith: they question whether God hears, or will grant; (James 4:3) "You ask and receive not because you ask amiss." He does not say you ask that which is unlawful, but you ask amiss; when men pray and believe not, they ask amiss, and therefore they receive not. Unbelief clips the wings of prayer that it will not fly to the throne of grace; the rubbish of unbelief stops the current of prayer.

USE 2. Of Exhortation. Let us set faith to work in prayer, [Our Father]: the husbandman sows in hope; prayer is the seed we sow; when the hand of faith scatters this seed, it brings forth a fruitful crop of blessing. Prayer is the ship we send out to heaven; when faith makes an adventure in this ship, it brings home large returns of mercy. O pray in faith, say Our Father; and that we may act faith in prayer, consider,

1. God's readiness to hear prayer, Deus paratus ad vota exaudienda, did God forbid all addresses to him, it would put a damp upon the trade of prayer, but God's ear is open to prayer. It is one of the names by which God is known; (Psalm 65:2) "O you that hears prayer." The Aediles among the Romans had their doors always standing open, that all who had petitions might have free access to them: God is both ready to hear and grant prayer: this may encourage faith in prayer. And whereas some may say they have prayed but have had no answer. 1. God may hear prayer though he does not presently answer; we write a letter to a friend, he may have received it, though we have yet had no answer of it. Perhaps you pray for the light of God's face, God may lend you an ear, though he does not show you his face. 2. God may give an answer to prayer when we do not perceive it. His giving a heart to pray, and inflaming the affections in prayer is an answer of prayer; (Psalm 138:3) "In the day that I cried you answered me, and strengthened me with strength in my soul": David's inward strength was an answer of prayer, therefore let God's readiness to hear prayer encourage faith in prayer.

2. That we may act faith in prayer, consider, we do not pray alone, Christ prays over our prayers again: Christ's prayer is the ground why our prayer is heard. Christ takes the dross out of our prayer, and presents nothing to his Father but pure gold. Christ mingles his sweet odors with the prayers of the saints (Revelation 5:8). Think of the dignity of his person, he is God; and the sweetness of his relation, he is a Son. O what encouragement is here to pray in faith. Our prayers are put into the hand of a mediator. Christ's prayer is mighty and powerful.

3. We pray to God for nothing but what is pleasing to him, and he has a mind to grant: if a son ask nothing but what his father is willing to bestow, this may make him go to him with confidence; when we pray to God for holy hearts, there's nothing more pleasing to him; (1 Thessalonians 4:3) "This is the will of God even your sanctification." We pray that God would give us a heart to love him, and there's nothing he more desires than our love. How may this make us pray in faith, when we pray for nothing but what is acceptable to God, and which he delights to bestow.

4. To encourage faith in prayer, consider the many sweet promises that God has made to prayer. The cork keeps the net from sinking; the promises are the cork to keep faith from sinking in prayer. God has bound himself to us by his promises. The Bible is bespangled with promises made to prayer, (Isaiah 30:19) "He will be very gracious to you at the voice of your cry." "The Lord is rich to all that call upon him" (Romans 10:12). (Jeremiah 29:13) "Then shall you find me when you search for me with all your heart." (Psalm 145:19) "He will fulfill the desire of them that fear him." The Tyrians tied their god Hercules with a golden chain that he should not remove; God has tied himself fast to us by his promises — how should these animate and strengthen faith in prayer; faith gets strength in prayer by sucking from the breast of a promise.

5. That we may act faith in prayer, consider Jesus Christ has purchased that which we pray for: we may think the things which we ask in prayer too great for us to obtain, but they are not too great for Christ to purchase. We pray for pardon, Christ has purchased it in his blood. We pray for the Spirit to animate and inspire us, the sending down of the Holy Ghost into our hearts is the fruit of Christ's death (John 16). This may put life into our prayers, and make us pray in faith, because the things we ask in prayer, though they are more than we deserve, yet not more than Christ has purchased for us.

6. To make us pray in faith, consider there is such a bountifulness in God, that he often excels the prayers of his people; he gives them more than they ask. As Hannah asked a son, and God gave her not only a son, but a prophet; Solomon asked wisdom, and God gave him not only wisdom, but riches and honor besides; Jacob prayed that God would but give him food and raiment, and the Lord increased his pilgrim's staff into two [reconstructed: bands] (Genesis 32:10). God is often better to us than our prayers, as when Gehazi asked but one talent, Naaman would needs force two upon him (2 Kings 5:23). We ask one talent of mercy, and God gives two talents. The woman of Canaan asked but a crumb, namely, to have the life of her child, and Christ gave her more, he sent her home with the life of her soul.

7. The great success the prayer of faith has found; like Jonathan's bow it has not returned empty. Vocula pater dicta in corde, says Luther: This little word Father, pronounced in faith, has overcome God; (Genesis 32:11). Deliver me I pray you; and this was mixed with faith in the promise, verse 12. You said I will surely do you good, and this prayer had power with God and prevailed (Hosea 12:4). The prayer of faith has opened prison doors, stopped the chariot of the sun, locked and unlocked heaven (James 5:17). The prayer of faith has strangled the plots of enemies in the birth, it has routed their forces. Moses' prayer against Amalek did more than Joshua's sword, and may not this hearten and strengthen faith in prayer.

8. If all this will not prevail, consider how heartless and comfortless it is to pray, and not in faith: The heart misgives secretly, God does not hear, nor will he grant. Faithless praying must needs be comfortless, for there is no promise made to unbelieving prayer. It is sad sailing where there is no anchoring, and sad praying where there is no promise to anchor upon (James 1:7). The disciples toiled all night and caught nothing; the unbeliever toils in prayer, and catches nothing; he receives not any spiritual blessings, pardon of sin or grace. As for the temporal mercies the unbeliever has, he cannot look upon them as the fruit of prayer, but as the over-flowings and spillings of God's bounty. Oh therefore labor to exert and put forth faith in prayer.

Object. But there is so much sin cleaves to my prayer, that I fear it is not the prayer of faith, and God will not hear it.

Resp. If you mourn for this, it hinders not but that your prayer may be in faith, and God may hear it. Weakness in prayer shall not make void the saints' prayers; (Psalm 31:22). I said in my haste I am cut off. There was much unbelief in this prayer. I said in my haste, [illegible], in my trembling. David's faith did tremble and faint, yet God heard his prayer. The saints' passions do not hinder the saints' prayers (James 5:17). Therefore be not discouraged, though sin will cleave to your holy offering, yet these two things may comfort: you may pray with faith though with weakness, and God sees the sincerity, and will pass by the infirmity.

Quest. How shall we do to pray in faith?

Answ. Implore the Spirit of God: We cannot say Our Father but by the Holy Ghost. God's Spirit helps us not only to pray with sighs and groans but with faith. The Spirit carries us to God, not only as to a Creator but a Father; (Galatians 4:6). He has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba Father. Crying, there the Spirit causes us to pray with fervency; Abba Father, there the Spirit helps us to pray with faith. Prayer is the key of heaven; the Spirit helps faith to turn this key, and then it unlocks heaven.

Matthew 6:9 Hallowed be your Name.

Having spoken of the introduction to the Lord's Prayer, After this manner pray you; and the preface, Our Father who are in heaven: I come now thirdly to the prayer itself, which consists of seven petitions. A short body of divinity is contained in them. I begin with the first petition.

1. Hallowed be your Name. In the Latin it is sanctificetur nomen tuum, sanctified be your Name. In this petition, Hallowed be your Name, we pray, that God's Name may shine forth gloriously, and that it may be honored and sanctified by us in the whole course and tenor of our lives. It was the angels' song, Glory be to God in the highest; that is, let his name be glorified and hallowed. This petition, Hallowed be your Name, is set in the forefront, to show, that the hallowing of God's Name is to be preferred before all other things. 1. It is to be preferred before life; we pray, Hallowed be your Name, before we pray, Give us this day our daily bread. 2. It is to be preferred before salvation (Romans 9:1): God's glory is more worth than the salvation of all men's souls. As Christ said of love (Matthew 22:37): This is the first and great commandment; so I may say of this petition, Hallowed be your Name, it is the first and great petition; it contains the most weighty thing in religion, God's glory. When some of the other petitions shall be useless and out of date, we shall not need pray in heaven, Give us our daily bread, because there shall be no hunger; nor, Forgive us our trespasses, because there shall be no sin; nor, Lead us not into temptation, because the Old Serpent is not there to tempt: Yet the hallowing of God's Name shall be in great use and request in heaven; we shall be ever singing Hallelujahs, which is nothing else but the hallowing of God's Name. Every person in the Blessed Trinity, God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, must have this honor, to be hallowed, their glory being equal, and their majesty co-eternal. Hallowed be your Name: to admire God's Name is not enough; we may admire a conqueror; but when we say, Hallowed be your Name, we set God's Name above every name, and not only admire him but adore him, and this is proper only to the Deity. For the further explanation I shall propose three questions.

- 1. What is meant by God's name? - 2. What is meant by hallowing God's name? - 3. When may we be said to hallow or sanctify God's name?

Quest. 1. What is meant by God's name?

Resp. 1. By God's name is meant his essence; (Psalm 20:1). The name of the God of Jacob defend you; that is, the God of Jacob defend you.

2. By God's name is meant anything by which God may be known; as a man is known by his name. God's name is his attributes, wisdom, power, holiness, goodness, by these God is known as by his name.

Quest. 2. What is meant by hallowing of God's name?

Response: To hallow is a communi separare, to set apart a thing from the common use to some sacred end. As the vessels of the sanctuary were said to be hallowed; so, to hallow God's name, is to set it apart from all abuses, and to use it holily and reverently. In particular, hallowing of God's name is to give him high honor and veneration, and render his name sacred. We can add nothing to God's essential glory, but we are said to honor and sanctify his name, when we lift him up in the world, and make him appear greater in the eyes of others. When a prince is crowned there is something added really to his honor; but when we go to crown God with our triumphs and hallelujahs, there is nothing added to his essential glory. God cannot be greater than he is, only we may make him appear greater in the eyes of others.

Question 3: When may we be said to hallow and sanctify God's name?

Answer 1: When we profess his name; our meeting in this holy assembly is an honor done to God's name; this is good, but it is not enough. All that wear God's livery by profession are not true servants; there are some professors Christ will at the last day profess against (Matthew 7:23): I will profess I never knew you. Therefore to go a little further.

2. We hallow and sanctify God's name, when we have a high appreciation and esteem of God; we set him highest in our thoughts. The Hebrew word to honor, [in non-Latin alphabet] signifies to esteem precious. We conceive of God in our minds as the most super-excellent and infinite good; we apprehend in God a constellation of all beauties and delights; we adore God in his glorious attributes, which are the several beams by which his divine nature shines forth; we adore God in his works, which are bound up in three great volumes, Creation, Redemption, Providence; we hallow and sanctify God's name when we lift him highest in our souls; we esteem him [in non-Latin alphabet], a super-eminent incomprehensible good.

3. We hallow and sanctify God's name when we trust in his name (Psalm 33:21): We have trusted in his holy name. No way can we bring more revenues of honor to God, or make his crown shine brighter than by confiding in him (Romans 4:20): Abraham was strong in faith giving glory to God; there was a hallowing of God's name. As unbelief stains God's honor, and eclipses his name (1 John 5:10): He that believes not makes God a liar; so faith does glorify and hallow God's name. The believer trusts his best jewel in God's hands (Psalm 3:5): Into your hands I commit my spirit. Faith in a mediator does more honor and sanctify God's name than martyrdom, or the most sublime acts of obedience.

4. We hallow and sanctify God's name when we never make mention of his name but with the highest reverence; God's name is sacred, and it must not be spoken of but with veneration. The Scripture, when it speaks of God, gives him his titles of honor (Genesis 14:20): Blessed be the most high God (Nehemiah 9:5): Blessed be your glorious name which is exalted above all praise. To speak vainly or slightly of God is a profaning his name, and is a taking his name in vain. Let his name be hallowed: by giving God his venerable titles we do as it were hang his jewels on his crown.

5. We hallow and sanctify God's name when we love his name (Psalm 5:11): Let them that love your name be joyful; and that love which is honoring God's name must be a special discriminating love, the cream and flower of our love; such a love as we give to none besides. As the wife honors her husband, by giving him such a love as she gives to none else, a conjugal love; so we hallow God's name by giving him such a love as we give to none else; a love joined with worship (Psalm 45:11): He is your God and worship you him.

6. We hallow and sanctify God's name when we give him a holy and spiritual worship. 1. We give him the same kind of worship that he has appointed (Leviticus 10:3): I will be sanctified of all that come near to me; that is, I will be sanctified with that very worship I have appointed. It is the purity of worship God loves better than the pomp. It is a dishonoring of God's name to bring anything into his worship which he has not instituted; as if God were not wise enough to appoint the manner how he will be served; men will go to prescribe him, and super-add their inventions: this God looks upon as offering strange fire, and it is a high provocation. 2. We give God the same heart devotion in worship as he has appointed (Romans 12:11): Fervent in spirit serving the Lord. The word for fervent, [in non-Latin alphabet], is a metaphor that alludes to water, that seethes and boils over; so our affections should boil over in holy duties. To give God outside worship, and not the devotion of the heart, is instead of hallowing and sanctifying him in an ordinance, to abuse him; as if one calls for wine, and you give him an empty glass: it is to deal with God as Prometheus did with Jupiter, who did eat the flesh, and present Jupiter with nothing but bones covered over with skin. Then we hallow God's name, and sanctify him in an ordinance, when we give him the vitals of religion, a heart flaming with zeal.

7. We hallow and sanctify God's name when we hallow his day (Jeremiah 17:22): Hallow you the Sabbath day. Our Christian Sabbath which comes in the room of the Jews' Sabbath, is called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the Lord's day (Revelation 1:10). This was anciently called dies lucis, a day of light; wherein Christ the Sun of Righteousness shines in an extraordinary manner: it is an honor done to God to hallow his Sabbath. 1. We must rest on this day from all secular works (Jeremiah 17:21): Bear no burden on the Sabbath day. As Joseph when he would speak with his brethren thrust out the Egyptians; so when we would have converse with God on this day, we must thrust out all earthly employments. It is observable, Mary Magdalen refused to anoint Christ's dead body on the Sabbath day (Luke 23:56). She had before prepared her ointment and spices, but came not to the sepulchre till the Sabbath was past. She rested on that day from civil work, though it were a commendable and glorious work, the anointing of Christ's dead body. 2. We must in a solemn manner devote ourselves to God on this day: we must spend this whole day with God. Some will hear the Word, but leave all their religion at church, they do nothing at home, they do not pray or repeat the Word in their houses, and so they rob God of a part of his day; it is to be bewailed to see how God's day is profaned. Let not men think God's name is hallowed while his Sabbath is broken.

8. We hallow and sanctify God's name when we ascribe the honor of all we do to him (Psalm 96:8): Give to the Lord the glory due to your name. Herod instead of hallowing God's name, stained the honor of his name in assuming that praise to himself which was due to God (Acts 12:23). We ought to take the honor from ourselves and give it to God (1 Corinthians 15:10): I labored more than they all. One would think this had savored of pride, but the Apostle pulls the crown from his own head, and sets it upon the head of free grace: Yet not I but the grace of God which was with me. If a Christian has any assistance in duty, or victory over temptation, he rears up a pillar and writes upon it, Hucusque adjuvabit Deus — Hitherto the Lord has helped me. John the Baptist transferred all the honor from himself to Christ; he was content to be eclipsed that Christ might shine the more (John 1:15): He that comes after me is preferred before me. I am but the herald, the voice of one crying, he is the prince; I am but a lesser star, he is the sun; I baptize only with water, he with the Holy Ghost. This is a hallowing God's name when we translate all the honor from ourselves to God (Psalm 115:1): Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory. The King of Sweden wrought that motto on the battle at Lypswich: Ista a Domino facta sunt, The Lord has wrought this victory for us.

9. We hallow and sanctify God's name by obeying him: how does a son more honor his father than by obedience (Psalm 40:8)? I delight to do your will, O my God. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Chrysostom. The Wise Men showed honor to Christ, not only by bowing the knee to him, but by presenting him with gold and myrrh (Matthew 2:11); we hallow God's name not only by lifting up our eyes and hands to Heaven, and bowing the knee in prayer, but by presenting God with golden obedience. As the factor trades for the merchant, so we trade for God, and lay out our strength in his service. It was a saying of Reverend Doctor Jewell, I have spent and exhausted myself in the labors of my holy calling; to obey is better than sacrifice. The cherubim representing the angels, are set forth with their wings displayed, to show how ready they are to do service to God. To obey is angelical; to pretend honor to God's name, yet not to obey is but a devout compliment. Abraham honored God by obedience; he was ready to sacrifice his son, though the son of his old age, and a son of the promise (Genesis 22:16): By myself have I sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son; that in blessing I will bless you.

10. We hallow and sanctify God's name when we lift up God's name in our praises. God is said to sanctify, and man is said to sanctify. God sanctifies us by giving us grace, and we sanctify him by giving him praise. What were our tongues given us for, but to be organs of God's praise (Psalm 71:8): Let my mouth be filled with your praise, and with your honor all the day. (Revelation 5:13) Blessing, honor, glory and power be to him that sits upon the throne, and to the lamb for ever. Thus God's name is hallowed and sanctified in heaven — the angels and glorified saints are singing Hallelujahs; let us begin the work of heaven here. David did sing forth God's praises and doxologies in a most melodious manner, therefore was called the sweet singer of Israel (1 Samuel 23:1). Praising God is a hallowing of God's name; it spreads his renown, it displays the trophies of his excellency, it exalts him in the eyes of others (Psalm 50:23): Whoever offers praise glorifies me. This is one of the highest and purest acts of religion. In prayer we act like men, in praise we act like angels: this is the music of heaven, [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉], Zenoph. this is a work fit for a saint (Psalm 149:5-6): Let the saints be joyful, let the high praises of God be in their mouths. None but saints can in a right manner thus hallow God's name by praising him. As every one has not skill to play on the viol and organ, so every one cannot rightly sound forth God's harmonious praises; only the saints can do it; they only can make their tongue and heart join in consort (Psalm 111:1): I will bless you, O Lord, with my whole heart; and (Psalm 66:17): He was extolled with my tongue — there was heart and tongue joining in consort. This hallowing God's name by praise is very becoming a Christian; it is unbecoming to murmur, this is a dishonoring of God's name: but it becomes the saints to be spiritual choristers in singing forth the honor of God's name: it is called the garment of praise (Isaiah 61:3) — how comely and handsome is this garment of praise for a saint to wear (Psalm 33:1): Praise is comely for the righteous. Especially it is a high degree of hallowing God's name, when we can speak well of God, and bless him in an afflicted state (Job 1:21): The Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord. Many will bless God when he gives, but to bless him when he takes away, is in a high degree to honor God, and hallow his name: let us thus magnify God's name. Has not God given us abundant matter of praising him; he has given us the nether and upper springs; he has given us grace, a mercy spun and woven out of his bowels, and he intends to crown grace with glory: this should make us hallow God's name by being trumpets of his praise.

11. We hallow and sanctify God's name when we sympathize with him: we grieve when his name suffers. 1. We lay to heart his dishonors: how was Moses affected with God's dishonor, he breaks the tables (Exodus 32:19). We grieve to see God's sabbaths profaned, his worship adulterated, the wine of truth mingled with error. 2. We grieve when God's church is brought low, because now God's name suffers. Nehemiah lays to heart the miseries of Zion, his complexion begins to alter, and he looks sad (Nehemiah 2:3): Why is your countenance sad? What, sad when the king's cupbearer, and wine so near? O but it fared ill with the church of God, and religion seemed to lose ground, and God's name suffered, therefore Nehemiah grows weary of the court, he leaves his wine, and mingles his drink with weeping. This holy sympathy and grieving, when God's name suffers, God esteems an honoring and sanctifying his name. Hezekiah grieved when the king of Assyria reproached the living God (Isaiah 37:17): he went into his chamber, and spread the letter of blasphemy before the Lord (2 Kings 19:14), and no doubt watered the letter with his tears. He seemed not to be so much troubled at the fear of losing his own life and kingdom, as that God should lose his glory.

12. We hallow and sanctify God's name, when we give the same honor to God the Son, as we give to God the Father (John 5:23): That all men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father. The Socinians deny Christ's divinity, saying, that he is [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉], a bare man: this is to make him below the angels (Psalm 8:5), for the human nature considered in se is below the angelic; this is to reflect dishonor upon the Lord of Glory: we must give equal honor to the Son as to the Father. We must believe Christ's deity, he is the picture of his Father's glory (Hebrews 1:3). If the Godhead be in Christ, he must needs be God, but the Godhead shines in him (Colossians 2:9): In whom dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily: therefore he is God. How could these divine titles be given to Christ? Omnipotence (Hebrews 1:3), ubiquity (Matthew 28:20), a power of sealing pardons (Matthew 9:6), coequality with God the Father, both in power and dignity (John 5:21, 23) — how, I say, could these titles of honor be ascribed to Christ, if he were not crowned with the Deity? When we believe Christ's Godhead, and build our hope of salvation on the cornerstone of his merit: when we see neither the righteousness of the law, or of angels can justify, but we fly to Christ's blood as to the altar of refuge, this is an honoring and sanctifying God's name: God never thinks his name to be hallowed, unless his Son be honored.

13. We hallow God's name by standing up for his truths. Much of God's glory lies in his truths. God's truths are his oracles. God entrusts us with his truths as a treasure. We have not a richer jewel to trust God with than our souls, nor has God a greater jewel to trust us with than his truths. God's truths set forth his glory; now when we are zealous advocates for God's truth, this is an honor done to God's name. Athanasius was called the bulwark of truth; he stood up in the defense of God's truths against the Arians, and so was a pillar in the temple of God; better have truth without peace, than peace without truth. It concerns the sons of Sihon to stand up for the great doctrines of the Gospel; the doctrine of the Trinity, the Hypostatic Union, justification by faith, the saints' perseverance: we are bid to contend earnestly (Jude 3), to strive as in an agony for the faith; that is, the doctrine of faith: this contending for the truth brings great revenues into heaven's exchequer; this is a hallowing of God's name. Contend for the truth. Some can contend for ceremonies, but not for the truth. We should count him unwise that contends more for a box of counters, than for his box of evidences.

14. We hallow and sanctify God's name by making as many proselytes as we can to him; by all holy expedients, counsel, prayer, example, we endeavor the salvation of others. How did Monica, Saint Austin's mother, labor for his conversion — she had sorer pangs in travail for his new birth, than for his natural birth: it is a hallowing of God's name when we diffuse the sweet savor of godliness, and propagate religion to others; when not only we ourselves honor God, but are instruments to make others honor him. Certainly when the heart is seasoned with grace, there will be an endeavor to season others. God's glory is dear to a saint as his own salvation, and that this glory may be promoted he endeavors the conversion of souls, every convert is a member added to Christ: let us thus hallow God's name by laboring to advance piety in others; especially, let us endeavor that those who are nearly related to us, or are under our roof, should honor God (Joshua 24:15). As for me and my house we will serve the Lord: let us make our houses Bethel places, where God's name is called upon (Colossians 4:15). Salute Nymphas, and the church that is in his house: let the parent endeavor that his children may honor God, and the master that his servants honor him; read the word, drop holy instruction, perfume your houses with prayer; the Jews had sacrifices in their family as well as in the tabernacle (Exodus 12:3). This is a hallowing of God's name when we make proselytes to him, and endeavor that all under our charge should honor and sanctify his name.

15. We hallow God's name when we prefer the honor of God's name before the dearest things. 1. We prefer the honor of God's name before our own credit. The saints of old have for the honor of God been willing to endure reproach (Psalm 69:7): For your sake I have borne reproach. David cared not what reproach he suffered, so God's name might not suffer. The Prophet Elijah was called in derision, the hairy prophet, and the Prophet Isaiah, the bearer of burdens, and the Prophet Zephaniah, the bitter prophet; but they did bind these reproaches as a crown about their head; the honor of God's name was dearer to them than their own honor. Moses esteemed the reproaches of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt (Hebrews 11:26). The Apostles went away rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Christ (Acts 5:41), that they were graced so far as to be disgraced for the name of Christ: this is a hallowing of God's name when we are content to have our name eclipsed that God's name may shine the more. 2. We prefer the honor of God's name before our worldly profit and interest ([reconstructed: Matthew 19:27]): We have forsaken all and followed you. When these two, God and estate come in competition, we will rather let estate go, than God's love and favor. Thus that noble Marquess of Vico parted with a fair estate, using these words, Let their money perish with them that count all the gold and silver in the world, worth one hour's communion with Jesus Christ. 3. We prefer the honor of God's name before our life (Romans 8:36): For your sake are we killed all the day long. The honor done to God's name is not by bringing that outward pomp and glory to him as we do to kings, but God's honor comes in another way, and that is by the sufferings of his people. When the world sees how entirely God's people love him, that they will die in his service, this exalts and honors God's name. God's crown does flourish in the ashes of his martyrs. Saint Basil speaks of a virgin condemned to the fire, who having her life and estate offered her if she would bow to the idol, answered, Valeat vita, pereat pecunia, Let life and money go, welcome Christ. When God's glory weighs heaviest in the balance, and we are willing to suffer the loss of all, rather than God's name should suffer, now we do in a high degree hallow God's name.

16. Last. We do hallow and sanctify God's name by a holy conversation (1 Peter 2:9): You are a royal priesthood, a peculiar people; that you should show forth the praises of him who has called you. As an unholy life does dishonor God's name (Romans 2:24): The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, so by our holy and Bible conversation, we honor God's name. A holy life speaks louder than all the anthems and praises in the world. Though the main work of religion lies in the heart, yet when our light so shines that others behold it, now they glorify God; when our lives shine, now God's name shines. The Macedonians used one day in the year to wear the picture of Alexander set with pearl and costly jewels; so when we carry the picture of Christ about us in our holy example, now we bring honor to God's name.

Use 1. See the true note and character of a godly person; he is a sanctifier of God's name, Hallowed be your name. A true saint does ambitiously endeavor to advance God's name. This is the question he asks himself in everything he is going about: will this action tend to the honor of God's name? Will this exalt God? This was Saint Paul's [illegible], his chief design, that Christ might be magnified (Philippians 1:20), namely, that the crown upon his head might flourish. A godly man thinks it is scarce worth the while to live, if he may not bring some revenues of honor to God's name.

Use 2. I may here take up a sad lamentation, and speak as the Apostle Paul, weeping (Philippians 3:18), to consider how God's name instead of being hallowed and sanctified, is dishonored. God's name, which is more worth than the salvation of all men's souls, suffers deeply. We are apt to speak of our sufferings; alas, what are all our sufferings? God's name suffers most; God's name is the dearest thing he has; how do men stand upon their name and honor? God's name is this day dishonored, it is like the sun in an eclipse. Theodosius took it heinously when they threw dirt upon his statue, but now (which is far worse) disgrace is thrown upon the glorious name of Jehovah. God's name instead of being hallowed is dishonored by all sorts.

- 1. Heathens. - 2. Turks. - 3. Jews. - 4. Papists. - 5. Protestants.

1. By Heathens: They have a knowledge of a Godhead by the light of nature (Romans 1:19-20), but they dishonor God and sin against the light of nature. The Egyptians worship an ox, the Persians worship the sun, the Greeks and Romans, Jupiter, and the Parthians worship the Devil.

2. God's name is dishonored by the Turks; they adore Mahomet their great prophet as one divinely inspired; Mahomet was of an impure, vicious life; Mahomet plucks the crown from Christ's head, denying his deity.

3. God's name is dishonored by the Jews; who give not equal honor and adoration to God the Son as to God the Father; they expect a Messiah yet to come, seculum futurum; they believe not in Christ; they blaspheme him, and slight righteousness imputed; they vilify the Christian Sabbath.

4. God's name is dishonored by the Papists. Popery is a God-dishonoring religion: They dishonor God's name.

(1.) By their idolatry, which is spiritual adultery (Ezekiel 23:37). Idolatry is to worship a false God, or the true God in a false manner; this they are guilty of. 1. They dishonor God by their idolatry in making graven images, and giving the same honor to them as is due to God, [illegible]: Images are teachers of lies (Habakkuk 2:18), they represent God in a bodily shape. 2. By their idolatry in the Mass; worshipping the Host, and offering it up as a sacrifice for sin: The Apostle says (Hebrews 10:14), By one offering Christ has perfected them that are sanctified; but as if Christ's offering on the Cross were imperfect, they offer him up daily in the Mass, which is a dishonor done to Christ's priestly office.

(2.) The Papists instead of hallowing God's name, dishonor God's name by locking up the Scriptures in an unknown tongue; they (as the Philistines) pluck out the people's eyes, and then make sport with them: The Bible is a shining light, but they draw a curtain over it; they take away the key of knowledge (Luke 11:52), and hinder God's glory by hindering men's salvation.

(3.) Instead of hallowing God's name they dishonor it by giving men indulgences. They say the Pope, as Peter's successor, has power to grant indulgences, by virtue of which men are set free in the sight of God from the guilt of sin: This is a double dishonor to God. 1. It is to steal a flower from the crown of heaven. The Pope assumes a power to pardon, which is God's prerogative royal; (Matthew 2:7) Who can forgive sin but God only? 2. The Pope by his indulgence encourages men to sin. What need the Papists care what sins they commit, when they have a license and patent from the Pope to bear them harmless.

(4.) Instead of hallowing God's name they dishonor God's name by their invocation of saints. We are to pray only to God (Matthew 6:6), Pray to your Father; not pray to a saint, or the Virgin Mary, but pray to your Father in Heaven: We may pray to none but whom we may believe in (Romans 10:14). The saints in Heaven are ignorant of our grievances (Isaiah 63:16); Abraham is ignorant of us.

(5.) Instead of hallowing God's name they dishonor it by their luxury and uncleanness: They allow of stews. At Rome fornication keeps open shop, and is in some cases preferred before honorable matrimony; Vrbs est jam tota lupanar.

(6.) Instead of hallowing God's name they dishonor it by their blasphemies. They give equal, or rather more honor to the Virgin Mary than to Christ; they ascribe more to her milk than his blood; they call her Scala Caeli, the Ladder of Heaven, Janua Paradisi, the Gate of Paradise. In their doxologies they say, Praise be to the Virgin Mary, and also to Christ. What blasphemy is this to set the creature above the Creator. They say to her, O faelix puerpera, nostrae piaris scelera, O happy Mother of a Son who purges away our crimes.

(7.) Instead of hallowing God's name they dishonor it by their lies. Their Golden Legend is an imposture, and is full of lying wonders. They show John the Baptist's forehead for a relic in Spain, yet his whole head they affirm to be seen in Saint Sylvester in Rome: They show Saint Peter's shadow at Rome; indeed we read of Saint Peter's shadow (Acts 5:15), but it's strange how the Papists could catch his shadow, and keep it by them so long.

(8.) Instead of hallowing God's name they dishonor it by baptizing sin with the name of virtue. Breach of oaths is with the Papists a virtue. If a man has bound his soul to God by an oath, yet to violate this oath is virtuous, if it may propagate the Catholic cause. Killing those who are of a different religion, is not only venial, but a virtue among Catholics. Destroying two hundred thousand of the Albigenses, who were Protestants, was commended as a glorious action, honored with a triumph at Rome, and crowned with his Holiness's blessing. Is not this a high dishonor to God to gild over the foulest crimes with the name of virtue and piety.

(9.) Instead of hallowing God's name they dishonor it by their damnable assertions. 1. The Papists affirm that the Pope is above Scripture, that he may dispense with it, and that his Canons bind more than the Word of God. 2. They teach merit by good works, but if a debtor cannot pay his creditor, how can he merit at his hands? 3. That the Scripture is not a perfect rule of faith, and man errs, therefore they seek it out with their traditions, which they hold to be of equal authority. 4. They teach that an implicit faith is saving, though one may have an implicit faith, yet be ignorant of all the articles of religion. 5. They say that the inward act of the mind is not required in God's worship: diversion of mind in duty, though one prays and never thinks of God is no sin, says Angelus and Sylvester, and other Papists. 6. The Papists make habitual love to God unnecessary. It is not needful, says Bellarmine, to perform any acts of religion out of love to God. Stapleton and Cajetan affirm, that the precept of loving God with all our heart is not binding; by which they cut asunder the sinews and soul of all religion. Thus instead of honoring God's name, the Papists dishonor it. Let us pray heartily that this Romish religion may never get footing again in this nation; God grant that this poisonful weed of Popery may never be watered here: but that it being a plant which our heavenly Father has not planted, it may be rooted up.

5. God's name is dishonored by carnal Protestants. How is God's name this day dishonored in England: his name is like the sun in an eclipse. Christians instead of hallowing God's name, reproach and dishonor it.

- 1. By their tongues. - 2. By their lives.

1. By their tongues. 1. They speak irreverently of God's name: God's name is sacred: (Deuteronomy 28:58) "That you may fear this glorious and fearful name, The Lord your God." The names of kings are not mentioned without giving them their titles of honor, High and Mighty; but men speak irreverently of God, as if he were like one of them (Psalm 50:21); this is a taking God's name in vain. 2. They swear by his name. Many seldom name God's name but in oaths: how is God dishonored when men rend and tear his name by oaths and imprecations; (Jeremiah 23:10) "Because of swearing the land mourns." If God will reckon with men for idle words, shall not idle oaths be put in the account book? O but says one, I cannot help it, it is a custom of swearing I have got, and I hope God will forgive me? Answer: Is this a good plea, a custom of swearing? This is no excuse but an aggravation of sin. As if one that had been accused for killing a man, should plead with the judge to spare him, because it was his custom to murder: this were an aggravation of the offense: will not the judge say you shall the rather die. So it is here.

2. As men dishonor God by their tongues, so by their lives. What is it to say, Hallowed be your name, when in their lives they profane his name; they dishonor God by their atheism, Sabbath-breaking, uncleanness, perjury, intemperance, injustice. Men hang out a flag of defiance against heaven. As the Thracians when it thunders, shoot their arrows against heaven; so men shoot their sins as bearded arrows against heaven. Sinners are hardened in sin, they despise counsel, they laugh at reproof, they have cast off the veil of modesty. Satan has taken such full possession of them, that when they sin they glory in their shame (Philippians 3:19); they brag how many new oaths they have invented, how often they have been drunk, how many they have defiled; they declare their sin as Sodom: such horrid impieties are committed that a modest heathen would blush at. Men in this age sin at that rate, as if either they did not believe there were a hell, or as if they feared hell would be full before they could get there. Was God's name ever so openly dishonored? All our preaching will not make them leave their sins. What a black veil is drawn over the face of religion at this day? Vivimus in temporum faecibus — Sen. We live in the dregs of time wherein the common shore of wickedness runs; physicians call it [illegible], when there is no part of the body free from distemper. England has a cachexia, it is all over disease; the whole head is sick, the whole heart is faint (Isaiah 1:6). As black vapors rising out of the earth cloud and darken the sun, so the sins of people in our age like hellish vapors cast a cloud upon God's glorious name. O that our eyes were like alembics, dropping the water of holy tears, to consider how God's name, instead of being hallowed, is polluted and profaned: and may not we justly fear some heavy judgments? Can God put up our affronts any longer? Can he endure to have his name reproached? Will a King suffer his crown jewels to be trampled in the dust? Do not we see the symptoms of God's anger, do we not see his judgments hovering over us? Sure God is whetting his sword, he has bent his bow, and is preparing his arrows to shoot: Qualis per arva Leo fulvam minaci fronte concutiens jubam. Sen. Trag. The body politic is in a paroxysm, or burning fit, and may not the Lord cause a sad phlebotomy? Seeing we will not leave our sins he may make us lose our blood. May not we fear that the ark should remove, the vision cease, the stars in God's church be removed, and we should follow the gospel to the grave? When God's name which should be hallowed is profaned among a people, it is just with God to write that dismal epitaph upon a nation's tomb, The glory is departed. And that I may speak to the consciences of all, and deal impartially, it were well if only the profane party were guilty; but may not many professors be called to the bar, and indicted of this, that they have dishonored God's name (2 Chronicles 28:10)? Are there not with you, even with you, sins against the Lord your God? Are there not the spots of God's children (Deuteronomy 32:5)? If you are diamonds have you no flaws? Have not you your vanities? If your discourse be not profane is it not vain? Have not you your self-seekings, rash censures, indecent dresses? If the wicked of the land swear, do not you sometimes slander? If they are drunk with wine, are not you sometimes drunk with passion? If their sin be blaspheming, is not your sin murmuring? Are there not with you, even with you, sins against the Lord? The sins of God's children go nearer to his heart than the sins of others (Deuteronomy 32:19): When the Lord saw it he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons and daughters. The sins of the wicked anger God, the sins of his own people grieve him; he will be sure to punish them (Amos 3:2): You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. O that our head were waters, that we could make this place a Bochim, a place of weepers, that God's children might mix blushing with tears, that they have so little hallowed, and so much eclipsed God's name. Truly God's own people have sinned enough to justify God in all his severe actings against them.

Use 3. Of Exhortation. Let us hallow and sanctify God's name: did we but see a glimpse of God's glory, as Moses did in the rock; the sight of this would draw adoration and praise from us; could we see God face to face, as the angels in heaven do, could we behold him sitting on his throne like [reconstructed: a] jasper stone (Revelation 4:3), we should presently at the sight of this glory do as the twenty-four elders (Revelation 4:10): They worship him that lives for ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, honor and power. That we may be stirred up to this great duty, the hallowing, adoring and sanctifying God's name; consider,

1. It is the very end of our being: why did God give us our life, but that our living may be a hallowing of his name? Why did he give us souls but to admire him, and tongues but to praise him? The excellence of a thing is, when it attains the end for which it was made: the excellence of a star is to give light, of a plant to be fruitful; the excellence of a Christian is to answer the end of his creation, which is to hallow God's name, and live to that God by whom he lives. He who lives, and God has no honor by him, buries himself alive, and exposes himself to a curse. Christ cursed the barren fig tree.

2. God's name is so excellent that it deserves to be hallowed (Psalm 8:9): How excellent is your name in all the earth (Psalm 104:1): You are clothed with honor and majesty. As the sun has its brightness whether we admire it or no, so God's name is illustrious and glorious whether we hallow it or no. In God are all shining perfections, holiness, wisdom, mercy: he is worthy to be praised (2 Samuel 22:4). God is dignus Honore, worthy of honor, love, adoration. We often bestow titles of honor upon them that do not deserve them; but God is worthy to be praised; his name deserves hallowing; he is above all the honor and praise which the angels in heaven give him.

3. We pray Hallowed be your Name; that is, let your Name be honored and magnified by us: Now if we do not magnify his Name, we contradict our own prayers. To say, Hallowed be your Name, yet not to bring honor to God's Name, it is to take his Name in vain.

4. Such as do not hallow God's Name, and bring revenues of honor to him, God will get his honor upon them (Exodus 14:17). I'll get me honor upon Pharaoh. Pharaoh would not hallow God's Name: Who is the Lord that I should obey him? Well says God, if Pharaoh will not honor me, I will get me honor upon him. When God overthrew him and his chariots in the Sea, then he got his honor upon him. God's power and justice were glorified in his destruction. There are some whom God has raised to great power and dignity, and they will not honor God's Name, they make use of their power to dishonor God, they cast reproach upon God's Name, and revile his servants; well, they who will not honor God, he will get his honor upon them in their final ruin. Herod did not give glory to God, and God did get his glory upon him (Acts 12:23). The Angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory, and he was eaten of worms.

5. It will be no small comfort to us when we come to die, that we have hallowed and sanctified God's Name: It was Christ's comfort a little before his Death (John 17:4). I have glorified you on the earth. Christ's redeeming mankind was a hallowing and glorifying of God's Name; never was more honor brought to God's Name than by this great undertaking of Christ: Now here was Christ's comfort before his death, that he had hallowed God's Name, and brought glory to him. So what a cordial will this be to us at last, when our whole life has been a hallowing of God's Name; we have loved him with our hearts, praised him with our lips, honored him with our lives: We have been [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉], to the praise of his glory (Ephesians 1:6). At the hour of death all your earthly comforts will vanish; to think how rich you have been, or what pleasures you have enjoyed upon earth; this will not give one dram of comfort: What is one the better for an estate that is spent? But now to have conscience witnessing that you have hallowed God's Name, your whole life has been a glorifying of him, what sweet peace and satisfaction will this give? That servant who has been all day working in the vineyard, how glad is he when evening comes that he shall receive his pay! Such as have spent their lives in honoring God, how sweet will death be when they shall receive the recompense of reward. What comfort was it to Hezekiah when he was on his sick-bed, and could appeal to God (Isaiah 38:3). Remember, Lord, how I have walked before you with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight. I have hallowed your Name, I have brought all the honor I could to you, I have done that which is good in your sight.

6. There is nothing lost by what we do for God; if we bring honor to his Name he will honor us. Honor is [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉]. Arist. As Balac said to Balaam (Numbers 22:37), Am not I able to promote you to honor? So if we hallow and sanctify God's Name, is not he able to promote us to honor? 1. He will honor us in our life. (1.) He will put honor upon our persons: He will number us among his jewels (Malachi 3:17), he will make us a royal diadem in his hand (Isaiah 62:3), he will lift us up in the eyes of others (Zechariah 9:16). They shall be as the stones of a crown lifted up, as an ensign of glory: He will esteem us as the cream and flower of the creation (Isaiah 43:4). Since you have been precious in my sight, you have been honorable. (2.) God will put honor upon our names (Proverbs 10:17). The memory of the just is blessed. How renowned have the Saints been in all ages who have hallowed God's Name: How renowned was Abraham for his faith, Moses for his meekness, David for his zeal, Paul for his love to Christ, their names as a precious ointment send forth a sweet perfume in God's church to this day. 2. God will honor us at our death; he will send his angels to carry us up with triumph into heaven (Luke 16:22). The beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. Amasis King of Egypt had his chariot drawn with four kings which he had conquered in war; but what is this to the glory every believer shall have at his death, he shall be carried by the angels of God. 3. God will put honor upon us after death. (1.) He will put glory upon our bodies: We shall be [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] as the angels, not for substance but quality, our bodies shall be agile and nimble; now our bodies are as a weight, then they shall be as a wing moving swiftly from place to place; our bodies shall be full of clarity and brightness, like Christ's glorious body (Philippians 3:21). The bodies of the Saints shall be as cloth dyed into a scarlet color, made more illustrious; they shall be so clear and transparent, that the soul shall sparkle through them as the wine through the glass. (2.) God will put glory upon our souls: If the cabinet of the body shall be so illustrious, of what orient brightness shall the jewel be? Then will be the great coronation day, when the Saints shall wear the robe of immortality and the crown of righteousness which fades not away. O how glorious will that garland be which is made of the flowers of paradise! Who then would not hallow and glorify God's Name, and spread his renown in the world, who will put such immortal honor upon his people, as eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor can it enter into the heart of man to conceive.

7. Ult. Such as do not hallow God's name, but profane and dishonor it, God will pour contempt upon them; though they be never so great, and though clothed in purple and scarlet, yet they are abhorred of God, and their name shall rot. Though the name of Judas be in the Bible, and the name of Pontius Pilate be in the Creed, yet their names stand there for infamy, as being traitors to the crown of heaven (Nahum 1:14). I will make your grave for you are vile. It is spoken of Antiochus Epiphanes, he was a King, and his name signifies Illustrious, yet God esteemed him a vile person; to show how base the wicked are in God's esteem, he compares them to things most vile; to chaff (Psalm 1:4), to dross (Psalm 119:118), and the filth that foams out of the sea (Isaiah 57:20). And as God does thus vilely esteem of such as do not hallow his name, so he sends them to a vile place at last. Vagrants are sent to the house of correction; hell is the house of correction which the wicked are sent to when they die. Let all this prevail with us to hallow and sanctify God's name.

Quest. What may we do to honor and sanctify God's name?

Answ. Let us get, 1. A sound knowledge of God. 2. A sincere love to God.

1. A sound knowledge of God: Take a view of his superlative excellencies; his holiness, his incomprehensible goodness. The angels know God better than we, therefore they sanctify his name, and sing Hallelujahs to him; and let us labor to know him to be our God (Psalm 48:14). This God is our God. We may dread God as a judge, but we cannot honor him as a father, till we know he is our God.

2. Get a sincere love to God: A love of appreciation, and a love of complacency to delight in him (John 21:15). Lord, you know I love you. He can never honor his master who does not love him: the reason God's name is no more hallowed, is, because his name is no more loved. So much for the first petition.

Matthew 6:10. Your kingdom come.

A soul truly devoted to God, joins heartily in this petition, Adveniat Regnum tuum, Your kingdom come: In which words this great truth is implied, that God is a King; he who has a kingdom can be no less than a King (Psalm 47:7). God is King of all the earth: And he is a King upon his throne (Psalm 47:8). God sits upon the throne of his holiness. 1. He has a regal title, High and Mighty (Isaiah 57:15). Thus says the high and lofty one. 2. He has the ensigns of royalty, his sword (Deuteronomy 32:41). If I whet my glittering sword: He has his scepter (Hebrews 1:8). A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. 3. He has his crown royal (Revelation 19:12). On his head were many crowns; he has his Iura Regalia, his kingly prerogatives; he has power to make laws, to seal pardons, which are the flowers and jewels belonging to his crown. Thus the Lord is King.

And 2. He is a great King (Psalm 95:3). A great King above all Gods. He is great in and of himself, and not like other kings, who are made great by their subjects. That he is so great a King appears; 1. By the immenseness of his being (Jeremiah 23:24). Do not I fill heaven and earth, says the Lord. His center is everywhere; he is nowhere included, yet nowhere excluded; he is so immensely great, that the heaven of heavens cannot contain him (1 Kings 8:27). 2. His greatness appears by the effects of his power; He made heaven and earth (Psalm 124:8), and can unmake it. God can with a breath crumble us to dust; with a word he can unpin the world, and break the axle-tree of it in pieces: He pours contempt upon the mighty (Job 12:21). He cuts off the spirit of princes (Psalm 76:12). He is Lord Paramount, who does whatever he will (Psalm 115:2). He weighs the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance (Isaiah 40:12).

3. God is a glorious King (Psalm 24:10). Who is this King of glory, the Lord of Hosts he is the King of glory. He has internal glory (Psalm 93:1). The Lord reigns, he is clothed with majesty. Other kings have royal and sumptuous apparel to make them appear glorious to the beholders, but all their glory and magnificence is borrowed; but God is clothed with majesty, his own glorious essence is instead of royal robes: and he has girded himself with strength. Kings have their guard about them to defend their persons, because they are not able to defend themselves; but God needs no guard or assistance from others. He has girded himself with strength. His own power is his life-guard (Psalm 89:6). Who in the heaven can be compared to the Lord, who among the sons of the mighty can be likened to the Lord? God has a preeminence above all other kings for majesty (Revelation 19:16). He has on his vesture a name written, Rex Regum, King of Kings. He has the highest throne, the richest crown, the largest dominions, and the longest possession (Psalm 29:10). The Lord sits King forever. Though God has many heirs, yet no successors. He sets up his throne where no other king does; he rules the will and affections, his power binds the conscience; angels serve him; all the kings of the earth hold their crowns and diadems by immediate tenure from this great King (Proverbs 8:15). By me kings reign; and to this Lord Jehovah all kings must give account, and from God's tribunal there is no appeal.

USE 1. Br. 1. If God be so great a King, and sits King forever, then it is no disparagement for us to serve him; Deo servire est regnare: It is an honor to serve a King. If the angels fly swiftly upon the King of heaven's message (Daniel 9:21), then well may we look upon it as a favor to be taken into his royal service. Theodosius thought it a greater honor to be God's servant than to be an Emperor. It is more honor to serve God than to have kings serve us. Every subject of this King is crowned with regal honor (Revelation 1:6). Who has made us kings. Therefore as the Queen of Sheba having seen the glory of Solomon's kingdom, said, Happy are these your servants which stand continually before you (1 Kings 10:8), so, happy are those saints who stand before the King of Heaven, and wait on his throne.

Branch 2. If God be such a glorious king, crowned with wisdom, armed with power, bespangled with riches, then it shows us what prudence it is to have this king to be ours: To say as (Psalm 5:2), My King and my God. It is counted great policy to be on the strongest side; if we belong to the King of Heaven we are sure to be on the strongest side: The King of Glory can with ease destroy his adversaries; he can pull down their pride, befool their policy, restrain their malice. That stone cut out of the mountains without hands, which smote the image (Daniel 2:34), was an emblem (says Austin) of Christ's monarchical power conquering and triumphing over his enemies. If we are on God's side we are on the strongest side; he can with a word destroy his enemies (Psalm 2:5), Then shall he speak to them in his wrath; nay, he can with a look destroy them (Job 40:12), Look upon every one that is proud and bring him low. It needs cost God no more to confound those who rise up against him than a look, a cast of the eye (Exodus 14:24), In the morning watch the Lord looked to the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire, and troubled their host, and took off their chariot-wheels. What wisdom is it then to have this king to be ours; then we are on the strongest side.

Use 2 of Exhortation.

Branch 1. If God be so glorious a king, full of power and majesty, let us trust in him (Psalm 9:10), They that know your name will put their trust in you: Trust him with your soul; you cannot put this jewel in safer hands; and trust him with church and state affairs: He is King (Exodus 15:3), The Lord is a man of war; he can make bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations. If means fail, he is never at a loss, there are no impossibles with him; he can make the dry bones live (Ezekiel 37:10). As a king he can command, and as a God he can create salvation (Isaiah 65:18), I create Jerusalem a rejoicing: Let us trust all our affairs with this great king. Either God can remove mountains, or can leap over them (Song of Solomon 2:8).

Branch 2. If God be so great a king, let us fear him (Jeremiah 5:22), Fear you not me says the Lord? Will you not tremble at my presence? We have enough fear of men. Fear makes danger appear greater and sin lesser; but let us fear the King of Kings, who has power to cast body and soul into hell (Luke 12:5). As one wedge drives out another, so the fear of God would drive out all base carnal fear: Let us fear that God whose throne is set above all kings; they may be mighty, but he is almighty. Kings have no power but what God has given them; their power is limited, his is infinite. Let us fear this king whose eyes are as lamps of fire (Revelation 1:14). The mountains quake at him, and the rocks are thrown down by him (Nahum 1:6). If he stamps with his foot, all the creatures are presently up in a battalion to fight for him. O tremble and fear before this God. Fear is Ianitor Animae, it is the door-keeper of the soul, it keeps sin from entering (Genesis 39:9), How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?

Branch 3. If God be so glorious a king, he has jus virae & necis, He has the power of life and death in his hand. Let all the potentates of the earth take heed how they employ their power against the King of Heaven; they employ their power against God, who with their scepter beat down his truth, which is the most orient pearl of his crown; who crush and persecute his people, which are the apple of his eye (Zechariah 2:8). Who trample upon his laws and royal edicts, which he has set forth (Psalm 2:3). What is a king without his laws: Let all that are invested with worldly power and grandeur, take heed how they oppose the King of Glory: The Lord will be too hard for all that come against him (Job 40:9), Have you an arm like God? Will you measure arms with the Almighty? Shall a little child go to fight with an archangel (Ezekiel 22:14), Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong in the day that I shall deal with you? Christ will put all his enemies at last under his feet (Psalm 110:1). All the multitude of the wicked, who set themselves against God, shall be but as so many clusters of ripe grapes to be cast into the wine-press of the wrath of God, and to be trodden by him till their blood comes forth. The King of Glory will come off victor at last; men may set up their standard: but God always sets up his trophies of victory; the Lord has a golden scepter and an iron rod (Psalm 2:9). Those who will not bow to the one, shall be broken by the other.

Branch 4. Is God so great a king, having all power in heaven and earth in his hand; let us learn subjection to him. Such as have gone on in sin, and by their impieties hung out a flag of defiance against the King of Heaven. Oh come in quickly, and make your peace, submit to God (Psalm 2:12), Kiss the Son lest he be angry. Kiss Christ with a kiss of love, and a kiss of obedience, obey the King of Heaven when he speaks to you by his ministers and ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20). When God bids you fly from sin, and espouse holiness, obey him, to obey is better than sacrifice: To obey God (says Luther) is better than to work miracles. Obey God willingly (Isaiah 1:19). That is the best obedience that is cheerful; as that is the sweetest honey which drops out of the comb. Obey God swiftly (Zechariah 5:9), I lift up my eyes and behold two women, and the wind was in their wings. Wings are swift, but wind in the wings denotes great swiftness; such should our obedience to God be: Obey the King of Glory.

Use 3. Comfort to those who are the subjects of the King of Heaven; God will put forth all his royal power for their succor and comfort.

1. The King of Heaven will plead their cause (Jeremiah 51:36), I will plead your cause, and take vengeance for you.

2. He will protect his people; He sets an invisible guard about them (Zechariah 2:5), I will be a wall of fire to her round about. A wall, that is defensive, a wall of fire, that is offensive.

3. When it may be for the good of his people, he will raise up deliverance to them (1 Chronicles 11:14). The Lord saved them by a great deliverance. God reigning as King, can save any way; by contemptible means, the blowing of trumpets, and blazing of lamps (Judges 7:20). By contrary means, He made the Sea a wall to Israel, and the waters were a means to keep them from drowning: The fish's belly was a ship in which Jonah sailed safe to shore. God will never want ways of saving his people: Rather than fail the very enemies shall do his work (2 Chronicles 20:23). He set Ammon and Mount-Seir one against another: And as God will deliver his people from temporal danger, so from spiritual, from sin, and from hell, Jesus has delivered us from wrath to come (1 Thessalonians 1:10).

Use 4. Terror to the enemies of the church. If God be King, he will set his [reconstructed: utmost] strength against them who are the enemies of his kingdom (Psalm 97:3). A fire goes before him, and burns up his enemies round about.

1. He will set himself against his enemies: He will set his attributes against them, his power and justice; and who knows the power of his anger (Psalm 90:11).

2. God will set the creatures against them (Judges 5:20). The stars in their course fought against Sisera. Tertullian observes that the Persians fighting against the Christians a mighty wind arose, which did make the Persians' arrows to fly back in their own faces. Every creature has a quarrel with a sinner. The stone out of the wall (Habakkuk 2:11). The hail and frost (Psalm 78:47). He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamore trees with frost.

3. God will set men against themselves; 1. He will set conscience against them; and how terrible is this rod, when turned into a serpent: Melancthon calls it Erinnys Conscientiae, a hellish fury: It is called Vermis Conscientiae, the worm of conscience (Mark 9:44). What a worm did Spira feel in his conscience; he was a terror to himself. The worst civil wars are between a man and his conscience. 2. God will set the diseases of men's bodies against them (2 Chronicles 21:18). The Lord struck Jehoram in his bowels with an incurable disease. God can raise an army against a man out of his own bowels: He can set one humor of the body against another, the heat to dry up the moisture, and the moisture to drown the heat; the Lord needs not go far for instruments to punish the sinner, He can make the joints of the same body to smite one against another; as (Daniel 5:6). 3. God will set men's friends against them; where they used to have honey they shall have nothing but aloes and wormwood. When a man's ways please the Lord, he shall make his enemies to be his friends (Proverbs 16:7). But when he opposes God, he makes his friends to be his enemies. Commodus the Emperor his own wife gave him poison in perfumed wine. Sennacherib's two sons were the death of him (2 Kings 19:37). 4. God will set Satan against them (Psalm 109:6). Let Satan stand at his right hand. What does Satan at the sinner's elbows? 1. He helps him to contrive sin. 2. He tempts him to commit sin. 3. He terrifies him for sin. He that has Satan thus standing at his right hand, is sure to be set at God's left hand. Here is the misery of such as oppose God's royal scepter, he will set every thing in the world against them: If there be either justice in Heaven or fire in hell, sinners shall not be unpunished.

Finally. If God be such an absolute monarch, and crowned with such glory and majesty, let us all engage in his service, and stand up for his truth, and worship; dare to own God in the worst time; He is King of Kings, and is able to reward all his servants: We may be losers for him, we shall never be losers by him; we are ready to say as Amaziah (2 Chronicles 25:9). What shall I do for the hundred talents? If I appear for God I may lose my estate, my life? I say with the prophet, God is able to give you much more than this; He can give you for the present inward peace, and for the future a crown of glory which fades not away.

Question. What kingdom does Christ mean here?

Response. Negatively. 1. He does not mean a political, or earthly kingdom. The Apostles indeed did desire, 1. Christ's temporal reign (Acts 1:6). When will you restore the kingdom to Israel. But Christ said his kingdom was not of this world (John 18:36). So that when Christ taught his disciples to pray, Your Kingdom come, he did not mean it of an earthly kingdom, that he should reign here in outward pomp and splendor. 2. It is not meant of God's providential kingdom; (Psalm 103:19). His kingdom rules over all; that is, the kingdom of his providence: This kingdom we do not pray for, when we say Your Kingdom come; for this kingdom is already come: God exercises the kingdom of his providence in the world (Psalm 75:7). He puts down one, and sets up another: Nothing stirs in the world, but God has a hand in it; He sets every wheel a working; He humbles the proud, and raises the poor out of the dust, to set them among princes (1 Samuel 2:8). The kingdom of God's providence rules over all; kings do nothing but what his providence permits and orders (Acts 4:27). This kingdom of God's providence we do not pray should come, for it is already come: What kingdom then is meant here, when we say, Your Kingdom come? Answer. Positively, there is a twofold kingdom meant here. 1. The kingdom of grace, which kingdom God exercises in the consciences of his people; this is Regnum Dei 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, God's lesser kingdom (Luke 17:21). The kingdom of God is within you. 2. The kingdom of glory, which is sometimes called the kingdom of God (Luke 6:20), and the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:3). When we pray Your Kingdom come, (1.) Here is something tacitly implied, that we are in the kingdom of darkness; 1. We pray that we may be brought out of the kingdom of darkness. 2. That the devil's kingdom in the world may be demolished. (2.) Something positively intended, Adveniat Regnum Gratiae & Gloriae, 1. We pray that the kingdom of grace may be set up in our hearts, and increased. 2. When we pray Your Kingdom come, we pray that the kingdom of glory may hasten, and that we may in God's good time be translated into it: These two kingdoms of grace and glory, differ not specifically, but gradually, they differ not in nature, but only in degree; the kingdom of grace is nothing but the inchoation or beginning of the kingdom of glory; the kingdom of grace is glory in the seed, and the kingdom of glory is grace in the flower; the kingdom of grace is glory in the day-break, and the kingdom of glory is grace in the full meridian; the kingdom of grace is glory militant, and the kingdom of glory is grace triumphant: There is such an inseparable connection between these two kingdoms grace and glory, that there is no passing into the one kingdom, but by the other. At Athens there were two temples, a temple of virtue, and a temple of honor, and there was no going into the temple of honor, but through the temple of virtue: So the kingdom of grace and glory are so close joined together, that we cannot go into the kingdom of glory, but through the kingdom of grace. Many people aspire after the kingdom of glory, but never look after grace; but these two which God has joined together may not be put asunder: The kingdom of grace leads to the kingdom of glory.

1. I begin with the first thing implied in this petition, Your Kingdom come: It is implied that we are in the kingdom of darkness; and we pray, that we may be brought out of the kingdom of darkness; the state of nature is a kingdom of darkness: It is a kingdom; sin is said to reign (Romans 6:12), and it is a kingdom of darkness. It is called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, The power of darkness (Colossians 1:13). Man before the fall was illuminated with perfect knowledge, but this light is now eclipsed, and he is fallen into the kingdom of darkness.

Question. How many ways is a natural man in the kingdom of darkness?

Answer. 1. He is under the darkness of ignorance; (Ephesians 4:18). 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Having the understanding darkened. Ignorance is a black veil drawn over the mind. Men by nature may have a deep reach in the things of the world, but ignorant in the things of God. Nahash the Ammonite would make a covenant with Israel to thrust out their right eyes (1 Samuel 11:2). Since the fall our left eye remains a deep insight into worldly matters, but our right eye is thrust out, we have no saving knowledge of God: Something we know by nature, but nothing as we ought to know (1 Corinthians 8:2). Ignorance draws the curtains round about the soul (1 Corinthians 2:14).

2. A natural man is under the darkness of pollution: Hence sinful actions are called works of darkness (Romans 13:12). Pride and lust darken the glory of the soul: A sinner's heart is a dark conclave, it looks blacker than hell.

3. A natural man is under the darkness of misery; he is exposed to divine vengeance; and the sadness of this darkness is, that men are not sensible of it; they are blind, yet they think they see: The darkness of Egypt was such thick darkness as might be felt (Exodus 10:21). Men are by nature in thick darkness, but here is the misery, the darkness cannot be felt, they will not believe they are in the dark, till they are past recovery.

Use 1. See what the state of nature is; it is a kingdom of darkness, and it is a bewitching darkness (John 3:19). Men loved darkness rather than light: As the Athlantes in Aethiopia curse the sun: Such as are still in the kingdom of darkness tremble to think of this condition; this darkness of sin leads to the chains of darkness (Jude 6). What comfort can such take in earthly things? The Egyptians might have food, gold, silver, but they could take but little comfort in them while they were in such darkness as might be felt; so the natural man may have riches and friends to delight in, yet he is in the kingdom of darkness, and how dead are all these comforts. You who are in the kingdom of darkness know not where you go. As the ox is driven to the shambles, but he knows not where he goes; so the devil is driving you before him to hell, but you know not where you go. Should you die in your natural estate while you are in the kingdom of darkness, blackness of darkness is reserved for you (Jude 13). To whom is reserved blackness of darkness forever.

Use 2. Let us pray that God will bring us out of this kingdom of darkness. God's kingdom of grace cannot come into our hearts, till first we are brought out of the kingdom of darkness (Colossians 1:13). Why should not we strive to get out of this kingdom of darkness? Who would desire to stay in a dark dungeon: O fear the chains of darkness (Jude 6). These chains are God's power, binding men as in chains under wrath forever. O pray that God will deliver us out of the kingdom of darkness. 1. Be sensible of your dark, damned estate, that you have not one spark of fire to give you light. 2. Go to Christ to enlighten you (Ephesians 5:14). Christ shall give you light. He will not only bring your light to you, but open the eyes to see it. That is the first thing implied: Your kingdom come — we pray that we may be brought out of the kingdom of darkness.

2. The second thing implied in "Your kingdom come" — we do implicitly pray against the Devil's kingdom; we pray that Satan's kingdom may be demolished in the world. Satan's kingdom stands in opposition to Christ's kingdom, and while we pray, "Your kingdom come," we pray against Satan's kingdom. Satan has a kingdom; he got his kingdom by conquest; he conquered mankind in Paradise. He has his throne (Revelation 2:13): "You dwell where Satan's throne is"; and his throne is set up in the hearts of men. He does not care for their purses but their hearts (Ephesians 2:2). Satan is served upon the knee (Revelation 13:4): "They worshipped the dragon" — that is, the Devil. Satan's empire is very large; the most kingdoms in the world pay tribute to him. Satan's kingdom has two qualifications or characters.

- 1. It is Regnum Nequitiae, a kingdom of impiety. - 2. Regnum Servitutis, a kingdom of slavery.

1. The kingdom of Satan is a kingdom of impiety: nothing but sin goes up in his kingdom. Murder and heresy, lust and treachery, oppression and division are the constant trade driven in Satan's kingdom. Satan is called the unclean spirit (Luke 11:24). What else is propagated in his kingdom but a mystery of iniquity?

2. Satan's kingdom is a kingdom of slavery: Satan makes all his subjects slaves. Peccati reus dura Daemonis tyrannide tenetur, Muis. Satan is a usurper and a tyrant; he is a worse tyrant than any other. 1. Other tyrants do but rule over the body, but Satan's kingdom rules over the soul; Satan rides some men as we do horses. 2. Other tyrants have some pity on their slaves; though they make them work in the galleys, yet they give them meat and let them have their hours for rest; but Satan is a merciless tyrant — he gives his slaves poison instead of meat, he gives them hurtful lusts to feed on (1 Timothy 6:9). Nor will he let his slaves have any rest; he tires them out in doing his drudgery (Jeremiah 9:5): "They weary themselves to commit iniquity." When the Devil had entered into Judas, he sends him to the high priests, and from there to the garden, and never let him rest till he had betrayed Christ and hanged himself. Thus Satan is the worst tyrant; when men have served him to their utmost strength, he will welcome them to Hell with fire and brimstone.

Use. Let us pray that Satan's kingdom set up in the world may be thrown down. 'Tis sad to think that though the Devil's kingdom be so bad, yet that it should have so many to support it. Satan has more to stand up for his kingdom than Christ has for his. What a large harvest of souls has Satan, and God only a few gleanings. The Pope and the Turk give their power to Satan. If in God's visible church the Devil has so many loyal subjects that serve him with their lives and souls, then how do his subjects swarm in places of idolatry and paganism, where there is none to oppose him, but all vote on the Devil's side. Men are willingly slaves to Satan; they will fight and die for him. Therefore Satan is not only called the prince of this world (John 14:30), but the God of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4), to show what power Satan has over men's souls. O let us pray that God will break the scepter of the Devil's kingdom, that Michael may destroy the dragon, that by the help of a religious magistracy and ministry the hellish kingdom of the prince of darkness may be beaten down. Satan's kingdom must be thrown down before Christ's kingdom can flourish in its power and majesty.

2. When we pray, "Your kingdom come," here is something positively intended. 1. We pray that the kingdom of grace may be set up in our hearts and increased. 2. That the kingdom of glory may hasten, and that we may in God's due time be translated into it.

I begin with the first: the kingdom of grace. When we pray, "Your kingdom come," we pray: 1. That the kingdom of grace may come into our hearts. This is Regnum Dei[〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉], God's lesser kingdom (Romans 14:17). "The kingdom of God is righteousness." "The kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:21).

Question 1. Why is grace called a kingdom?

Answer. Because where grace comes there is a kingly government set up in the soul. Grace rules the will and affections, and brings the whole man in subjection to Christ. Grace does king it in the soul; it sways the scepter, it subdues mutinous lusts, and keeps the soul in a spiritual decorum.

Question 2. Why is there such need that we should pray that this kingdom of grace come into our hearts?

Response 1. Because till the kingdom of grace comes, we have no right to the covenant of grace. The covenant of grace is sweetened with love, bespangled with promises; the covenant of grace is our Magna Charta, by virtue of which God passes himself over to us to be our God. But who are heirs of the covenant of grace? Only such as have the kingdom of grace in their hearts (Ezekiel 36:26): "A new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you" — there is the kingdom of grace set up in the soul. Then it follows in verse 28: "I will be your God." The covenant of grace is to an ungracious person a sealed fountain; it is kept as Paradise with a flaming sword, that the sinner may not touch it. Without grace you have no more right to it than a farmer to the city charter.

2. Unless the kingdom of grace be set up in our hearts, our purest offerings are defiled; they may be good as to the matter but not as to the manner, they want that which should meliorate and sweeten them under the Law. If a man who was unclean by a dead body did carry a piece of holy flesh in his skirt, the holy flesh could not cleanse him, but he polluted that (Haggai 2:12). Till the kingdom of grace be in our hearts, ordinances do not purify us, but we pollute them; the prayer of an ungracious person becomes sin (Proverbs 15:8). In what a sad condition is a man before God's kingdom of grace be set up in his heart; whether he comes or comes not to the ordinance, he sins: If he does not come to the ordinance he is a contemner of it, if he does come he is a polluter of it. A sinner's works are opera mortua dead works (Hebrews 1:6), and those works which are dead cannot please God; a dead flower has no sweetness.

3. We had need pray that the kingdom of grace may come, because till this kingdom come into our hearts we are loathsome in God's eyes (Zechariah 11:8). My soul loathed them. Quanta est faeditas vitiosae mentis. Tully. A heart void of grace looks blacker than Hell: Sin transforms one into a devil (John 6:70). Have not I chosen twelve, and one of you is a devil. Envy is the devil's eye, hypocrisy is his cloven-foot; thus it is before the kingdom of grace come. So deformed is a graceless person, that when once he sees his own filth and leprosy, the first thing he does is to loathe himself (Ezekiel 20:43). You shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils. I have read of a woman who always used flattering glasses, by chance seeing her face in a true glass, in insaniam delapsa est, she ran mad. Such as now dress themselves by the flattering glass of presumption, when once God gives them a sight of their filthiness, they will abhor themselves; you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils.

4. Before the kingdom of grace comes into us we are spiritually illegitimate, of the bastard brood of the Old Serpent (John 8:44). To be illegitimate is the greatest infamy (Deuteronomy 23:2). A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord to the tenth generation. He was to be kept out of the holy assemblies of Israel as an infamous creature: A bastard by the Law cannot inherit; before the kingdom of grace come into the heart, a person is to God as one illegitimate, and so continuing he cannot enter into the congregation of Heaven.

5. Before the kingdom of grace be set up in men's hearts, the kingdom of Satan is set up in them: They are said to be under the power of Satan (Acts 26:18). Satan commands the will; though he cannot force the will, he can by his subtle temptations draw it: The devil is said to take men captive at his will (2 Timothy 2:26), the Greek word [illegible] signifies to take them alive, as the fowler does the bird in the snare. The sinner's heart is the devil's mansion-house (Matthew 12:44). I will go to my house. It is officina Diaboli, Satan's shop where he works (Ephesians 2:2). The prince of the air now works in the children of disobedience. The members of the body are the tools which Satan works with: Satan possesses men. In Christ's time many had their bodies possessed; but it is far worse to have their souls possessed: One is possessed with an unclean devil, another with a revengeful devil. No wonder the ship goes full sail when the wind blows; no wonder men go full sail in sin, when the devil the Prince of the Air blows them: Thus it is; till the kingdom of grace come, men are under the power of Satan, who like Draco writes all his laws in blood.

6. Till the kingdom of grace comes, a man lies exposed to the wrath of God; And who knows the power of his anger (Psalm 90:11)? If when but a spark of God's wrath flies into a man's conscience in this life it is so terrible, what then will it be when God stirs up all his anger. So inconceivable and torturing is God's wrath that the wicked call to the rocks and mountains to fall on them, and hide them from it (Revelation 6). The hellish torments are compared to a fiery lake (Revelation 20:15); other fire is but painted in comparison of this: And this lake of fire burns for ever (Mark 9:44). God's breath kindles this fire (Isaiah 30:33), and where shall we find engines or buckets to quench it? Time will not finish it, tears will not quench it. To this fiery lake are men exposed till the kingdom of grace be set up in them.

7. Till the kingdom of grace come men cannot die with comfort; only he who takes Christ in the arms of his faith, can look Death in the face with joy. But it is sad to have the king of terrors in the body, and not the kingdom of grace in the soul. It is a wonder every graceless person does not die distracted: What will a grace-despiser do when Death comes to him with a Writ of Habeas Corpus? Hell follows Death (Revelation 6:8). Behold a pale horse, and his name that sat on him was death, and hell followed him. Thus you see what need we have to pray that the kingdom of grace may come. He that dies without grace, I may say as Christ (Matthew 26:24), It had been good for that man he had not been born. Few do believe the necessity of having the kingdom of grace set up in their hearts, as appears by this, because they are so well content to live without it. Does that man believe the necessity of a pardon that is content to be without it? Most people if they may have trading, and may sit quietly under their vines and fig trees, they are in their kingdom, though they have not the kingdom of God within them. If the candle of prosperity shine upon their head, they care not whether the grace of God shine in their hearts: Do these men believe the necessity of grace? Were they convinced how needful it were to have the kingdom of God within them, they would cry out as the jailer (Acts 16:30), What shall I do to be saved?

Question 3. How may we know that the kingdom of grace is set up in our hearts?

Answer: It concerns us to examine this; our salvation depends upon it; and we had need be careful in the search, because there is something that looks like grace which is not. Galatians 6:3: If a man thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Many think they have the kingdom of grace come into their heart, and it is only a chimera, a golden dream: Quam multi cum vana spe descendunt ad inferos! — Augustine. Zeuxis did paint grapes so lively that he deceived the living birds. There are many deceits about grace.

Deceit 1: Men think they have the kingdom of grace in their hearts because they have the means of grace; they live where the silver trumpet of the gospel sounds, they are lifted up to heaven with ordinances. Judges 17:13: I have a Levite to my priest; surely I shall go to heaven. The Jews cried (Jeremiah 7:4): The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord. We are apt to glory in this — the oracles of God are committed to us, we have Word and Sacrament. Alas, this is a fallacy; we may have the means of grace, yet the kingdom of grace may not be set up in our hearts. We may have the kingdom of God come near us (Luke 11:20), but not into us; the sound of the Word in our ears, and not the savor of it in our hearts. Many of the Jews, who had Christ for their preacher, were never the better. Hot clothes will not put warmth into a dead man. You may have hot clothes, warm and lively preaching, yet be spiritually dead. Matthew 8:12: The children of the kingdom shall be cast out.

Deceit 2: Men think they have the kingdom of grace set up in their hearts, because they have some common works of the Spirit.

(1.) They have great enlightenings of mind, profound knowledge, and almost speak like angels dropped from heaven; but the Apostle supposes a case that after men have been enlightened, they may fall away (Hebrews 6).

Question: But wherein does this illumination come short?

Answer: The illumination of hypocrites is not effectual; it does not leave an impression of holiness behind — it is like weak medicine that will not work. The mind is enlightened, but the heart is not renewed. A Christian is all head but no feet; he does not walk in the ways of God.

(2.) Men have had convictions and stirrings of conscience for sin; they have seen the evil of their ways, and therefore now they hope the kingdom of grace has come; but I say, convictions, though they are a step toward grace, yet they are not grace. Had not Pharaoh and Judas convictions? (Exodus 10:16).

Question: What makes convictions prove abortive? Wherein is the defect?

Answer: 1. They are not deep enough: a sinner never saw himself lost without Christ. The seed that lacked depth of earth withered (Matthew 13:5). These convictions are like blossoms blown off before they come to maturity. 2. These convictions are involuntary; the sinner does what he can to stifle these convictions; he drowns them in wine and mirth; he labors to get rid of them. As the deer, when it is shot, runs and shakes out the arrow, so does he with the arrow of conviction. Or as the prisoner that files off his fetters and breaks loose, so a man breaks loose from his convictions. His corruptions are stronger than convictions.

(3.) Men have had some kind of humiliation, and have shed tears for their sins, and therefore now they hope the kingdom of grace has come into their hearts. But this is no infallible sign of grace: Saul wept, Ahab humbled himself.

Question: Why is not humiliation grace? Wherein does it come short?

Answer: 1. Tears in the wicked do not spring from love to God, but are forced by affliction (Genesis 4:13), as water that drops from the still is forced by the fire. The tears of sinners are forced by God's fiery judgments. 2. They are deceitful tears — lachrymae mentiri doctae: men weep yet go on in sin; they do not drown their sins in their tears.

(4.) Men have begun some reformation, and therefore surely now the kingdom of grace has come. But there may be deceit in this. 1. A man may leave his oaths and drunkenness, yet [reconstructed: still] be in love with sin; he may leave sin out of fear of hell, or because it brings shame and poverty, but still his heart goes after it. Hosea 4:8: They set their heart on their iniquity. As Lot's wife left Sodom, but still her heart was in Sodom. Hypocrites are like the snake which casts her coat but keeps her poison: they keep the love of sin, as one that has been a long suitor to another — though his friends break off the match, yet still he has a lingering love for her. 2. It may be a partial reformation: he may leave one sin and live in another; he may refrain from drunkenness and live in covetousness; he may refrain from swearing and live in the sin of slander; one devil may be cast out, and another as bad may come in its place. 3. A man may forsake gross sins, but have no reluctance against heart-sins — proud, lustful thoughts; though he dams up the stream, he lets alone the fountain. Therefore, if there are so many deceits, and men may think the kingdom of grace has come into their heart when it has not, how careful and critical we had need be in our search as to whether we have the kingdom of grace really come into our hearts. If a man is deceived in the title of his land, it is but the loss of his estate; but if he is deceived about his grace, it is the loss of his soul. I should now come to answer this question: how do we know that the kingdom of grace is set up in our hearts?

Question: How may we know the kingdom of grace is set up in us?

Answer: 1. In general, by having a transformation and change wrought in the soul; this is called the new creature (2 Corinthians 5:17). The faculties are not new, but there is a new nature. As the strings of the lute are the same, but the tune is altered. When the kingdom of grace is set up, there is light in the mind, order in the affections, pliableness in the will, tenderness in the conscience. Those who can find no change of heart — who are the same as they were, as vain, as earthly, as unclean as ever — there is no sign of God's kingdom of grace in them.

2. More particularly, we may know the kingdom of grace is set up in our hearts, 1. By having unfeigned desires after God: This is the smoking flax Christ will not quench: A true desire of grace is grace: By the beating of this pulse, conclude there is life (Nehemiah 1:11). O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servants, who desire to fear your name. But may not a hypocrite have good desires? Numbers 23:10: Let me die the death of the righteous. Therefore I say, unfeigned desires evidence the kingdom of God within a man.

Question: But how may these unfeigned desires be known?

1. An unfeigned desire is ingenuous; we desire God propter se, for himself, for his intrinsic excellencies, and the beauty which shines from him. The savor of Christ's ointments — that is, his graces — draw the virgins' desires after him (Song of Solomon 1:3). A true saint desires Christ, not only for what he has, but for what he is; not only for his rewards, but for his holiness. No hypocrite can thus desire God; he may desire him for his jewels, but not for his beauty.

2. An unfeigned desire is insatiable; it cannot be satisfied without God; let the world heap her honors and riches, they will not satisfy: not flowers or music will content him who is thirsty. Nothing will quench the soul's thirst but the blood of Christ; he faints away, his heart breaks with longing for God (Psalm 84:2; Psalm 119:20).

3. An unfeigned desire is active; it flourishes into endeavor (Isaiah 26:9): With my soul have I desired you, indeed, with my spirit within me will I seek you early. A soul that desires aright says, Christ, I must have grace, I must have — I will have heaven though I take it by storm. He who desires water will let down the bucket into the well to draw it up.

4. An unfeigned desire is superlative: we desire Christ not only more than the world, but more than heaven (Psalm 73:25): Whom have I in heaven but you? Heaven itself would not satisfy without Christ; Christ is the diamond in the ring of glory. If God should say to the soul, I will put you into heaven, but I will hide my face from you, I will draw a curtain between, so that you shall not behold my glory — the soul would not be satisfied, but say as Absalom (2 Samuel 14:32): Now therefore let me see the king's face.

5. An unfeigned desire is gradual; it increases as the sun on the horizon; a little of God will not satisfy, but the pious soul desires still more: a drop of water is not enough for the thirsty traveler. Though a Christian is thankful for the least degree of grace, yet he is not satisfied with the greatest; still he thirsts for more of Christ and his Spirit: desire is a holy dropsy. A saint would have more knowledge, more sanctity, more of Christ's presence. A glimpse of Christ through the lattice of an ordinance is sweet; and now the soul will never leave longing, till it sees him face to face. He desires to have grace perfected in glory: Dulcissimo Deo totus immergi cupit & inviscerari: he would be swallowed up in God, and be ever bathing himself in those perfumed waters of pleasure, which run at his right hand forever. Sure this unfeigned desire after God is a blessed sign that the kingdom of grace is come into our hearts; the beating of this pulse shows life — est a Deó ut bene velimus, Augustine. If iron moves upward contrary to its nature, it is a sign some lodestone has been there drawing it: if the soul moves towards God in unfeigned desires, it is a sign the lodestone of the Spirit has been drawing it. 2. We may know the kingdom of grace is come into our hearts by having the princely grace of faith: Fides est sanctissima humani pectoris Gemma — faith cuts us off from the wild olive of nature, and ingrafts us into Christ. Faith is the vital artery of the soul (Hebrews 10:38): The just shall live by faith. Faith makes a holy adventure on Christ's merits; when this faith as a princely grace reigns in the soul, now the kingdom of God is come into us. The Hebrew word for faith comes from a root which signifies to nourish: faith nourishes the soul, and is the nurse of all the graces. But who will not say he is a believer? Simon Magus believed (Acts 8:13), yet was in the gall of bitterness. The hypocrite can put on faith's mantle, as the devil did Samuel's. How shall we know therefore that our faith is [reconstructed: sound]? That it is the faith of the operation of God (Colossians 2:12), and so that the kingdom of God is within us?

Answer: 1. True faith is wrought by the ministry of the word (Romans 10:17): Faith comes by hearing. Peter let down the net of his ministry, and at one draught caught three thousand souls. Let us examine: how was our faith wrought? Did God in the ministry of the word humble us? Did he break up the fallow ground of our heart, and then cast in the seed of faith? A good sign; but if you know not how you came by your faith, suspect yourselves; as we suspect men to have stolen goods when they know not how they came by them.

2. True faith is at first minute and small, like a grain of mustard seed; it is full of doubts and fears; it is smoking flax; it smokes with desire, but does not flame with comfort; it is so small, that a Christian can hardly discern whether he has faith or no.

3. True faith is long in working, non sit in instanti — it costs many searchings of heart; many prayers, and tears; there is a spiritual combat; the soul suffers many sore pangs of humiliation before the child of faith be born. They whose faith is per saltum — they leap out of sin into a confidence that Christ is theirs — I say as Isaac concerning his son's venison (Genesis 27:20): How is it that you have found it so quickly? How is it that you came by your faith so soon? The seed in the parable which sprung up suddenly withered (Mark 4:5): Solent praecocia subito flaccescere.

4. True faith is joined with sanctity; as a little bezoar is strong in operation, and a little musk sweetens, so a little faith purifies (1 Timothy 3:9): Holding the mystery of faith in a pure conscience. Faith, though it does but touch Christ, fetches a healing virtue from him. Justifying faith does that in a spiritual sense, which miraculous faith does; it removes the mountains of sin, and casts them into the sea of Christ's [reconstructed: blood].

5. True faith will trust God without a pawn. Though a Christian be cut short in provisions, the fig-tree does not blossom, yet he will trust in God: Fides Famem non formidat — Faith fears not famine. God has given us his promise as his bond (Psalm 37:3). Verily you shall be fed; faith puts this bond in suit: God will rather work a miracle than his promise shall fail. He has cause to suspect his faith, who says he trusts God for the greater, but dares not trust him for the lesser; he trusts God for salvation, but dares not trust him for a livelihood.

6. True faith is prolific, it brings forth fruit; faith has Rachel's beauty, and Leah's fruitfulness: Fides pinguescit operibus, Luther, faith is full of good works; faith believes as if it did not work, and it works as if it did not believe; faith is the spouse-like grace which marries Christ, and good works are the children which faith bears; by having such a faith we may know the kingdom of God is within us: grace is certainly in our hearts.

3. We may know the kingdom of grace is come into our hearts, by having the noble grace of love: faith and love are the two poles on which all religion turns; (Song of Solomon 1:4). The upright love you. True love is to love God out of choice; love turns the soul into a seraph, it makes it burn in a flame of affection: love is the truest touchstone of sincerity: love is the queen of the graces, it commands the whole soul (2 Corinthians 5:4). If our love to God be genuine and real, we let him have the supremacy, we set him in the highest room of our soul, we give him the purest of our love; (Song of Solomon 8:2). I would cause you to drink of spiced wine, of the juice of my pomegranate. If the spouse had anything better than other, a cup more juicy and spiced, Christ should drink of that: we give the creature the milk of our love, but God the cream. In short, if we love God aright, we love his laws; we love his picture drawn in the saints, by the pencil of the Holy Ghost; we love his presence in his ordinances. Sleidan says, the Protestants in France had a church which they called Paradise; as if they thought themselves in Paradise, while they had God's presence in his sanctuary. The soul that loves God, loves his appearing (2 Timothy 4:8). It will be a glorious appearing to the saints, when their union with Christ shall be complete, then their joy shall be full. The bride longs for the marriage day: the Spirit and the bride say come, even so come Lord Jesus (Revelation 22:17). By this sacred love we may know the kingdom of God is within us.

4. We may know the kingdom of grace is come into our hearts by spiritualizing the duties of religion; (1 Peter 2:5). You are a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices. Spiritualizing duty consists in three things.

- 1. Fixedness of mind. - 2. Fervency of devotion. - 3. Uprightness of aim.

1. Fixedness of mind: then we spiritualize duty when our minds are fixed on God; (1 Corinthians 7:35). That you may attend on the Lord without distraction. Though impertinent thoughts sometimes come into the heart in duty, yet they are not allowed (Psalm 119:13); they come as unwelcome guests, which are no sooner spied but they are turned out.

2. Fervency of devotion; (Romans 12:11). Fervent in spirit, serving the Lord: [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉]: it is a metaphor that alludes to water that seethes and boils over; so the affections boil over, the eyes melt in tears, the heart flows in holy ejaculations. We not only bring our offering to God but our hearts.

3. Uprightness of aim: a heart that is upright has three ends in duty. 1. That he may grow more like God: as Moses on the mount had some of God's glory reflected on him; his face shined. 2. That he may have more communion with God; (1 John 1:6). Our [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉], our fellowship is with the Father. 3. That he may bring more glory to God (1 Peter 4:11; Philippians 1:20). That Christ may be magnified. Sincerity aims at God in all; though we shoot short yet we take a right aim: this is a sure evidence of grace, the spiritualizing of duty. The spirits of wine are best; so is the spiritual part of duty. A little spiritualness in duty is better than all the gildings of the temple, or outward pompous worship, which does so dazzle carnal eyes.

5. We may know the kingdom of grace is come into us by antipathy and opposition against every known sin; (Psalm 119:104). I hate every false way: hatred is [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉], Arist. against the whole kind. Hatred is implacable. Anger may be reconciled, hatred cannot. A gracious soul not only forsakes sin, (as a man forsakes his country never to return to it more) but hates sin; as there's an antipathy between the crocodile and the scorpion. If the kingdom of God be within us, we not only hate sin for hell, but we hate it as hell; as being contrary to God's holiness and our happiness.

6. We may know the kingdom of grace is come into us when we have given up ourselves to God by obedience: as a servant gives up himself to his master, as a wife gives up herself to her husband, so we give up ourselves to God by obedience; and this obedience is, 1. free; as that is the sweetest honey which drops from the comb. 2. Uniform; we obey God in one thing as well as another (Psalm 119:6). Then shall I not be ashamed; or as it is in the Hebrew [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉], I shall not blush when I have respect to all your commandments. A good Christian is like a pair of compasses, one foot of the compass stands upon the centre, the other part of it goes round the circle; so a Christian by faith stands on God the centre, and by obedience goes round the circle of God's commandments, a sign the kingdom of grace is not come into the heart, when it does not reign there by universal obedience. Hypocrites would have Christ to be their Savior, but they pluck the government from his shoulders, they will not have him rule; but he who has the kingdom of God within him, submits cheerfully to every command of God; he will do what God will have him do, he will be what God will have him be. He puts a blank paper into God's hand, and says, Lord, write what you will, I will subscribe. Blessed is he that can find all these things in his soul; he is all glorious within (Psalm 45:13). He carries a kingdom about him; and this kingdom of grace will certainly bring to a kingdom of glory.

I shall answer some doubts and objections a Christian may make against himself.

Objection. I fear the kingdom of grace is not yet come into my heart?

Answer. When a Christian is under temptation, or grace lies dormant, he is not fit to be his own judge, but in this case he must take the witness of others who have the Spirit of discerning: But let us hear a Christian's objections against himself why he thinks the kingdom of grace is not yet come into his heart.

Objection 1. I cannot discern grace?

Answer. A child of God may have the kingdom of grace in his heart yet not know it. The cup was in Benjamin's sack, though he did not know it was there; you may have faith in your heart, the cup may be in your sack, though you do not know it. Old Jacob wept for his son Joseph, when Joseph was alive; you may weep for want of grace when grace may be alive in your heart. The seed may be in the ground when we do not see it spring up; the seed of God may be sown in your heart, though you do not perceive the springing of it up; think not grace is lost because it is hid.

Objection 2. Before the kingdom of grace comes into the heart there must be some preparation for it? The fallow ground of the heart must be broken up; I fear the plough of the law has not gone deep enough, I have not been humbled enough, therefore I have no grace?

Answer. God does not prescribe a just proportion of sorrow and humiliation: The Scripture mentions the truth of sorrow but not the measure: Some are more flagitious [reconstructed: sinners] than others, these must have a greater degree of humiliation. A knotty piece of timber requires more wedges to be driven into it: Some stomachs are fouler than others, therefore need stronger physic. But would you know when you have been humbled enough for sin? 1. When you are weary of your sin, and sick of love to Christ. What does God require sorrow for, but as sauce to make sin relish bitter, and Christ sweet. 2. When you are willing to let go your sins. Then the gold has lain long enough in the furnace when the dross is purged out; so when the love of sin is purged out, a soul is humbled enough to divine acceptation, though not to divine satisfaction. Now if you are humbled enough, (though not so much as others) what needs more? Frustra fit per plura, &c. If a needle will let out the abscess, what needs a lance? Be not more cruel to yourself than God would have you.

Objection 3. If the kingdom of God were within me, it would be a kingdom of power, it would enable me to serve God with vigor of soul, but I have a spirit of infirmity upon me, I am weak and impotent, and untuned to every holy action?

Answer. There is a great difference between the weakness of grace and the want of grace. A man may have life though he be sick and weak. Weak grace is not to be despised, but cherished. Christ will not break the bruised reed. Do not argue from the weakness of grace to the nullity.

1. Weak grace will give us a title to Christ as well as a strong. Weak faith justifies as well as a strong. A weak hand of faith will receive the alms of Christ's merit.

2. Weak faith is capable of growth. The seed springs up by degrees; first the blade and then the ear, and then the full corn in the ear; the faith that is strongest was once in its infancy. Grace is like the waters of the sanctuary which did rise higher and higher: Be not discouraged at your weak faith; though it be now but blossoming it will by degrees come to more maturity.

3. The weakest grace shall persevere as well as the strongest. A sucking child was as safe in the Ark as Noah. An infant-believer that is but newly laid to the breast of a promise is as safe in Christ as the most eminent heroic saint.

Objection 4. I fear the kingdom of grace is not yet come, because I find the kingdom of sin so strong in me. Had I faith it would purify my heart, but I find much pride, worldliness, passion.

Answer. The best of the saints have remainders of corruption; (Daniel 7:12) They had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season: So in the regenerate, though the dominion of sin be taken away, yet the life of it is prolonged for a season. What pride was there in Christ's own disciples, when they strove which should be greatest. The issue of sin will not be quite stopped till death. The Lord is pleased to let the in-being of sin continue to humble his people, and make them prize Christ the more; but because you find corruptions stirring, do not therefore presently un-saint yourselves, and deny the kingdom of grace to be come into your souls: That you feel sin is an evidence of spiritual life, that you mourn for sin, what are these tears but fruits of love to God? That you have a combat with sin argues antipathy against it; those sins which you did once wear as a crown on your head, are now as fetters on the leg, is not all this from the Spirit of grace in you? Sin is in you as poison in the body, which you are sick of, and use all Scripture-antidotes to expel. Should we condemn all those who have the in-dwelling of sin; in fact, who have had sin (at some times) prevailing, we should blot some of the best saints out of the Bible.

Objection 5. Where the kingdom of grace comes, it softens the heart, but I find my heart frozen and congealed into hardness, I can hardly squeeze out one tear? Do flowers grow on a rock, can there be any grace in such a rocky heart?

Answer 1. There may be grief, where there are no tears: The best sorrow is rational. In your judgment you esteem sin the most hyperbolical evil, you have a disgust and displeasure against sin; this is a rational sorrow, and such as God will accept.

2. A Christian may have some hardness in his heart, yet not have a hard heart; subjectum a praestantiori parte. A field may have tares in it, yet we call it a field of wheat; in the best heart is a mixture of hardness, yet because there is some softness and melting God looks upon it as a soft heart; therefore, Christian, dispute not against yourself. If you can find but one thing, that the frame and temper of your soul be holy; are you still breathing after God, delighting in him, is the complexion of your soul heavenly? Can you say as David, Psalm 139:17, When I awake I am still with you. As colors laid in oil, or a statue carved in gold, abide, so does a holy complexion — the soul is still pointing towards God. If it be thus with you, assure yourself the kingdom of grace is come into your soul; be not unkind to God to deny any work of his Spirit which he has wrought in you.

Use 1. Of Exhortation, labor to find that this kingdom of grace is set up in your hearts; while others aspire after earthly kingdoms, labor to have the kingdom of God within you (Luke 17:21). The kingdom of grace must come into us before we can go into the kingdom of glory. Motives,

1. Motive. This kingdom of God within us is our spiritual beauty; the kingdom of grace adorns a person, and sets him off in the eyes of God and angels. This makes the King's daughter all glorious [illegible] (Psalm 45:13) [illegible]. Chrysostom. Grace sheds a glory and luster upon [illegible] soul. As the diamond to the ring, so is grace to the soul. A heart beautified with grace has the King of Heaven's picture hung in it.

2. Motive. The kingdom of grace set up in the heart is our spiritual defense. Grace is called the armor of light (Romans 13:12). It is light for beauty, and armor for defense. He who has the kingdom of grace within him is strengthened with all might according to God's glorious power (Colossians 1:11). He has the shield of faith, the helmet of hope, the breastplate of righteousness. This armor can never be shot through; it fortifies a Christian against the assaults of temptation, and the terrors of hell.

3. Motive. The kingdom of grace set up in the heart brings peace with it (Romans 14:17). The kingdom of God is righteousness and peace. There is a secret peace that breeds out of holiness. Peace is the best blessing of a kingdom: Pax una triumphis innumeris melior — the kingdom of grace is a kingdom of peace. Grace is the root, peace is the flower that grows out of it; it is Pax in procella, such peace that no worldly affliction can shake. The doors of Solomon's Temple were made of olive tree, carved with open flowers (1 Kings 6:32). In a gracious heart is the olive of peace, and the open flowers of joy.

4. Motive. The kingdom of grace enriches the soul: a kingdom has its riches. A believer is said to be rich in faith (James 2:5). How rich is he who has God for his God, who is heir to all the promises (Hebrews 6:17). A man may be rich in bills and bonds; a believer, though he may say as Peter, Silver and gold have I none (Acts 3:6), yet he is rich in bills and bonds, he is heir to all God's promises. And to be heir to the promise is better than to be heir to the crown.

5. Motive. When the kingdom of grace comes it does fix and establish the heart (Psalm 57:7). O God my heart is fixed. Before the kingdom of grace comes, the heart is very unfixed and unsettled, like a ship without a ballast, like quicksilver that cannot be made to fix. But when the kingdom of grace comes it does stabilire animum — it fixes the heart upon God. And when the heart is fixed, it rests quiet as in its center.

6. Motive. This kingdom of grace is distinguishing; it is a sure pledge of God's love. God may give kingdoms in anger, but wherever the kingdom of grace is set up it is in love; God cannot give grace in anger. The crown always goes with this kingdom; let us therefore be ambitious of this kingdom of grace.

Question. How shall we do to obtain this kingdom?

Answer 1. In general, take pains for it: we cannot have the world without labor, and do we think to have grace? If you seek her as silver (Proverbs 2:3), a man may as well expect a crop without sowing, as grace without labor. We must not think to have grace as Israel had manna — they did not plough or sow, but it was rained down from heaven upon them. No, we must operam dare, take pains for grace. Our salvation cost Christ blood; it will cost us sweat.

2. Let us go to God to set up this kingdom of grace in our hearts; God is called the God of all grace (1 Peter 5:10). Say, Lord, I want this kingdom of grace, I want a humble believing heart, O enrich me with grace, let your kingdom come; and be importunate suitors. As Achsah said to her father Caleb (Joshua 15:19), You have given me a south-land, give me also springs of water. So Lord, you have given me enough of the world, here is a south-land, but Lord give me the upper springs of grace, let your kingdom come. What is the venison you have given me without the blessing? When we are importunate with God, and will take no denial, then he will set up his kingdom within us.

3. Keep close to the word preached; the word preached is virga virtutis, the rod of God's strength; it is the great engine God uses for the setting up the kingdom of grace in the heart (Romans 10:17). Faith comes by hearing. Though God could work grace immediately by his Spirit, or by the ministry of angels from heaven, yet he chooses to work by the word preached; this is the usual means by which he sets up the kingdom of grace in the heart. And the reason is, because he has put his divine sanction upon it; he has appointed it for the means of working grace, and he will honor his own ordinance (1 Corinthians 1:21). What reason could be given why the waters of Damascus should not have as sovereign virtue to heal Naaman's leprosy as the waters of Jordan — only this, because God did appoint and sanctify the waters of Jordan to heal and not the other. Therefore let us keep to the word preached, because the power of God goes along with it.

USE 2. Such as have this kingdom of God set up in them, it calls for gratulation and thanksgiving: What will you be thankful [illegible] not for a kingdom? Grace is the best blessing, it is the result and product of God's electing love: God in setting up his kingdom of grace, has done more for you than if he had made you kings and queens; for now you are born of God, and of the blood-royal of heaven. O admire and exalt free grace; make God's praise glorious (Psalm 66:2). The Apostle seldom mentions the work of grace, but he joins praise (Colossians 1:12): Giving thanks to the Father, who has made us meet for the inheritance of the saints in light. If God has crowned you with the kingdom of grace, do you crown him with your praises.

2. The second thing intended by our Saviour in this petition is, that the kingdom of grace may increase, that it may come more into us: And this may answer a question:

Quest. Why do we pray, Your kingdom come, when the kingdom of grace is already come into the soul?

Answ. Though the kingdom of grace be already come into us, yet still we must pray, Your kingdom come; namely, that grace may be increased, and that this kingdom may flourish still more in our souls. Till we come to live among the angels we shall need to pray this prayer, Your kingdom come, Lord, let your kingdom of grace come in more power into my soul, let grace be more augmented and increased.

Quest. 1. When does the kingdom of grace increase in the soul, when is it a flourishing kingdom?

Answ. 1. When a Christian has further degrees added to his graces, there's more oil in the lamp; his knowledge is clearer, his love is more inflamed: Grace is capable of degrees, and may rise higher as the sun in the horizon. It is not with us as it was with Christ, who received the Spirit without measure (John 3:34). Christ could not be more holy than he was; but our grace is receptive of further degrees, we may have more sanctity, we may add more cubits to our spiritual stature.

2. Then the kingdom of grace increases when a Christian has gotten more strength than he had (Job 17:9): He that has clean hands shall be stronger and stronger. Hebrew: Iosiphometz, He shall add to his strength. A Christian has strength to resist temptation, to forgive his enemies, to suffer affliction; it's not easy to suffer, a man must deny himself before he takes up the cross: The way to heaven is like the way which Jonathan and his armor-bearer had in climbing up a steep place (1 Samuel 14:4). There was a sharp rock on the one side, and a sharp rock on the other: It requires much strength to climb up this rocky way. That grace which will carry us through prosperity, will not carry us through sufferings: The ship needs stronger tackling to carry it through a storm than a calm. Now when we are so strong in grace that we can bear up under affliction without murmuring or fainting; here is the kingdom of grace increased. What mighty strength of grace had he who told the Emperor Valentinian, you may take away my life, but you cannot take away my love to the truth.

3. Then the kingdom of grace increases, when a Christian has most conflict with spiritual corruptions; he not only abstains from gross evils, but has a combat with inward, hidden, close corruptions; as pride, envy, hypocrisy, vain thoughts, carnal confidence, these are spiritual wickednesses, and do both defile, and disturb (2 Corinthians 7:1): Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit. Which shows there are two sorts of corruptions, one of the flesh, the other of the spirit; when we grieve for, and combat with spiritual sin, (as being the root of all gross sins) now the kingdom of grace increases, and spreads its territories in the soul.

4. Then the kingdom of grace flourishes, when a Christian has learned to live by faith (Galatians 2:20): I live by the faith of the Son of God. There is the habit of faith, and the drawing of this habit into exercise: For a Christian to graft his hope of salvation only upon the stock of Christ's righteousness, and make Christ all in justification; to live on the promises as the bee on the flower, and suck out the sweetness of them; to trust God where we cannot trace him; to believe his love through a frown; to persuade ourselves when he has the face of an enemy, yet he has the heart of a father; when we are arrived at this, here is the kingdom of grace flourishing in our souls.

5. When a Christian is arrived at holy zeal (Numbers 25:13): Phinehas was zealous for his God. Zeal is the flame of the affections, it turns a saint into seraphim: A zealous Christian is impatient when God is dishonored (Revelation 2:2), he will wrestle with difficulties, he will swim to Christ through a sea of blood (Acts 21:13). Zeal loves truth when it is despised and opposed (Psalm 119:126): They have made void your law, therefore I love your law. Here is grace increasing like the sun in the horizon: Zeal resembles the Holy Ghost (Acts 2:2): There appeared cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. Tongues of fire were an emblem of that fire of zeal which the Spirit poured upon them.

6. Then the kingdom of grace increases, when a Christian is as well diligent in his particular calling, as devout in his general. He is the wise Christian that carries things equally, that does so live by faith, that he lives in a calling: Therefore it is worth our notice, when the Apostle had exhorted the Thessalonians to increase in grace (1 Thessalonians 4:10), he presently adds, verse 11: And that you do your own business, and work with your hands. This is a sign grace is increasing, when Christians go cheerfully about their calling: Indeed to be all the day in the mount with God, and to have the mind fixed on glory, is more sweet to a man's self, and is a heaven upon earth: But to be conversant in our callings is more profitable to others. I may allude to that of Saint Paul, To be with Christ is best for me; yet to abide here is more needful for you (Philippians 1:24). So to converse with God in prayer, and sweet meditation all the week long, is more for the comfort of a man's own person; but to be sometimes employed in the business of a calling is more profitable for the family to which he belongs: It is not good to be as the lilies, which toil not, neither do they spin. It shows the increase of grace when a Christian keeps a due decorum. He joins piety and industry, when zeal runs forth in religion, and diligence is put forth in a calling.

7. Then the kingdom of grace increases, when a Christian is established in the belief and love of the truth. The heart by nature is as a ship without ballast, it wavers and fluctuates. Beza writes of one Bolezius, his religion changed as the moon and planet Mercury. Such as are wandering stars, will be falling stars: But when a soul is built on the rock Christ, and no winds of temptation can blow it away; now the kingdom of grace flourishes. One calls Athanasius, Adamas Ecclesiae, an invincible adamant, in respect of his stability in the truth (Colossians 2:7), rooted and built up in him; the rooting of a tree evidences the growth.

8. Then the kingdom of grace increases in a man's own heart, when he labors to be instrumental, to set up this kingdom in others: Though it is the greatest benefit to have grace wrought in ourselves, yet it is the greatest honor to be instrumental to work it in others (Galatians 4:19); of whom I travail in birth, till Christ be formed in you. Such as are masters of a family should endeavor to see the kingdom of grace set up in their servants: Such as are godly parents, let not God alone by prayer, till you see grace in your children: What a comfort would it be to you, to be both the natural, and the spiritual fathers of your children. Austin says his mother Monica travailed with greater care and pain for his new birth, than his natural. This shows the increase of grace, when we labor to see the kingdom of grace set up in others; then the water abounds in the river, when it overflows, and runs into the meadows; then grace increases in the soul, when it has influence upon others, and we endeavor their salvation.

2. Question: Wherein appears the needfulness of this, that the kingdom of grace should be increased?

1. This is God's design in keeping up a standing ministry in the church, to increase the kingdom of grace in men's hearts (Ephesians 4:8): He gave gifts to men, that is, ministerial gifts: Why so? Verse 12: for the edifying of the body of Christ; not only for conversion, but for augmentation: Therefore the Word preached is compared not only to seed, but to milk; because by this breast milk God designs our growth in grace.

2. We had need have the kingdom of grace increase, in respect we have a great deal of work to do, and a little grace will hardly carry us through; a Christian's life is laborious; so many temptations to resist; so many promises to believe; so many precepts to obey, that it will require a great deal of grace: A Christian must not only pray, but pray fervently (James 5:16); not only repent, but be zealous and repent (Revelation 3:19); not only love, but be sick of love (Song of Solomon 2:5). How had he need therefore have the kingdom of grace enlarged in his soul, as his work increases upon him, so his grace had need increase.

3. If the kingdom of grace does not increase, it will decay (Revelation 2:4): You have left your first love; grace for want of increasing is sometimes like a winter plant, all the sap runs to the root, and it looks as if it were dead (Revelation 3:2): Strengthen the things that remain, which are ready to die: Though grace cannot expire, it may wither, and a withering Christian loses much of his beauty and fragrance; what great need then have we to pray Your Kingdom come, that this kingdom of grace may be increased; if grace be not improved it will soon be impaired: A Christian for want of increasing his grace loses his strength, he is like a sick man, that cannot either walk, or work; his prayers are sick and weak, he is as if he had no life in him, his faith can hardly fetch breath, and you can scarce feel the pulse of his love to beat.

4. To have grace increasing is suitable to Christianity: Christians are called trees of righteousness (Isaiah 61:3). The saints are not only jewels for sparkling luster, but trees for growth, they are called the lights of the world (Philippians 2:15). Light is still increasing. First there is the Crepusculum or day-break, and so it shines brighter to the meridian. They who are the lights of the world must increase till they come to the meridian of glory. Not to grow is suspicious; painted things grow not.

5. As the kingdom of grace increases, so a Christian's comforts increase. Comfort belongs to the bene esse, or well-being of a Christian; it is like sweet-meat, delicious to the taste (Psalm 94:19). The more grace, the more joy; as the more sap in the root, the more wine in the grape. Who did more increase in grace than David, and who more in consolation (Psalm 4:7)? You have put gladness in my heart: Grace turns to joy, as the milk to cream.

3. Question: How may they be comforted, who bewail their want of growth, and weep that they cannot find the kingdom of grace increase?

Response 1. To see and bewail our decay in grace argues not only the life of grace, but growth. It is a sign a man recovers and gets strength, when he feels his weakness: it is a step forward in grace to see our imperfections. The more the Spirit shines in the heart, the more evil it discovers. A Christian thinks it worse with him than it was, whereas his grace may not grow lesser, but his light greater.

2. If a Christian does not increase in one grace, he may in another; if not in knowledge, he may in humility. If a tree does not grow so much in the branches, it may in the root; to grow downwards in the root is a good growth.

3. A Christian may grow less in affection, when he grows more in judgment. As a musician when he is old, his fingers are stiff, and not so nimble at the lute as they were, but he plays with more art and judgment than before. So a Christian may not have so much affection in duty as at the first conversion, but he is more solid in religion, and more settled in his judgment than he was before.

4. A Christian may think he does not increase in grace, because he does not increase in gifts; whereas there may be a decay of natural parts, the memory and other faculties, when there is not a decay of grace. Parts may be impaired when grace is improved. Be not discouraged, it is better to decay in parts and be enlarged in grace, than to be enlarged in parts, and to decay in grace.

5. A Christian may increase in grace, yet not be so sensible of it. The seed may grow in the earth, when we do not perceive it to spring up. The grace may grow in time of desertion, and not be perceived. So I have done with the first thing intended in this petition, Your Kingdom come; we pray that the kingdom of grace may come into our hearts, and that it may increase and flourish.

I should come to the second thing intended in this petition, that the kingdom of glory may hasten, and that we may in due time be translated into it.

When we pray your Kingdom come, here is something positively intended; we pray, 1. That the kingdom of grace may be set up in our hearts. 2. That it may increase and flourish. 3. That the kingdom of glory may hasten, and that God would in his due time translate us into it.

- 1. What this kingdom of glory is. - 2. What are the properties of it. - 3. Wherein it exceeds all other kingdoms. - 4. When this kingdom comes. - 5. Wherein appears the certainty of it. - 6. Why we should pray for its coming.

1. What this kingdom of glory is.

Answer. By this kingdom is meant that glorious estate which the saints shall enjoy, when they shall reign with God and angels for ever. If a man stand upon the seashore, he cannot see all the dimensions of the sea, the length, breadth, and depth of it; yet he may see it is of a vast extension. So though the kingdom of heaven be of that incomparable excellence, that neither tongue of man, or angels can express, yet we may conceive of it to be an exceeding glorious thing, such as eye has not seen.

Concerning the kingdom of heaven, I shall show, what, 1. It implies. 2. It imports.

1. What it implies.

Answer. It implies, a blessed freedom from all evil.

2. What it imports.

Answer. It imports glorious fruition of all good.

1. What the kingdom of heaven implies.

Response. It implies a blessed freedom from all evil.

1. A freedom from the necessities of nature: we are in this life subject to many necessities. We need food to nourish us, clothes to cover us, armor to defend us, sleep to refresh us. But in the kingdom of heaven there is no need of these things; and it is better not to need them than to have them; as it is better not to need crutches, than to have crutches. What need will there be of food when our bodies shall be made spiritual (1 Corinthians 15:44), though not spiritual for substance, yet for qualities. What need will there be of clothing, when our bodies shall be like Christ's glorious body; what need will there be of armor when there is no enemy; what need will there be of sleep when there is no night (Revelation 22:5). The saints shall be freed in the heavenly kingdom from those necessities of nature to which now they lie exposed.

2. In the kingdom of heaven we shall be freed from the imperfections of nature. Since the Fall our knowledge has suffered an eclipse.

1. Our natural knowledge is imperfect, it is checkered with ignorance. There are many hard knots in nature, which we cannot easily untie: why the sea should be higher than the earth, yet not drown it? What way the light is parted (Job 38:24). What is the reason of all the occult qualities, sympathies, and [reconstructed: Antipathies]? He who sees clearest has a mist before his eyes. Socrates said on his death-bed, there were many things he had yet to learn. Our ignorance is more than our knowledge.

2. Our divine knowledge is imperfect; we know but in part, said Paul (1 Corinthians 13:9), though he had many revelations, and was wrapped up into the third heaven. We have but dark conceptions of the Trinity (Job 11:7). Can you by searching find out God? Our narrow capacities will no more contain the Trinity, than a little glass vial will hold all the water in the sea. We cannot unriddle the mystery of the Incarnation; the human nature assumed into the person of the Son of God; the human nature not God, yet united with God. We see now in aenigmate, in a glass darkly. But in the kingdom of heaven the veil shall be taken off, all imperfections of nature shall be done away. When the sunlight of glory shall begin to shine in the heavenly horizon, all dark shadows of ignorance shall fly away, our lamp of knowledge shall burn bright, we shall have a full knowledge of God, though not know him fully.

3. In the kingdom of heaven we shall be freed from the toilsome labors of this life. God enacted a law in Paradise, In the sweat of your brows you shall eat bread (Genesis 3:9). There is the labor of the hand in manufacture, and the labor of the mind in study (Ecclesiastes 1:8). All things are full of labor. But in the kingdom of heaven we shall be freed from our labors.

(1.) There needs no labor, when a man has got to the haven he has no more need of [reconstructed: sailing]. In heaven there needs no labor, because the saints shall have that glory which they labored for.

(2.) There shall be no labor (Revelation 14:13). They rest from their labors. As God when he had finished the work of creation rested from his labors (Genesis 2:2), so when the saints have finished the work of sanctification, they rest from their labors. Where should there be rest but in the heavenly center? Not that this sweet rest in the kingdom of heaven excludes all motion, for spirits cannot be idle; but the saints glorified shall rest from all wearisome employment; it shall be a labor full of ease, a motion full of delight. The saints in heaven shall love God, and what labor is that? Is it any labor to love beauty? They shall praise God, and that sure is delightful. When the bird sings, it is not so much a labor as a pleasure.

4. In the kingdom of heaven we shall be freed from original corruption: this is causa causati, the root of all actual sin. There would be no actual sin if there were no original; there would be no water in the stream, if there were none in the fountain. Original sin is incorporated into our nature, 'tis as if the whole mass of blood were corrupted. This makes a Christian weary of his life; he offends that God whom he loves. What would a Christian give to have his chains taken off, to be rid of vain thoughts. How did Paul (that bird of paradise) bemoan himself for his sins (Romans 7:24). We cannot act either our duties or graces without sin. The soul that is most refined and clarified by grace is not without some dregs of corruption; but in the kingdom of heaven the fountain of original sin shall be quite dried up; [in non-Latin alphabet]: what a blessed time will that be, never to grieve God's Spirit more. In heaven are virgin souls; there is beauty which is not stained with lust; nothing enters there that defiles (Revelation 21:27).

5. In the kingdom of heaven we shall be freed from all sorrows (Revelation 21:4). [In non-Latin alphabet], there shall be no more sorrow. Our life here is interlarded with trouble (Psalm 31:10); either losses grieve, or lawsuits vex, or unkindness breaks the heart. We may as well separate moisture from air, or weight from lead, as troubles from man's life; Quid est diu vivere nisi diu torqueri? (Augustine). But in the kingdom of heaven sorrow and sighing shall fly away. Here the saints sit by the rivers weeping, but one smile from Christ's face will make them forget all their sufferings; their water then shall be turned into wine, their mourning into music.

6. We shall in the kingdom of heaven be freed from the immodesty of temptation. Satan is not yet fully cast into prison, but is like a prisoner that goes under bail; he walks about tempting, he labors to entrap us into sin, he is either laying snares or shooting darts. Stat in procinctu Diabolus. He laid a train of temptation to blow up the castle of Job's faith. This is a great grief to a believer to be followed with temptations to sin, as it is for a virgin to have her chastity assaulted; but in the kingdom of heaven the saints shall be freed from the Red Dragon; he is cast out of paradise, and shall be forever locked up in chains (Jude 6).

7. In the kingdom of heaven we shall be freed from all vexing cares. The Greek word for care, [in non-Latin alphabet], comes from a primitive that signifies to cut the heart in pieces. Care torments the mind, it wastes the spirits, it eats out the comfort of life. Care is an evil spirit that haunts us. [reconstructed: Care to prevent future dangers and preserve present comfort] — all care is full of fear, and fear is full of torment (1 John 4:18). God threatens it as a judgment (Ezekiel 12:19): they shall eat their bread with carefulness. Every comfort has its care, as every rose its prickle; but in the kingdom of heaven we shall shake off this viper of care. What need does a saint glorified have to take any care, who has all things provided to his hand? There is the tree of life, bearing all sorts of fruit. When the heart shall be freed from sin, the head shall be freed from care.

8. We shall in the kingdom of heaven be freed from all doubts and scruples. In this life the best saint has his doubtings, as the brightest star its twinkling. If there were no doubtings there would be no unbelief. Assurance itself does not exclude all doubting (Psalm 26:3). "Your loving kindness is before my eyes"; but at another time (Psalm 89:49): "Lord, where are your former loving kindnesses?" A Christian is like a ship at anchor, which though it be safe, yet it may sometimes be tossed upon the water. Sometimes a Christian questions his interest in Christ, and his title to the promise; and these doubtings, as they eclipse a Christian's comfort, so they are a bearing false witness against the Spirit. But when the saints shall come into the kingdom of heaven there shall be no more doubtings; then a Christian shall say as Peter, "Now I know of a surety that the Lord has sent his angel, and delivered me" (Acts 12:11). So, now I know that I am passed from death to life, now I am got beyond all rocks, I have shot the gulf, now I am in my Savior's embraces forever.

9. We shall in the kingdom of heaven be freed from all society with the wicked. Here we are forced sometimes to be in their company (Psalm 120:5): "Woe is me that I dwell in Mesech, and sojourn in the tents of Kedar." Kedar was Ishmael's son, whose children dwelt in Arabia, a profane, barbarous people. Here the wicked are still raising persecutions against the godly, and crucifying their ears with their oaths and curses. Christ's lily is among thorns, but in the heavenly kingdom there shall be no more any pricking brier (Matthew 13:41): "The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend." As Moses said (Exodus 14:13): "Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, for the Egyptians whom you have seen today you shall see them again no more forever." So will God say, stand still and see the salvation of God; these your enemies that vex and molest you, you shall see them again no more forever. At that day God will separate the precious from the vile; then Christ will thoroughly purge his floor, he will gather the wheat into the garner, and the wicked, which are the chaff, shall be blown into hell.

10. We shall in the kingdom of Heaven be freed from all signs of God's displeasure. Here God may be angry with his people. Though he has the heart of a Father, he may have the look of an enemy; this is sad. As when the Sun is gone the dew falls; when the light of God's face is gone, tears drop from the saints' eyes; but in the kingdom of Heaven there shall be no spiritual eclipses, there shall never appear any tokens of God's displeasure; the saints shall have a constant aspect of love from God, they shall never complain any more, as (Song of Solomon 5:6) My beloved has withdrawn himself.

11. We shall in the kingdom of Heaven be freed from all divisions. That which is the saddest thing in the world is to see divisions among them that are good. It is sad that such as have one faith, yet should not be of one heart; Ephraim envies Judah, and Judah vexes Ephraim: it is matter of tears to see those who are united to Christ to be divided one from another. The soldiers' spear pierced Christ's side, but the divisions of saints wound his heart; but in the kingdom of Heaven there shall be no vilifying one another, or censuring: those who before could hardly pray together, shall praise God together, there shall not be one jarring string in the saints' music.

12. We shall in the kingdom of Heaven be freed from vanity and dissatisfaction. What Solomon says of wisdom, (Job 28:14) The depth says, it is not in me: and the sea says, it is not with me: the same may I say concerning satisfaction, every creature says, It is not in me. Take things most pleasing, and which we promise ourselves most content from, still out the spirits and purest quintessence of them, and we shall say as he did, (Ecclesiastes 2:11) And behold all was vanity. God never did or will put a satisfying virtue into any creature. In the sweetest music the world makes, either there is some string wanting, or out of tune. Who would have thought that Haman, who was so great in the king's favor, He set his seat above all the princes of the provinces, (Esther 3:1) yet for want of the bowing of a knee, he was dissatisfied; but in the kingdom of Heaven we shall be freed from these dissatisfactions. The world is like a landscape, you may see gardens and fruit trees curiously drawn in the landscape but you cannot enter into them, but you may enter into the joys of Heaven, Enter into the joy of your Lord; the soul shall be satisfied while it bathes in those rivers of pleasure at God's right hand; I shall be satisfied when I awake with your likeness: (Psalm 17:15). Thus you see what the kingdom of glory implies; namely, a blessed freedom from all evil.

13. We shall in the kingdom of Heaven be freed from the torments of Hell, (1 Thessalonians 1:10) Jesus who delivered us from the wrath to come.

(1.) The multiplicity of these torments. In this life the body is usually exercised but with one pain, the stone or headache, but in Hell there is a diversity of torments, there is darkness to affright, fire to burn, a lake of sulphur to choke, chains to bind, the worm to gnaw.

(2.) The torments of Hell will seize upon every part both of body and soul; the eyes shall be tortured with the sight of devils, the tongue that has sworn so many oaths shall be tortured, (Luke 16:24) Send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue. The memory shall be tormented to remember what mercies have been abused, what seasons of grace neglected; the conscience shall be tormented with self-accusations.

(3.) In the pains of Hell there is no mitigation, no mixture of mercy. In this life, God in anger remembers mercy, (Habakkuk 3:2) but in Hell there is no alleviation or lessening of the pains: as in the sacrifice of jealousy, (Numbers 5:15) God would have no oil or frankincense put to it, so in Hell there is no oil of mercy to soften the sufferings of the damned; no incense of prayer to appease God's wrath.

(4.) In the pains of Hell there is no intermission. The poets feign of Endymion that he got leave of Jupiter always to sleep. What would the damned in Hell give for one hour's sleep? (Revelation 14:11) They rest not day nor night; they are perpetually upon the rack.

(5.) In the pains of Hell there is no expiration; they must always lie scorching in flames of wrath; (Revelation 14:11) The smoke of their torment ascends up forever: but in the heavenly kingdom the elect shall be freed from all infernal torments; Jesus has delivered us from the wrath to come. A prison is not made for the king's children. Christ drank that bitter cup of God's wrath, that the saints might never drink it.

2. In the kingdom of Heaven there is a glorious fruition of all good. Had I as many tongues as hairs on my head, I could not fully describe this; I may say as (Judges 18:9-10), Heaven is called, The excellent glory, (2 Peter 1:17). I may as well span the firmament, or drain the ocean, as set forth the glory of this kingdom. Caelum non habet Hyperbolem, the kingdom of Heaven is beyond all hyperbole. Were the Sun ten thousand times brighter than it is, it could not parallel the lustre of this kingdom; Apelles' pencil would blot, angels' tongues would lessen it: I can but give you the [illegible], or dark shadow of it, expect not to see it in all its vivid colors till you are mounted above the stars. But let us not stand afar off, as Moses, to behold this Canaan, but enter into it and taste the honey. Concerning the fruitions and privileges of the heavenly kingdom.

1. We shall have an immediate communion with God himself, who is the inexhausted sea of all happiness: This divines call, The Beatific Vision. The Psalmist did triumph in that enjoyment he had of God in this life (Psalm 73:25). Whom have I in heaven but you? If God enjoyed by faith does give so much comfort to the soul, how much more when he is enjoyed by immediate vision. Here we see God but darkly through the glass of ordinances, but in the kingdom of heaven, we shall see him face to face (1 Corinthians 13:12). We shall have an intellectual sight of God, that is, we shall see him with the eyes of our mind; we shall know God as much as the angels in heaven do (Matthew 18:10; 1 Corinthians 13:12). We shall know as we are known. We shall have a full knowledge of God, though not know him fully; as a vessel in the sea is full of the sea, though it holds not all the sea. To see and enjoy God will be most delicious; in God are beams of majesty and bowels of mercy; God has all excellencies concentrated in him, bonum in quo omnia bona. If one flower should have the sweetness of all flowers, how sweet would that flower be? All the beauty and sweetness which lies scattered in the creature is infinitely to be found in God; therefore to see and enjoy him will ravish the soul with delight. We shall so see God as to love him, and be made sensible of his love; and when we shall have this sweet communion with God, then God shall be all in all (1 Corinthians 15:28). Light to the eye, manna to the taste, music to the ear.

2. We shall in the kingdom of heaven, with these eyes, see the glorified body of Jesus Christ. This our Saviour makes a great part of the glory of heaven, to view the glory of his human nature (John 17:24). [reconstructed: in Greek], That they may behold my glory. When Christ was transfigured upon earth, it is said, That his face did shine as the sun, and his clothing was white as the light (Matthew 17:2). If the glory of his Transfiguration was so great, what will the glory of his exaltation be? Much of the glory of God shines in Christ by virtue of the Hypostatic Union (Colossians 2:9). In whom dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Through Christ's humanity, as through a bright mirror, we may see some beams of the divine majesty shine forth; put a back of steel to a glass, and you may see a face in it. Christ's human nature is as a back of steel put to the divine nature; through this we may see God, and then our capacities shall be enlarged to a wonderful degree to receive this glorious object; and we shall not only see God's glory, but some of his glory shall be put upon us; non tantum aderit Gloria sed inerit, Bern. A beggar may behold the glory of a king and not be the happier, but Christ's glory shall be ours; We shall be like him (1 John 3:2). We shall shine by his beams.

3. We shall in the kingdom of heaven, enjoy the society of innumerable company of angels (Hebrews 12:22).

Question. But is there not enough in God to fill the soul with delight? Can the sight of angels add to the soul's happiness? What need is there of the light of torches when the sun shines?

Answer. Besides the divine essence, the sight of angels is desirable; much of God's curious workmanship shines in the angels; the angels are beautiful, glorious creatures; and as the several strings in a lute make the harmony sweeter, and the several stars make the firmament brighter, so the society with angels will make the delight of heaven the greater, and we shall not only see the angels with the glorified eye of our understanding, but converse with them.

4. We shall in the kingdom of heaven have sweet society with glorified saints; then the communion of saints will be illustrious. O what a blessed time will it be, when those who have prayed, wept, suffered together, shall rejoice together; we shall see the saints in their white linen of purity, and see them as so many crowned kings; in beholding the saints glorified we shall behold a heaven full of suns. Some move the question whether we shall know one another in heaven: Surely our knowledge shall not be diminished but increased. It is the judgment of Luther and Anselm, and many other divines, that we shall know one another, indeed, the saints of all ages whose faces we never saw; and when we shall see the saints in glory without their spots, namely, their infirmities, pride and passion, this will be a glorious sight. We see how Peter was transported when he saw but two prophets in the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:3). But what a blessed sight will it be when we shall see such a glorious company of prophets, and martyrs, and holy men of God: How sweet will the music be when they shall all sing together in consort in the heavenly choir. And though in this great assembly of saints and angels, one star may differ from another in glory, yet no such weed as envy shall ever grow in the paradise of God; then there shall be perfect love, which as it casts out fear, so also envy; though one vessel of glory may hold more than another, yet every vessel shall be full.

5. In the kingdom of heaven there shall be incomprehensible joy. Aristotle says, joy proceeds from union. When the saints' union with Christ is perfected in heaven, then their joy shall be full; all the birds of the heavenly paradise sing for joy. What joy when the saints shall see the great gulf shut, and know that they are passed from death to life; what joy when they are as holy as they would be, and as God would have them to be; what joy to hear the music of angels, to see the golden banner of Christ's love displayed over the soul, to be drinking that water of life which is quintessential, and is sweeter than all nectar and ambrosia; what joy when the saints shall see Christ clothed in their flesh, sitting in glory above the angels, then they shall enter into the joy of their Lord (Matthew 25:21). Here joy enters into the saints — in heaven they enter into joy. O you saint of God who now hang your harp upon the willows, and mingle your drink with weeping, in the kingdom of heaven your water shall be turned into wine, you shall have so much felicity that your souls cannot wish for more. The sea is not so full of water, as the heart of a glorified saint is of joy; there can be no more sorrow in heaven than there is joy in hell.

6. In Heaven there is honor and dignity put upon the saints: a kingdom imports honor. All that come into Heaven are kings; they have 1. a crown (Revelation 2:10) — dabo tibi, the crown of life; Corona est insigne regiae potestatis. This crown is not lined with thorns, but hung with jewels; it is a never-fading crown (1 Peter 5:4). 2. The saints in Heaven have their robes; they exchange their sackcloth for white robes (Revelation 7:9). I beheld a great multitude which no man could number, clothed in white robes. Robes signify their glory, white their sanctity. And 3. They sit with Christ upon the throne (Revelation 3:21). We read in 1 Kings 6:33 that the doors of the Holy of Holies were made of palm trees, and open flowers covered with gold — an emblem of that victory and that garland of glory which the saints shall wear in the Kingdom of Heaven. When all the titles and ensigns of worldly honor shall lie in the dust — the mace, the silver star, the garter — then shall the saints' honor remain.

7. We shall in the Kingdom of Heaven have a blessed rest. Rest is the end of motion; Heaven is Centrum quietativum animae, the blessed center where the soul does acquiesce and rest. In this life we are subject to unquiet motions and fluctuations (2 Corinthians 7:5) — [in non-Latin alphabet] — we are troubled on every side; like a ship on the sea, having the waves beating on both sides; but in the Kingdom of Heaven there is rest (Hebrews 4:9). How welcome is rest to a weary traveler? When death cuts asunder the string of the body, the soul as a dove flies away and is at rest. This rest is when the saints shall lie on Christ's bosom, that hive of sweetness, that bed of perfume.

8. The saints shall in the Kingdom of Heaven have their bodies richly bespangled with glory; they shall be full of clarity and brightness, as Moses' face shone, so that Israel were not able to behold the glory (Exodus 34:30). The bodies of the saints shall shine seven times brighter than the sun, says Chrysostom; they shall have such a resplendency of beauty on them, that the angels shall fall in love with them; and no wonder, for they shall be made like Christ's glorious body (Philippians 3:21). The bodies of saints glorified need no jewels, when they shall shine like Christ's body.

9. In the heavenly kingdom is eternity; it is an eternal fruition, they shall never be put out of the throne (Revelation 22:5). They shall reign for ever and ever. It is called the everlasting kingdom (2 Peter 1:11) and an eternal weight of glory (2 Corinthians 4:17). The flowers of Paradise, of which the saints' garland is made, never wither. If there could be a cessation of Heaven's glory, or the saints had but the least fear or suspicion of losing their felicity, it would infinitely abate and cool their joy; but their kingdom is forever, the rivers of Paradise cannot be dried up (Psalm 16:11). At your right hand are pleasures for evermore. The Kingdom of Heaven was typified by the temple which was built with stone, covered with cedar, overlaid with gold, to show the fixed permanent state of glory, that kingdom abides forever. Well may we pray, Your kingdom come.

Having spoken of the Kingdom of Grace, and how we may know that kingdom is set up in our hearts: I am next speaking of the Kingdom of Glory, or Heaven.

- 1. What is meant by the Kingdom of Heaven. - 2. What are the properties of this kingdom. - 3. Wherein this heavenly kingdom excels all the kingdoms upon earth. - 4. When this kingdom shall be bestowed. - 5. Wherein appears the certainty and infallibility of it. - 6. Why we should pray for the coming of this kingdom.

1. Quest. What is meant by the Kingdom of Heaven?

Resp. 1. It imports a blessed freedom from all evil. 2. It implies a glorious fruition of all good. (1.) Immediate communion with God, who is the inexhausted sea of all happiness. (2.) A visible beholding the glorified body of Jesus Christ. (3.) A glorious vision of saints and angels. (4.) Dignity and honor, the crown and white robes. (5.) A blessed rest.

Quest. 2. What are the properties or qualifications of the Kingdom of Heaven?

Resp. 1. The glory of this kingdom is solid and substantial; the Hebrew word for glory, [in non-Latin alphabet], signifies a weight, to show how solid and weighty the glory of the celestial kingdom is: the glory of the worldly kingdom is airy and imaginary; like a blazing comet, or fancy: Acts 25:23 — Agrippa and Bernice came with a great pomp, [in non-Latin alphabet] with a great fancy. Job 26:7 — the earth hangs like a ball in the air without anything to uphold it: the glory of the heavenly kingdom is substantial, it has twelve foundations (Revelation 21:14). That which God and angels count glory, is true glory.

2. The glory of this kingdom is satisfying (Psalm 36:9). With you is the fountain of life. How can they choose but be full, who are at the fountain head? Psalm 17:15 — When I awake I shall be satisfied with your likeness, that is, when I awake in the morning of the resurrection, having some of the beams of your glory shining in me, I shall be satisfied. Job 28:14 — the creature says concerning satisfaction, it is not in me: if we go for happiness to the creature, we go to the wrong place; only Heaven's glory is commensurate to the vast desires of an immortal soul: a Christian bathing himself in these rivers of pleasure, cries out in a divine ecstasy, I have enough: the soul is never satisfied till it has God for its portion, and Heaven for its haven; dissatisfaction arises from some defect, but God is an infinite good, and there can be no defect in that which is infinite.

3. The glory of Heaven's kingdom is pure and unmixed; the streams of Paradise are not muddied, omnia clara, omnia jucunda; there that gold has no alloy; no bitter ingredient in that glory, but pure as the honey drops from the comb; there is a rose grows without prickles, the Rose of Sharon; there is ease without pain; honor without disgrace; life without death.

4. The glory of this kingdom is constantly exhilarating and refreshing; there's fullness but no surfeit. Worldly comforts though sweet, yet in time grow stale: a down-bed pleases a while, but within a while we are weary and would rise. Too much pleasure is a pain: but the glory of Heaven does never surfeit or nauseate; the reason is, because as there are all rarities imaginable, so every moment fresh delights spring from God into the glorified soul.

5. The glory of this kingdom is distributed to every individual saint: In an earthly kingdom the crown goes but to one, a crown will fit but one head; but in that kingdom above, the crown goes to all (Revelation 1:6). All elect are kings. The land is settled chiefly upon the heir, and the rest are ill provided for: But in the kingdom of heaven all the saints are heirs (Romans 8:17). Heirs of God, and co-heirs with Christ. God has land enough to give to all his heirs.

6. Lucid and transparent. This kingdom of heaven is adorned and bespangled with light (1 Timothy 6:16). Light is the glory of the creation (Ecclesiastes 11:7). The light is sweet: Hell is a dark dungeon (Matthew 22:13). Fire but no light. The kingdom of heaven is a Diaphanum, all embroidered with light, clear as crystal. How can there want light where Christ the Sun of Righteousness displays his golden beams (Revelation 21:23)? The glory of the Lord did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.

7. The glory of this kingdom is adequate and proportionable to the desire of the soul; In creature-fruitions, that which does commend them and set them off to us is suitableness: The content of marriage does not lie either in beauty or portion, but the suitableness of disposition. The excellency of a feast is when the meat is suited to the palate: This is one ingredient in the glory of heaven, it exactly suits the desires of the glorified saints; we shall not say in heaven, Here is a dish I do not love! There shall be music that suits the ear, the anthems of angels; and food that suits with the glorified palate, the hidden manna of God's love.

8. The glory of this kingdom will be seasonable; the seasonableness of a mercy adds to the beauty and sweetness; it is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. After a hard winter in this cold climate, will it not be seasonable to have the spring flowers of glory appear, and the singing of the birds of paradise come? When we have been wearied and even tired out in battle with sin and Satan, will not a crown be seasonable?

3. Question: In what way does the kingdom of heaven infinitely excel all the kingdoms of the earth?

Response 1. It excels in the architect: Other kingdoms have men to raise their structures, but God himself laid the first stone in this kingdom (Hebrews 11:10). This kingdom is of the greatest antiquity; God was the first king, and founder of it; no angel was worthy to lay a stone in this building.

2. This heavenly kingdom excels in altitude; it is higher situated than any kingdom; the higher any thing is, the more excellent: The fire being the most sublime element is most noble. The kingdom of heaven is seated above all the visible orbs: There is first the aery heaven, which is the space from the earth to the sphere of the moon. 2. The starry heaven, the place where are the planets of a higher elevation, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars. 3. The Caelum Empyraeum, the Empyrean heaven, which Paul calls the third heaven: [reconstructed: Where] Christ is, there is the kingdom of glory situated. This kingdom is so high, that no scaling ladders of enemies can reach it; so high that the old serpent can't shoot up his fiery darts to it. If wicked men could build their nests among the stars, yet the least believer would shortly be above them.

3. The kingdom of heaven excels all other in splendor and riches; it is described by precious stones (Revelation 21:19). What are all the rarities of the earth to this kingdom? Coasts of pearl? Rocks of diamonds? Islands of spices? What are the wonders of the world to it? The Egyptian pyramids? The temple of Diana? The pillar of the sun offered to Jupiter? What a rich kingdom is that where God will lay out all his cost? Those who are poor in the world, yet as soon as they come into this kingdom, grow rich, as rich as the angels: Other kingdoms are enriched with gold, this is enriched with the Deity.

4. The kingdom of heaven excels all other kingdoms in holiness: Kingdoms on earth are for the most part unholy; there's a common shore of luxury and uncleanness running in them: Kingdoms are stages for sin to be acted on (Isaiah 28:8). All tables are full of vomit: But the kingdom of heaven is so holy that it will not mix with any corruption (Revelation 21:27). There shall enter into it nothing that defiles. It is so pure a soil, that no serpent of sin will breed there: There is beauty which is not stained with lust; and honor which is not swelled with pride: Holiness is the brightest jewel of the crown of heaven.

5. The kingdom of heaven excels all other kingdoms in its pacific nature; it is Regnum Pacis, a kingdom of peace. Peace is the glory of a kingdom; Pax una Triumphis innumeris melior. A king's crown is more adorned with the white lily of peace, than when it is beset with the red roses of a bloody war; but where shall we find an uninterrupted peace upon earth? Either home-bred divisions, or foreign invasions (2 Chronicles 15:5). There was no peace to him that went out, or to him that came in. But the kingdom of heaven is a kingdom of peace; there are no enemies to conflict with; all Christ's enemies shall be under his feet (Psalms 110:1). The gates of that kingdom always stand open (Revelation 21:25). The gates shall not be shut at all; to show, that there's no fear of an assault of an enemy; the saints when they die are said to enter into peace (Isaiah 57:2). There's no beating of drums, or roaring of cannons, but the voice of harpers harping in token of peace (Revelation 14:2). In heaven righteousness and peace kiss each other.

6. The kingdom of heaven excels in magnitude; it is of vast dimensions; though the gate of the kingdom be strait, we must pass into it through the strait gate of mortification; yet when once we are in it is very large; though there be an innumerable company of saints and angels, yet there is room enough for them: The kingdom of heaven may be called by the name of that well (Genesis 26:22). Jacob called the name of it Rehoboth, for he said, now the Lord has made room for us. You who are now confined to a small cottage, when you come into the celestial kingdom you shall not be straitened for room: As every star has a large orb to move in; so it shall be with the saints when they shall shine as stars in the kingdom of heaven.

7. The kingdom of heaven excels in unity; all the inhabitants agree together in love: love will be the perfume and music of heaven; as love to God will be intense, so to the saints: perfect love as it casts out fear, so it casts out envy and discord. Those Christians who could not live quietly together on earth, (which was the blemish of their profession) yet in the kingdom of heaven the fire of strife shall cease; there shall be no vilifying, or censuring one another, or raking into one another's sores; but all shall be tied together with the heart-strings of love; there Luther and Suinglius are agreed; Satan cannot put in his cloven foot there to make divisions; there shall be perfect harmony and concord, and not one jarring string in the saints' music: It were worth dying to be in that kingdom.

8. This kingdom exceeds all earthly in joy and pleasure; therefore it is called Paradise (2 Corinthians 12:4) for delight: There are all things to cause pleasure; there is the water of life pure as crystal; there's the honeycomb of God's love dropping: 'Tis called, entering into the joy of our Lord (Matthew 25:23). There are two things cause joy;

(1.) Separation from sin: sin creates sorrow; but when this viper of sin shall be shaken off, then joy follows; there can be no more sorrow in heaven than there is joy in Hell.

(2.) Perfect union with Christ: Joy, as Aristotle says, flows from union with the object. When our union with Christ shall be perfect, then our joy shall be full; if the joy of faith be so great (1 Peter 1:8) then what will the joy of sight be: Joseph gave his brothers provision for the way, but the full sacks of corn were kept till they came at their father's house: God gives the saints a taste of joy here, but the full sacks are kept till they come to heaven; not only the organic parts, the outward senses, the eye, ear, taste shall be filled with joy: But the heart of a glorified saint shall be filled with joy, the understanding, will, and affections are such a triangle as none can fill but the Trinity: There must needs be infinite joy where nothing is seen but beauty; nothing is tasted but love.

9. This kingdom of heaven excels all earthly in self-perfection: Other kingdoms are defective, they have not all provision within themselves, but are forced to traffic abroad to supply their wants at home; King Solomon did send to Ophir for gold (2 Chronicles 8:18). But there is no defect in the kingdom of heaven; it has all commodities of its own growth (Revelation 21:7) there is the pearl of price, the morning star, the mountains of spices, the bed of love; there are those sacred rarities with which God and angels are delighted.

10. This kingdom of heaven excels all other in honor and nobility; it does not only equal them in the ensigns of royalty, the throne and white robes; but it does far transcend them: Other kings are of the blood-royal; but they in this heavenly kingdom are born of God: Other kings converse with nobles; the saints glorified are fellow commoners with angels; they have a more noble crown, 'tis made of the flowers of paradise, and is a crown that fades not away (1 Peter 5:4). They sit on a better throne: King Solomon (1 Kings 10:18) sat on a throne of ivory overlaid with gold; but the saints are in heaven higher advanced; they sit with Christ upon his throne (Revelation 3:21). They shall judge the princes and great ones of the earth (1 Corinthians 6:2). This honor have all the saints glorified.

11. This kingdom of heaven excels all others in healthfulness: Death is a worm that is ever feeding at the root of our gourd; kingdoms are often hospitals of sick persons: But the kingdom of heaven is a most healthful climate; physicians there are out of date; no distemper there; no passing bell, or bill of mortality (Luke 20:36) neither can they die any more; in the heavenly climate are no ill vapors to breed diseases; but a sweet aromatical smell coming from Christ; all his garments smell of Myrrh, Aloes, and Cassia.

12. This kingdom of heaven excels in duration, it abides forever: Suppose earthly kingdoms to be more glorious than they are, their foundations of gold, their walls of pearl, their windows of sapphire; yet they are corruptible and fading; (Hosea 1:4) I will cause the kingdom to cease: Troy and Athens now lie buried in their ruins, jam Seges est ubi Troja fuit. Mortality is the disgrace of all earthly kingdoms; but the kingdom of heaven has eternity written upon it; it is an everlasting kingdom (2 Peter 1:11). 'Tis founded upon a strong basis, God's omnipotence; this kingdom the saints shall never be turned out of, or be deposed from their throne, as some kings have been, namely, Henry 6, etc. But shall reign, [illegible], forever and ever (Revelation 22:5).

How should all this affect our hearts? What should we mind but this kingdom of heaven, which does more outshine all the kingdoms of the earth, than the sun outshines the light of a taper?

4. Question. When this kingdom shall be bestowed?

Answer. This glory in the kingdom of heaven shall be begun at death, but not perfected till the Resurrection.

1. The saints shall enter upon the kingdom of glory immediately after death, before their bodies are buried their souls shall be crowned, (Philippians 1:23) having a desire [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉], to depart and be with Christ; from this connection — departing and being with Christ — we see clearly that there is a subitus transitus, a speedy passage from death to glory: no sooner is the soul of a believer divorced from the body, but it presently goes to Christ, (2 Corinthians 5:8) absent from the body, present with the Lord; it were better for believers to stay here, if immediately after death they were not with Christ in glory; for here the saints are daily increasing their grace; here they have many praelibamina, sweet tastes of God's love, so that it were better to stay here if their soul should sleep in their body, and they should not have a speedy sight of God in glory: But this is the consolation of believers, they shall not stay long for their kingdom; it is but winking and they shall see God; it will be a blessed change to a believer; from a desert to a paradise, from a bloody battle to a victorious crown, and a sudden change; no sooner did Lazarus die but he had a convoy of angels to conduct his soul to the kingdom of glory. You who now are full of bodily diseases, scarce a well day, (Psalm 31:10) My life is spent with grief; be of good comfort, you may be happy before you are aware, before another week or month be over you may be in the kingdom of glory, and then all tears shall be wiped away.

2. The glory in the kingdom of heaven will be fully perfected at the resurrection and general day of judgment; then the bodies and souls of believers will be re-united; what joy will there be at the reunion and meeting together of the soul and body of a saint! O what a welcome will the soul give to the body! O my dear body, you did often join with me in prayer, and now you shall join with me in praise, you were willing to suffer with me, and now you shall reign with me, you were sown a vile body, but now you are made like Christ's glorious body, we were once for a time divorced, but now we are married and crowned together in a kingdom and shall mutually congratulate each other's felicity.

5. Question: Where does the certainty and infallibility of this kingdom of glory appear?

Response: That this blessed kingdom shall be bestowed on the saints is beyond all dispute.

1. God has promised it, (Luke 12:32) it is your Father's good pleasure to give you a kingdom, (Luke 22:29) I appoint to you a kingdom, Greek [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉], I bequeath it as my last will and testament: has God promised a kingdom, and will he not make it good? God's promise is better than any bond, (Titus 1:2) in hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, has promised. The whole earth hangs upon the word of God's power; and cannot our faith hang upon the word of his promise?

2. There is a price laid down for this kingdom; heaven is not only a kingdom which God has promised, but which Christ has purchased: it is called a purchased possession, (Ephesians 1:14) though this kingdom is given to us freely, yet Christ bought it with the price of his blood; Christ's blood is a heaven-procuring blood; (Hebrews 10:19) having boldness to enter into the holiest (that is, into heaven) by the blood of Jesus. Crux Christi Clavis Paradisi — Christ's blood is the key that opens the gates of heaven to us; should not the saints have this kingdom, then Christ would lose his purchase: Christ on the cross was in hard travail, (Isaiah 13:11) he labored to bring forth salvation to the elect; should not they possess the kingdom when they die, Christ should lose his travail, all his pangs and agonies of soul upon the cross should be in vain.

3. Christ prays that the saints may have this kingdom settled upon them, (John 17:24) Father I will that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am, that is, in heaven. This is Christ's prayer that the saints may be with him in his kingdom, and be bespangled with some of the beams of his glory; now if they should not go into this heavenly kingdom, then Christ's prayer would be frustrated; but that cannot be, for he is God's favorite, (John 11:42) I know you hear me always; and besides what Christ prays for, he has power to give: Observe the manner of Christ's prayer, Father, I will; Father — there he prays as man, I will — there he gives as God.

4. The saints must have this blessed kingdom by virtue of Christ's ascension, (John 20:17) I ascend to my Father, and your Father, to my God, and to your God. Where lies the comfort of this? Here it lies: Jesus Christ ascended to take possession of heaven for all believers as a husband takes up land in another country on behalf of his wife, so Christ went to take possession of heaven on behalf of all believers, (John 14:2) I go to prepare a place for you: my ascension is to make all things ready against your coming: I go to prepare the heavenly mansions for you: the flesh that Christ has taken into heaven is a sure pledge that all our flesh and bodies shall be where he is before long. Christ did not ascend to heaven as a private person, but as a public person for the good of all believers: his ascension was a certain forerunner of the saints ascending into heaven.

5. The elect must have this blessed kingdom, in regard of the previous works of the Spirit in their hearts; they have the beginning of the kingdom of heaven in them here; Grace is heaven begun in the soul, besides God gives them primitias spiritus, the first fruits of the Spirit (Romans 8:23). These first-fruits are the comforts of the Spirit; the first-fruits under the Law were a certain sign to the Jews of the full crop or vintage which they should after receive: The first-fruits of the Spirit consisting in joy and peace, do assure the Saints of the full vintage of glory they shall be ever reaping in the kingdom of God; and the Saints in this life are said to have the earnest of the Spirit in their hearts (2 Corinthians 5:5). As an earnest is part of payment, and an assurance of payment in full to be made in due time, so God's Spirit in the hearts of believers giving them his comforts, bestows on them an earnest or taste of glory, which does further assure them of that full reward which they shall have in the kingdom of heaven (1 Peter 1:8). Believing, you rejoice, there is the earnest of heaven; Verse 9, receiving the end of your faith, salvation, there is the full payment.

6. The elect must have this blessed kingdom by virtue of their coalition and union with Jesus Christ. They are members of Christ, therefore they must be where their Head is. Indeed, the Arminians hold that a justified person may fall from grace, and so his union with Christ may be dissolved, and the kingdom lost; but I would demand of them, can Christ lose a member of his body? Then he is not perfect; and if Christ may lose one member of his body, why not as well all by the same reason? And so he shall be a head without a body, but be assured a believer's union with Christ cannot be broken, and so long he cannot be hindered of the kingdom (John 17:12). What was said of Christ's natural body is as true of his mystical body (John 10:39): A bone of him shall not be broken. Look how every bone and limb of Christ's natural body was raised up out of the grave, and carried into heaven, so shall every member of his mystical body be carried up into glory.

7. We read of some who have been translated into this kingdom; Paul had a sight of it, for he was caught up into the third heaven (2 Corinthians 12), and the converted thief on the cross was translated into glory (Luke 23:43). This day you shall be with me in Paradise. By all that has been said it is most evident, that believers have a glorious kingdom laid up for them in reversion, and that they shall go to this kingdom when they die. There are none who doubt of the certainty of the heavenly kingdom, but such as doubt of the verity of Scripture.

6. Question: Why we should so earnestly pray for this heavenly kingdom, Your kingdom come.

Answer 1. Because it is a kingdom worth praying for, it exceeds the glory of all earthly kingdoms; it has gates of pearl (Revelation 21:21). We have heard of a cabinet of pearl, but when did we hear of gates of pearl? In that kingdom is the bed of love, the mountains of spices, there are the [reconstructed: Cherubim] not to keep us out, but to welcome us into the kingdom. Heaven is a kingdom worth praying for; there's nothing wanting in that kingdom which may complete the Saints' happiness. For wherein does happiness consist? Is it in knowledge? We shall know as we are known. Is it in dainty fare? We shall be at the Marriage-Supper of the Lamb. Is it in rich apparel? We shall be clothed in long white robes. Is it in delicious music? We shall hear the choir of angels singing. Is it in dominion? We shall reign as kings, and judge angels. Is it in pleasure? We shall enter into the joy of our Lord. Sure then this kingdom is worth praying for, Your kingdom come. Would God give us a vision of heaven a while, as he did Stephen, who saw heaven opened (Acts 7:56), we should fall into a trance, and being a little recovered out of it, how importunately would we put up this petition, Your kingdom come.

2. We must pray for this kingdom of glory, because God will not bestow this kingdom on any without prayer (Romans 2:7). They who seek for glory and immortality; and how do we seek but by prayer? God has promised a kingdom, and we must by prayer put the bond in suit; God is not so lavish as to throw away a kingdom on them who do not ask it. And certainly if Christ himself who had merited glory, did yet pray for it (John 17:5), "Now O Father, glorify me with your own self," how much more ought we to pray for the excellent glory, who have this kingdom granted as a charter of God's mere grace and favor.

3. We must pray that the kingdom of glory may come, that by going into it we may make an end of sinning. I think sometimes what a blessed time it will be never to have a sinful thought more; though we must not pray, Your kingdom come, out of discontent, because we would be rid of the troubles and crosses of this life. This was Jonah's fault, he would die in a pet, because God took away his gourd, Lord, says he, take away my life too (Jonah 4:8). But we must pray, Your kingdom come, out of a holy design that the fetters of corruption may be pulled off, and we may be as the angels, those virgin spirits who never sin. This made the Church pray (Revelation 22:20): Veni Domine Jesu.

4. Because all Christ's enemies shall be put under his feet; the Devil shall have no more power to tempt, nor wicked men to persecute; the Antichristian hierarchy shall be pulled down, and Zion's glory shall shine as a lamp; and the Turkish strength shall be broken.

5. We must pray earnestly that the kingdom of glory may come, that we may see God face to face, and have an [reconstructed: uninterrupted] and eternal communion with him in the Empyrean Heaven. Moses desired but a glimpse of God's glory (Exodus 33:18); how then should we pray to see him in all his embroidered robes of glory, when he shall shine ten thousand times brighter than the sun in its meridian splendor. Here in this life we do rather desire God than enjoy him; how earnestly therefore should we pray, Your Kingdom of glory come. The beholding and enjoying God will be the diamond in the ring, the very quintessence of glory. And must we pray, Your Kingdom come; how then are they ever like to come to heaven who never pray for it? Though God gives some profane persons daily bread who never pray for it, yet he will not give them a kingdom who never pray for it. God may feed them, but he will never crown them.