bracing his Son, and hearkening to him: God cries to thee "from the clouds, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear thou him," Matt. xvii. 5. Be not any longer rebellious, but submit thyself to him, that thou mayest be saved.

But children of your Father, who is in heaven, who see with so much sorrow the perversity of your will, and your wicked inclinations, and have so great a desire to do the will of your Father, let it be your frequent and hearty prayer, that the will of God may be done by you, and therefore,

1 Know and acknowledge with pleasure his lawgiving power. Unite in heart with the church, when she saith, Isaiah xxxiii. 22, "The Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king, he will save us." Is not he the supreme Lord, who hath a right to command that which is holy, just and good? Is not he your Father, to whom it appertaineth to enjoin that which is good on his children? Are not ye subject to him in every respect? Let your souls then be ready to receive the law from his mouth, and "to hear when he speaks," like young Samuel, 1 Sam. iii. 10, and to approve of his will with Paul, who said, Rom. vii. 12, "The law is holy, and the commandment is holy, just and good."

2. Stir up your desire to do his will, and declare it to him. Your Father beholds with pleasure the readiness of your mind: "For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted," saith the apostle, 2 Cor. viii. 12. David declared in this manner his desire to do the will of the Lord, Psalm cxix. 35, "Make me to go in the path of thy commandments, for therein do I delight." Your Redeemer, whom ye ought to imitate, said to his Father, Psalm xl. 8. "I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.” We shall not indeed otherwise pray heartily: a strong delight and desire adds strength and wings to prayer, so that it penetrates to the throne of God, yea, even into his affections.

3. Have and retain a deep sense of your inability to do the will of God. Although ye are regenerated and are new creatures, and pos sess thus new abilities, there remains still, beside orher deficiencies,' a great impotency in you. How great soever your strength may be through your eminent increase in the spiritual life, ye will never theless while here "know only in part," according to 1 Cor. xiii. 9. Yea, though ye were perfect, and not guilty of any iniquity, ye would still not be gods, but creatures, dependent on God, and able to do his will only through his influence. We must therefore have a lively apprehension of our inability: the Saviour impressed this on his believing apostles, when he said, John xv. 15. "Without

me ye can do nothing." When we have even a great desire to do the will of God, and think that this will preserve us from stumbling, we are then near to our fall. The example of Peter, Matt. xxvi. 33-35. 69-74, ought to keep us humble, and cause us to see, that like David we are ready to hait." Psalm xxxviii. 17. Such a discovery of our inability, accompanied with a desire to do the will of God, causes the soul to cry for help, and to say with Jehoshaphat 2 Chron. xx. 12, "We have no might against this company that cometh against us: neither know we what to do, but cur eyes are upon thee."

4. We are never able, either to do the will of God, or to pray that God would enable us to do it, as long as we cleave to our own will. And therefore the Christian ought to deny his own will, and to renounce it: it is evil to will our own judgment, profit, pleasure and honour; and the will of God alone is good: and therefore the will of God ought to be our will, and our will ought to be lost in God's will, so that we willed nothing but what God willeth, and because he wills it. We have seen before how the Saviour himself. and others denied their own will. Believers, "ye are not your own, but God's, in body and in spirit," 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20. For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore or die, we are the Lord's," Rom. xiv. 7, 8. The Christian should "die" then to all that is his own, that "his life may be hidden with Christ in God, and that whatsoever he doth, he may do it heartily, as to the Lord," according to the words of Paul, Col. iii. 3, 23.

5. Have ye a desire to do the will of the Lord, endeavour to ob tain a knowledge of it in every respect. "Wherefore be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is," Eph. v. 17. In every situation" prove what is that good, and acceptable, and per fect will of God," Rom. xii. 2. Give heed to the word, in which the Lord discovers his will; attend much to your conscience, in which God hath written his law, as David attended to it, Psalm xxvii. 8. Make frequent use of Christ, whose name is "Counsel lor," Isaiah ix. 5, and call often on the Lord, "to teach you his way, that ye may walk in his truth," like David, Psalm 1xxxvi. 11. 6. Pray much and earnestly, that he would cause you to do his will. See how David, the man after God's heart, who did all the will of God, prayed repeatedly to God for this, Psalm xxv. lxxxvi. exix. cxliii. Ye also have liberty to do this: Jesus directs you to his Father, he hath even obtained for you, that ye should do the will

It

of God: he is made of God sanctification to you, 1 Cor. i. 30. behooves you therefore to pray for it perseveringly at the throne, with a steadfast confidence.

7. Do then your Father's will. He excites you frequently, and strengthens you with might in your soul upon your praying. Attend therefore to his operations, and "run after him, when he draws you." Song i. 4. But aim at a manly holiness; yea, with Paul "follow after perfection," Philip. iii. 12-14. Eye the illustrious examples of the citizens of heaven, yea, endeavour to "be followers of God, as dear children," Eph. v. 1," to be perfect, as your Father who is in heaven is perfect," Mat. v. 48.

Is it your desire to do and pray thus according to the will of God, assure yourselves then that "ye pray according to his will, and Do afflictions betide you, they are shall be heard," 1 John v. 14. according to the will of God, and "ye may safely commit your souls to him in wel doing," and they will not be so grievous to you : they will assuredly one time or other cease; since ye will be established with, and among, and like the angels, that ye may, being without spot or wrinkle, do his will perfectly: "May the Lord fill you with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom, and spiritual understanding; that ye may walk worthily of the Lord to all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God." Amen.

THE

FOURTH PETITION

EXPLAINED.

L. LORD'S DAY

Mat. vi. 11. Give us this day our daily bread.

Q. 125. Which is the fourth petition?

A. "Give us this day our daily bread; that is, be pleased to provide us with all things necessary for the body, that we may thereby acknowledge thee to be the only fountain of all good, and that neither our care nor industry, nor even thy gifts can profit us without thy blessing; and therefore that we may withdraw our trust from all creatures, and place it alone in thee.

IT

T was a reasonable exhortation of the apostle to the believing Corinthians, "Whether ye eat, or whether ye drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God," 1 Cor. x. 31. It is certain, that the Lord hath made all things for himself," as the wisest of kings speaks, Prov. xvi. 4. There is nothing, that doth not in its particular way praise the Lord, all his creatures, yea, even the least, bear witness to his glory: but "he hath formed his people" especially

"that they should show forth his praise," Isaiah xliii. 21. Hear how David speaks, he saith, Psalm cxlv. 10, “All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord, and thy saints shall bless thee." Great and inconceivable is the favour which he showeth to those whom he loves; he hath made them his children, his subjects, yea, kings, that they may do only his will, and conduct themselves to his glory: Peter saith to them, "Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light," 1 Pet. ii. 9., These glorious favours affect their hearts so, that they sometimes, through ignorance, consider it as too ignoble an employment to meditate on inferior things, even benefits which relate to the body. But as the Lord doth all things, and therefore provides them also with their bodily necessaries, for his own sake, it is therefore his will, that they should praise and glorify him also in eating and drinking. If the Lord could sustain Moses, Elijah and Jesus many days without meat and drink, he could also sustain all his children immediately without food; but it doth not please him to do this, but it is his will, that they should depend on him continually, that they may seek of him renewedly that which is necessary for their support, and may have repeatedly new matter for glorifying him in eating and drinking.

This is the reason why the Lord Jesus teacheth the children of God to pray every day for their daily bread, as a mean whereby they may hallow their Father's name. For he prescribes as means to promote the hallowing of the name of the Lord the following petitions, as well those for obtaining that which is good, as those for deprecating evil, to wit, the two last petitions. The petitions, which serve as means to obtain that which is good, relate either to spiritual good, as the coming of God's kingdom, and the doing of God's will, mentioned in the second and third petition; or they relate to temporal good, even our daily bread, mentioned in this fourth petition, that we may partake of it to his honour. Thus the instructor also explains this petition, when he saith, "That we may thereby ac knowledge thee to be the only fountain of all good," &c.

Three particulars offer themselves to our consideration here: I. The subject concerning which we pray, "Our daily bread," II. That which we request with respect to it, "That God would give it us this day," and

III. Why we must pray thus.

I. Because the word bread sometimes denotes the spiritual food of the soul, to wit, Christ, who calls himself "the bread of life,"

VOL. II.

3 K