‘OUR FATHER WHICH ART IN HEAVEN’

Having gone over the chief grounds and fundamentals of religion, and enlarged upon the decalogue, or ten commandments, I shall speak now upon the Lord’s prayer. ‘After this manner therefore pray ye, Our Father which art in heaven hallowed,’ etc.— Matthew 6:9.

In this Scripture are two things observable:the introduction to the prayer, and the prayer itself The introduction to the Lord’s prayer is, ‘After this manner pray ye.’ Our Lord Jesus, in these words, gave to his disciples and to 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 prescribed Moses a pattern of the tabernacle ( Exodus 25:9), so Christ has here prescribed us a pattern of prayer. ‘After this manner pray ye,’ 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 [We ought to examine our prayers by this rule]. Calvin. Not that we are tied to the words of the Lord’s prayer. Christ says not, ‘After these words, pray ye;’ but ‘After this manner:’ that is, let all your petitions agree and symbolise with the things contained in the Lord’s prayer; and well may we make all our prayers consonant and agreeable to this prayer. Tertullian calls it, Breviarium totius evangelii, ‘a breviary and compendium of the gospel,’ it is like a heap of massive gold. The exactness of this prayer appears in the dignity of the Author. A piece of work has commendation from its artifices, and this prayer has commendation from its 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 vex hominem sonat, est Deus [The voice is not that of a man, but that of God]. The exactness of the prayer appears in the excellence of the matter. It is ‘as silver tried in a furnace, purified seven times.’ Psalm 12:6. Never was prayer so admirably and curiously composed as this. As Solomon’s Song, for its excellence is called the ‘Song of songs,’ so may this be well called the ‘Prayer of prayers’. The matter of it is admirable, 1 . For its comprehensiveness. It is short and pithy, Multum in parvo, a great deal said in a few words. It requires most art to draw the two globes curiously in a little map. This short prayer is a system or body of divinity. 2 . For its clearness. It is plain and intelligible to every capacity.

Clearness is the grace of speech. 3 . For its completeness. It contains 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 arising from framing our petitions suitably to this prayer. Hereby error in prayer is prevented. It is not easy to write wrong after this copy; we cannot easily err when we have our pattern before us. Hereby mercies requested are obtained; for the apostle assures us that God will hear us when we pray ‘according to his will.’ John 5:14. And sure we pray according to his will when we pray according to the pattern he has set us. So much for the introduction to the Lord’s prayer, ‘After this manner pray ye.’

The prayer itself consists of three parts. 1 . A Preface. 2 . Petitions. 3 . The Conclusion.

THE PREFACE TO THE PRAYER INCLUDES, ‘OUR FATHER;’ AND, ‘WHICH ART IN HEAVEN.’

I. The first part of the preface is ‘Our Father.’ Father is sometimes taken personally, ‘My Father is greater than I’ ( John 14:28); but Father in the text is taken essentially for the whole Deity. This title, Father, teaches us that we must address ourselves in prayer to God alone. There is no such thing in the Lord’s prayer, as, ‘O ye saints or angels that are in heaven, hear us’; but, ‘Our Father which art in heaven.’

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

Though the Father only be named in the Lord’s prayer, yet the other two Persons are not 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 Person, we must pray to all. To come 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. That he might encourage us to pray to him, he represents himself under the sweet notion of a Father. ‘Our Father.’ Dulce nomen Patris [Sweet is the name of Father]. The name Jehovah carries majesty in it:the name Father carries mercy in it.

IN WHAT SENSE IS GOD A FATHER?

(1) By creation; it is he that has made us:‘We are also his offspring.’ Acts 17:28. ‘Have we not all one Father?’ Malachi 2:10. Has not one God created us? But there is little comfort in this; for God is Father in the same way 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, upon whom he will entail heaven. ‘He has chosen us in him.’ Ephesians 1:4.

(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 art in heaven.’

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

He is the Father of Christ in a more glorious and transcendent manner.

Christ has the primogeniture; he is the eldest Son, a Son by eternal generation; ‘I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.’ Proverbs 8:23. ‘Who shall declare his generation?’ Isaiah 53:8. Christ is a Son to the Father, 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, ‘That we might receive the adoption of sons. Galatians 4:5.

WHAT IS THAT WHICH MAKES GOD OUR FATHER?

Faith. ‘Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.’ Galatians 3:26. An unbeliever may call God his Creator, and his Judge, but not his Father. Faith legitimises us, and makes us of the blood-royal of heaven. ‘Ye 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 can.

HOW DOES FAITH MAKE GOD TO BE OUR FATHER?

As it 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, and so God comes to be our Father. Hebrews 2:11.

WHEREIN DOES IT APPEAR THAT GOD IS THE BEST FATHER?

(1) In that he is most ancient. ‘The Ancient of days did sit.’ Daniel 7:9.

A figurative representation of God, who was before all time, which may cause veneration.

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

(3) God is the best Father in respect of wisdom. ‘The only wise God.’ Timothy 1:17. 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, one branch of his wisdom is, 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 what comfort is best for us:he keeps his cordials for fainting. ‘God that comforteth those that are cast down.’ 2 Corinthians 7:6. He knows when affliction is best for us, and when it is fit to give a bitter potion. ‘If need be ye are in heaviness.’ 1 Peter 1:6.

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 the most loving. ‘God is love.’ 1 John 4:16. He who causes bowels of affection in others, must needs have more bowels himself; quod efficit tale [for he accomplishes the same]. 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. ‘He will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love; he will joy over thee with singing.’ Zephaniah 3:17.

No father like God for love; if thou art his child thou canst not love thy own soul so entirely as he loves thee.

(5) He is the best Father, for riches. He 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. He has treasures that cannot be exhausted, gates of pearl, pleasures that cannot be ended. If earthly fathers should be ever giving, they would have nothing left to give; but God is ever giving to his children, and yet has not the less. His riches are imparted not impaired; like the sun that still shines, and yet has not less light. He cannot be poor who is infinite. Thus he 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. When his son takes bad courses, a father 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 praying. ‘Behold, he prayeth.’ Acts 9:11. None of those who belong to the election are so roughcast 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. ‘Who only has immortality.’ 1 Timothy 6:16. Earthly fathers die, and their children are exposed to many injuries, but God lives for ever. ‘I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending.’ Revelation 1:8.

God’s crown has no successors.

WHEREIN LIES THE DIGNITY OF THOSE WHO HAVE GOD FOR THEIR FATHER?

(1) They have greater honor than is conferred on the princes of the earth; they are precious in God’s esteem. ‘Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable.’ Isaiah 43:4.

The wicked are dross ( <19B9119> 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. ‘Whose names are in the book of life.’ Philippians 4:3. Among the Romans the names of their senators were written down in a book, patres conscripti [the enrolled fathers]. God enrols the names of his children, and will not blot them out of the register. ‘I will not blot his name out of the book of life.’ Revelation 3:5. God will not be ashamed of his children. ‘God is not ashamed to be called their God.’ Hebrews 11:16. One might think it were something below God to father such children as are dust and sin mingled; but he is not ashamed to be called our God. That we may see he is not ashamed of his children, he writes his own name upon them. ‘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. Revelation 3:12. What an honor and dignity is this!

(2) God confers honorable titles upon his children. He calls them the excellent of the earth, or the magnificent, as Junius renders it. Psalm 16:3. They must needs be excellent who are O 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. ‘Israel, my glory.’ Isaiah 46:13. He honors his people with the title of kings. ‘And has made us kings.’ Revelation 1:6. All God’s children are kings, though they have not earthly kingdoms. They carry a kingdom about them. ‘The kingdom of God is within you. ‘Grace is a kingdom set up in the hearts of God’s children. Luke 17:21.

They are kings to rule over their sins, to bind those kings in chains. <19E908> Psalm 149:8. They are like kings. They have their insignia regalia, their ensigns of royalty and majesty. They have their crown. In this life they are kings in disguise; they are not known, therefore they are exposed to poverty and reproach. ‘Now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be.’ 1 John 3:2.

Why, what shall we be? Every son of God shall have his crown of glory, and white robes. 1 Peter 5:4; Revelation 6:2:Robes signify dignity, and white signifies sanctity.

(3) The honor of those who have God for their Father is, that they are all heirs; the youngest son is an heir. 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, they have the best right; and with what they have they have the blessing of 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. They are heirs to the other world. ‘Heirs of salvation’ ( Hebrews 1:14); ‘Joint heirs with Christ’ ( Romans 8:17). They are co-sharers with Christ in glory. Among men the eldest son commonly carries away all; but God’s children are all - joint-heirs with Christ, they have a co-partnership with him in his riches. Has Christ a place in the celestial mansions? So have the saints. ‘In my Father’s house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you.’ John 14:2. Has he his Father’s love? So have they. ‘That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them.’ <19E608> Psalm 146:8; John 17:26. Does he 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 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, says Augustine, has ennobled and honored it above the angelic. 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 his members, and this honor have all the saints. What a comfort is this to God’s children who are here despised, and loaded with calumnies and invectives! ‘We are made as the filth of the world,’ etc. 1 Corinthians 4:13. But God will put honor upon his children at the last day, and crown them with immortal bliss, to the envy of their adversaries.

How may we know that God is our Father? All cannot say, ‘Our Father.’

The Jews boasted that God was their Father. ‘We have one Father, even God.’ John 8:41. Christ tells them their true pedigree. ‘Ye are of your father the devil;’ ver 44. They who are of Satanic 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 who art in hell.’ How then may we know that God is our Father?

(1) By having a filial disposition, which is seen in four things.

[1] To melt in tears for sin as a child weeps for offending his father When Christ looked on Peter, and Peter remembered his sin in denying him, he fell to weeping. Clemens Alexandrinus reports of Peter that he never heard a cock crow but he wept. It is a sign that God is our Father when the heart of stone is taken away, and there is a gracious thaw in the heart; and it melts into tears for sin. He who has a childlike heart, mourns for sin in a spiritual manner, as it is sin he grieves for, 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. A child of God mourns for the defilement of sin; sin has to him a blacker aspect than hell.

He who has a childlike heart, grieves for sin, as it is an act of enmity. Sin is diametrically opposed to God. It is called walking contrary to God. ‘If they shall confess their iniquity, and that they have walked contrary unto me.’ Leviticus 26:40.

It does all it can to spite God; if God be of one mind, sin will be of another; sin would not only enthrone God, but strike at his very being. If sin could help it, God would no longer be God. A childlike heart grieves for this; ‘Oh!’ say she, ‘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.

A childlike heart weeps for sin, as it is an act of ingratitude. It is an abuse of God’s love; it is taking the jewels of his 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, who soon as his Father kissed him, and took him into favor, plotted treason against him. Nothing so melts a childlike heart in tears, as sins of unkindness. Oh, 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 it evidences God to be our Father, when he has given us a childlike frame of heart, to weep for sin as it is sin, an act of pollution, enmity and ingratitude. A wicked man may mourn for the bitter fruit of sin, but only a child of God can grieve for its odious nature.

[2] A filial disposition is to be full of sympathy.

We lay to heart the dishonors reflected upon our heavenly Father. When we see his worship adulterated, and his truth mingled with the poison of error, it is as a sword in our bones, to see his glory suffer. ‘I beheld the transgressors and was grieved.’ <19B9158> Psalm 119:158. Homer describing Agamemnon’s grief when forced to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia, brings in all his friends weeping and condoling with him; so, when God is dishonored, we sympathise, 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; so 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, thou knowest that I love thee.’ But who will not say he loves God? If ours be a true genuine love to our heavenly Father, it may be known by the effects. Then we have a holy fear. There is the fear which rises from love to God, of losing the visible tokens of his presence. Eli’s ‘heart trembled for the ark.’ 1 Samuel 4:13. 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 his people. The presence of God in his ordinances is the glory and strength of a nation. The Trojans had the image of Dallas, and they had an opinion that as long as that image was preserved among them, they should never be conquered; so, as long as God’s presence is with a people they are safe. Every true child of God fears lest God should go, and the glory depart. Let us 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 should remove out of our horizon? Many are afraid lest they should lose some of their worldly profits, but not lest they should 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. ‘Woe to them when I depart from them.’ Hosea 9:12.

Love to our heavenly Father is seen by loving his day. ‘If thou call the Sabbath a delight.’ Isaiah 58:13. 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. Love to our heavenly Father is seen by loving his children. ‘Every one that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him.’ 1 John 5:1 If we love God, the more we see of him in any, the more we love them.

We love then though they are poor, as 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. ‘Onesiphorus was not ashamed of my chain.’ 2 Timothy 1:16. Constantine kissed the hole of Paphnusius’s eye, because he suffered the loss of his eye for Christ. 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 departed saints; they canonise dead saints, but persecute living ones. I may say of these, as the apostle in Hebrews 12:8:they are ‘bastards, not sons.’

If we love our heavenly Father, we shall 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 childlike heart, no love to God, who can hear his 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 will be a reproach to him to have such children as will not own him.

A childlike love to God is known by its degree. 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 supereminence of goodness and a constellation of all beauties in him, is carried out in love to him in the highest measure. As God gives his children electing love, such as he does not bestow upon the wicked, so his children give to him such love as they bestow upon none else. 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. Cant 8:2.

[4] A childlike disposition is seen in honoring our heavenly Father. ‘A son honoreth his father.’ Malachi 1:6.

We show our honor to our Father in heaven, by having a reverential awe of him upon us. ‘Thou shalt fear thy God.’ Leviticus 25:17. This reverential fear of God, is when we dare do nothing that he has forbidden in his Word. ‘How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?’ Genesis 39:9. It is part of the honor a son gives to a father, that he fears to displease him. We show our honor to our heavenly Father, by doing all we can to exalt him and make his excellencies shine forth. Though we cannot lift him up 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 him; when we are the trumpeters of his praise; this is honoring our Father in heaven, and a sure sign of a childlike heart. ‘Whose offereth praise, glorifieth me.’ <19C301> Psalm 123.

(2) We may know God is our Father by resembling him. The child is his father’s picture. ‘Each one resembled the children of a king’, every child of God resembles the king of heaven. Judges 8:18. Herein God’s adopted children and man’s differ. A man adopts one for his son and heir that does not at all resemble him; but whomsoever God adopts for his child is like him; he not only bears his heavenly Father’s name, but his image. ‘And have put on the new man, which is renewed after the image of him that created him.’ Colossians 3:10.

He who has God for his Father, resembles him in holiness, which 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 effigies of his holiness stamped upon him. ‘Aaron, the saint of the Lord.’ <19A616> Psalm 106:16. Wicked men desire to be like God hereafter in glory, but do not affect 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 are not only without 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. ‘Because ye are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father.’ Galatians 4:6.

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, et tanquam fila chordarum tangit Spiritus Dei corda sanctorum [The Holy Spirit fills his instrument, and the Spirit of God touches the hearts of the saints like the threads of harp-strings]. Prosper. ‘Behold, he prayeth.’ Acts 9:11. 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 itself is not sensible.

HOW SHALL WE KNOW OUR PRAYERS TO BE INDITED BY THE SPIRIT, AND SO HE IS OUR FATHER?

When they are not only vocal, but mental; when they are not only gifts, but groans. Romans 8:26. The best music is in concert:the best prayer is when the heart and tongue join together in concert.

When they are zealous and fervent. ‘The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.’ James 5:16.

The eyes melt in prayer, and the heart burns. Fervency is to prayer as fire to incense, which makes it ascend to heaven as a sweet perfume.

When prayer has faith mingled with it. Prayer is the key of heaven, and faith is the hand that turns it. ‘We cry, Abba, Father.’ Romans 8:15. ‘We cry,’ there is fervency in prayer; ‘Abba, Father,’ there is faith. Those prayers suffer shipwreck which dash upon the rock of unbelief. 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. ‘Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.’ Romans 12:2. 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 regeneration, there are spiritual pangs, much heartbreaking for sin. It is called a circumcision of the heart. Colossians 2:11.

In circumcision there was a pain in the flesh; so in spiritual circumcision there is pain in the heart; there is much sorrow arising from a sense of guilt and wrath. The jailor’s trembling was a pang in the new birth. Acts 16:29. God’s Spirit is a spirit of bondage before it is 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, yet it is in every part. 1 Thessalonians 5:23. Regeneration is the signature and engraving of the Holy Ghost upon the soul, the newborn Christian is bespangled with the jewels of the graces, 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 is 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 which art in heaven.’

[3] We know God is our Father by having the conduct of the Spirit.

We are led by the Spirit. ‘As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.’ Romans 8:14.

God’s Spirit does not only quicken us in our regeneration, but leads us on till we come to the end of our faith. It is not enough that the child has life, but he must be led every step by the nurse. ‘I taught Ephraim to go, taking them by their arms.’ Hosea 11:3. 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. ‘Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel.’ Psalm 73:24. None can call God Father but such as have the conduct of the Spirit. Try then what spirit you are led by. Such as are led by a spirit of envy, lust, and avarice, are not led by the Spirit of God; it were blasphemy for them to call God Father; they are led by the spirit of Satan, and may say, ‘Our father which art in hell.’

[4] By having the witness of the Spirit. ‘The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.’ Romans 8:16.

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 witnesseth: the Spirit in the word says, he who is 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, it 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, which 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; it scatters doubts and fears, and silences temptations. But what shall one do that has not this witness of the Spirit? If we want the witness of the Spirit let us labor to find the work of the Spirit; if we have not the Spirit testifying, let us labor to have it sanctifying, and that will be a support to us.

(4) If God be our Father, we are of peaceable spirits. ‘Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.’ Matthew 5:9.

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, a Spirit of peace; ‘the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.’ Ephesians 4:3. The more peaceable, the more like God. God is not the Father of those who are fierce and cruel, as if, with Romulus, they had sucked the milk of a wolf ‘The way of peace have they not known.’ Romans 3:17. They sport in mischief, and are of a persecuting spirit, as Maximinus, Diocletian, Antiochus, who, as Eusebius says, took more tedious journeys, and ran more hazards in vexing and persecuting the Jews, than any of his predecessors had done in obtaining 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. Nor can those who are makers of division. ‘Mark them which cause divisions, and avoid them.’ Romans 16:17. Such as are born of God, are makers of peace. What shall we think of such as are makers of divisions?

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 Philistine’ corn on fire. Judges 15:4.

Papists unite only to set the church’s peace on fire. Satan’s kingdom grows up by making divisions. Chrysostom observes of the church of Corinth, that 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 Apollo, but few for Christ.

Would Christ not have his coat rent, and can he endure to have his body rent? Surely, God will never father them who are not sons of peace. Of all those whom God hates, he is named for one who is a sower of discord among brethren. Proverbs 6:19.

(5) If God be our Father, we shall love to be near him, and to have converse with him. An ingenuous child delights to approach near to his father, and go into his presence. David envied the birds that built their nest near to 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 that 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 the Father of those who cannot endure to be in his presence? Use 1. For instruction. See the amazing goodness of God, that he is pleased to enter into the sweet relation of a Father to us. He needed not to adopt us, he did not want a Son, but we wanted a Father. He showed power in being our Maker, but mercy in being our Father. That when we were enemies, and our hearts stood out as garrisons against God, 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 thy sight.’ Matthew 11:26.

IF GOD BE A FATHER, THEN I INFER THAT WHATEVER HE DOES TO HIS CHILDREN, IS IN LOVE.

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

HOW DOES IT APPEAR THAT A CHILD OF GOD HAS WORLDLY THINGS IN LOVE?

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, for his Father has settled it upon him.

A child of God has worldly things in love, because they are sanctified to him. They make him better, and are loadstones to draw him nearer to God.

He has his Father’s blessing with them. A little that is blest is sweet. ‘He shall bless thy bread and thy water.’ Exodus 23:25. Esau had the venison, but Jacob got the blessing. While the wicked have their meat sauced with God’s wrath, believers have their comforts seasoned with a blessing. Psalm 78:30,31. It was a sacred blessing from God that made Daniel’s pulse nourish him more, and made him look fairer than they that ate of the king’s meat. Daniel 1:15.

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 frown, if he dip his pen in gall, and write bitter things, if he correct, it is in love. A father loves his child as well when he chastises and disciplines him, as when he settles his land on him. ‘As many as I love, I rebuke.’ Revelation 3:19. Afflictions are sharp arrows, says Gregory Nazianzen, but they are shot from the hand of a loving Father. Correctio est virtutis gymnasium [Correction is the school of character]. God afflicts with love: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, the dew falls. Yet we may see a rainbow in the cloud - the love of a Father in all this. God hereby quickens grace. Perhaps grace lay dormant. Cant 5:2. It was as fire in the embers, and God withdrew comfort to invigorate and exercise it. Faith as a star sometimes shines brightest in the dark night of desertion. Jonah 2:4. When God hides his face from his child, he is still a Father, and his heart is towards his child. As when Joseph spake roughly to his brethren, and made them believe he would take them for spies, his heart was full of love, and he was fain to go aside and weep; so God’s bowels yearn towards his children when he seems to look strange. ‘In a little wrath I hid my face from thee, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee.’ Isaiah 54:8.

Though God may have the look of an enemy, yet still he has the heart of a Father.

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. ‘Ye are of your father the devil.’ John 8:44. Such as are unclean and profane, are the spurious brood 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. ‘I never knew you:depart from me, ye that work iniquity.’ Matthew 7:23. 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 ‘It is a people of no understanding; therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them.’ Isaiah 27:11.

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. For invitation. Let all who are yet strangers to God, labor to come into this heavenly kindred; never cease till they can say, ‘Our Father which art in heaven.’

BUT WILL GOD BE A FATHER TO ME, WHO HAS PROFANED HIS NAME, AND BEEN A GREAT SINNER?

If thou wilt now at last seek God by prayer, and break off thy sins, he has the bowels of a Father for thee, and will in nowise cast thee out. When the prodigal arose and went to his father, ‘his father had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck, and kissed him.’ Luke 15:20.

Though thou hast been a prodigal, and almost spent all upon thy lusts, yet if thou wilt give a bill of divorce to thy sins, and flee to God by repentance, know that he has the bowels of a Father; he will embrace thee in the arms of his mercy, and seal thy pardon with a kiss. What though thy sins have been heinous? The wound is not so broad as the plaister of Christ’s blood. The sea covers great rocks; the sea of God’s compassion can drown thy great sins; therefore be not discouraged, go to God, resolve to cast thyself upon his Fatherly compassion. He may be entreated of thee, as he was of Manasseh. 2 Chronicles 33:13. Use 3. For comfort. Here is comfort for 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-inlaw to a king. ‘What is my father’s family, that I should be son-in-law to the king?’ 1 Samuel 18:18.

But what is it to be born of God, and have him for our Father?

WHEREIN LIES THE HAPPINESS OF HAVING GOD FOR OUR FATHER?

(1) If God be our Father, he will teach us. What father will refuse to counsel his son? Does God command parents to instruct their children, and will not he instruct his? Deuteronomy 4:10. ‘I am the Lord thy God, which teacheth thee to profit.’ Isaiah 48:17. ‘God, thou hast taught me from my youth.’ Psalm 71:17. If God be our Father, he will give us the teachings of his Spirit. ‘The natural man receiveth 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 shines; so we may read many truths in the Bible, but we cannot know them savingly, till 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 aught till God teach us. If he be our Father, he will teach us how to order our affairs with discretion ( <19B205> Psalm 112:5) and how to carry ourselves wisely. ‘David behaved himself wisely.’ 1 Samuel 18:5. He will teach us what to answer when we are brought before governors; he will put words into our mouths.

Ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake; but take no thought how or what ye shall speak; for it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.’ Matthew 10:18,19,20.

(2) If God be our Father, he has bowels of affection towards us. If it be so unnatural for a father not to love his child, can we think God can be defective in his love? All the affections of parents come from God, yet are they but a spark from his flame. He is the Father of mercies. Corinthians 1:3. He begets all the mercies and bowels in the creature; his love to his children is a love which passeth 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. Consider, God makes a precious valuation of them. ‘Since thou wast precious in my sight.’ Isaiah 43:4. A father prizes his child above his jewels. Their names are precious, for they have God’s own name written upon them. ‘I will write upon him the name of my God.’ Revelation 3:12. Their prayers are a precious perfume; their tears he bottles. Psalm 56:8. He esteems his children as a crown of glory in his hands. Isaiah 62:3. God loves the places where they were born in for their sakes. ‘Of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her’; this and that believer was born there. Psalm 87:5. He loves the ground his children tread upon; hence, Judea, the seat of his children and chosen ones, he calls a delight some land. Malachi 3:12. It was not only pleasant for situation and fruitfulness, but because his children, who were his Hephzibah, or delight, lived there. He charges the great ones of the world not to injure his children, because their persons are sacred. ‘He suffered no man to do them wrong, yea, he reproved kings for their sakes, saying, Touch not mine anointed.’ <19A514> Psalm 105:14,15.

By anointed is meant the children of the high God, who have the unction of the Spirit, and are set apart for God. He delights in their company. He loves to see their countenance, and hear their voice. Cant 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. ‘Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.’ Matthew 18:20.

He 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. He is full of solicitous care for them. ‘He cares for you.’ 1 Peter 5:7. 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. ‘He shall neither slumber nor sleep.’ <19C104> Psalm 121:4. He thinks nothing too good to part with for his children; he gives them the kidneys of the wheat, and honey out of the rock, and ‘wines 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, and the light of his countenance. Never was there such an indulgent, affectionate Father. If he has one love better than another, he bestows it upon them; they have the cream and quintessence of his love. ‘He will rejoice over thee, he will rest in his love.’ Zephaniah 3:17. He 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. ‘As a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.’ <19A313> Psalm 103:13. ‘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. If the child be deformed, or has any bodily distemper, the father pities it; so, if God be our Father, he pities our weaknesses: and he so pities them as to heal them. ‘I have seen his ways, and will heal him.’ Isaiah 57:18. As he 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; so, when the saints suffer, God sympathises. ‘In all their affliction he was afflicted.’ Isaiah 63:9. He did, as it were, bleed in their wounds. ‘Saul, Saul, why persecutes thou 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 sound; so when God’s children are stricken, his bowels sound. ‘He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his 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, he hears it. ‘My groaning is not hid from thee.’ Psalm 38:9. If but a penitential tear comes out of the eye he sees it. ‘I have seen thy tears.’ Isaiah 38:5. If there be but a good intention, he takes notice of it. ‘Whereas it was in thine heart to build an house unto my name, thou didst well that it was in thine heart.’ 1 Kings 8:18.

He punishes intentional wickedness, and crowns intentional goodness. ‘Thou didst well that it was in thine heart,’ He takes notice of the least scintilla, the least spark of grace in his children. ‘Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord.’ 1 Peter 3:6. The Holy Ghost does not mention Sara’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.’ Nay, that good which the saints scarce take notice of in themselves, God in a special manner observes. ‘I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink. Then shall the righteous answer, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred and fed thee?’ Matthew 25:35,37.

They as it were overlooked and disclaimed their own works of charity, but Christ takes notice of them - ‘I was an hungred, and ye fed me.’ What 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 which we ourselves censure he will crown. When a child of God looks over his best duties, he sees so much sin cleaving to them that he is 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. He sees there is sincerity in the hearts of his children, and this gold, though light, shall have grains of allowance. Though there may be many defects in the services of his children, he will not cast away their offering. ‘The Lord healed the people.’ 2 Chronicles 30:20. The tribes of Israel, being straitened in time, wanted some legal purifications; yet because their hearts were right God healed them and pardoned them. He 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 blotting are there in our holy things! Yet our Father in heaven accepts them. ‘It is my child,’ God says, ‘and he will do better; I will look upon him, through Christ, with a merciful eye.’

(6) If God be our Father, he will correct us in measure. ‘I will correct thee in measure.’ Jeremiah 30:11. This he will do two ways. It shall be in measure for the kind. He will not lay upon us more than we are able to bear. 1 Corinthians 10:13. He knows our frame. <19A301> Psalm 103 Id. He knows we are not steel or marble, therefore will deal gently, he will not overafflict.

As the physician, who knows the temper of the body, will not give physic too strong for the body, nor give one drachm or scruple too much, so God, who has not only the title, but the bowels of a father, will not lay too heavy burdens on his children, lest their spirits fail before him. He will correct in measure, for duration; he will not let the affliction lie too long. ‘The rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous,’ <19C503> Psalm 125:3. It may be there, but 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. ‘The smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever.’ Revelation 14:11.

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.

(7) If God be our Father, he will intermix mercy with all our afflictions. If he gives us wormwood to drink, he will mix it with honey. In the ark the rod was laid up and manna; so with our Father’s rod there is always some manna. Asher’s shoes were iron and brass, but his foot was dipped in oil. Deuteronomy 33:24,25. 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 an affliction. Jacob had his thigh hurt in wrestling; there was the affliction:but when he saw God’s face, and received a blessing from the angel, there was mercy in the affliction. Genesis 32:30. In every cloud a child of God may see a rainbow of mercy shining. As the painter mixeth dark shadows and bright colors together, so our heavenly Father mingles the dark and bright together, crosses and blessings; and is not this a great happiness, for God thus to cheques his providence, and mingle goodness with severity?

(8) If God be our Father, the evil one shall not prevail against us. Satan is called 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 shooting his fiery darts, God will bruise Satan shortly under the saints’ feet. Romans 16:20. As for his accusing, Christ is an advocate for the saints, and answers all bills of indictment brought against them. God will make all Satan’s temptations promote the good of his children.

[1] As they set them praying. 2 Corinthians 12:8. Temptation is a medicine for security.

[2] As they are a means to humble them. ‘Lest I should be exalted above measure, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan.’ 2 Corinthians 12:7. The thorn in the flesh was a temptation; it 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; so 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. ‘There shall no evil befall thee.’ Psalm 91:10. It is not said, no trouble; but, no evil. God’s children are privileged persons; they are privileged from being hurt of every thing. ‘Nothing shall by any means hurt you.’ Luke 10:19. The hurt and malignity of the affliction is taken away. Affliction to a wicked man has evil in it; it makes him worse. ‘Men were scorched with great heat and blasphemed the name of God.’ Revelation 16:9.

But no evil befalls a child of God; he is bettered by affliction. ‘That we might be made partakers of his holiness.’ Hebrews 12:10. What hurt does the furnace to the gold? It only makes it purer. What hurt does affliction to grace? Only refine and purify it. What a great privilege it is to be freed, though not from the stroke, yet from the sting of affliction! No evil shall touch a saint. When the dragon, say they, has poisoned the water, the unicorn with his horn draws out the poison. Christ has drawn the poison out of every affliction, that it cannot injure a child of God. Again, no evil befalls a child of God, because no condemnation. ‘No condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.’ Romans 8:1. God does not condemn them, nor does conscience. When both jury and judge acquit, no evil befalls the accused; for nothing is really an evil but that which damns. (10) If God be our Father, we may 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 hope with confidence to succeed. The word ‘Father’ works upon God; it toucheth his very bowels. What can a father deny his child? ‘If his 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. ‘If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?’ Luke 11:13.

This quickens the church, and adds wing to prayer. ‘Look down from heaven.’ Isaiah 63:15. ‘Doubtless thou art our Father’; ver 16. For whom does God keep his mercies but for his children? Three things may give 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 the sick child in 2 Kings 4:19:‘He said unto his father, My head, my head.’ So pour out thy 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, who hears the cry of 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. As a shield he defends the head, guards the vitals, and shields off dangers from his children. ‘I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee.’ Acts 18:10. God is a hiding-place. Psalm 27:5. He preserved Athanasius strangely; he put it into his mind to depart out of the house he was in, the night before the enemy came to search for him. As God has a breast to feed, so he has wings to cover his children. ‘He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust.’ Psalm 91:4. He appoints his holy angels to be a lifeguard about his children. Hebrews 1:14. Never was any prince so well guarded as a believer. The angels

[1] are a numerous guard. ‘The mountain was full of horses of fire round about Elisha.’ 2 Kings 6:17. ‘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 fourscore and five thousand. 2 Kings 19:35. 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. They are described with wings to show their swiftness:they fly to our help. ‘At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come.’ Daniel 9:23.

Here was 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. ‘The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him.’ Psalm 34:7. 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 to be good for us. ‘They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.’ Psalm 34:10. God is pleased sometimes to keep his children on hard commons, but it is good for them. As sheep thrive best on short pasture, so God sees too much may not be good for his people; plenty might breed surfeit. Luxuriant animi rebus secundis [In prosperity men’s characters run riot]. 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 that there was a famine in the land; it was the means of bringing him to his son Joseph; so God’s children sometimes see the world’s emptiness, that they may acquaint themselves more with Christ’s fulness. If God sees it to be good for them to have more of the world, they shall have it. He will not let them want any good thing. (13) If God be our Father, all the promises of the Bible belong to us. His children are called ‘heirs of 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 ploughman has to do with the city charter. The promises are children’s bread; they are mulctralia evangelii, the breasts of the gospel milking out consolations; and who are to suck these breasts but God’s children? The promise of pardon is for them. ‘I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned against me.’ Jeremiah 33:8.

The promise of healing is for them. Isaiah 57:19. The promise of salvation is for them. Jeremiah 23:6. The promises are the supports of faith; they are God’s sealed deed; they are a Christian’s cordial. Oh, the heavenly comforts which are distilled from the promises! 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 conquer themselves; fortior est qui se quam qui fortissima vincit moenia [he who conquers himself is stronger than he who conquers the stoutest ramparts]. The saints conquer their own lusts; they bind these princes in fetters of iron. <19E908> Psalm 149:8. Though the children of God may be sometimes foiled, and lose a single battle, yet not the victory. They conquer the world. The world holds forth her two breasts of profit and pleasure, and many are overcome by it; but the children of God have a world-conquering faith. ‘This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.’ 1 John 5:4. They conquer their enemies. How can that be, when their enemies often take away their lives? They conquer, by not complying with them; as the three children would not fall down to the golden image. Daniel 3:18. They would rather burn than bow. Thus they were conquerors. He who complies with another’s lust, is a captive; he who refuses to comply, is a conqueror.

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. God’s children are more than conquerors. ‘We are more than conquerors.’ Romans 8:37. How are they 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 token of his love. His children live far from home, and meet sometimes with coarse usage from the unkind world; therefore, to encourage them, he sends them tokens and pledges of his love. What are these? He gives them an answer to prayer, which is a token of love; he quickens and enlarges their hearts in duty, which is a token of love; he gives them the first fruits of his Spirit, which are love tokens. Romans 8:23. As he 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 his children, having received those tokens of love from him, 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. ‘I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.’ Malachi 3:17.

God’s sparing his children, imports his clemency towards them. He does not punish them as he might. ‘He has not dealt with us after our sins.’ <19A310> Psalm 103:10. We often do that which merits wrath, grieve God’s Spirit, and relapse into sin. God passes by much and spares us. He did not spare his natural Son, and yet he spares his adopted sons. Romans 8:32. He threatened Ephraim to make him as the chaff driven with the whirlwind, but he soon repented. ‘Yet I am the Lord thy God.’ Hosea 13:4. ‘I will be thy king;’ ver 10. Here God spared him, as a father spares his son. Israel often provoked God with their complaints, but he used clemency towards them; he often answered their murmurings with mercies. Thus 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 innocence of his children. His children in this life are strangely misrepresented.

They are loaded with invectives - they are called factious, seditious; as Elijah, the troubler of Israel; and Luther, the trumpet of rebellion.

Athanasius was accused to the Emperor Constantine as the raiser of tumults; and the primitive Christians were accused as infanticidii, incestus rei, ‘killers of their children, guilty of incest.’ Tertullus reported Paul to be a pestilent person. Acts 24:5. Famous Wycliffe was called the idol of the heretics, and reported to have died drunk. If Satan cannot defile God’s children, he will disgrace then; if he cannot strike his fiery darts into their consciences he will put a dead fly to their names; but God will one day clear their innocence; he will roll away their reproach. As he will make a resurrection of bodies, so of names. ‘The Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces, and the rebuke of his people shall he take away.’ Isaiah 25:8.

He will be the saints’ vindicator. ‘He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light.’ Psalm 37:6. 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 thy righteousness as the light.’ Thus God stood up for the honor of Moses when Aaron and Miriam sought to eclipse his fame. ‘Wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?’ Numbers 12:8.

So God will one day say to the wicked, ‘Wherefore were ye not afraid to defame and traduce my children? Having my image upon them, how durst you abuse my picture?’ At last his 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. ‘I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat:thirsty, and ye gave me drink:naked, and ye clothed me.’ Matthew 25:35,36.

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 a good inheritance upon us. ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, which has begotten us again unto a lively hope, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled.’ 1 Peter 1:3,4.

A father may have lost his goods, 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. ‘It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.’ Luke 12:32. This kingdom is more glorious and magnificent than any earthly kingdom; it is set out by pearls, precious stones, and the richest jewels. Revelation 21:19. What are all the rarities of the world, the coasts of pearl, the islands of spices, the rocks of diamonds, to this kingdom? In this heavenly kingdom is satisfying, unparalleled beauty, rivers of pleasure, and that for ever. ‘At thy right hand are pleasures for evermore.’ Psalm 16:2. Heaven’s eminence is its permanence; and this kingdom God’s children enter into immediately after death. There is a sudden transition and passage from death to glory. ‘Absent from the body, present with the Lord.’ 2 Corinthians 5:8. God’s children shall not wait long for their inheritance; it is but winking, and they shall see God. How should this comfort those of God’s children who 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 the kingdom.’ (19) If God be our Father, it is a comfort in case of the loss of relations.

Hast thou lost a father? If thou art a believer, thou art no orphan, thou hast a heavenly Father, a Father that never dies. ‘Who only has immortality.’ Timothy 6:16. It is comfort in case of your own death. God is thy Father, and death is but going to thy 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! It was Christ’s comfort at death that he was going to his Father. ‘I leave the world, and go to the Father.’ John 16:28. ‘I ascend unto my Father.’ John 20:17. If God be our Father, we may with comfort, at the day of death, resign our souls into his hand. Thus did Christ. ‘Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.’ Luke 23:46. 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; so the soul, which is our richest jewel, we may resign at death into God’s hands, where it will be safer than in our own keeping. ‘Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.’ What a comfort it is that 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 spirit of Jacob revived.’ Genesis 45:27. Death is a triumphant chariot, to carry every child of God to his Father’s mansionhouse. (20) If God be our Father, he will not disinherit us. He may for a time desert his children, but will not disinherit them. The sons of kings have sometimes been disinherited by the cruelty of usurpers; as the son of Alexander the Great was put out of his just right, through the violence and ambition of his father’s captains; but what power on earth can hinder the heirs of the promise from their inheritance? Men cannot, and God will not cut off the entail. The Armenians hold falling away from grace, so that a child of God may be deprived of his inheritance, but God’s children can never be degraded or disinherited, and their heavenly Father will not cast them off from being children. It is evident that 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. That decree ties the knot of adoption so fast, that neither sin, death, nor hell, can break it asunder. ‘Whom he did predestinate, them he also called,’ etc. Romans 8:30. Predestination is nothing else but God’s decreeing a certain number to be heirs of glory, on whom he will settle the crown; for whom he predestinates, he glorifies. What shall hinder God’s electing love, or make his decree null and void? Besides God’s decree, he has engaged himself by promise, that the heirs of heaven shall never be put out of their inheritance. His promises are not like blanks in a lottery, but as a sealed deed which cannot be reversed; they are the saints’ royal charter; and one promise is that their heavenly Father will not disinherit them. ‘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.’ Jeremiah 32:40.

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. Jesus Christ undertakes that all God’s children by adoption shall be preserved in a state of grace till they inherit glory. The heathens feigned of Atlas that he bore up the heavens from falling; but Jesus Christ is that blessed Atlas that bears up the saints from falling away.

HOW DOES CHRIST PRESERVE THE SAINTS’ GRACES, TILL THEY COME TO HEAVEN?

(1) Influxu Spiritus [By the influence of the Spirit]. He carries on grace in the souls of the elect, by the influence and co-operation of his Spirit. He continually excites and quickens grace in the godly; he by his Spirit blows 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 he has purchased for the saints be made good. Christ has obtained for them an inheritance incorruptible, and the Spirit is his executor, to see that the inheritance be settled upon them. 1 Peter 1:4,5.

(2) He carries on his work perseveringly in the souls of the elect, by the prevalence of his intercession. ‘He ever liveth to make intercession for them.’ Hebrews 7:25. He 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, and Christ’s prayer frustrated, which would be blasphemy to imagine.

(3) That God’s children cannot be disinherited, or put out of their right to the crown of heaven, is evident from their mystic union with Christ.

Believers are incorporated into him; they are knit to him as members to the head, by the nerves and ligaments of faith, so that they cannot be broken off. ‘The church, which is his body.’ Ephesians 1:22,23. What was once said of Christ’s natural body, is as true of his mystic body. ‘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. Is it possible that any part of Christ should perish? How can Christ want any member of his mystic 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 mystic member, and not part with some of his glory too? By all this it is evident that God’s children must needs persevere in grace, and cannot be disinherited. If they could be disinherited, the Scripture could not be fulfilled, which tells us of glorious rewards for the heirs of promise. ‘Verily there is a reward for the righteous.’ Psalm 58:11. If God’s adopted children should fall away finally from grace, and miss of heaven, what reward would there be for the righteous? Moses indiscreetly looked for the recompense of the reward, and a door would be opened to despair.

But the doctrine of final perseverance, and the certainty of the heavenly inheritance may lead to carnal security, and unholy walking.

Corrupt nature may suck poison from this flower; but he who has felt the efficacy of grace upon his heart, dares not abuse this doctrine. He knows that perseverance is attained in the use of means, and walks homily, that in the use of the means he may arrive at perseverance. 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 was? ‘I keep under my body.’ 1 Corinthians 9:27. ‘I press toward the mark.’ Philippians 3:14. God’s children have a holy fear which keeps them from self-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 comforted should they be in all conditions, let the times be what they will! Their Father who is in heaven rules over all. If troubles arise, they carry them sooner to their Father. The more violently the wind beats against the sails of a ship, the sooner it is brought to the haven; and the more fiercely God’s children are assaulted, the sooner they come to their Father’s house. ‘Wherefore comfort one another with these words.’ 1 Thessalonians 4:18. Use 4. For exhortation. Let us behave ourselves as the children of such a Father.

(1) Let us depend upon him in all our straits and exigencies; let us believe that he will provide for all our wants. Children rely upon their parents for the supply of their wants. If we trust God for salvation, shall we not trust him for a livelihood? There is a lawful and prudent care to be used. But beware of being distrustful. ‘Consider the ravens:for they neither sow nor reap; and God feedeth them.’ Luke 12:24. Does God feed the birds of the air, and will he not feed his children? ‘Consider the lilies how they grow:they spin not; yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these;’ ver 27. Does God clothe the lilies, and will he not clothe his lambs?

Even the wicked taste of his bounty. ‘Their eyes stand out with fatness.’ Psalm 73:7. Does God feed his slaves, and will he not feed his family?

His children may not have a liberal share in the things of this life; they may have but little meal in the barrel; they may be drawn low, and almost dry; but they shall have as much as God sees to be good for them. ‘They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.’ Psalm 34:10. If God gives them not ad voluntaten [what they want], he will ad sanitatem [what is good for them]; 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 them depend upon his fatherly providence; let them not give way to distrustful thoughts, distracting cares, or indirect means. ‘Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.’ 1 Peter 5:7. An earthly parent may have affection for his child, and would gladly provide for him, but may not be able; but God is never at a loss to provide for his children, and he has promised an adequate supply. ‘Verily thou shalt be fed.’ Psalm 37:3. Will God give his children heaven, and will he not give them enough to bear their charges thither? Will he give them a kingdom, and deny them daily bread? O put your trust in him, for he has said, ‘I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.’ Hebrews 13:5.

(2) If God be our Father, let us imitate him. The child not only bears his father’s image, but imitates him in his speech, gesture and behavior. If God be our Father, let us imitate him. ‘Be ye followers of God, as dear children.’ Ephesians 5:1. Imitate God in forgiving injuries. ‘I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions.’ Isaiah 44:22. As the sun scatters not only thin mists, but thick clouds, so God pardons great offences. Imitate him in this. ‘Forgiving one another.’ Ephesians 4:32.

Cranmer was a man of a forgiving spirit:he buried injuries and requited good for evil. He who has God for his Father, will have him for his pattern.

Imitate God in works of mercy. ‘The Lord looseth the prisoners.’ <19E607> Psalm 146:7. He opens his hand and satisfies the desire of every living thing. <19E516> Psalm 145:16. He drops his sweet dew upon the thistle as well 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 out the poor from all 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 himself patient. ‘The cup which my Father has given me, shall I not drink it?’ 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 have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence.’ Hebrews 12:9. They might correct out of ill humor, but God does it for our profit. Hebrews 12:10. Therefore say as Eli, ‘It is the Lord:let him do what seemeth him good’. 1 Samuel 3:18. What does the child get by struggling, but more blows? What got Israel by their murmuring and rebelling, but a longer and more tedious march, till, at last, their carcass fell in the wilderness?

(4) If God be our Father, let it cause in us a childlike reverence. ‘If I be a father, where is mine honor?’ Malachi 1:6. It is part of the honor we give to God to reverence and adore him; if we have not always a childlike confidence, let us always preserve a childlike reverence. How ready are we to run into extremes, either to despond or to grow wanton! Because God is a Father, do not think you may take liberty to sin, if you do, he may act as if he were no Father, and 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 by withdrawing the sense of his love; and, though he had the heart of a Father, yet he had the look of an enemy.

David prayed, ‘Make me to hear joy and gladness.’ Psalm 51:8. He lay several months in desertion, and it is thought never recovered his full joy to the day of his death. O keep alive holy fear! With childlike confidence, preserve an 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 yourselves; part with your bosom sin. Be sober in your attire, savoury in your speech, grave in your deportment; obey your Father’s voice; open to him as the flower to the sun. If you expect your Father’s blessing, obey him in whatever he commands, both in first and second table duties. When a musician would make sweet music, he touches upon every string of the lute. The ten commandments are like a ten-stringed instrument, and we must touch every string, obey every commandment, or we cannot make sweet melody in religion. Obey your heavenly Father, though he commands things contrary to flesh and blood; when he commands to mortify sin, the sin which has been most dear:pluck out a right eye, that you may see better to go to heaven; when he commands you to suffer for sin. Acts 21:13.

Every good Christian has a spirit of martyrdom in him, and is ready to suffer for the truth rather 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 relates. Ignatius called his chains his spiritual pearls, and wore his fetters as a bracelet of diamonds. We act as God’s children, when we obey his voice, and count not our lives dear, so that we may show our love to him. ‘They loved not their lives unto the death.’ Revelation 12:11.

(6) If God be our Father, let us show by our cheerful looks that we are the children of such a Father. Too much drooping and despondency disparages the relation in which we stand to him. What though we meet with hard usage in the world! We are now in a strange land, far from home, it will be shortly better with us when we are in our own country, and our Father has us in his arms. Does not the heir rejoice in hope? Shall the sons of a king walk dejected? ‘Why art thou, 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 his heirs? Why, then, do his 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 who are within a few hours of being crowned with glory.

(7) If God be our Father, let us honor him by walking very homily. ‘Be ye holy; for I am holy.’ 1 Peter 1:16. A young prince, having asked a philosopher how he should behave himself, the philosopher said, ‘Memento to filium esse regis.’ ‘Remember thou art a king’s son; do nothing but what becomes the son of a king.’ So let us remember we are the adopted sons and daughters of the high God, and do nothing unworthy of such a relation.

A debauched child is the disgrace of his father. ‘Is this thy son’s coat?’ said they to Jacob, when they brought it home dipped in blood. 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 like an heir of glory? It is blaspheming the name of God to call him Father, and yet live in sin. Such as profess God to be their Father and live unholily, slander and defraud; they are as bad to God as the heathen. ‘Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians to me, children of Israel? saith the Lord.’ Amos 9:7.

When Israel grew wicked, they were no better to God than Ethiopians, who were uncircumcised, a base and ill-bred people. Loose, scandalous livers under the gospel are no better in God’s esteem than Pagans; nay, they shall have a hotter place in hell. Oh! 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. ‘Abstain from all appearance of evil.’ 1 Thessalonians 5:22. It was a saying of Augustus, that ‘an emperor should not only be free from crimes, but from the suspicion of them.’ By a holy life you should bring glory to your heavenly Father, and cause others to become his children. Est pellax virtutis odor [the fragrance of virtue is seductive]. Causinus, in his hieroglyphics, speaks of a dove, whose wings being perfumed with sweet ointments, drew the other doves after her; so the holy lives of God’s children are 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 beholding the blameless lives of the Christians.

(8) If God be our Father, let us love all that are his children. ‘How pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!’ <19D301> Psalm 133:1. It is compared to ointment for its sweet fragrance. ‘Love the brotherhood.’ 1 Peter 2:17.

Idem est motus animae in imaginem et rem [The motion of the soul is the same towards the image and the reality]. The saints are the walking pictures of God. If God be our Father, we shall love to see his picture of holiness in believers; shall pity them for their infirmities, but love them for their graces; we shall prize their company above others. <19B963> Psalm 119:63. It may justly be suspected that God is not Father of those who love not his children.

Though they retain the communion of saints in their creed, 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, set their affections on things that are above. Colossians 3:2.

O ye 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, sprung from heaven, and buried in the earth! For a Christian, who pretends to derive his pedigree from heaven, wholly to mind earthly things is to debase himself; as if a king should leave his throne to follow the slough. ‘Seekest thou great things for thyself?’ Jeremiah 45:5. As if the Lord had said, ‘What thou Barak, thou who art born of God, akin to angels, and by thy office a Levite dost thou debase thyself, and spot the silver wings of thy grace by beliming them with earth! Seekest thou great things? Seek them not.’ The earth chokes the fire; so earthliness chokes the fire of good affections. (10) If God be our Father, let us own him as such in the worst times, stand up in his cause, and defend his truths. Athanasius owned God when most of the world turned Asians. If suffering come, do not deny God. He is a bad son who denies his father. Such as are ashamed to own God in times of danger, he will be ashamed to own for his children. ‘Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of 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 the holy angels.’ Mark 8:38.

II. The second part of the preface is, ‘Which art in heaven.’ God is said to be in heaven, not because he is so included there as if he were nowhere else; for ‘the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee.’ 1 Kings 8:27. But the meaning is, that he is chiefly resident in what the apostle calls ‘the third heaven,’ where he reveals his glory most to saints and angels. Corinthians 12:2.

WHAT MAY WE LEARN FROM GOD BEING IN HEAVEN?

(1) That we are to raise our minds in prayer above the earth. God is nowhere to be spoken with but in heaven. He never denied that soul its suit that went as far as heaven to ask it.

(2) We learn his sovereign power. Hoc vocabulo intelligitur omnia subesse ejus imperio [By this word we learn that all things are under his rule].

Calvin. ‘Our God is in the heavens:he has done whatsoever he has pleased.’ <19B503> Psalm 115:3. In heaven he 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 sends from heaven and helps them. ‘He shall send from heaven, and save me.’ Psalm 57:3.

(3) We learn his glory and majesty. He is in heaven; therefore he is covered with light. <19A402> Psalm 104:2. He is ‘clothed with honor.’ <19A401> Psalm 104:1:He is far above all worldly princes, as heaven is above earth.

(4) We learn 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 he sees. If a man were on the top of a tower or theater, he might see all the people below; God in heaven, as on a high tower or theater, sees all the transactions of men. The wicked make wounds in the backs of the righteous, and then pour in vinegar; but God writes down their cruelty. ‘I have surely seen the affliction of my people.’ Exodus 3:7. God can thunder out of heaven upon his enemies. ‘The Lord thundered in the heavens; yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.’ Psalm 18:13,14.

(5) We learn 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 by sea and land, may be so blocked up, that there is no coming to him; but thou, saint of God, when thou prayest to thy Father, he is in heaven; and though thou art ever so confined, thou mayest have access to him. A prison cannot keep thee from thy God; the way to heaven can never be blocked up.

III. I shall next speak of the pronoun ‘our.’ There is an appropriation of the appellation, ‘Father.’ ‘Our Father.’ Christ, by the word ‘our,’ would teach us thus much:that in all our prayers to God, we should exercise faith.

Father denotes reverence:Our Father, denotes faith. In all our prayers to God we should exercise faith. Faith baptises 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 30:23,24. Faith is the chief spice or ingredient in prayer, which makes it go up to the Lord as sweet incense. ‘Let him ask in faith.’ James 1:6. ‘Whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.’ Matthew 21:22. Invoco to, Domine, quamquam languida et 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 nigh to God. Prayer without faith is unsuccessful. If a poor handicraftsman, who 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 get no blessing from God. A faithless prayer is fruitless. As Joseph said, ‘Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be 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,’ is as true of prayer; it cannot enter into heaven because of unbelief. Hebrews 3:19. Prayer often suffers shipwreck because it dashes upon the rock of unbelief. O mingle faith with prayer! We must say, ‘Our Father.’

WHAT DOES PRAYING IN FAITH IMPLY?

Praying in faith implies having faith, and 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.

WHAT IS IT TO PRAY IN FAITH?

(1) It is to pray for that which God has promised. Where there is no promise, we cannot pray in faith.

(2) It is to pray in Christ’s meritorious name. ‘Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do.’ John 14:13. To pray in Christ’s name, is to pray with confidence in 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,’ we come to God in Christ’s name; and this is to pray in faith.

(3) It is to fix our faith in prayer on God’s faithfulness, believing that he hears and will help. This is taking hold of God. Isaiah 64:7. By prayer we draw nigh to God, by faith we take hold of him. ‘They cried unto the Lord;’ and this was the crying of faith. 2 Chronicles 13:14. They ‘prevailed, because they relied upon the Lord God of their fathers;’ ver 18.

Making supplication to God, and staying the soul on God, is praying in faith. To pray, and not rely on God to grant our petitions, irrisio Dei est, says Pelican; ‘it is to abuse and put a scorn on 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.

HOW MAY WE KNOW THAT WE TRULY PRAY IN FAITH?

(1) When faith in prayer is humble. A presumptuous person hopes to be heard for some inherent worthiness in himself; he is so qualified, and has done God good service, therefore he is confident God will hear him. See an instance in Luke 18:11, 12:‘The Pharisee stood and prayed thus, God, I thank thee, 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 evinces humility in prayer as well as faith. ‘The publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto 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. Luke 18:13.

(2) We may know we pray in faith, when, though we have not the thing we pray for, we believe God will grant it, and are willing to stay his leisure.

A Christian having a command to pray, and a promise, is resolved to follow God with prayer, and not give over; as Peter knocked, and when the door was not opened, continued knocking until at last it was opened. Acts 12:16. So when a Christian prays, and prays, and has no answer, he continues to knock at heaven’s door, knowing an answer will come. ‘Thou wilt answer me.’ Psalm 86:7. 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 again, believing that mercy will come. Patience in prayer is nothing but faith spun out. Use 1. For reproof of those who pray in formality, not in faith; they who question whether God hears or will grant. ‘Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss.’ James 4:3. He does not say, ye ask that which is unlawful; but ye ask amiss, and therefore ye 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. For exhortation. Let us set faith to work in prayer. The husband man sows in hope; prayer is the seed we sow, and 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.’ That we may exercise faith in prayer, consider:

(1) God’s readiness to hear prayer. Deus paratus ad vota exaudienda.

Calvin:Did God forbid all addresses to him, it would put a damp upon the trade of prayer; but his ear is open to prayer. One of the names by which he is known, is, ‘thou that hearest prayer.’ Psalm 65:2. The aediles among the Romans had their doors always open, that all who had petitions might have free access to them. God is both ready to hear and grant prayer, which should encourage faith in prayer. Some may say, they have prayed, but have had no answer. God may hear prayer, though he does not immediately answer it. We write a letter to a friend, he may have received it, though we have yet had no answer to it. Perhaps thou prayest for the light of God’s face; he may lend thee an ear, though he does not show thee his face. 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 to prayer. ‘In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul.’ <19D803> Psalm 138:3.

David’s inward strength was an answer to prayer. Therefore let God’s readiness to hear prayer encourage faith in prayer.

(2) That we may exercise faith in prayer, let us consider that we do not pray alone. Christ prays our prayers over again. His prayer is the ground why our prayer is heard. He takes the dross out of our prayer, and presents nothing to his Father but pure gold. He mingles his sweet odours 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. Oh, 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, it will make him go to him with confidence. When we pray to God for holy hearts, there is nothing more pleasing to him. ‘This is the will of God, even your sanctification.’ 1 Thessalonians 4:3. We pray that God would give us hearts to love him, and there is nothing he more desires than our love.

How should it 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, let us consider the many sweet promises that God has made to prayer. The cork keeps the net from sinking, so 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. ‘He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry.’ Isaiah 30:19. ‘The Lord is rich unto all that call upon him.’ Romans 10:12. ‘Ye shall find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.’ Jeremiah 29:13. ‘He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him.’ <19E519> Psalm 145:19. The Syrians 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 spirit faith in prayer! Faith gets strength in prayer by sucking from the breast of a promise.

(5) That we may exercise faith in prayer, consider that Jesus Christ has purchased that which we pray for. We may think the things we ask for 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 with 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. It should put life into our prayers, and make us pray in faith, to reflect that the things we ask, though more than we deserve, yet they are not more than Christ has purchased for us.

(6) To pray in faith, consider there is such bountifulness in God, that he often exceeds the prayers of his people. He gives them more than they ask!

Hannah asked a son, and God not only gave her 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 give him food and raiment, and he increased his pilgrim’s staff into two 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, and God gives two. 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 which the prayer of faith has found. Like Jonathan’s bow, it has not returned empty. Vocula pater dicta in corde [The little word ‘father’ spoken in the heart], says Luther. The little word father, pronounced in faith, has overcome God. ‘Deliver me, I pray thee.’ Genesis 32:11. This was mixed with faith in the promise. ‘Thou saidst, I will surely do thee good;’ ver 12. 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 their birth, and has routed their forces. Moses’ prayer against Amalek did more than Joshua’s sword; and should not this hearten and corroborate faith in prayer?

(8) If all this will not prevail, consider how heartless and comfortless it is not to pray in faith! The heart misgives secretly that 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; so the unbeliever toils in prayer and catches nothing; he receives not any spiritual blessings, pardon of sin, or grace. As for the temporal mercies which the unbeliever has, he cannot look upon them as the fruit of prayer, but as the overflowing of God’s bounty. Oh, therefore labor to exert and put forth faith in prayer!

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

If thou mournest for this, it hinders not but that thy prayer may be in faith, and God may hear it. Weakness shall not make void the saint’s prayers. ‘I said in my haste, I am cut off.’ Psalm 31:22. There was much unbelief in that prayer:‘I said in my haste:’ in the Hebrew, ‘in my trembling,’ David’s faith trembled and fainted, yet God heard his prayer. The saints’ passions do not hinder their prayers. James 5:17. Therefore be not discouraged, for though sin will cleave to thy holy offering, yea, these two things may comfort, that thou mayest pray with faith, though with weakness; and God sees the sincerity, and will pass by the infirmity.

HOW SHALL WE PRAY IN FAITH?

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. ‘God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.’ Galatians 4:6. ‘Crying:’ there the Spirit causes us to pray with fervency. ‘Abba, Father:’ there the Spirit helps us to pray with faith.

The Spirit helps faith to turn the key of prayer, and then it unlocks heaven.

THE FIRST PETITION IN THE LORD’S PRAYER ‘HALLOWED BE THY NAME.’ MATTHEW 6:9

Having spoken of the introduction to the Lord’s prayer, ‘After this manner therefore pray ye,’ and the preface, ‘Our Father which art in heaven;’ I come, thirdly, to the prayer itself, which consists of seven petitions. The first petition is: ‘Hallowed be thy name.’ In the Latin it is, sanctificetur nomen tuum, ‘Sanctified be thy name.’ In this petition, 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 is set in the forefront, to show that the hallowing of God’s name is to be preferred before all things. It is to be preferred before life. We pray, ‘Hallowed be thy name,’ before we pray, ‘Give us this day our daily bread.’ It is to be preferred before salvation. Romans 9:23. God’s glory is more worth than the salvation of all men’s souls. As Christ said of love in Matthew 22:38, ‘This is the first and great commandment;’ so I may say of this petition, ‘Hallowed be thy name:’ it is the first and great petition; it contains the most weighty thing in religion, which is God’s glory. When some of the other petitions shall be useless and out of date, as we shall not need to 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 will be of 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 thy name.’ To admire God’s name is not enough; we may admire a conqueror; but when we say, ‘Hallowed be thy name,’ we set God’s name above every name, and not only admire him, but adore him; and this is proper to the Deity only.

For the further explanation, I shall propound three questions.

I. What is meant by God’s name?

[1] His essence. ‘The name of the God of Jacob defend thee’ ( Psalm 20:1); that is, the God of Jacob defend thee.

[2] Anything by which he may be known. As a man is known by his name; so by his attributes of wisdom, power, holiness, and goodness, God is known as by his name.

II. What is meant by hallowing God’s name?

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 homily and reverently. In particular, hallowing God’s name is to give him high honor and veneration, and render his name sacred. We can add nothing to his 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 crown God with our triumphs and hallelujahs there is nothing added to his essential glory. He cannot be greater than he is, only we may make him appear greater in the eyes of others.

III. When may we be said to hallow and sanctify God’s name?

[1] When we profess his name. Our meeting in his holy assembly is an honor done to his 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 against whom Christ will profess at the last day. ‘I will profess I never knew you.’ Matthew 7:23. Therefore, to go a little further:

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

[3] We hallow and sanctify his name when we trust in it. ‘We have trusted in his holy name.’ Psalm 33:21. No way can we bring more revenues of honor to God, or make his crown shine brighter, than by confiding in him.

Abraham ‘was strong in faith, giving glory to God.’ Romans 4:20. Here was hallowing God’s name. Unbelief stains God’s honor and eclipses his name. ‘He that believeth not God has made him a liar’ ( 1 John 5:10); So faith glorifies and hallows his name. The believer trusts his best jewels in God’s hands. ‘Into thine hand I commit my spirit.’ Psalm 31:5. Faith in a Mediator does more honor, and sanctifies God’s name more, than martyrdom or the most sublime acts of obedience.

[4] We hallow and sanctify God’s name when we never make mention of it but with the highest reverence. His name is sacred, and it must not be spoken of but with veneration. When the Scripture speaks of God, it gives him his titles of honor. ‘Blessed be the most high God.’ Genesis 14:20. ‘Blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all praise.’ Nehemiah 9:5.

To speak vainly or slightly of God is profaning his name, and is taking his name in vain. By giving God his venerable titles, we hang his jewels on his crown.

[5] We hallow and sanctify God’s name when we love his name. ‘Let them that love thy name be joyful.’ Psalm 5:11. The love which honors God’s name must be special and discriminating love - the cream and flower of our love; such as we give to none besides; as the wife honors her husband by giving him such love as she gives to none else - a conjugal love. Thus we hallow God’s name by giving him such love as we give to none else - a love joined with worship. ‘He is thy Lord; and worship thou him.’ Psalm 45:2:

[6] We hallow and sanctify God’s name when we give him a holy and spiritual worship.

(1) When we give him the same kind of worship that he has appointed. ‘I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me:’ that is, I will be sanctified with that very worship I have appointed. Leviticus 10:3. It is the purity of worship that God loves better than the pomp. It dishonors his name to bring anything into his worship which he has not instituted; as if he were not wise enough to appoint the manner in which he will be served. Men prescribe to him and super add their inventions; which he looks upon as offering strange fire, and as a high provocation.

(2) When we give to God the same heart devotion in worship that he has appointed. ‘Fervent in spirit; serving the Lord.’ Romans 12:11.

The word for fervent is a metaphor, which alludes to water that seethes and boils over; to signify that our affections should boil over in holy duties. To give God outside worship, and not the devotion of the heart, instead of hallowing and sanctifying him in an ordinance, is 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. We hallow God’s name and sanctify him in an ordinance when we give him the vitals of religion, and a heart flaming with zeal.

[7] We hallow and sanctify God’s name when we hallow his day. ‘Hallow ye the sabbath day.’ Jeremiah 17:22. Our Christian Sabbath, which comes in the room of the Jews’ Sabbath, is called the Lord’s day. Revelation 1:10. It 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. ‘Bring in no burden on the sabbath day.’ Jeremiah 17:24. As when Joseph would speak with his brethren he thrust out the Egyptians; so when we would converse with God on this day, we must thrust out all earthly employments. Mary Magdalene 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, even the commendable and glorious work of anointing Christ’s dead body.

(2) We must in a solemn manner devote ourselves to God on this day; we must spend the 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 rob God of a part of his day. It is lamentable to see how God’s day is profaned. Let no man 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. ‘Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name.’ Psalm 96:8. Herod, instead of hallowing God’s name, dishonored it by assuming that praise to himself which was due to God only. Acts 12:23. We ought to take the honor from ourselves and give it to God. ‘I labored more abundantly than they all;’ one would think this had savoured 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.’ 1 Corinthians 15:10.

If a Christian has any assistance in duty, or victory over temptation, he rears up a pillar and writes upon it, Hucusque adjuvavit 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. ‘He that comes after me is preferred before me.’ John 1:15. 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 baptise with water only; he with the Holy Ghost. This is hallowing God’s name, when we transfer all honor from ourselves to God. ‘Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory.’ <19B501> Psalm 115:1.

The king of Sweden wrote this motto on the battle at Leipsic, 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? ‘I delight to do thy will, O my God.’ Psalm 40:8. 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 him 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 Dr Jewel, ‘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 angelic; to pretend honor to God’s name, and yet not 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. ‘By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:that in blessing I will bless thee.’ Genesis 22:16,17. [10] We hallow and sanctify God’s name when we lift up his 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 for but to be organs of God’s praise? ‘Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy honor all the day.’ Psalm 71:8. ‘Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever.’ Revelation 5:13.

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 sang forth God’s praises and doxologies in a most melodious manner, and was, therefore, called the sweet singer of Israel. 2 Samuel 23:1. Praising God is hallowing his name; it spreads his renown; it displays the trophies of his excellency; it exalts him in the eyes of others. ‘Whose offereth praise glorifieth me.’ Psalm 123. This is one of the highest and purest acts of religion. In prayer we act like men; in praise we act like angels. Praise is the music of heaven, and a work fit for a saint. ‘Let the saints be joyful:let the high praises of God be in their mouth.’ <19E905> Psalm 149:5,6.

None but saints can in a right manner thus hallow God’s name by praising him. As everyone 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 concert. ‘I will praise the Lord with my whole heart.’ <19B101> Psalm 111:1. ‘He was extolled with my tongue.’ Psalm 66:17. Here was joining in concert. This hallowing God’s name by praise is very becoming a Christian. It is unbecoming to murmur, which is dishonoring God’s name; but it becomes the saints to be spiritual choristers, singing forth the honor of his 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! ‘Praise is comely for the upright.’ Psalm 33:1. Especially is it a high degree of hallowing God’s name when we can speak well of him and bless him in an afflicted state. ‘The Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.’ Job 1:21. Many will bless God when he gives, but to bless him when he takes away, is in a high degree to honor him and hallow his name. Let us thus magnify God’s name. Has he not given us abundant matter for praising him? 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 his name by being trumpets for his praise. [11] We hallow and sanctify God’s name when we sympathise with him; when we grieve when his name suffers.

(1) We lay to heart his dishonor. How was Moses affected with God’s dishonor! He broke 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 his name suffers.

Nehemiah lays to heart the miseries of Sion; his complexion begins to alter, and he looks sad. ‘Why is thy countenance sad?’ Nehemiah 2:2. What! sad, when the king’s cup-bearer, and wine is so near! Oh! 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. Such holy sympathy and grieving when God’s name suffers, he esteems as honoring and sanctifying his name. Hezekiah grieved when the king of Assyria reproached the living God. He went to the temple, and spread the letter of blasphemy before the Lord. Isaiah 37:17. He 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 that we give to God the Father. ‘That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.’ John 5:23. The Socinians deny Christ’s divinity, saying that he is a mere man:which is to make him below the angels. The human nature, considered in itself, is below the angelic, and thus they reflect dishonor upon the Lord of glory. Psalm 8:5. 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. ‘In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily;’ therefore, he is God. Colossians 2:9. How could these divine titles be given to Christ as omnipotence, in Hebrews 1:3; ubiquity, in Matthew 28:20; a power of sealing pardons in Matthew 9:6; co-equality with God the Father, both in power and dignity, in John 5:21,23, if he were not crowned with the Deity? When we believe Christ’s Godhead, and build our hope of salvation on the corner-stone of his merit; when we see neither the righteousness of the law, nor of angels, can justify, but flee to Christ’s blood as to the altar of refuge; this is honoring and sanctifying God’s name. God never thinks his name 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. His truths are his oracles. He intrusts us with his truths as a treasure; we have not a richer jewel to intrust him with than our souls, nor has he a greater jewel to intrust us with than his truths. His truths set forth his glory. When we are zealous advocates for his truths, it is an honor done to his name. Athanasius was called the bulwark of truth; he stood up in the defense of God’s truths against the Asians, and so was a pillar in the temple of God. We had better have truth without peace, than peace without truth. It concerns the sons of Zion to stand up for the great doctrines of the gospel; as the doctrine of the Trinity, the hypostatical union, justification by faith, and the saints’ perseverance. We are bid to contend earnestly, to strive as in an agony for the faith, that is the doctrine of faith. Jude 3. This contending for the truth, brings great revenues to heaven’s exchequer; and hallows God’s name. Some can contend for ceremonies, but not for the truth. We should count him unwise that should contend for a box of counters more than for his box of title-deeds. [14] We hallow and sanctify God’s name by making as many proselytes as we can to him; when, by all holy expedients, counsel, prayer, example, we endeavor the salvation of others. How did Monica, Augustine’s mother, labor for his conversion! She had sorer pangs in travail for his new birth than for his natural birth. It is hallowing God’s name when we diffuse the sweet savour 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 as dear to a saint as his own salvation; and that this glory may be promoted he endeavours the conversion of souls.

Every convert is a new member added to Christ. Let us then hallow God’s name by labouring to advance piety in others; especially let us endeavor that those who are nearly related to us, or are under our roof, may honor God. ‘As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.’ Joshua 24:15. Let us make our houses Bethels, places where God’s name is called upon. ‘Salute Nymphas, and the church that is in his house.’ Colossians 4:15. Let the parent endeavor that his children may honor God, and the master that his servants may honor him. Read the Word, drop holy instruction, perfume your houses with prayer. The Jews had sacrifices in their families as well as in the tabernacle. Exodus 12:3. This is hallowing 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 his name before the dearest things.

(1) When 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. ‘For thy sake I have borne reproach.’ Psalm 69:7. 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 wound 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 reproach 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! that they were graced so far as to be disgraced for the name of Christ. Acts 5:41. We hallow God’s name when we are content to have our name eclipsed, that his name may shine the more.

(2) When we prefer the honor of God’s name before our worldly profit and interest. ‘We have forsaken all, and followed thee.’ Matthew 19:27. When these two, God and estate, come in competition, we would rather let estate go than God’s love and favor. Thus that noble Marquis of Vice 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.’ 2 When we prefer the honor of God’s name before our own life. ‘For thy sake we are killed all the day long.’ Romans 8:36. The honor done to God’s name is not by bringing the outward pomp and glory to him as we do to kings, but it comes in another way, and that is by the sufferings of his people. When the world sees how entirely his people love him, that they will die in his service, it exalts and honors his name. God’s crown flourishes in the ashes of his martyrs. 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, we do, in a high degree, hallow God’s name. [16] We hallow and sanctify God’s name by a holy conversation. ‘Ye are a royal priesthood, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who has called you.’ 1 Peter 2:9.

As an unholy life dishonors God’s name, ‘The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you;’ Romans 2:24, 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, we glorify God. When our lives shine, his name shines in us. 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, 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. A true saint ambitiously endeavours to advance God’s name. The question he asks himself in everything he is going about is, Will this action tend to the honor of God’s name? Will it exalt God? It was Paul’s chief design that Christ might be magnified, that the crown upon his head might flourish. Philippians 1:20. A godly man thinks it scarce worth his 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. Consider how God’s name, instead of being hallowed and sanctified, is dishonored. His name, which is worth more 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. His 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 what is far worse, disgrace is thrown upon the glorious name of Jehovah. His name, instead of being hallowed, is dishonored by all sorts; by heathens, by Turks, by Jews, by Papists, and by Protestants.

(1) By heathens; who have a knowledge of a godhead by the light of nature; yet dishonor him, and sin against the light of nature. Romans 1:19. The Egyptians worship an ox; the Persian worship the sun; the Grecians and Romans, Jupiter; and the Parthians worship the devil.

(2) God’s name is dishonored by the Turks, who adore Mahomet their great prophet, as one divinely inspired. Mahomet was of an impure, vicious nature. He plucked the crown from Christ’s head by 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, saeculum futurum [an age to come]. They believe not in Christ; they blaspheme him; they reject imputed righteousness; they vilify the Christian Sabbath.

(4) God’s name is dishonored by the Papists. Theirs is a God-dishonoring religion. They dishonor the name of God by their idolatry, which is spiritual adultery. Idolatry is to worship a false God, or the true God in a false manner. They dishonor God by their idolatry, in making graven images, and giving the same honor to them that is due to God. Images are teachers of lies. They represent God in a bodily shape. Habakkuk 2:18. They dishonor God by their idolatry in the mass; worshipping the host, and offering it up as a sacrifice for sin. The apostle says, ‘By one offering [Christ] has perfected forever them that are sanctified’ ( Hebrews 10:14); but as if his offering on the cross were imperfect, they offer him up daily in the mass, which is a dishonor to Christ’s priestly office. The Papist, instead of hallowing God’s name, dishonors it by locking up the Scriptures in an unknown tongue. Like the Philistine, they pluck out 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, and hinder God’s glory by hindering men’s salvation. Luke 11:52. 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 whereof men are set free in the sight of God. This is to steal a flower from the crown of heaven. The Pope assumes a power to pardon which is God’s royal prerogative. ‘Who can forgive sins but God only?’ Mark 2:7. 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? Instead of hallowing God’s name, they dishonor it by their invocation to saints. We are to pray to God only. ‘Pray to thy Father;’ not pray to a saint or the Virgin Mary, but pray to your Father in heaven. Matthew 6:6. We may pray to none but whom we may believe in. Romans 10:14. The saints in heaven are ignorant of our grievances. ‘Abraham is ignorant of us.’ Isaiah 63:16. Instead of hallowing God’s name, they dishonor it, by their luxury and uncleanness. At Rome, fornication keeps open shop, and is in some cases preferred before honorable matrimony. Urbs est jam tota lupanar [The whole city is now a brothel]. Instead of hallowing God’s name, they dishonor it, by their blasphemies. They give equal, nay, more honor to the Virgin Mary than to Christ; they ascribe more to her milk than to his blood; they call her Scala Coeli, 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 felix puerpera, nostra piaris scelera! O happy Mother of a Son, who purgest away our crimes! 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 Baptist’s forehead for a relic in Spain, yet his whole head they affirm to be seen in St. Sylvester’s in Rome. They show Peter’s shadow at Rome. We read of St Peter’s shadow in Acts 5:15; but it is strange how the Papists could catch it, and keep it by them so long.

Instead of hallowing God’s name, they dishonor it, by baptising 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, to violate it 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? Instead of hallowing God’s name they dishonor it, by their damnable assertions. The Papists affirm that the Pope is above Scripture; that he may dispense with it, and that his canon binds more then the Word of God. They teach merit by good works; but if a debtor cannot pay his creditor, how can he merit at his hands? They affirm that the Scripture is not a perfect rule of faith and manners; and therefore eke it out with their traditions, which they hold to be of equal authority. They teach that an implicit faith is saving; though one may have an implicit faith, and yet be ignorant of all the articles of religion.

They say, that the inward act of the mind is not required in God’s worship.

Diversion of the mind in duty, though one prays and never thinks of God, is no sin, as Angelus and Sylvester, and other Papists say. They 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 again get footing in this nation. God grant that this poisonous weed of Popery may never be watered here; but that being a plant which our heavenly Father has not planted, it may be rooted up.

(5) God’s name is dishonored by Protestants. How is his name this day dishonored in England! Christians, instead of hallowing God’s name, preach and dishonor it by their tongues. They speak irreverently of his name. God’s name is sacred. ‘That thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name: THE LORD THY GOD.’ Deuteronomy 28:58.

The names of kings are not mentioned without giving them their tides of honor, high and mighty; but men speak irreverently of God, as if he were like one of them. Psalm 50:21. This is taking God’s name in vain. They swear by his name. Many seldom mention God’s name but in oaths. How is he dishonored, when men rend and tear his name by oaths and imprecations! ‘Because of swearing the land mourneth.’ Jeremiah 23:10.

If God will reckon with men for idle words, shall not idle oaths be put into the account-book? ‘Oh! but,’ says one, ‘I cannot help it:it is a custom of swearing I have got and I cannot help it. I hope God will forgive me. Is the custom of swearing a good plea? It is no excuse, but an aggravation of sin; as if one who had been accused of killing a man should plead with the judge to spare him, because it was his custom to murder. That would be an aggravation of the offense; for would not the judge say, ‘Thou shalt the rather die’? So it is here.

As men dishonor God by their tongues, so by their lives. What is it to say, ‘Hallowed be thy name,’ when in their lives they profane his name? They dishonor God by their atheism, Sabbath-breaking, uncleanness, perjury, intemperance, and 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 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 ere 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. Seneca. ‘We live in the dregs of time,’ wherein the common sewer of wickedness runs. Physicians call it cachexia, when there is no part of the body free from distemper. England has such a disease. ‘The whole head is sick, the whole heart is faint.’ Isaiah 1:5. As black vapours rising out of the earth cloud and darken the sun, so the sins of people in our age, like hellish vapours, cast a cloud upon God’s glorious name. O that our eyes were rivers of water of holy tears, to see how God’s name, instead of being hallowed, is polluted and profaned! May we not justly fear some heavy judgements on this account? Can God put up with 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 we not see the symptoms of God’s anger? Do we not see his judgements hovering over us? Surely God is whetting his sword, he has bent his bow, and is preparing his arrows to shoot. Qualis per arva Leo fulvam miniaci fronte concutiens jubam [Like the Lion with threatening brows shaking his tawny mane over the land]. Seneca. 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 we not fear that the ark should remove, the vision cease, the stars in God’s church be removed, and we follow the gospel to the grave? When God’s name, which should be hallowed, is profaned by a nation, it is just with God to write that dismal epitaph upon its tomb, ‘The glory is departed.’ It were well if the profane party only were guilty; but may not many professors be called to the bar, and indicted for having dishonored God’s name? ‘Are there not with you, even with you, sins against the Lord your God?’ 2 Chronicles 28:10.

Are these the spots of God’s children? Deuteronomy 32:5. If you are diamonds, have you no flaws? Have you not your vanities? If your discourse be not profane, is it not vain? Have you not 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. ‘When the Lord saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons and of his daughters.’ Deuteronomy 32:19.

The sins of the wicked anger God, the sins of his own people grieve him; he will be sure to punish them. ‘You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.’ Amos 3:2.

O that our head were waters, that we could make this place a Bochim, a place of weeping, that God’s children might mix blushing with tears, that they have so little hallowed, and so much eclipsed, God’s name! Truly his own people have sinned enough to justify him in all his severe acting against them. Use 3. For exhortation. Let us hallow and sanctify God’s name. Could we but see a glimpse of God’s glory, as Moses did in the rock, it 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 a jasperstone, at the sight of his glory we should do as the twenty-four elders, who ‘worship him that liveth for ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power.’ Revelation 4:11.

That we may be stirred up to this great duty of hallowing, adoring, and sanctifying God’s name, let us consider:

(1) It is the very end of our being. Why did God give us life, but that by living we may hallow his name? Why did he give us souls, but to admire him? and tongues, but to praise him? The excellence of a thing is the end for which it was made; as of a star to give light, and of a plant to be fruitful. So 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 of whom God has no honor, 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. ‘How excellent is thy name in all the earth!’ Psalm 8:9. ‘Thou art clothed with honor and majesty.’ <19A401> Psalm 104:1. As the sun has its brightness, whether we admire it or not, so God’s name is illustrious and glorious, whether we hallow it or not. In him are all shining perfections, holiness, wisdom, and mercy. He is ‘worthy to be praised.’ 2 Samuel 22:4. God is dignus honore, worthy of honor, love, and adoration. We often bestow titles of honor upon those who do not deserve them; but God is worthy to be praised; his name deserves hallowing; he is above all the honor and praise which angels in heaven give him.

(3) We pray, ‘hallowed be thy name’; that is, let thy name be honored and magnified by us. If we do not magnify his name, we contradict our own prayers. To say, ‘hallowed be thy name,’ yet not to bring honor to God’s name, is to take his name in vain.

(4) If men will not hallow God’s name, and bring revenues of honor to him, he will get honor upon them. ‘I will get me honor upon Pharaoh.’ Exodus 14:17. Pharaoh would not hallow God’s name; he said, ‘Who is the Lord that I should obey him?’ Well, says God, if Pharaoh will not honor me, I will get honor upon him. When God overthrew him and his chariots in the sea, he got honor upon him. God’s power and justice were gloried in his destruction. There are some whom God has raised to great power and dignity, and they will not honor his name; they make use of their power to dishonor him; they cast reproach upon his name, and revile his servants. If they will not honor God, he will get honor upon them in their final ruin. Herod did not give glory to God, but God got glory upon him. ‘The angel of the Lord smote him because he gave not God the glory, and he was eaten of worms.’ Acts 12:23.

(5) It will be no small comfort to us when we come to die, that we have hallowed and sanctified God’s name. Christ’s comfort a little before his death was, ‘I have glorified thee on the earth.’ John 17:4. His redeeming mankind was hallowing and glorifying God’s name. Never was more honor brought to God’s name than by this great undertaking of Christ. Here was his comfort before death, that he had hallowed God’s name, and brought glory to him. So, what a cordial will it 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 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, will not give one drachm of comfort. What is one the better for an estate that is spent? But to have conscience witnessing that you have hallowed God’s name, that your whole life has been glorifying him, what sweet peace and satisfaction will this give! How glad is that servant who has been all day working in the vineyard, when evening comes, that he shall receive his pay! How sweet will death be when they who have spent their lives in honoring God, shall receive the recompense of reward! What comfort was it to Hezekiah, when on his sick bed, that he could appeal to God, ‘Remember, Lord, how I have walked before thee with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight.’ Isaiah 38:3.

I have hallowed thy name, I have brought all the honor I could to thee, ‘I have done that which is good in thy sight.’

(6) There is nothing lost by what we do for God. If we bring honor to his name, he will honor us. As Balak said to Balaam, ‘Am not I able to promote thee to honor?’ Numbers 22:37. So if we hallow and sanctify God’s name, is he not able to promote us to honor? He will honor us in our life.

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. ‘They shall be as the stones of a crown lifted up, as an ensign of glory.’ Zechariah 9:17.

He will esteem us as the cream and flower of the creation. ‘Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable.’ Isaiah 43:4. God will put honor upon our names. ‘The memory of the just is blessed.’ Proverbs 10:7. 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. God will honor us at our death. He will send his angels to carry us up with triumph into heaven. ‘The beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom.’ Luke 16:22.

Amasis king of Egypt, had his chariot drawn by four kings, whom 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. God will put honor upon us after death. He will put glory upon our bodies. We shall be as the angels, not for substance, but quality; our bodies shall be agile and nimble.

Now they are as a weight, then they shall be as a wing, moving swiftly from place to place; they 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. 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. Oh, how glorious will that garland be which is made of the flowers of paradise! Who then would not hallow and glorify his 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 has entered into the heart of man to conceive’?

(7) If men do not hallow, but profane and dishonor God’s name, he will pour contempt upon them. Though they be ever so great, and though clothed in purple and scarlet, they shall be 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 traitors to the crown of heaven. ‘I will make thy grave, for thou art vile.’ Nahum 1:14. It is said of Antiochus Epiphanes, though he was a king, and his name signifies illustrious, yet God esteemed him vile. 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 ( <19B9119> Psalm 119:119); to the filth that foams out of the sea ( Isaiah 57:20). As God vilely esteems 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; and hell is the house of correction to which the wicked are sent when they die. Let all this prevail with us to hallow and sanctify God’s name.

WHAT SHOULD WE DO TO HONOR AND SANCTIFY GOD’S NAME?

Let us get:

(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. Let us labor to know him to be our God. ‘This God is our God.’ Psalm 48:14. We may dread him 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. ‘Lord, thou knowest I love thee.’ John 21:15. 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.

THE SECOND PETITION IN THE LORD’S PRAYER

‘Thy kingdom come.’ Matthew 6:10 A soul truly devoted to God, joins heartily in this petition, adveniat regnum tuum, ‘thy kingdom come.’ In these words it is implied that God is a king, for he who has a kingdom, can be no less than a king. ‘God is the King of all the earth.’ Psalm 47:7. He is a King upon his throne. ‘God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness.’ Psalm 47:8. He has a regal title, high and mighty. ‘Thus saith the high and lofty One.’ Isaiah 57:15. He has the ensigns of royalty. He has his sword. ‘If I whet my glittering sword.’ Deuteronomy 32:41. He has his sceptre. ‘A sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.’ Hebrews 1:8. He has his crown royal. ‘On his head were many crowns.’ Revelation 19:12. He has his jura 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.

Further, he is a great King. ‘A great King above all gods.’ Psalm 95:3.

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 by the immensity of his being. ‘Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.’ Jeremiah 23:24.

His center is everywhere; he is nowhere included, yet nowhere excluded, he is so immensely great, that ‘the heaven of heavens cannot contain him’. Kings 8:27. His greatness appears by the effects of his power. He ‘made heaven and earth,’ and can unmake it. <19C408> Psalm 124:8. With a breath he can crumble us to dust; with a word he can unpin the world, and break the axletree of it in pieces. ‘He poureth contempt upon princes.’ Job 12:21. ‘He shall cut off the spirit of princes.’ Psalm 76:12. He is Lord paramount, who does whatever he will. <19B503> Psalm 115:3. He weigheth ‘the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance.’ Psalm 40:12.

God is a glorious King. ‘Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory.’ Psalm 24:10. He has internal glory. ‘The Lord reigneth, he is clothed with majesty.’ Psalm 93:1. Other kings have royal and sumptuous apparel to make them appear glorious to beholders, but all their magnificence is borrowed; God is clothed with his own 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 person, 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 lifeguard. ‘Who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord?’ Psalm 89:6.

He has a pre-eminence above all other kings for majesty. ‘He has on his vesture a name written, Rex Regum,KING OF KINGS.’ Revelation 19:16.

He has the highest throne, the richest crown, the largest dominions, and the longest possession. ‘The Lord sitteth King for ever.’ Psalm 29:10.

Though he 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. ‘By me kings reign,’ Proverbs 8:15. To this Lord Jehovah all kings must give account, and from his tribunal there is no appeal. Use 1. For instruction

(1) If God be so great a King, and sits King for ever, it is no disparagement for us to serve him, Deo servire est regnare [to serve God is to reign]; it is an honor to serve a king. If the angels fly swiftly upon the King of heaven’s message, then well may we look upon it as a favor to be taken into his royal service. Daniel 9:21. 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. He ‘has made us kings.’ Revelation 1:6. therefore, as the queen of Sheba, having seen the glory of Solomon’s kingdom, said, ‘Happy are these thy servants which stand continually before thee.’ 1 Kings 10:8.

So happy are those saints who stand before the King of heaven, and wait on his throne.

(2) If God be such a glorious King, crowned with wisdom, armed with power, be spangled with riches, it shows us what prudence it is to have this King to be ours; to say, ‘My King, and my God.’ Psalm 5:2. 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, befoul their policy and restrain their malice. That stone cut out of the mountain without hands, which smote the image ( Daniel 2:34), was an emblem, says Augustine, 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. ‘Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath.’ Psalm 2:5. Nay, with a look he can destroy them. ‘Look upon every one that is proud and bring him low.’ Job 40:12. It needs cost God no more to confound those who rise up against him, than a look, a cast of his eye. ‘In the morning watch, the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians, through the pillar of fire, and troubled the host of the Egyptians, and took off their chariot-wheels.’ Exodus 14:24.

What wisdom is it then to have this King to be ours! Then we are on the strongest side. Use 2. For exhortation 1 If God be so glorious a King, full of power and majesty, let us trust in him. ‘They that know thy name will put their trust in thee.’ Psalm 9:10.

Trust him with your soul; you cannot put this jewel in safer hands. And trust him with church and state affairs; he is King. ‘The Lord is a man of war.’ Exodus 15:3. 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 impossibilities 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. ‘I create Jerusalem a rejoicing.’ Isaiah 65:18. Let us trust all our affairs with this great King.

Either God can remove mountains or can leap over them. Cant 2:8.

(2) If God be so great a King, let us fear him. ‘Fear ye not me? saith the Lord:will ye not tremble at my presence?’ Jeremiah 5:22. We have enough of fear of men. Fear makes danger appear greater, and sin less; 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 a flame of fire.’ Revelation 1:14. ‘The mountains quake at him; and the rocks are thrown down by him.’ Nahum 1:5,6.

If he stamps with his foot, all the creatures are presently up in a battalion to fight for him. Oh, tremble and fear before this God. Fear is janitor animae, the doorkeeper of the soul. It keeps sin from entering. ‘How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?’ Genesis 39:9.

(3) If God be so glorious a King, he has jus vitae et 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 sceptres beat down his truth, which is the most orient pearl of his crown; who crush and persecute his people, who 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. ‘Hast thou an arm like God?’ Job 40:9. Wilt thou measure arms with the Almighty? Shall a little child fight with an archangel? ‘Can thy heart endure, or can thy hands be strong in the days that I shall deal with thee?’ Ezekiel 22:14.

Christ will put all his enemies at last under his feet. <19B001> 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 winepress of the wrath of God, to be trodden by him till their blood come 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 sceptre, and an iron rod. Psalm 2:9. Those who will not bow to the one, shall be broken by the other.

(4) Is God so great a king, having all power in heaven and earth in his hand! let us learn subjection to him. You who have gone on in sin, and by your impieties hung out a flag of defiance against the King of heaven, O come in quickly, and make your peace, submit to God. ‘Kiss the Son, lest he be angry.’ Psalm 2:12. 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 flee 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. ‘Then lifted I up mine eyes, and, behold, two women, and the wind was in their wings.’ Zechariah 5:9.

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. For consolation. Here is comfort to those who are the subjects of the King of heaven. God will put forth all the royal power for their succor and comfort.

(1) The King of heaven will plead their cause. ‘I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee.’ Jeremiah 51:36.

(2) He will protect his people. He sets an invisible guard about them. ‘I will be unto her a wall of fire round about.’ Zechariah 2:5. 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. ‘The Lord saved them by a great deliverance.’ 1 Chronicles 11:14. God reigning as a king, can save any way; even by contemptible means, as the blowing of the trumpets, and blazing of lamps. Judges 7:20. By contrary means; as when 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, their very enemies shall do his work. Chronicles 20:23. He sets Ammon and Mount Seir one against another. As God will deliver his people from temporal danger, so from spiritual danger, as from sin, and from hell. ‘Jesus which delivered us from the wrath to come.’ 1 Thessalonians 1:10. Use 4. For intimidation. If God be king, he will set his utmost strength against those who are the enemies of his kingdom. ‘A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.’ Psalm 97:3.

(1) He will set himself against his enemies. He will set his attributes against them, his power and justice; and ‘who knoweth the power of thine anger?’ Psalm 90:2:

(2) He will set the creatures against them. ‘The stars in their courses fought against Sisera.’ Judges 5:20. Tertullian observes, that when the Persian fought against the Christians, a mighty wind arose, which made the Persian’ arrows to fly back in their own faces. Every creature has a quarrel with a sinner; the stone out of the wall, the hail and the frost. Habakkuk 2:11. ‘He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycomore-trees with frost.’ Psalm 78:47.

(3) God will set men against themselves. He will set conscience against them. How terrible is this rod when turned into a serpent! Melanchthon 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.

(4) God will set the diseases of men’s bodies against them. ‘The Lord smote [Jehoram] in his bowels with an incurable disease.’ 2 Chronicles 21:18.

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. Daniel 5:6.

(5) 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 maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.’ Proverbs 16:7.

When he opposes God, he makes his friends to be his enemies. The wife of Commodes, the emperor, gave him poison in perfumed wine.

Sennacherib’s two sons were the death of him. 2 Kings 19:37.

(6) God will set Satan against them. ‘Let Satan stand at his right hand.’ <19A906> Psalm 109:6. What does Satan at the sinner’s elbows? He helps him to contrive sin. He tempts him to commit sin. He terrifies him for sin. He that has Satan 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 sceptre, that he will set everything in the world against them. If there be either justice in heaven or fire in hell, sinners shall not be unpunished. Use 5. For encouragement. 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, ‘What shall I do for the hundred talents?’ 2 Chronicles 25:9. 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 fadeth not away.

WHAT KINGDOM IS MEANT WHEN CHRIST SAYS, ‘THY KINGDOM COME’?

Let us show first what he does not mean.

(1) He does not mean a political or earthly kingdom. The apostles indeed did desire Christ’s temporal reign. ‘Wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom again to Israel?’ Acts 1:6. But Christ said his kingdom was not of this world. John 18:36. So that, when Christ taught his disciples to pray, ‘Thy kingdom come,’ he did not mean it of any earthly kingdom, that he should reign here in outward pomp and splendor.

(2) It is not meant of God’s providential kingdom. ‘His kingdom ruleth over all;’ that is, the kingdom of his providence. <19A319> Psalm 103:19. This kingdom we do not pray for when we say, ‘Thy kingdom come;’ for this kingdom is already come. God exercises the kingdom of his providence in the world. ‘He putteth down one and setteth up another.’ Psalm 75:7.

Nothing stirs in the world but God has a hand in it; he sets every wheel at work; 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 4:27,28. This kingdom of God’s providence we do not pray should come, for it is already come.

What kingdom then is meant when we say, ‘Thy kingdom come’?

Positively a twofold kingdom is meant.

(1) The kingdom of grace, which God exercises in the consciences of his people. This is regnum Dei micron. God’s lesser kingdom. When we pray, ‘Thy kingdom come,’ we pray that the kingdom of grace may be set up in our hearts and increased.

(2) We pray also, 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 in degree only. The kingdom of grace is nothing but the 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 daybreak, 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 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 kingdoms of grace and glory are so closely 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.

I. The first thing implied in this petition, ‘Thy kingdom come,’ is that we are in the kingdom of darkness. We pray that we may be brought out of the kingdom of darkness. The state of nature is a kingdom of darkness, where sin is said to reign. Romans 6:12. It is called, ‘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.

HOW MANY WAYS IS A NATURAL MAN IN THE KINGDOM OF DARKNESS?

(1) He is under the darkness of ignorance. ‘Having the understanding darkened.’ Ephesians 4:18. Ignorance is a black veil drawn over the mind. Men by nature may have a deep reach in the things of the world, and yet be ignorant of 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 that 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 by nature are 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 I. See what the state of nature is. It is a ‘kingdom of darkness,’ and it is a bewitching darkness. ‘Men loved darkness rather than light;’ as the Athlantes in Ethiopia curse the sun. John 3:19. Darkness of sin leads to ‘chains under 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! Thou who art in the kingdom of darkness, knowest not whither thou goest. As the ox is driven to the shambles, but knows not whither he goes, so the devil is driving thee before him to hell, but thou knowest not whither thou goest.

Shouldest thou die in thy natural estate, while thou art in the kingdom of darkness, blackness of darkness is reserved for thee. ‘To whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.’ Jude 13. 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 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 for ever. O pray that God would deliver you out of the kingdom of darkness!

(1) Be sensible of thy dark, damned estate, that thou hast not one spark of fire to give thee light!

(2) Go to Christ to enlighten thee! ‘Christ shall give thee light;’ he will not only bring thy light to thee, but open thine eyes to see it. Ephesians 5:14.

That is the first thing implied, ‘Thy kingdom come;’ we pray that we may be brought out of the kingdom of darkness.

II. The second thing implied is ‘ Thy kingdom come,’ is that we pray against the devil’s kingdom; that his kingdom may be demolished in the world. His kingdom stands in opposition to Christ’s kingdom; and when we pray, ‘Thy kingdom come,’ we pray against Satan’s kingdom. He has a kingdom:he got it by conquest:he conquered mankind in paradise. He has his throne. ‘Thou dwellest where Satan’s seat is.’ Revelation 2:13. His throne is set up in the hearts of men; he does not care for their purses, but their hearts. He is served upon the knee. Ephesians 2:2. ‘They worshipped the dragon,’ that is, the devil. Revelation 13:4. Satan’s empire is very large. Most kingdoms in the world pay tribute to him. His kingdom has two qualifications or characters:

[1] It is regnum nequitiae:a kingdom of impiety.

[2] It is regnum servitutis:a kingdom of slavery.

[1] The kingdom of Satan is a kingdom of impiety. Nothing but sin goes on in his kingdom. Murder and heresy, lust and treachery, oppression and division, are the constant trade driven in his dominions. He 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. He makes all his subjects slaves. Peccati reus dura daemonis tyrannide tenetur [The sinner is held captive under the grim tyranny of the devil]. 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. He rides some men as we do upon 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, who gives his slaves poison instead of meat, and hurtful lusts to feed on. 1 Timothy 6:9.

Nor will he let his slaves have any rest:he hires them out to do his drudgery. ‘They weary themselves to commit iniquity.’ Jeremiah 9:5. When the devil had entered into Judas, he sent him to the high priests, and from thence to the garden, and never let him rest till he had betrayed Christ and hanged himself. Thus he is the worst of tyrants. When men have served him to their utmost strength, he welcomes them to hell with fire and brimstone.

Use. Let us pray that Satan’s kingdom, set up in the world, may be overthrown. It is sad to think that, though the devil’s kingdom be so bad, yet that it should have so many to support it. He 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 the power to Satan. If in God’s visible church the devil has so many loyal subjects that serve him with their lives and souls, 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 willing slaves to Satan; they will fight and die for him; therefore he is not only called ‘the prince of this world,’ but ‘the god of this world’ ( John 12:31; 2 Corinthians 4:4), to show what power he has over men’s souls. O let us pray that God would break the sceptre 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.

WHEN WE PRAY, ‘THY KINGDOM COME,’ SOMETHING IS POSITIVELY INTENDED.

III. We pray that the kingdom of grace may be set up in our hearts.

When we pray, ‘Thy kingdom come,’ we pray that the kingdom of grace may come into our hearts. This is regnum Dei mikron, God’s lesser kingdom. ‘The kingdom of God is righteousness.’ Romans 14:17. ‘The kingdom of God is within you.’ Luke 17:21.

WHY IS GRACE CALLED A KINGDOM?

Because, when 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; it kings it in the soul, sways the sceptre, subdues mutinous lusts, and keeps the soul in a spiritual decorum.

WHY IS THERE SUCH NEED TO PRAY THAT THIS KINGDOM OF GRACE MAY COME INTO OUR HEARTS?

(1) Because, till the kingdom of grace come, we have no right to the covenant of grace. The covenant of grace is sweetened with love, bespangled with promises; it is our Magna Charta, by virtue of which God passes himself over to us to be our God. Who are heirs of the covenant of grace? Only such as have the kingdom of grace in their hearts. ‘A new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you.’ Ezekiel 36:26.

Here the kingdom of grace is set up in the soul; it then follows, ‘I will be your God’, 5:28. The covenant of grace is to an ungracious person a sealed fountain; it is kept as a 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, carried a piece of holy flesh in his skirt, the holy flesh could not cleanse him, but he polluted it. Haggai 2:12. Till the kingdom of grace be in our hearts, ordinances do not purify us, but we pollute them. Even 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 is 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 condemner of it; if he does come, he is a polluter of it. A sinner’s works are opera mortua, dead works; and those works which are dead, cannot please God. A dead flower has no sweetness. Hebrews 11:6.

(3) We had need pray that the kingdom of grace may come, because until this kingdom come into our hearts, we are loathsome in God’s eyes. ‘My soul loathed them.’ Zechariah 11:8. Quanta est foeditas vitiosae mentis [How great is the foulness of a corrupt mind]. A heart void of grace looks blacker than hell. Sin transforms man into a devil. ‘Have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?’ John 6:70. 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. ‘Ye shall loathe yourself in your own sight for all your evils.’ Ezekiel 20:43. I have read of a woman who always used flattering glasses, and who, by chance, seeing her face in a true glass, in insaniam delapsa est, she ran mad. When once God gives those who now dress themselves by the flattering glass of presumption, a sight of their own filthiness, they will abhor themselves. ‘Ye shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils.’

(4) Before the kingdom of grace comes unto us we are spiritually illegitimate, of the bastard brood of the old serpent. John 8:44. To be illegitimate is the greatest infamy. ‘A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord even to his tenth generation.’ Deuteronomy 23:2.

He was to be kept out of the holy assemblies of Israel as an infamous creature. A bastard by law cannot inherit. Before the kingdom of grace comes into the heart, a person is to God as illegitimate, and so continuing he cannot enter into the kingdom 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, by his subtle temptations he can draw it. He is said to take men captive ‘at his will.’ 2 Timothy 2:26. The Greek word signifies to take them alive as the fowler does the bird in the snare. The sinner’s heart is the devil’s mansionhouse. ‘I will return into my house.’ Matthew 12:44. It is officina diaboli, Satan’s shop, where he works. ‘The prince of the air that now worketh in the children of disobedience.’ Ephesians 2:2. The members of the body are the tools with which Satan works. He possesses men. In Christ’s time many had their bodies possessed, but it is far worse to have the 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, 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 is exposed to the wrath of God. ‘Who knoweth the power of thine 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 will it be when God stirs up all his anger? So inconceivably torturing is God’s wrath, that the wicked call to the rocks and mountains to fall on them and hide them from it. Revelation 6:16. 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. 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 comes, men cannot die with comfort. He only who takes Christ in the arms of his faith can look death in the face with joy.

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. ‘Behold, a pale horse, and his name that sat on him was death, and hell followed with him.’ Revelation 6:8.

Thus you see what need we have to pray that the kingdom of grace may come. Of him that dies without Christ I may say, ‘It had been good for that man if he had not been born.’ Matthew 26:24. Few believe the necessity of having the kingdom of grace set up in their hearts, as appears by this, that they are well content to live without it. Does that man believe the necessity of pardon who is content to be without it? Most people, if they may have trading, and may sit quietly under their vine and fig-trees, 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 is to have the kingdom of God within them, they would cry out as the jailor, ‘What must I do to be saved?’ Acts 16:30.

HOW MAY WE KNOW THAT THE KINGDOM OF GRACE IS SET UP IN OUR HEARTS?

It concerns us to examine this, for our salvation depends upon it, and we had need be cautious in the search, because there is something that looks like grace, which is not. ‘If a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.’ Galatians 6:3.

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! [How many with vain hope go down to hell!] Augustine. Zeuxis painted grapes so lively that he deceived the living birds. There are many deceits about grace.

(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. ‘I have a Levite to my priest,’ surely I shall go to heaven. Judges 17:13. The Jews cried, ‘The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are [we].’ Jeremiah 7:4. We are apt to glory in this, that the oracles of God are committed to us, that we have the word and sacrament. Alas! this is a fallacy; we may have the means of grace, and yet the kingdom of grace may not be set up in our hearts. We may have the kingdom of God come nigh us, but not into us; the sound of the word in our ears, but not the savour of it in our hearts. Luke 11:20.

Many of the Jews, who had Christ for their preacher, were not the better for it. Hot clothes will not put warmth into a dead man. Thou mayest have hot clothes, warn and lively preaching, and yet be spiritually dead. ‘The children of the kingdom shall be cast out.’ Matthew 8:12.

(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 enlightening of mind, profound knowledge, and almost speak like angels dropped from heaven; but the apostle supposes a case in which, after men have been enlightened, they may fall away. Hebrews 6:4,5,6.

BUT WHEREIN DOES THIS ILLUMINATION COME SHORT?

The illumination of hypocrites is not virtual, it does not leave an impression of holiness behind; it is like weak physic that will not work. The mind is enlightened, but the heart is not renewed. A Christian that is all head, but no feet, 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 now hope the kingdom of grace is come; but though convictions are a step towards grace, they are not grace. Had not Pharaoh and Judas convictions? Exodus 10:16.

WHAT MAKES CONVICTIONS PROVE ABORTIVE?

WHEREIN DO THEY FAIL?

They are not deep enough. A sinner never saw himself lost without Christ.

The seed that wanted depth of earth withered. Matthew 13:5. These convictions are like blossoms blown off before they come to maturity. They are also involuntary. The sinner does what he can to stile them; he drowns them in wine and mirth; he labors to get rid of them. As the deer when shot runs and shakes out the arrow, so does he the arrow of conviction; or as the prisoner files off his fetters, and breaks loose, so he breaks loose from convictions. His corruptions are stronger than his convictions.

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

WHY IS NOT HUMILIATION A GRACE?

WHEREIN DOES IT COME SHORT OF IT?

Tears in the wicked do not spring from love to God, but are forced by affliction, as water that drops from distillation is forced by the fire. Genesis 4:13. The tears of sinners are forced by God’s fiery judgements.

They are deceitful tears; lacrimae mentiri doctae [tears taught to lie]. Men weep, yet go on in sin; they do not drown their sins in their tears.

[4] Men have begun some reformation, therefore surely now they think the kingdom of grace is come; but there may be deceit in this. A man may leave his oaths and drunkenness, and still be in love with sin. He may leave his sin, out of fear of hell, or because it brings shame and penury, but still his heart goes after it, They set their heart on their iniquity’ ( Hosea 4:8); 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 long suitor to another; though his friends break off the match, yet still he has a hankering love to her. It may be a partial reformation. He may leave off one sin and live in another; he may refrain drunkenness and live in covetousness; he may refrain swearing and live in the sin of slandering; one devil may be cast out and another as bad may come in his room. A man may forsake gross sins, but have no reluctance against heart sins; motus primo primi [the very earliest motions of sin] as proud, lustful thoughts. Though he dams up the stream, he lets alone the fountain. Oh, therefore, if there be so many deceits, and men may think the kingdom of heaven is come into their hearts when it is not, how curious and critical had we need be in our search whether we have it really in our hearts! If a man be deceived in the title of his land, it is but the loss of his estate; but if he be deceived about his grace, it is the loss of his soul.

HOW MAY WE KNOW POSITIVELY THAT THE KINGDOM OF GRACE IS SET UP IN US?

In general, by having a metamorphosis or change wrought in the soul, which is ca]led the ‘new creature.’ 2 Corinthians 5:17. The faculties are not new, but there is a new nature; as the strings of a 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. They who can find no change of heart, 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.

More particularly we may know the kingdom of grace is set up in our hearts.

(1) By having unfeigned desires after God, which is the smoking flax that Christ will not quench. A true desire of grace is grace:by the beating of this pulse we conclude there is life. ‘O Lord, let thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servants who desire to fear thy name.’ Nehemiah 1:11.

But may not a hypocrite have good desires? ‘Let me die the death of the righteous.’ Numbers 23:10. Unfeigned desires evidence the kingdom of God within a man.

HOW MAY THESE UNFEIGNED DESIRES BE KNOWN?

An unfeigned desire is ingenuous. We desire God propter se, for himself, for his intrinsic excellencies. The savour of the ointment of Christ’s graces draws the virgins’ desires after him. Cant 1:3. A true saint desires him not on]y 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.

An unfeigned desire is insatiable. It cannot be satisfied without God; let the world heap her honors and riches, they will not satisfy. No flowers or music will content him who is thirsty; so 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; <19B920> Psalm 119:20.

An unfeigned desire is active; it flourishes into endeavor. ‘With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early.’ Isaiah 26:9. A soul that desires aright says, ‘I must have Christ; I must have grace; 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.

An unfeigned desire is supreme. We desire Christ, not only more than the world, but more than heaven. ‘whom have I in heaven but thee?’ Psalm 73:25. Heaven itself would not satisfy without Christ. He is the diamond in the ring of glory. If God should say to the soul, I will put thee into heaven, but I will hide my face from thee, I will draw a curtain between that thou shalt not behold my glory, the soul would not be satisfied, but say, as Absalom, ‘Now therefore let me see the king’s face.’ 2 Samuel 14:32.

An unfeigned desire is gradual. It increases as the sun in 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 traveller. Though a Christian is thankful for the least degree of grace, yet he is not satisfied with the greatest; he still 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 the soul will never leave longing till it sees him face to face. It desires to have grace perfected in glory. Dulcissimo Deo totus immergi cupit et inviscerari [it desires to be wholly plunged and embowelled in the sweetness of God]. We would be swallowed up in God, and be ever bathing ourselves in those perfumed waters of pleasure which run at his right hand for ever. Surely 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 Deo ut bene velimus [God desires are from God]. Augustine. If iron move upwards contrary to its nature, it is a sign some loadstone has been there drawing it; if the soul move towards God in an unfeigned desire, it is a sign the loadstone of the Spirit has been drawing it.

(2) We may know the kingdom of grace has come into our hearts by having the princely grace of faith. Fides est sanctissima humani pectoris [Faith is the most sacred jewel of the human heart] Gemma. Faith cuts us from the wild olive of nature, and ingrafts us into Christ. It is the vital artery of the soul. ‘The just shall live by faith.’ Hebrews 10:38. Faith makes a holy adventure on Christ’s merits. As a princely grace it reigns in the soul, when the kingdom of God is come unto us. The Hebrew word for faith comes from radix which signifies to nourish; faith nourisheth the soul, and is the nurse of all the graces. But, who will not say he is a believer? Simon Magus believed, yet was in the gall of bitterness. Acts 8:13,23. The hypocrite can put on faith’s mantle, as the devil did Samuel’s.

HOW SHALL WE KNOW THEREFORE THAT OUR FAITH IS SOUND, THAT IT IS THE FAITH OF THE OPERATION OF GOD, AND THAT THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN US?

True faith is wrought by the ministry of the word. ‘Faith comes by hearing.’ Romans 10:17. Peter let down the net of his ministry, and at one draught caught three thousand souls. Let us examine how our faith was 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.

True faith is at first 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 not.

True faith is long in working, non fit in instanti [it does not come about in a moment]. 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 is born. To those whose faith is per saltum [at a leap], who leap out of sin into a confidence that Christ is theirs, we may say, as Isaac concerning his son’s venison, ‘How is it that thou hast found it so quickly?’ Genesis 27:20. How is it that thou camest by thy faith so soon? The seed in the parable which sprung up suddenly withered. Mark 4:5,6. Solent praecocia subito flaccescere [Things that are too forward have a way of suddenly wilting].

True faith is joined with sanctity. As a little bezoar is strong in operation, and a little musk sweetens, so a little faith purifies. ‘Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.’ 1 Timothy 3:9. Though faith does but touch Christ, it 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 blood.

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. ‘Verily thou shalt be fed.’ Psalm 37:3. Faith puts this bond in suit, that 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 less:he trusts God for salvation, but dares not trust him for a livelihood.

True faith is prolific. It brings forth fruit; it has Rachel’s beauty and Leah’s fruitfulness. Fides pinguescit operibus. Luther. Faith is full of good works.

It believes as if it did not work, and it works as if it did not believe. It is the spouse-like grace which marries Christ, and good works are the children which it bears. By having such faith we may know the kingdom of God is within us; that grace is certainly in our hearts.

(3) We may know the kingdom of grace is come into our hearts by having the grace of love. Faith and love are the two poles on which all religion turns. ‘The upright love thee.’ Cant 1:4. True love is to love God out of choice. It turns the son] into a seraphim; it makes it burn in a flame of affection; it is the truest touchstone of sincerity; it is the queen of the graces; it commands the whole soul. 2 Corinthians 5:14. If our love to God be genuine, we let him have the supremacy; we set him in the highest room of our soul; we give him the purest of our love. ‘I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate.’ Cant 8:2. If the spouse had anything better than another, 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, that the Protestants in France had a church which they call 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 22:17,20.

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. ‘Ye are an holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices.’ 1 Peter 2:5 Spiritualizing duty consists in three things:

[1] Fixedness of mind. We spiritualize duty when our minds are fixed on God. ‘That you may attend on the Lord without distraction.’ Corinthians 7:35 Though impertinent thoughts sometimes come into the heart in duty, they are not allowed. <19B9113> Psalm 119:113. They come as unwelcome guests, which are no sooner spied but they are turned out.

[2] Fervency of devotion. ‘Fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.’ Romans 12:11. The allusion is to water that seethes and boils over; so the affections boil over, the eyes melt in tears, and the heart flows in holy ejaculations. We not only bring our offering to God, but our hearts.

[3] Uprightness of aim. A man whose heart is upright has three ends in duty. First, that he may grow more like God. Moses on the mount had some of God’s glory reflected on him:‘his face shined.’ Secondly, that he may have more communion with God. ‘Our fellowship is with the Father.’ 1 John 1:3. Thirdly, that he may bring more glory to God. 1 Peter 4:11 ‘That Christ shall be magnified.’ Philippians 1:20.

Sincerity aims at God in all things. Though we shoot short, yet we take a right aim, which is a sure evidence of grace. 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 dazzles carnal eyes.

(5) We may know the kingdom of grace is come into us by antipathy and opposition against every known sin. ‘I hate every false way.’ <19B9104> Psalm 119:104. Hatred is 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 is an antipathy between the crocodile and the scorpion, so, 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 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. This obedience is free, as that is the sweetest honey which drops from the comb; and uniform. We obey God in one thing as well as another. ‘Then shall I not be ashamed;’ or, as it is in the Hebrew, I shall not blush ‘when I have respect unto all thy commandments.’ <19B906> Psalm 119:6. As a pair of compasses has one foot upon the center and the other goes round the circle, so a Christian, by faith, stands on God the center, and by obedience goes round the circle of his commandments. It is 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, and 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 thou wilt, 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 now answer some doubts and objections that a Christian may make against himself I FEAR THE KINGDOM OF GRACE IS NOT YET COME INTO MY HEART.

When a Christian is under temptation, or grace lies dormant, he is not fit to be his own judge; but 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.

I CANNOT DISCERN GRACE.

A child of God may have the kingdom of grace in his heart, and yet not know it. The cup was in Benjamin’s sack, though he did not know it was there; so thou mayest have faith in thy heart, the cup may be in thy sack, though thou knowest it not. Old Jacob wept for his son Joseph when Joseph was alive; so thou mayest weep for want of grace, when grace may be alive in thy heart. The seed may be in the ground, when we do not see it spring up; so the seed of God may be sown in thy heart, though thou dost not perceive it springing up. Think not grace is lost because it is hid.

Before the kingdom of grace come into the heart, there must be some preparation for it; the fallow ground 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.

God does not prescribe an exact proportion of sorrow and humiliation; Scripture mentions the truth of sorrow, but not the measure. Some are more flagitous sinners than others, and 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 wouldest thou know when thou hast been humbled enough for sin? When thou art willing to let go thy sins. 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 for divine acceptation, though not for divine satisfaction. Now, if thou art humbled enough, what needs more? If a needle will let out the imposthume, what needs a lance? Be not more cruel to thyself than God would have thee.

If the kingdom of God were within me, it would be a kingdom of power; it would enable me to serve God with vigour of soul. But I have a spirit of in infirmity upon me, I am weak and impotent, and untuned to every holy action.

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 strong. A weak hand of faith will receive the alms of Christ’s merits.

(2) Weak faith is capable of growth. The scud 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 rose higher and higher. Be not discouraged at thy weak faith; though it be but blossoming, it will by degrees come to more maturity.

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

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, and passion.

The best of saints have remainders of corruption. ‘They had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season.’ Daniel 7:12.

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 more. Because you find corruptions stirring, do not therefore presently unsaint 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 it is a fruit of love to God; that you have a combat with sin, argues antipathy against it. Those sins which you once wore 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 indwelling sin, nay, who have had sin sometimes prevailing, we should blot some of the best saints out of the Bible.

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?

There may be grief where there are no tears. The best sorrow is rational. In your judgement you esteem sin the most hyperbolical evil, you have a disgust against it which is a rational sorrow, and such as God will accept. A Christian may have some hardness in his heart, and yet not have a hard heart. A field may have tares in it, and we call it a field of wheat, so in the best heart there may be 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 thyself, if thou canst find but this one thing, that the frame and temper of thy soul be holy. Art thou still breathing after God, delighting in him? Is the complexion of thy soul heavenly? Canst thou say, as David, ‘When I awake, I am still with thee’? Psalm 139:I8. 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 thee, assure thyself the kingdom of grace is come into the soul. Be not unkind to God, to deny any work of his Spirit, which he has wrought in thee. Use 1. For exhortation. Labour 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. The motives to this are: