neceffities fupplied with the coárfest diet and the meaneft apparel, if our condition requireth it, or God's providence in an honeft way allotteth no other to us: we may foberly and thankfully enjoy what God fends; but we fhould not prefume to ask for or defire other than this.

And for the measure, we learn to afk only for fo much as fhall be fit to maintain us; not for rich, or plentiful store; not for full barns, or for heaps of treasure; not for wherewith to glut, or pamper ourselves; but for daily bread, a moderate provifion, then to be dealt to us, when we need it.

. It follows,

And forgive us ouz Trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us; our trespasses; it is our debts (opeλńuara) in St. Matthew; our sins (auaprías) in St. Luke; and they who trespass against us are in both Evangelists called our debtors: for he that injures another is obnoxious and in debt to him; owing him satisfaction, either by making reparation, or undergoing punishment.

AFTER the preservation of our beings, (the foundation of enjoying other good things,) our firft care, we fee, ought to be concerning the welfare of our better part and ftate; which chiefly confifts in the terms whereon we ftand toward God, upon whofe favour all our happiness dependeth, and from whose difpleasure all our mifery must proceed: fince therefore we all do ftand obnoxious to God's wrath and justice; having omitted many duties which we owe to him, having committed manifold offences against him; it is therefore most expedient, that we firft endeavour to get him reconciled to us, by the forgiveness of our debts and offences: concerning which remiffion, upon what account it is neceffary, upon what terms it is granted, by what means it is obtained, in what manner it is difpenfed by God, I have otherwhere touched,

1

and it is not seasonable now farther to infift thereon; only it may be pertinent here to obferve,

1. That this being the firft of petitions (formally fuch, and) purely spiritual; we are hereby admonished to lay the foundation of our devotions in humility; that we are obliged, before we presume to ask any thing of God concerning our chief happiness and well-being, to reflect upon, acknowledge, and confefs our unworthiness, (not coming to our prayers as the Pharifee did, doting upon our worthy qualities and good deeds; but like the poor Publican, with a sense of our infirmities and miscarriages; so as to be ready to acknowledge ourselves, as indeed we all are, guilty of many and great fins ;) this is here implied; for in requesting pardon for our fins, we confess ourselves to be finners, and to need God's mercy.

2. We may hence learn the neceffity and the excellency of that benefit we here beg. When the Pfalmift

applied himself to praise God for his

benefits, this he fet

in the first place, as moft needful and confiderable to him;

Blefs the Lord, O my foul, faid he, and forget not all his Pf. ciii. 2,3. benefits, (or rather, not any of his benefits,) who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy difeafes; and anfwerably, it is the first particular benefit we pray for.

3. We must take notice, that we are obliged to go to

our devotions with universal charity and good-will toward others; to lift up, as St. Paul enjoineth, holy hands, 1 Tim. ii. 8. without wrath and doubting, (or without wrath and dissention,) to depofe all enmity (as our Lord adviseth) before

we bring our oblation to the altar of God; referving no Matt. v. 23. fpite or grudge toward any man, but having a heart clear of all ill-will and defire of revenge; being in affection of mind toward others, as we do wish, and hope, and pray that God would be toward us: fuch in all reafon, equity, and ingenuity fhould our difpofition be; and fuch God re-. quires it to be; and such we do affert and promise it to be; implying alfo a compact with God, no otherwise to defire or expect his favour and mercy toward us, than as we resemble him in kind and merciful intentions toward our brethren: it is implied on God's part, that he vouch

fafes pardon only upon these terms; yea more, that he doth truly promise pardon upon our performing this condition; fo our Saviour, purposely reflecting on this petiMatt. vi. 14. tion, doth afterward expound it; For, faith he, if you forgive to men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will alf。 forgive you it alfo implies a confent on our parts, and fubmiffion to this condition, as most equal and reasonable; fo that if we break it, if we do retain any uncharitable inclinations, we deal falfely with God; we forfeit all pretence to favour and mercy from him; we are neither qualified for mercy, nor fhall obtain it from God.

1.

3.

Lead us not into Temptation.

TEMPTATION is fometime taken, in a middle and indifferent sense, for any occafion by which the moral quality of perfons (their virtue or vice) is examined and difGen. xxii. covered: fo God is faid to have tempted Abraham, when he propounded to him the offering up of his fon; fo he tempted the Ifraelites, by leading them in that long Deut. viii.2. journey through the wilderness, that he might know what Tva ugáry was in their heart, whether they would keep his commandments, or no fo he likewise tempted them by permitting Deut. xiii. feducers to do wonderful things, that he might know whether they did love the Lord with all their heart and with all their foul and becaufe affliction is of fuch a nature, as to try the temper, difpofition, and intentions of men, therefore temptation often is used for affliction. It feemeth also sometimes put in a good fenfe, for an occafion defigned to exercise, or to improve, or to declare the vir tues of a perfon; fo the inconveniences and croffes incident to our nature and condition here, the which our Luke xxii. Lord did undergo, are by St. Luke, and others of the Heb. i. 18. Apostles, styled temptations; fo the fiery trial, in St. Peter, was eis weigaoμòr, to exercise and refine them, that, faith he, the trial of their faith might be to praife, and hoJames i. 2. nour, and glory; fo St. James biddeth Chriftians to rejoice, when they fall into divers temptations; that is, when they meet with opportunities of exercising their faith and pa

28.

iv. 15.

1 Pet.iv. 12. i. 6, 7.

16.

tience; and fo we may understand that place in Deuteronomy; Who, it is said, fed thee with manna, that he might Deut. viii. humble, and prove thee, (or tempt thee, Iva êxteipáσy σɛ, fay the LXX.) to do thee good at thy latter end: that he might tempt thee; that is, that he might render thee approved; might exercise and improve thy dependence on God, thy patience, thy obedience. But the word is commonly taken in a worse sense, for an occafion presented with ill purpose, or naturally tending and not eafily avoided, of falling into fin; a ftumblingblock, a fnare; as when St. Paul faith, that they who will be rich, do fall is weipaσμòv 1 Tim. vi.9. xai wayída, into temptation and a fnare; thus St. James James i. 13. affureth us, that God tempteth no man; that is, doth not intend to feduce or inveigle any man into fin. Yet because nothing in the world, either good or bad, doth happen without God's permiffion and governance; and the Devil himself muft obtain licence from God, before he can tempt any man, or do any mischief, (as we see in Job's cafe, and in the history of Ahab;) fince God feeth Job ii. 6. whatever is done, and with greatest ease could hinder it ; 1 Kings xxi. and doth not otherwise than for fome good end fuffer any evil to be defigned or achieved; it is the ftyle of Scripture to attribute such things in some sense to him; as when God is faid to fend Jofeph into Egypt to preserve Gen. xlv. 5. life; whenas in truth his brethren, out of envy and ill-will, did fell him thither; and, God is faid to move David to 2 Sam. number the people; whenas indeed Satan (as it is other- 1 Chron. where affirmed) provoked him to number them: and that xxi. 1. horrid tragedy acted by the Jews upon our Blessed Saviour is faid to be brought to pass by the hand and defi- A&s ii. 23. nite counfel of God; becaufe God foreseeing the temptations which thofe men fhould incur of committing fuch acts, and their inclinations to perform them, did refolve not to interpofe his power in hindrance of them, but fuffering them to proceed, would turn their mischievous practices to an excellently good end, and use them as inftruments of his juft, holy, and gracious purposes: thus then, whereas by temptation here is meant any occafion alluring or provoking to fin, or withdrawing from duty,

22.

iv. 28.

with a violence, all things confidered, exceeding our ftrength to refift or avoid; (or however fuch an one that is apt to overthrow us ;) God may be faid to bring them into it, whom in justice he permits to be exposed thereto; although he do no otherwife intermeddle, or concur therein, than by not affording, or by withdrawing, his efpecial direction and affiftance; leaving them without check blindly or wilfully to follow the fway of their own tempers, the instinct of their vain minds, the bent of their corrupt wills, the violence of their unruly paffions and appetites; letting them to fall into the manifold fnares of false opinion, evil cuftom, and contagious example, which the world fets before them; (the world, which by its fair promises and pleasing flatteries enticeth to fin, or by its angry frowns and fierce threats difcourageth from goodnefs;) permitting the devil, without control or impediment, by his wiles to delude and feduce them; which kind of proceeding of God with men is clearly reprefented in the 81ft Pfalm; where, of the Ifraelites, God fays, that having fignally declared his pleasure to them, and by promife of great benefits invited them to obferve it, upon their wilful neglect, he dealt thus with them; Pfal. Ixxxi. But, fays God there, my people would not hearken to my voice, and Ifrael would none of me; fo I gave them up unto their own hearts' lufts; and they walked in their own counfels. In fuch manner, if God, provoked thereto by our heinous mifcarriages, doth juftly bring us into, or doth let us enter into temptation, (as our Lord otherwhere Luke xxii. expresseth it; Pray, faith he, that ye enter not into temptation,) we shall infallibly run into many grievous fins and desperate mischiefs; no lefs furely, than we fhall wander and stumble in the dark, than we fhall flide and fall in the moft flippery places, and fometimes be entangled, when we do walk in the midst of fnares, furrounded with traps Jer. x. 23. innumerable, most cunningly laid to catch us; It is not, faith the Prophet, in man to direct his fieps, so as to go ftraight and upright; it is not in him to fee his duty, to bend his inclinations to compliance therewith; to reftrain his appetites, when fenfible objects forcibly prefs on them;

11, 12.

40, 46.