coming unfruitful; and that the earth may hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil,' so as to produce them; and that these may hear,' that is, may be distributed among God's people, as he sees they want them. And the psalmist says, He watereth the hills from his chambers. The earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works. He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man, that he may bring forth fruit out of the earth, and wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine; and bread which strengtheneth man's heart."b Hence, there are various causes and effects subservient to one another, which are all owing to the blessing of providence, whereby we come to possess that portion of the good things of this life which is allotted for us.

Again, the outward blessings of this life may be called ours, when God is pleased to make them blessings to us, and give us the enjoyment of them. He must add his blessing to all the mercies he bestows, else they will not conduce to our happiness, or answer the general end designed by them. Without the divine blessing, the bread we eat would no more nourish us than husks or chaff; our garments could no more contribute to our being warm, than if they were put upon a statue; and the air we breathe would rather stifle than refresh us. Thus it is said, 'Man doth not live by bread only, but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God; that is, it is not merely by second causes, or the use of means, but by the blessing of God, or his power and providence, that life and health are sustained. Moreover, it is God alone who can give us the comfortable enjoyment of the things of this life. This all have not. Their tables are plentifully furnished, but they want that measure of health which is necessary for their receiving advantage from them. Thus it is said of the sick man, that his life abhorreth bread, and his soul dainty meat.'d Such do, as it were, starve in the midst of plenty. And there are others who, though they have a great deal of the world, and are not hindered from the enjoyment of it by the weakness or decays of nature, yet are made unhappy by the temper of their own minds. There are some, for example, who abound in riches, who may, nevertheless, be said to be poor; because they want an heart to use what they have, which is God's peculiar blessing. Accordingly, the wise man says, Every man to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labour, this is the gift of God.' For the lawful things of this life, then, and the divine blessing upon them, we are dependent on God; and the asking of them is what we mean, when we pray that God would give us our bread.'

4

3. We are farther taught to pray, that God would give us our bread 'this day;' thereby denoting that we are to desire to have our present necessities supplied, as those who cannot be certain that we shall live till to-morrow. How often does God break the thread of our lives in an instant, without giving us any notice beforehand! We may truly say that in the midst of life we are in death; and we are advised to take no thought for the morrow, but to leave that entirely to the providence of God. Food nourishes but for a day; so that what we now receive will not suffice us to-morrow. Nature is always craving supplies; and therefore we are taught to have a continual recourse to God by prayer for them. If we look farther than the present time, we are to do so with the condition that the Lord has determined to prolong our lives, and has rendered it necessary for us to pray for those things which will be needful for the support of it. Our praying on this condition seems to be the meaning of that variation of expression which occurs in the evangelist Luke, Give us day by day our daily bread;' and it may obviate an inference which will be drawn by some, that if we are not to pray for what respects our future condition in this world, we are not to make provision for it. But not to make provision for the future is contrary to what we are exhorted to do, when we are called to consider the provision which the smallest insects make for their subsistence: The ant provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.'g And the apostle says, If any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. We hence

'h

b Psal. civ. 13—15. f Luke xi. 3.

c Deut. viii. 3

g Prov. vi. 8.

d Job xxxiii. 20. h 1 Tim. v. 8.

e Eccl. v. 19.

ought to make provision for our future wants. Accordingly, we are to pray that God would give success to our lawful endeavours, in order to the attainment of this end. We must pray thus, however, with the limitation of our maintaining a constant sense that our times are in his hand. Hence, whether he should be pleased to grant us a longer or a shorter lease of our lives, which to us is altogether uncertain, we are to beg of him that we may never be destitute of what is necessary for our glorifying him while on earth.

4. This petition is to be considered as having reference to others as well as to ourselves. By the words, 'Give us,' &c., we express a concern for their advantage, in what respects the good things of this life. The blessings of providence flow from an inexhaustible fountain; and therefore we are not to think that, by desiring that others may have a supply of their wants, there will not be enough remaining for us. Now, our being bound to pray for the good of others, should always teach us to bear our part in relieving them, that they may not, through our neglect, perish for want of the necessaries of this life. Thus we are exhorted to deal our bread to the hungry, to bring the poor that are cast out to our houses; and when we see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide ourselves from our own flesh.' Job having been severely accused by his friends, as though all the afflictions which befell him were in judgment for his having oppressed and 'forsaken the poor,' and 'violently taken away an house which he builded not,' as Zophar insinuates, vindicates himself from the charge in the strongest terms, when he says, 'I have not withheld the poor from their desire, nor caused the eyes of the widow to fail; nor eaten my morsel myself alone, so that the fatherless hath not eaten thereof; nor seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering."1 This is not only to pray that God would give others their daily bread, but to help them, so far as it is in our power; and thus to help them is very agreeable to what we pray for in their behalf, as well as our own, when we say, as in this petition, 'Give us this day our daily bread.'

Thus concerning the matter of the petition, as explained in this Answer. We shall give a summary account of it in the following meditation, which may be of use for the reducing of our Saviour's direction into practice :-"Our eyes wait on thee, O thou Preserver of men, who givest to all their meat in due season. We are poor, indigent creatures, whose necessities oblige us to request a daily supply for our outward as well as our spiritual wants. Thou hast granted us life and favour; and, having obtained help from thee, we continue unto this day. Thou preparest a table for us; our cup runneth over; we have never been wholly desti-tute of those outward blessings which tend to make our pilgrimage through this world easy and comfortable. We therefore adore thee for the care and goodness of thy providence, which continues to us forfeited blessings. We have, by our sins, deserved to be deprived of all the good things we enjoy; which we have not used to thy glory as we ought to have done. We acknowledge ourselves less than the least of all thy mercies; yet thou hast encouraged us to pray and hope for the continuance of them. We leave it to thine infinite wisdom, to choose that condition of life which thou seest best for us. It is not the great things of this world that we are solicitous about, but that portion of it which is necessary to our glorifying thee in life. We desire, agreeably to what thou hast enjoined as our duty, to use that industry which is necessary to attain a comfortable subsistence in the world; yet we are sensible that the success of our endeavours is wholly owing to thy blessing. We therefore beg that thou wouldst prosper our undertakings; since it is thy blessing alone that maketh rich, and addeth no sorrow. Keep our desires after the world within their due bounds; and enable us to be content with what thou art pleased to allot for us, that our hearts may not be turned aside from an earnest pursuit after that bread which perisheth not, but endureth to everlasting life. If thou art pleased to give us the riches of this world, let not our hearts be set upon them. But if thou hast ordained that we should be in low circumstances, may the frame of our spirits be suited to them; and may they be so sanctified that it may appear that we are not too low to be the objects of thy special regard and

i Isa. lviii. 7.

k Job xx. 19.

1 Chap. xxxi. 46-19.

discriminating grace,-that, having nothing, we may really possess all things, in having an interest in thy love. As to our future condition in this world, though thou hast made it our duty to use a provident care that we may not be reduced to those straits which would render the last stage of life uncomfortable; yet we would do this with a constant sense of the uncertainty of life, since our times are in thy hand, our circumstances in the world at thy disposal,-and we rejoice that they are so. Therefore we earnestly beg that, if it be thy sovereign will to call us soon out of it, we may be as well pleased to leave, as ever we were to enjoy it, as being blessed with a well-grounded hope of a better life. And, if it be consistent with thy will that our lives be prolonged in the world, Give us day by day our daily bread,' that we may, at all times, experience that thou dost abundantly bless our provision, and satisfy us with those things which thou seest needful for us, till we come to our journey's end, and are possessed of that perfect blessedness which thou hast reserved for thy saints in a better world."

THE FIFTH PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER.

QUESTION CXCIV. What do we pray for in the fifth petition?

ANSWER. In the fifth petition, which is, "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors," acknowledging that we, and all others, are guilty both of original and actual sin, and thereby become debtors to the justice of God; and that neither we, nor any other creature, can make the least satisfaction for that debt; we pray for ourselves and others, that God of his free grace would, through the obedience and satisfaction of Christ, apprehended and applied by faith, acquit us both from the guilt and punishinent of sin, accept us in his Beloved, continue his favour and grace to us, pardon our daily failings, and fill us with peace and joy, in giving us daily more and more assurance of forgiveness, which we are the rather emboldened to ask, and encouraged to expect, when we have this testimony in ourselves, that we, from the heart, forgive others their offences.

HAVING been directed, in the former petition, to pray for outward blessings, we are now led to ask for forgiveness of sin. It is with very good reason that these two petitions are joined together; inasmuch as we cannot expect that God should give us the good things of this life, which are all forfeited by us, much less that we should have them bestowed on us in mercy and for our good, unless he is pleased to forgive those sins whereby we provoke him to withhold them from us. Nor can we take comfort in any outward blessings, while our consciences are burdened with a sense of the guilt of sin, and we have nothing to expect, as the consequence of it, but to be separated from his presence. Hence, we are taught to pray that God would forgive us our sins,' as one evangelist expresses it, or our debts,' as it is in the other.

It may be here observed, in general, that sin is a debt. As contrary to the holiness of God, it is a stain and blemish, a dishonour and reproach to us; as a violation of his law, it is a crime; and as involving us in guilt, it is called 'a debt.' This is the principal thing considered in this petition. There was a debt of obedience demanded from us as creatures; and in case of the failure of it, or of our committing any other sin, there was a threatening denounced in terms of the sanction of the law, whence arises a debt of punishment. Now, it is in the latter respect that we are directed, more especially, in this petition, to pray for forgiveness. There are several things regarding the nature of forgiveness, as founded on the satisfaction given by Christ, as our surety, which have been largely insisted on under some former Answers. Hence, in considering the subject of this petition, we shall, first, take a view of sinful man as charged with guilt, and rendered uneasy under a sense of it; secondly, we shall consider how he is to address himself to God by faith and prayer for forgiveness; and thirdly, we shall show the encouragement which he has to hope that his prayer will be answered. Under this last head we shall take occasion to consider how far that disposition which we have to forgive others, is an evidence of our prayer for forgiveness having been heard.

m

m See Sect. "The Reality of the Atonement, under Quest. xliv. See also Quest. "Ixx, lxxi.

4 L

n

Man's Uneasiness under a Sense of Guilt.

We are first to consider the charge of guilt which is upon us, and that uneasiness which is the consequence of it. Here we view the sinner as apprehended and standing before God, the Judge of all. An accusation is brought in against him; he is charged with apostacy and rebellion against his rightful Lord and Sovereign; his nature is, in consequence, represented as vitiated and depraved, his heart deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; whence proceed all actual transgressions, with their respective aggravations, which, according to the tenor of the law of God, deserve his wrath and curse, both in this life, and in that which is to come. This charge is made good against him by such convincing evidence, that he must be very much unacquainted with himself, and a stranger to the law of God, if he does not see its truth. But if we suppose him stupid, and persisting in his own vindication, through the blindness of his mind, and hardness of his heart, and ready to say with Ephraim, In all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin;' the charge will, notwithstanding, appear to be just, his mouth shall be stopped, and he shall be forced to confess himself guilty before God. His conscience is now awakened, and he trembles at the thoughts of falling into the hands of an absolute God, who appears no otherwise to him than as a consuming fire. His terrors set themselves in array against him, and cannot but fill him with the greatest anguish, especially as there is no method which he can find out to free himself from the misery which he dreads. If he pretends to extenuate his crimes, his excuses will not avail him; and if his own conscience does not come in as a witness against him, as having been a party concerned in the rebellion, its being silent is an evidence of its having been rendered stupid by a continuance in sin. Nothing which it can allege in its own vindication, will be regarded in the court of heaven, but will rather tend to add weight to the guilt he has contracted; for the omniscience of God will bring in an unanswerable charge against him, as a transgressor of his law, and liable to condemnation, and then vindictive justice will demand satisfaction. If the sinner make an overture to pay the debt, he must either yield sinless obedience, which is impossible from the nature of the thing, or bear the stroke of justice, and suffer the punishment due to him; and if he is content to do the latter, he knows not what it is to fall into the hands of the living God, or to be plunged into an abyss of endless misery. If he think that he shall be secure by fleeing from justice, he will find every attempt to flee from it vain; ior God is omnipresent, and there is no darkness nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.'P Nothing therefore remains but that he make supplication to his Judge, that he would pass by the crimes he has committed, without demanding satisfaction. But to do this is to desire that he would act contrary to the holiness of his nature; which would be such a blemish on his perfections, that he is obliged to reject the suit, or else must cease to be God. What would his pardoning crime without satisfaction be, but to relinquish his throne, deny his sovereignty, and act contrary to his own law, which is the rule of his government? Sinners, besides, would take occasion to transgress, expecting that they may do with so impunity. But, is there no intercessor who will plead the sinner's cause, or appear for him in the court of heaven? There can be no such intercessor but one who is able to make an atonement, and thereby secure the glory of divine justice, by having the debt transferred or placed to his account, and giving a full satisfaction for it. But this work belongs to none but our Lord Jesus Christ, who has obtained redemption and forgiveness through his blood. Now, no one can take encouragement from what he has done but he who addresses himself to God by faith. But we are now considering the sinner as destitute of faith, and therefore the charge of guilt remains upon him. And it is certain that the consequence is such as tends to fill him with the greatest uneasiness under the burden which lies on his conscience; so that he has a perpetual dread of the execu tion of the sentence which is in force against him. His spirit is wounded; and it is impossible for any one to apply to him healing medicines, but by directing him, ac

n Quest. clii.

o Hos. xii. 8.

p Job xxxiv. 22.

cording to the prescription contained in the gospel, to seek forgiveness in that way in which God applies it in and through a Mediator.

How a Sinner is to ask Forgiveness.

We are now to consider how a person is to address himself to God by faith and prayer for forgiveness. This is the principal topic exhibited in this petition. Here it is to be acknowledged that, when we draw nigh to God, we do so with a sense of guilt, and, it may be, with great distress of conscience arising from it. Yet this sense of guilt differs very much from what was observed under the last Head, when we considered a sinner as standing before an absolute God, without any hope of obtaining forgiveness. What such a person suffers is dread and horror; but his drawing near to God under the sense of guilt of which we now speak, is an expedient for his obtaining a settled peace of conscience. Indeed, there is nothing of greater importance, than our performing this duty in a right manner.

1. Let it be considered, then, that when we pray for forgiveness of sin, it is supposed that none can bestow this blessing upon us but God. No one has a right to forgive an offence, but he against whom it is committed. Sin is a neglect or refusal to pay the debt of obedience which is due from us to God; and consequently it would be an invading of his right, for any one who had no power to demand payment of that debt to pretend to give a discharge to the sinner, as an insolvent debtor. This would be to act like the person mentioned in the parable, who was appointed, indeed, to receive his lord's debts, but not to cancel them; and therefore our Saviour calls him an unjust steward;' and he is said to have wasted his lord's goods,' by compounding without his order, the debts which were owing to him. Now, as obedience is a religious duty, it is due to God alone. It is only he who can give a discharge to those who have not performed it. As it belongs to him as a Judge and Lawgiver to punish offenders, it would be the highest affront to him for a creature to pretend to this prerogative. Hence, God appropriates it to himself, when he says, I, even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake ;'r an expression which is to be understood of him exclusive of all others. Accordingly, when the Jews charged our Saviour with blasphemy on his forgiving sins, and said, 'Who can forgive sins but God only?'s the proposition was true, how false soever the inference was which they deduced from it to disprove his Deity.

2. We shall now consider that all ought to pray for forgiveness, and in what sense they are to do so. That all ought to pray for forgiveness, one would think is so evident, so agreeable to the condition of fallen man, so obviously founded on many scriptures, and expressly commanded in the petition which we are explaining, that it is needless to give a farther proof of it. Yet, some have asserted that a justified person ought not to pray for pardon of sin, since he already enjoys it. This is an inference from what they advance as to actual justification being from eternity. They hence suppose that it is as absurd for a justified person to pray that God would forgive him, as it is to pray that he would choose him to eternal life, or that Christ would satisfy the divine justice for the sins of his people, which he has already done. It is, indeed, not very easy to understand what some persons mean, when they insist on this subject; for they lay down propositions, without sufficiently explaining them. And while they allege in their own vindication that they intend nothing but what is agreeable to the sentiments of the reformed churches, it is certain that they advance several things, or, at least, make use of unguarded expressions, which are altogether disowned by these churches; and, at the same time, they give occasion to some to run into the contrary extreme, who, for fear of being thought to assert eternal justification, deny the eternal purpose of God relating to it. But whatever they intend, when they say that a justified person ought not to pray for pardon of sin; the contrary to this opinion is sufficiently evident from scripture. For, as every believer is a justified person, any instances which we have of believers praying for the pardon of sin, sufficiently confute the absurd notion which we are opposing. Now, that many have prayed for pardon of sin, who have,

q Luke xvi. 1. et seq.

r Isa. xliii. 25.

s Mark ii. 7.