But now let me distinguish again. God is a father to mankind, either: —
1. In a more general consideration and respect, by creation ; or,
2. In a more special regard, by adoption.
First, By creation God is a father. At first he gave a being to all things ; but to men and angels he gave reason : John i. 4, ' And this life was the light of man.' Other things had life, but man had such a life as was light ; and so by his original constitution he became to be the son of God. To establish the relation of a father, there must be a communication of life and likeness. A painter, that makes an image or picture like himself, he is not the father of it, for though there be likeness, yet no life. The sun in propriety of spec(?h is not the father of frogs and putrid creatures, which are quickened by its heat ; though there be life, yet there is no likeness. We keep this
42 AN EXPOSITION OF [MaT. VI. 9.
relation for imivocal generations and rational creatures. Thus, by creation, the angels are said to be the sons of God : '' Job xxxviii. 7, ' When he was laying the foundations of the earth, the sons of Grod shouted for joy ;' that is, the angels. And thus Adam also was called the son of God : Luke iii. 38. Thus, by our first creation, and with respect to that, all men are the sons of God, children of God. And (mark it) in respect of God's continual concurrence to our being, though we have deformed ourselves, and are not the same that we were when we were first created ; yet still, in regard of some sorry remains of God's image, and the light of reason, all are sons of God, and God in a general sense is a father to us ; yea, more a father than our natural parents are. For our parents, they concur to our being but instru- mentally, God originally. We had our being, under God, from our parents : he hatli the greatest hand and stroke in forming us in the belly, and making us to be what we are. Which appeareth by this : Parents, they know not what the child will be, male or female, beau- tiful or deformed ; they cannot tell the number of bones, muscles, veins, arteries, and cannot restore any of these in case they should be lost and spoiled ; so that he that framed us in the womb, and wonder- fully fashioned us in the secret parts, he is our Father : Ps. cxxxix. 14. As the writing is rather the work of the penman than of the pen, so we are rather the workmanshij) of God than of our parents ; they are but instruments, God is the author and fountain of that life and being which we still have. And again, consider, the better part of man is of his immediate creation, and in this respect he is called ' the Father of spirits :' Heb. xii. 9. They do not run in the channel of carnal generation or fleshly descent, but they are immediately created by God. And it is said, Eccles. xii. 7, ' The spirit returneth to G^d which gave it.'
Well, then, you see how, in a general sense, and with what good reason, God may be called our Father. Those which we call fathers, they are but subordinate instruments ; the most we have from them is our corruption, our being depraved ; but our substance, and the frame and fashion of it, our being, and all that is good in it, that is from the Lord.
Now, this is some advantage in prayer, to look upon God as our father by virtue of creation, that we can come to him as the work of his hands, and beseech him that he will not destroy us and suffer us to perish : Isa. Ixiv. 8, ' But now, 0 Lord, thou art our father ; we are the clay, and thou our potter ; and we are all the work of thine hand.' There is a general mercy that God hath for all his creatures; and, therefore, as he gave us rational souls, and fashioned us in the womb, we may come to him and say, Lord, thou art our potter and we thy clay, do us good, forsake us not.
What advantage have we in prayer from this common interest or general respect of God's being a father by virtue of creation ?
[1.] This common relation binds us to pray to him. All things which God hath made, by a secret instinct they are carried to God for their supply : Ps. cxlv. 15, ' The eyes of all things look up to thee.' In their way they pray to him and moan to him for their supplies, even very beasts, young ravens, and fowls of the air. But much more
Mat. VI. 9.] the lord's prayer. 43
is this man's duty, as we have reason, and can clearly own the first cause. And therefore upon these natural grounds the apostle reasons with them why they should seek after God : Acts xiv. 17.
[2.] As this common relation binds us to pray, so it draweth common benefits after it : Mat. vi. 25, 26, 'Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment ? Behold the fowls of the air : for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns ; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them.' Where God hath given a life, he will give food; and where he gives a body, he will give raiment, according to his good pleasure. He doth not cast off the care of any living creature he hath made, as long as he will preserve it for his glory. Beasts have their food and provision, much more men, which are capable of knowing and enjoying God.