[1.] Carnal self By a foolish mistake we take our lusts to be our- selves: Col. iii. 5, * Mortify your members here upon earth.' And these members he makes to be fornication, uncleanness, and the like. Our sins are as dear to us as any essential or intregal part of the body ; they are our members. Now, these should have no room in our prayers at all, though usually they have the first place : James iv. 3, ' Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss, tliat ye may consume it upon your lusts.' Our prayers should be the breathings of the spirit, and usually they are but the belches and eructations of the flesh. And for these it is we are so instant and earnest with God. We would have God bless us in some revengeful and carnal enter- prise. We deal with God as the thief that lighted his candle at tlie lamps of the altar. So many would make God a party in their carnal designs : Prov, xxi. 27, ' The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomina- tion ; how much more when he bringeth it with a wicked mind ? ' It is an abomination when it is at the best ; but when he hath an ill aim, then it is an abomination with a witness. Foolisli creatures vainly imagine to entice heaven to their lure. Balaam builded altars and sacrificed, out of hope that God would curse his own people, and
G8 AN EXPOSITION OF [MaT, VI. 9.
engage in Moab's quarrel ; like the man in the Gospel that would make no other use of Christ than to compose his civil difference : Luke xii. 13. He comes to him as a man of authority, ' Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me.' We all look upon God, tanquamaliquem magnum, as Austin said he did in his infancy, as some great power that would serve all our carnal turns. In this sense we make God to serve our sins, Isa. xliii. 24, when we would have God to contribute to our lusts, to our pride, wantonness, revenge. This is such a foolish request, as if a wife should beg of her husband to give her leave to go on with her adulteries. Survey all the peti- tions which are in this present platform of prayer, there is not one that is calculated for such an evil purpose as our revenge, pomp, pride, pleasure. Carnal self surely must give way to God.
[2.] There is a natural self, when we seek our own temporal felicity. Christ hath allowed these natural desires a room in our prayers ; but they must keep their order and their place : first, God's glory ; and then, our safety. The obtaining of natural good is put in the last place. And, therefore, wlien our thoughts only run upon temporal felicity and outward supplies, it is not prayer, but a brutish cry : Hosea vii. 14, ' They howl upon their beds for corn, wine, and oil.' Beasts are sensible of their pain, and are carried by natural instinct to seek their own welfare, as well as men. And, therefore, when this is our first and only request, it is a perversion of that order which Christ hath set down in this perfect form of prayer.
[3.] There is spiritual self, which is valuable either in point of justification or acceptance with God, or in point of sanctification and conformity to him. Now, as these blessings cannot be severed from God's glory where they are really enjoyed, so they must not be severed in our prayers, nor preferred before it. To ask pardon as a separate benefit as it concerns our ease and quiet, not as it concerns God's glory, is a perversion and a diversion of our prayers. The main thing which God intends should be the main thing in our requests, is, ' the praise of his glorious grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved,' Eph. i. 6. And, therefore, this is the main thing which the soul intends : Ps. Ixxix. 9, ' Help us, 0 God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name ; and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name's sake.' The argument is not taken from themselves merely, or from their own misery, but from God's glory. ^ If God could not be more glorified in our pardon and acceptance with him than in our death and damnation, it were an evil thing to desire pardon. But now when God hath abundantly cleared up this to us, that he is no loser by acts of mercy ; that this conduceth more to the exalting of his great name, to accept poor sinners to mercy ; the soul goeth with the more confidence to beg it of God, -that he would purge us from our filthiness for his name's sake. But now men's thoughts are wholly taken up with their own peace and safety, and take no care for God's honour. This is but a selfish request, or an offer of nature after ease. For the other part, to ask for grace and conformity to God's will, merely as it is a perfection of our nature abstractly from God's glory, it is not a right request. It is contrary to the very nature of grace, whose tendency is to God in the first place, that his name may