Here consider — I. The substance of the petition. II. The circumstances thereof.
Mat. VI. 10.] the lord's prayer. 121
The substance of the petition, ' Thy will be done.' The circum- stances are two : The place where, which indeed intimateth the per- sons by whom, by men here ' upon earth.' Then the manner is set down in a comparison, ' Upon earth, as it is in heaven.'
Let me first open these passages, then observe somewhat.
I. The substance of the petition, ' Thy will be done ;' and there : —
1. The matter about which it is conversant, the tcilloi God.
2. The request about it, Th?/ will he done.
First, The matter of the request, Th^/ iciU. God's name was under consideration in the first petition, his kingdom in the second, and now his will. And then here is a note of appropriation, Th?/ will, in con- tradistinction to all others.
God's will, it signifieth two things, either his decree concerning future events, or else that which God hath revealed concerning our duty — his intended or commanded will. The first is spoken of, Rom. ix. 19, ' Who hath resisted his will ?' that is, his decree and his pur- pose ; and the second, his revealed pleasure concerning our duty, is spoken of, 1 Thes. iv. 3, ' This is the will of God, even your sanctifica- tion.' The will not of his purpose, but it is his law, his revealed pleasure. Now it is not meant here of God's decree or secret will. Why? God's secret will, that is not known, therefore how can it be done upon earth ? To that all are subject, — reprobates, devils. But here this petition speaks of a will which is to be done in conformity to the good angels. Again, we may, without sin, will that which God wills not by his secret will, as the life of a sick parent, which God purposeth to take away. Nay, a man may fulfil this secret will and yet perish for ever, as Judas, and many wbich bi'cak his command- ments and yet fulfil his decrees, that do that which God had deter- mined before to be done in his secret purpose ; as it is said, Acts iv. 28, ' To do that which his hand and counsel had determined before to be done.' Therefore his secret wall is not here meant, but the will of God revealed. Therefore let me here distinguish again : The will of God is revealed two ways, in his word and in his works ; the one to be done bj/ us, the other to be done uj)on us: the one is Voluntas de nobis, God's will concerning us ; the other, Voluntas in nobis, God's will in us, and to be done by us ; the one maketh way for our active, the other for our passive obedience. Oar active obedience hath respect to his laws and commands, but our passive to his providence. We show as much obedience in the one as in the other, in patience as in holiness : for as in holiness we own God as the supreme lawgiver, so in patience we own him as the supreme Lord, that hath a dominion over all events and all things which fall out in the world. In the one, we pray Ut nihil Dei dis2)liceat nobis, that nothing which comes from God may provoke us to unseemly passion ; in the other, we pray Ut nihil nostrum disj^liceat Deo, that nothing which comes from us may provoke God by unseemly and undutiful carriage. We principally pray for the latter here, that we may fulfil his will revealed in the word, and yet the other cannot be excluded. Take but this reason, because the saints in scripture express their subjection to God's provi- dence in words very agreeable to this request, to the form of this peti- tion ; as those believers, wdien they saw God had determined Paul's
122 AN EXPOSITION OF [MaT. VI. 10.
journey to Jerusalem, when lie went bound in the Spirit, notwith- standing the dangers of it, and their loss by his departure, they said, ' The will of the Lord be done,' Acts xxi. 14. And Christ himself, speaking of his passion, Mat. xxvi. 39, ' Not as I will, but as thou wilt : ' and ' not my will, but thine, be done,' Luke xxii. 42. So that we pray both for the one and the other, though with a plain difference. Why ? For our active obedience must be even without a conditional desire that the commands of Grod should be repealed ; we cannot so much as desire God should disannul his law, and repeal those statutes he hath enacted. Yet we may desire conditionally, if God see fit, the removal of our affliction, and that condition of life to which we are determined by his providence : ' The commandment is not grievous ' in itself, 1 John v. 3, yet the affliction in its own nature is grievous, Heb. xii. 11. AVe may desire more knowledge of God's law, yet we may not desire more experience of affliction ; the one is more abso- lutely necessary than the other. We are not only to obey actively, but to love the commandments of God, and to have our hearts carried out in a greater esteem, and to prefer them before liberty itself ; but I doubt whether we are so concerning our afflictions, to prefer them before freedom and exemption, and the welfare of our nature.