3. Those that would have respect to God's glory must do his will. This is the honour of God, when you are at his command. God gloried in Abraham ; rather Cyrus than Abraham is there meant, as the context shows : see Isa. xlvi. 11. Isa. xli. 2, ' The man from the east, whom I have called to my foot.' When you are at his beck, ready to go step by step with God, as God leads you, you are ready to follow. It w^as the honour of the centurion that had his soldiers at such a command, that ' when he said to one, Go, he went ; and to another. Come, and he came,' Mat. viii. So it is God's honour, when he can bid you do nothing but you are ready to obey, though with the greatest hazard and loss of all.
4. Our subjection to his kingdom. God stands upon his authority. What is a king without obedience ? Christ is never received as king but where his will is obeyed, otherwise we mock him with an empty title. The high priest's servants said, ' Hail, King of the Jews,' in mockage; thus it is to own him as king, when we will not yield obedience. Then do we desire that his kingdom may come indeed and in power, when we resolve to do his will, to love as God will have us, and hate, fear, and hope as God will : Ps. cxliii. 10, " Thou art my God ; teach me to do thy will' If you own God as sovereign, you must be in subjection to his will. Thus this prayer will yield us arguments, as we own him as a father, as we profess respect to his glory and kingdom.
Mat. VI. 10.] the lord's prayer. 129
Secondly, I shall bring other arguments to persuade this, to make conscience of God's will.
1. The example of Christ Jesus, who wholly yielded up himself to the will of God ; and wilt thou stand upon thy terms ? John v. 30, ' I seek not mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.' Christ did not seek to please his human, his own natural will, but the will of his Father. This is tnie religion, to be like him whom we worship. Now, we are never like Christ until we make doing of God's will to be the great business of our lives. Wherefore doth he come into the world ? He tells you; to do his Father's will : Luke ii. 49, ' Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business ? ' This was his sole employment ; so it should be ours, if we have the same mind which Christ had.
2. Consider God's right. We are not at our own dispose, but at the Lord's use. God hath a right in us, as he created us. The per- fection of everything lieth in fulfilling the Creator's will, for that is the end wherefore they were made. The creatures ' are all thy servants, and continue this day according to thine ordinances,' Ps. cxix. 91. We owe our being, and all we have, from him. We see among men dependence begets observance ; a man that lives upon another will be careful to please him. Thou boldest all by the indulgence and bounty of God, therefore it should be thy study to do his will. Jesus Christ hath bought thee : 1 Cor. vi. 20, ' Glorify the Lord in your souls and bodies, which are God's.' That is God's which he hath bought. A servant that was bought, when men were sold for slaves, he was his master's money ; so his strength, time, service belonged to his master. We are God's, because he hath bought us, therefore we cannot live as we will ; for this is the property of a servant, that he cannot live as he will. Again, as God hath begotten us anew, regenerated us, what is the aim of his grace ? ' That we should no longer live in the flesh, to the lust of men, but to the will of God,' 1 Pet. iv. 2. It is the aim of grace to cure the disorders of the will, and to bring us to a stricter bond of duty and service to God. And indeed if grace hath had its fruit and power upon you, you will give up yourselves to God. Cant, vii. 10, ' I am my beloved's.' You are your beloved's, to be used by him as he pleaseth. So that unless you will retract your vows, you will make conscience of doing the will of God, for he hath a manifest right in you.
3. Consider our o^vn incapacity. There is great reason why our wills should be given up to the will of God, because we are not able to manage them ourselves. By the law of nations, fools and madmen must have a guardian ; they have lost the dominion and power over themselves, they are to be ruled by another, they are slaves by nature, that must be guided by another : Tit. iii. 3. We are all by nature fools, and it is the greatest mischief that can be to be left to our own wills ; and therefore, when God requireth the resignation of our wills, it is but as the taking of a sword out of a madman's hand, which will be the cause of his own mischief and ruin. Nemo Iccditur nisi a seipso, — ' JSio man is hurt by any but himself, though he maybe troubled by others.' Now, since we cannot manage our own will, it is fit we should have a guardian ; and who is more wise than God to govern