152 AN EXPOSITION OF [MaT. VI. 11.
up in his bowels ; and then they will be sweet, and relish much better with a gracious soul, because he can not only taste the creature, but the love of God in the creature.
[3.] He gives the continuance of our blessings, that we may keep what we have ; for unless the Lord do daily support us, we cannot keep our comforts for one day. How soon can God blast them ! It is at his pleasure to do what he will with you. He gave Satan power over Jobs estate : chap. i. 12, ' Behold, all that he hath is in thy power.' Our life, it is continued to us by the indulgence of God, and by his providential influence and supportation. For as the beams of the sun are no longer continued in the air than the sun shineth, or, as the water retains the impress and stamp no longer than the seal is kept on it, so when God takes off his providential influence, all vanisheth into nothing. Thus he is said, Heb. i. 3, to ' uphold all things by the word of his power.' As a weighty thing is upheld in the hand of a man, when he looseneth his hand all falls to the ground ; so it is said. Job xii. 10, ' In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.' God by his almighty grasp holdeth all things in his own hands, and if he should but let loose his hand, all would fall to nothing and disappear : Job vi. 9. For it is from the intimate support and influence of his providence that we have our lives. So our comforts, they are continued to us by God. Alas ! in themselves they are poor fugacious things ! Haman was to- day high in honour, and to-morrow high upon the gallows. ' Kiches make themselves wings, and fly away as an eagle towards heaven : ' Pro v. xxiii. 5. The Holy Ghost seems there to compare riches to a flock of birds, which pitcheth in a man's field to-night, but to-morrow they are gone. Who is the richer for a flock of wild fowls because they pitch in his field now ? So all these outward things are so flying that they are soon gone by many accidents, unless he preserves them and continues our possession of them. For God he can give a charge and commission to the fire, to the fury of men, one way or other, to deprive us of these things : ' Behold, all he hath is in thy hands,' Job i. 12. When a man hath gotten abundance of worldly comforts about him, and seemeth to be intrenched and provided against all hazards, the man is taken away, and cannot enjoy what he had heaped together with a great deal of care and solicitude.
[4.] We beg leave to use them. It is good manners in religion to ask God's leave in all things. It is robbery to make use of a man's goods, and to waste and consume them without his leave. We must ask God's leave upon this account, because, though God gives these good things to men, yet he still reserves the pro[)erty in himself ; for by distributing blessings to the creature, he never intended to divest himself of the right. As a husbandman, by scattering his corn in the field, did not dispossess himself, but still keeps a right and means to have the increase ; so when the Lord scattereth his blessings, we only receive them as stewards, not as owners and proprietors : God still is the supreme Lord, and only hath the property and dominion. In life it is clear man is not domimis vita:, but custos ; not lord of his life, but only the steward and guardian of it ; he cannot live or die at his own pleasure : if a man kills himself he runs the danger of God's law.
Mat. VI. 11.] THE lord's PRAYER. 153
What is said of life is true also of his estate : he is not an owner so much as a steward ; that is the notion of our possession : we are stewards, and must render an account to God : Hos. ii. 9, ' I will re- turn and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax.' Thou<^h God hath communicated these things to the children of men, yet he hath reserved the dominion in his own hands : so Hag. ii. 8, ' The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts.' He never disposed anything so into the creature's hands, but still he hath reserved a right and interest in it ; and therefore it is. Gen. xiv. 19, that the Lord is not only called the creator of heaven and earth, but ' possessor of heaven and earth.' He is not only the possessor of heaven where he dwells, which he hath reserved to his own use, but he is possessor of earth, which he hath committed to the use of men. And God will have his right acknowledged from day to day.