2. The argument may be taken a, dispari, or a mino7^i ad mojus, from the less to the greater. If we, that have but a drop of mercy, can forgive the offences done to us, surely the infinite God, that is mercy itself, he hath more bowels and more pity : ' For his ways are above our ways, as high as the heaven is above the earth,' Isa. Iv. 9. So it seems the argument is propounded : Luke xi. 4, ' Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us.'
3. The argument may be taken from the condition or the qualifica- tion of those that are to expect pardon. They are such that, out of a sense of God's mercy to them, and the love of God shed abroad in their hearts, are inclined and disposed to show mercy to others. So Christ explains it, ver. 14, making it a condition or qualification on our part : ' If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.' But this will be more abundantly clear when I come to examine that clause.
Before we come to the petition itself, the connexion is to be con- sidered, for the particle and links it to the former petition. After ' Hallowed be thy name,' he doth not say, 'And thy kingdom come ;' they are propounded as distinct sentences : but, ' Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts,' for three reasons: —
[1.] Without pardon all the good things of this life will do us no good. They are but as a full diet, or as a rich suit, to a condemned person ; they will not comfort him and allay his present fears. Until we are pardoned, we are under a sentence, ready for execution and
168 AN EXPOSITION OF [MaT. VI, 12.
therefore we cannot have that comfort in outward things until we have some interest in God's fatherly mercy. A man that is con- demned hath the king's allowance until execution. So it is the indulgence of God to a wicked man to give him many outward things, though he is condemned already. We should not satisfy ourselves with daily bread without a sense of some interest in pardoning mercy.
[2.] To show us our unworthiness. Our sins are so many and grievous that we are not worthy of one morsel of bread to put in our mouths. "When we say, ' Give us this day,' &c., we need presently to say, ' Forgive us our sins.' There is a forfeiture even of these common blessings : Gen. xxxii. 10, ' I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast showed unto thy servant.' All that we have we have from mercy, and it is mercy undeserved. As we are creatures, there can be no common right between God and us to engage him to give temporal blessings, for we owe ourselves wholly to him, as being created out of nothing. Chil- dren cannot oblige their parents. But much more, as we are guilty creatures, it is merely of the mercy of the Lord.
[3.] These are joined together because sin is the great obstacle and hindrance of all the blessings which we expect from God : Jer. v. 25, ' Your sins have withheld good things from you.' When mercy comes to us, sin stands in the way and turns it back again, so that it cannot have so clear a passage to us. Therefore God must forgive before he can give, that is, bestow these outward things as a blessing on us.
Having spoken of this connexion, let me observe something from the petition itself.
The first thing I shall observe is the notion by which sin is set out, ' Forgive us our dehfs.' The point is : —
Doct. 1. That sins come under the notion of debts.
In Luke xi. 4, it is, ' Forgive us our sins.' There is a twofold debt which man oweth to God.
1. A debt of duty.
2. A debt of punishment.
[1.] A debt of duty, worship, and obedience ; this is a debt we owe to God. In this sense it is said, Kom. viii. 12, ' We are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.' In which negative the affirmative is clearly implied, that we are debtors to God, to live to God; debtors to the Spirit, to live after the Spirit. By the law of creation, we were not appointed to serve and please the flesh, but to serve God: Luke xvii. 10, ' When you have done all those things which are com- manded you, say. We are unprofitable servants, we have done that which was our debt or duty to do.' Obedience, worship, and service, is a debt we owe to God, by virtue of that interest which he hath in us, and command he hath over us. And so you have that speech. Gal. V. 3, that we are debtors to the whole law, as we come under the obedience of it.
[2.] A debt of punishment, which we are fallen into through the neglect of our duty. Punishment is due to us as wages : Rom vi. 23, ' The wages of sin is death.' God hath, as it were, made a con- tract with us, that if we will sin we must take our wages ; we must take what it comes to. .