Thomas Manton · 11 of 60

Our Father which art in heaven. · Part 2

[4.] In disciplining and treating us with much indulgence, and wisdom, and care. A father takes a great deal of pains in forming his child, and fashioning its manners and behaviour; so doth God with his children. If he afflicteth, it is as a father only, with purposes of good, and not so as an earthly father: Heb. xii. 10, ‘For verily for a few days they chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness,’ They mingle a great deal of passion with their correction when they are inflamed; but God never mingleth passion with his rod. When he gives a bitter cup he is a father still: John xviii. 11.

[5.] In providing able guardians for his children. None so attended as God’s children are those which are adopted and taken into grace and favour with Christ: Heb. i. 14, Angels are ‘ministering spirits, sent abroad for the heirs of salvation.’ They have a guard of angels to watch over them, that they dash not their foot against a stone.

[6.] In laying up an inheritance for them. The apostle saith, 2 Cor. xii. 14, ‘Children ought not to lay up for their parents, but parents for their children.’ Now, God hath laid up for us, as well as laid out much upon us: Luke xii. 32, ‘Fear not, little flock, it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.’ He has a kingdom, a glorious inheritance to bestow upon us; and we are kept for that happy state. Though he hath an heir already, Jesus Christ, the heir of all things, yet God hath made us ‘co-heirs with Christ:’ Rom. viii. 17.

Thus, then, it is a mighty advantage. If we did take up God in this notion, to look upon him as a father, it would increase our confidence and dependence upon him. This is a sweet relation: the reality is more in God than can be in an earthly father; for he is a father according to his essence, knowing our necessities, pardoning our sins, supplying our wants, forming and fashioning our manners, providing able guardians for ns, and laying up a blessed inheritance for us in heaven.

Secondly, As it encourageth us to pray, so it furthereth our duty in prayer, that we may behave ourselves with reverence, love, and gratitude.

[1.] With a child-like reverence and affection in prayer: Mal. i. 6, ‘If, then, I be a father, where is mine honour? And if I be a master, where is my fear?’ If we expect the supplies of children, we must perform the duty of children. God will be owned as a father, not with a fellow-like familiarity, but humbly, and with an awe of his majesty.

[2.] With love. Now, our love to God is mainly seen by subjection and obedience to his laws. Thus Christ would have us take up God in prayer under such a relation, that we might mind our duty to him: 1 Pet. i. 17, ‘And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear.’ We never pray aright but when we pray resolving to cast off all sin. How can we call him Father, whom we care not continually to displease from day to day? So the Lord treats his people: Jer. iii. 5, 6, ‘Thou hast said, Thou art my father. Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldest.’ God takes it to be a contumely and reproach to himself when we do evil, yet come and call him Father. He takes it ill that men should come complimentally and flatter him with lying lips, and do not walk as children in holy obedience. Therefore, it is an engagement to serve God with holiness.

[3.] With gratitude. When we come to pray, we must remember not only what we want, but what we have received, acknowledging we have all from him; he is our father: Deut. xxxii. 6, ‘Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people, and unwise? Is not he thy father that hath bought thee? Hath he not made thee and established thee?’ We must acknowledge the good we have, as well as that we expect to come from him. Therefore, if we would have a praying frame, and be eased of our solicitude, and that anxious care which is a disparagement to providence, it is good to take up God under the notion of a father, which makes us rest upon him for all things: Mat. vi. 25, ‘Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on.’ Why?’ For your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these things.’ You that are able fathers would think yourselves disparaged if that your children should filch and steal for their living, and beg and be solicitous, and go up and down from door to door for their maintenance and support, and not trust to your care and provision. A believer which knoweth he hath a heavenly Father will not be negligent in his calling, but be active and industrious in his way, and use those lawful means which, by the providence of God, he hath been brought up in; and then, ‘be careful for nothing,’ as the apostle’s advice is, Phil. iv. 6, and ‘in everything, by prayer and supplication, make your request known unto God.’ Oh, could we turn carking into prayer, and run to our Father, it would be happy for us. Care, and diligence, and necessary provision, that is our work and labour: but, for the success and event of things, leave it to God. When we are carking in the world with such anxiousness, and troubled with restless thoughts, how we should be provided for in old age, and what will become of us and ours, we take God’s work out of his hands. This is a disparagement to our heavenly Father, and a reproach to his providence and fatherly care. Well, then, certainly this is of great advantage in prayer.

APPLICATION.

Use. If it be a great advantage in prayer to take up God under the notion and relation of a father, then those that would pray aright, let this instruct and quicken them above all things. Clear up your adoption, that you may be able to call God Father, for otherwise, when you come to pray, it is a very lie to God. As Acts v. 4, when Ananias spake false to the apostle, saith Peter to him: ‘Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.’ Why? Because he knows all that is done in the world. But much more do they lie unto God here; this is a very disgrace and blasphemy, a contumely, rather than a prayer and supplication, when you will come and make God to father the devil’s brats. When you that live in sin, and have no reverence and awe of God upon your hearts, shall come and pray to him, this is a lie which is told to the very face of God.

But if this be a truth, that all those which would pray aright must clear up their adoption and get a sense of it, then here will doubts arise. Therefore here I shall handle three cases:—

1. What shall natural men do? Must they desist from prayer? for they have no right to it.

2. What shall they do which have not as yet received the testimony of the Spirit? For a child of God may have the right of children, yet have not a sense of his adoption.

3. What are the evidences by which our adoption may be cleared up to us, how we may know we are taken into a child-like state?

First, What shall natural men do? Must they desist from prayer? for they have no right to it.

I answer, you may see here the miserable condition of wicked men, how much they are bound to pray, and yet what an impossibility lieth upon them of praying aright. Certainly none should desist from this duty of prayer because they cannot perform it aright, for though we have lost our power and fitness, yet there is no reason God should lose his right and his power to our obedience. There is an obligation and precept from God, as a father by creation, upon all mankind; all which are reasonable creatures, they are to own God as a father in this way. I say prayer is a homage we owe to God by natural right, therefore no doubt wicked men do sin when they cease to pray. It is one of the accusations brought against natural men, and is an aggravation of their sin: Ps. xiv. 1, ‘They do not call upon God.’ Rom. iii. 10, it is applied to natural men. This is the misery they have subjected themselves to, that their prayer is turned into sin. As a natural man must not omit hearing, because it is a means to bring him to be acquainted with God, though he cannot hear in faith, so he must not omit prayer, because it is one means to bring us to own God as a father by adoption. A man is not to turn the back upon him, but call him Father, as well as he can: Jer. iii, 19, ‘But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? And I said, Thou shalt call me, My Father, and shalt not turn away from me.’ Better to own God any way, than not to own him at all, than not to inquire after him; to own him rationally, if not spiritually, to own him by choice, if not out of sense. If we cannot come and clear up our title to this great privilege by the spirit of adoption, yet any way ‘Thou shalt not turn away from me.’ We should not shut the door upon ourselves. It is required of a natural man, being weary of his sins, to fly to God in Christ Jesus, for his grace and favour, that he might become his God and Father.

Secondly, What shall they do which have not as yet received the testimony of the Spirit, that do not know their adoption?

I answer, a child of God may have the effects and fruits of adoption, yet not always the feeling of it, to witness to him that God hath taken him into a child-like relation to himself. Certainly they are in a very uncomfortable condition, for they want a help in prayer. ‘Doubtless thou art our Father.’ Oh, what an advantage is that! How much of eloquence and rhetoric is there in that, when we can speak to God as a father! Yet they are not to neglect their addresses to God, for this is a means to obtain the Spirit of adoption: Luke xi. 13, ‘He will give the Spirit to them that ask him.’ Therefore, in what ever condition we be, we must pray; otherwise we shut the door upon our hopes. You continue the want upon yourselves, and so wholly detain yourselves in a comfortless condition.

There is a fourfold spiritual art we must use in prayer, when we have not the sense of our adoption, that we may be able to speak to God as our Father.

[1.] Disclaim when you cannot apply. When you cannot clear up your own relation and interest, then disclaim all other confidences. If thou canst not say Father; yet plead fatherless; Hosea xiv. 3, ‘In thee the fatherless find mercy.’ Come as poor, helpless, shiftless creatures; seek peace and reconciliation with God in Christ. It may be God may take you into his favour. He is a Father of the fatherless.

[2.] Own God in the humbling way. Learn the policy of the prodigal: Luke xv. 18, 19, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.’ This is the policy and art of a humble faith, to call God Father. As Paul catcheth hold of the promise on the dark side: ‘Jesus Christ came to save sinners;’ and presently he addeth, ‘whereof I am chief:’ so a believer may come and say, ‘Lord, I am not worthy to be called thy son, make me as one of thy hired servants.’

[3.] The third policy we should use in prayer is to call him Father in wish: Optando, si non affirmando. If we cannot do it by direct affirmation, let us do it by desire. Let us pray ourselves into this relation, and groan after it, that we may have a clearer sense that God is our Father in Christ.

[4.] Faith hath one art more,—it maketh use of Christ Jesus. God hath a Son whose name signifieth much in heaven, therefore if you cannot come to him as your Father, come to him as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: Eph. iii. 14, ‘For this cause I bow my knees to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ Let Christ bring you into God’s presence. He is willing to change relations with us. Take him along with you in your arms. Go to God in Christ’s name: ‘Whatsoever you ask in my name, shall be given to you.’

Thirdly, But what are the evidences by which our adoption may be cleared up to us? How shall we know that we are taken into a child-like state?

[1.] Consider how it is brought about. How do we come to be related to God by Christ Jesus? By receiving Christ, as he is offered in the gospel: John i. 12, ‘To as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God.’ It is a prerogative, and special grant to those which receive Christ, even those that believe in his name, that is, those who, out of a sense of their own need, and sight of Christ offered in the promise, do really consent to take him for the ends for which God offereth him, to wit, as Prince and Saviour, that he might give you repentance and remission of sins, not in pretence, but in your hearts. These have full liberty to call God Father, to come to treat and deal with him, though they have not a sense of the blessedness of their state, for this followeth believing: ‘After you believed, you were sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise,’ Eph. i. 13, 14.

[2.] There is a witness which is given to the saints, that the thing may not always be dark and doubtful. The Holy Ghost is given as a witness. If you would know whether or no you are the children of God, see that of the apostle: Rom. viii. 16, ‘The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.’ As under the law, in the mouth of two witnesses every doubtful thing was to be established, Deut. xvii. 6, so here the Spirit beareth witness, together with our spirits, that we are the children of God. Our spirits alone may be lying, deceitful; we may flatter ourselves, and think we are the children of God, when we are children of the devil. All certainly comes from the Holy Ghost; and, therefore, the great question which is traversed to and fro in the heart, is, whether we be God’s children? What is the Spirit’s witness?

(1.) He lays down marks in scripture, which are the ground and decision of this debate, for the scriptures are of the Holy Ghost’s inditing, and so may be said to bear witness: Rom. viii. 14, ‘For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God:’ 1 John iii. 10, ‘In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doth not righteousness, is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.’ Thus the Spirit beareth witness to our spirits, by laying down such marks as we, by our own spiritual sense and renewed conscience, feel to be right within ourselves. And this is the main thing called the witness of the Spirit.

(2.) He worketh such graces as are peculiar to God’s children, and are evidences of our interest in the favour of God; and therefore it is called ‘the sanctification of the Spirit,’ 2 Thes. ii. 13; and ‘the renewing of the Holy Ghost,’ Titus iii. 5. Look, as John knew Christ to be the Son of God by the Spirit’s descending and abiding upon him, John i. 32, so by the Spirit’s work, and the Spirit’s inhabitation, we know whether we are the children of God or no; whether ‘we dwell in God, and God in us, because of his Spirit that he hath given us;’ that is, because of those graces wrought in us. And this is called the seal of the Spirit; for the Holy Ghost, stamping the impress of God upon the soul, working in us an answerable likeness to Christ, is said to be the seal; then we have God’s impress upon us.

(3.) The Spirit goes further: he helpeth us to feel and discover those acts in ourselves. There is a stupid deadness in the conscience, so that we are not always sensible of our spiritual acts. Hagar saw not the fountain near her until God opened her eyes, so we may not see the work of the Spirit without the light of the Spirit. We cannot own grace in the midst of so much weakness and imperfection; there is a misgiving of conscience: therefore the Spirit of sanctification is also a ‘Spirit of revelation:’ Eph. i. 17. The author of the grace is the best revealer and interpreter of it: he works, and he gives us a sight of it. As a workman that made a thing can best warrant it to the buyer, he knows the goodness and strength of it, and how it is framed and made; so the Holy Ghost, which works grace, he reveals and discovers this grace to us.

(4.) The Spirit helps us to compare them with the rule, and accordingly to judge of their sincerity. The Spirit opens our under standings, that we may be able to discern the intent and scope of the scripture, that so we may not be mistaken. We must plough with God’s heifer if we would understand the riddle: ‘In thy light we shall see light.’ We shall be apt to misapply the rule, so as to judge of our own actions: Rom. ix. 1, ‘I lie not, the Holy Ghost bearing me witness;’ when he had spoken of some eminent thing wrought in him. We are apt to lie, and feign and misapply rules, comforts, and privileges; but now the Holy Ghost bearing witness with our spirits, by this means we come to have a certainty. There are so many circuits, wiles, turnings in the heart of man, that we are not competent judges of what is wrought in us; therefore it is usually ascribed to the Spirit to be the searcher of the heart: Ps. cxxxix. 7, ‘Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?’ Acts v. 4, ‘Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.’ The Holy Ghost is rather spoken of than any other person, because it is his personal operation to abide in the hearts of men, and to search and try the reins. It is more particularly ascribed to him, though it belongs to all the persons.

(5.) As the Spirit helps us to compare that which is wrought with the rule, the impression or thing sealed with the stamp or the thing sealing, so he helps us to conclude rightly of our estate. For many times when the premises are clear, the conclusion may be suspended, either out of self-love, in case of condemnation; or out of legal fear and jealousy, in case of self-acquitment. Therefore the conclusion is of the Holy Ghost: 1 John iv. 13, ‘Hereby we know that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.’ There is a great deal ado to bring us to heaven with comfort. There needs a person of the Godhead to satisfy us as well as to satisfy God, and help us to determine concerning our condition.

(6.) He enlivens and heightens our apprehensions in all these particulars, and so fills us with comfort, and raiseth our joy upon the feeling of the sense of the favour of God; for all this is the fruit of his operation. Therefore it is said, Rom. v. 5, ‘The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us.’ Those unspeakable glimpses of God’s favour, and sweet manifestations of God’s love in the conscience which we have, these are given by the Holy Ghost. There is not one act of the soul, but the Holy Ghost hath a stroke in it for our comfort. In every degree, all comes from God. So that if you would know what the witness of the Spirit is, consider What are the marks in scripture? what graces are wrought in your hearts? how doth the Spirit help you to discern those graces, to compare them to the rule, to make accordingly in these things a determination of our condition? and what joy and peace have you thereupon wrought in your hearts by the Holy Ghost? For an immediate testimony of the Spirit, the scripture knows of no such thing. All other is but delusion besides this.

[3.] There are certain fruits and effects which do more sensibly evidence it unto the soul. What are those fruits of the Spirit of adoption in our hearts, by which we may further evidence it, whether we are the children of God or not?

(1.) In prayer, by a kind of naturalness or delight in this duty of holy commerce with God: Rom. viii. 15, ‘We have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father;’ Gal. iv. 6, ‘Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father;’ and Zech. xii. 10, ‘I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication.’ Wherever the Spirit of God is dispensed, and dwelleth in the hearts of any, the heart of that man will be often with God. The Spirit of grace will put him upon supplication; he will be often acquainting God with his desires, wants, fears.

(2.) You will be mainly carried out to your inheritance in heaven. Those which are the children of God do look after a child’s portion, and will look for an estate in heaven, and cannot be satisfied with present things. Worldly men, they have their reward: Mat. vi. 2. They discharge God for other things. If they may have plenty, honour, worldly ease, and delights here, they never look after heaven. As a servant hath his reward from quarter to quarter, but a child waits until the inheritance comes, so when we are begotten for this lively hope, when there is a heavenly-mindedness in you, this is a fruit of the Holy Ghost wrought in the heart, by which you might know you are the sons of God: Rom. viii. 23, ‘Having the first-fruits of the Spirit, we groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.’

(3.) By a child-like reverence and dread of God, when we are afraid to offend God: Jer. xxxv. 5, 6. The sons of Rechab, their father had commanded them that they should drink no wine; now saith God by the prophet, ‘Set pots full of wine, and cups, and say unto them, Drink ye wine;’ that is, present the temptation. No, they would not: ‘Our fathers have forbidden us.’ So when a child of God is put upon temptation, his heart recoils, and reasons thus: ‘How can I do this wickedness, and sin against God?’ I dare not, my Father hath for bidden me. There is an awe of his heavenly Father upon him: 1 Pet. i. 17, ‘If you call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear.’

We now come to speak of the possessive particle—Our Father. The word is used for a double reason:—

1. To comfort us in the sense of our interest in God.

2. To mind us of the common interest of all the saints in the same God. It is not my or thy Father only, but our Father.

First, Observe the great condescension of Christ, that poor creatures are allowed to claim an interest in God. If Christ had not put these words in our mouths, we never had had boldness to have gone to God, and said, ‘Doubtless thou art our Father.’ But he which was in the bosom of God, and knew his secrets, hath told us it is very pleasing to God we should use this compellation to him. This is a privilege which cannot be sufficiently valued; if we consider:—

[1.] The unworthiness of the persons which enjoy it: poor dust and ashes, sinful creatures, that were children of the devil, that we should lay claim and title to God for our Father. And,

[2.] If we consider the greatness of the privilege itself: ‘Oh, behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called his children!’ 1 John iii. 1. We think it much when we can say, This field, this house is mine; but surely this is more, to say, This God is mine.

Again, observe here that interest is a ground of audience. So Christ would have us begin our prayers, ‘Our Father.’ God’s interest in us, and our interest in God. God’s interest in us: when Christ mediates for his disciples, he saith, John xvii. 6, ‘Thine they were, and thou gavest them me,’ And David: Ps. cxix. 94, ‘I am thine, save me.’ That is his argument: the reason is, because God, by taking them for his own, binds himself to preserve and keep them. Everybody is bound to look to his own: ‘He that provides not for his own is worse than an infidel.’ Now what a sweet thing is it when we can go to God and say, We are thine! So it is the same, as to our interest in God. It is an excellent encouragement: Ps. xlii. 11, ‘Hope thou in God,’ saith David to his soul. Why? For he is my God. And elsewhere, reasoning with himself: Ps. xxiii. 1, ‘The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.’ First, his covenant-interest is built, and then conclusions of hope. So 2 Sam. xxx. 6, ‘David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.’ It is sweet when we can go to God as our God. Luther was wont to say, God was known better by the predicament of relation than by his natural properties. Why is interest such a sweet thing? Because by this relation to God we have a claim to God, and to all that he can and will do. God hath made over himself, quantus quantus est, as great as great he is, for his use and comfort. Therefore the psalmist saith, Ps. xvi. 5, ‘The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance, and of my cup.’ A believer hath as sure a right and title to God, as a man hath to his patrimony to which he is born, or as any Israelite had to that share which came to him by lot; so he may lay claim to God, and live upon his power and goodness, as a man doth upon his estate.

Well, then, labour to see God is yours, if you would find acceptance with him. It is not enough to know the goodness and power of God in general, but we must discern our interest in him, that we may not only say Father, but Our Father. It is the nature of faith thus to appropriate and apply: John xx. 28, ‘My Lord and my God.’ How is God made ours? How shall we know it, that we may come and lay our claim to him? Behold, Christ teacheth us here to say, Our Father, by taking hold of his covenant; and this is God’s covenant notion, ‘I will be your God, and you shall be my people.’ When we give up ourselves to be God’s, then he is ours. Resignation and appropriation go together. ‘I am my beloved’s;’ there is the resignation of obedience: ‘And he is mine;’ there is the appropriation of faith. A believer cannot always say God is his, but, I am thine; however it be with him, he would be no other’s but the Lord’s. If he cannot say he is God’s by an especial interest, yet he will be God’s by the resignation of his own vows. He knows God hath a better right and title to him than he hath to himself.

Quest. But how shall we know that we do indeed resign up ourselves to God?

I answer, When we make him our chief good and our utmost end—that is, when we unfeignedly choose him for our portion, and set apart ourselves to act for his glory.

1. When we choose and cleave to him as our all-sufficient portion: ‘The Lord is my portion, saith my soul,’ Lam. iii. 24. Sometimes the Lord speaks to us: ‘I am thy reward, I am thy salvation,’ Ps. xxxv. 3. So the soul speaks to God: ‘Thou art my portion.’ When we cleave to God, ‘He is my portion for ever,’ Ps. lxxiii. 25; ‘Whom have I in heaven but thee?’ &c. When our souls are satisfied in God, having enough in him, this is to give up ourselves to him.