Thomas Manton · 22 of 60

Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. · Part 2

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 was 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.

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 true 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 perfection 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 own 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 laeditur nisi a seipso,—‘No 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 us? A merchant, though he owns the ship, and hath stored it with goods, yet because he hath no skill in the art of navigation, he suffereth the pilot to guide it. Certainly we shall but shipwreck ourselves unless we give up ourselves to be guided by the Spirit of God according to his will.

4. The benefit that accrueth to us by doing his will—we shall have his favour here and his glory hereafter. His favour here, which is that which endeareth us to God: Acts xiii. 22, ‘I have found a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.’ These are men after God’s own heart, that do his will. And though we have great infirmities, yet because we are bent to do his will, they will be passed over; as David had his infirmities, yet because it was in his heart to do the will of God, therefore this is a man after mine own heart. And you shall have the glory of God hereafter: 1 John ii. 17, ‘The world passeth away and the lusts thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.’ Those things that our wills carry us to they perish. The inclination of our heart carrieth us to the world, riches, honours, pleasures; but the will of God carrieth us to an ever lasting estate. ‘The world passeth away, and the lusts thereof.’ There will a time come when those things we will, and are so strongly addicted to and lust for, will be gone—we shall have no relish, no savour in them, no appetite to them. When men are leaving the world, then they cry out how the world hath deceived them; but now ‘he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.’ Never any repented of doing the will of God; this will stick by us to all eternity, and bring us to everlasting happiness.

Use 1. To show how far they are from any sincere respect to God, that upon the least occasion transgress his will, and break through bonds and restraints God hath set to them. The heart is never right but when it lieth under the awe of a command. Many will fear a punishment; but it is said, Prov. xiii. 13, ‘He that feareth the commandment: ‘if the commandment stands in his way he dares not break through, it is more than a hedge of thorns, or if lions stood in the way. But on the other side, when men make no bones of a commandment, when they will ‘transgress for a pair of shoes’ (as the prophet saith), when every small temptation is enough to draw them off from God, it showeth how little sincere respect they have to God.

Use 2. It serves to press us to a more tender regard to the will of God. To this end consider these motives:—

1. His absolute authority to command: 1 Tim. vi. 15, ‘Who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;’ his will is enough—I am the Lord, you shall do thus and thus.

2. Consider the equity of what he hath commanded: Rom. vii. 12, ‘The commandment is holy, and just, and good.’ Nothing God commandeth but what is agreeable to his own nature, and what is suited to our benefit. It is no burden to live justly, soberly, and holily in communion with God; it is not a burden, but a great ad vantage. The yoke of Christ is a bountiful yoke. Our service and duty hath its own reward in the very mouth and bosom of it. It is no great wrong to us to govern our affections, to live soberly, chastely, and in the exercise of holy services; here is nothing but what raiseth and sublimates the nature of man. If the commandment of God had been to offer our children in sacrifice, or any of those barbarities which were practised among the Gentiles, yet this had been enough, ‘I am the Lord;’ but when he hath given such holy and good commands, which makes you live more like men, like reasonable creatures, you should be tender of the Lord’s will.

3. To be given up to our own will is a great judgment. When the Lord hath a mind to destroy a people, he gives them up to their own will: Ps. lxxxi. 12, ‘Israel would none of me; so I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust; and they walked in their own counsels.’ It is the greatest judgment which can be laid upon any creature, that he may have his own will. A man may be given up to Satan, yet recover: 1 Cor. v. 5, ‘Deliver such an one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.’ He may be given up to Satan for his exercise and trial; but when he is given up to himself, to the sway of his own heart, to be besotted with his own counsels, and to have his own lusts, what a heavy judgment is this! When Balaam would not be satisfied, God said to him, ‘Go,’ Num. xxii. 35. He had his answer before, again and again, but he would be inquiring still; ‘Go,’ and that was his punishment.

4. It is the truest liberty to be subject to the will of God. Then, ‘when the Son of God shall make you free, you shall be free indeed,’ John viii. 36. How doth the Son of God make us free? Not from duty, but for duty. He that lieth under the dominion and power of any sin is a very slave. But then are we free indeed, when we are loosed, not from a due subjection to God, but from the power of the devil. It is not liberty to be free to do what we please, good or evil; but the more determined we are to good, the more freedom—for that is a liberty which comes nearest to the liberty of God, who is a most free agent and yet cannot sin. Such a liberty is in God, Christ, and the angels in heaven: surely they do not live a slavish life that are ever praising and lauding of God. It will be the greatest pleasure in the issue to deny our own will and do the will of God. The more we are enlarged for this, the greater is our happiness. Then we have the happiness of the spirits of just men. None among men have greater happiness than glorified saints, yet none have less of their own will. Why should we account that a bondage which is part of our happiness? In heaven glorified spirits there are not complaining of any burden, yet they have no will of their own, but they will and nill as God doth.

5. He that hath a heart bent to do the will of God, he hath the clearest knowledge of the mind of God: John vii. 17, ‘He that will do the will of God, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God.’ It is not the sharpness of parts that pierceth into a truth, especially into a controverted truth, when the dust of contention is raised; but he that is most close in walking with God, it is he that knoweth his mind. A blunt iron, when hot and in the fire, will pierce deeper into an inch board than a sharper tool that is cold; so a man that hath pure affections for God, a heart to do the will of God, pierceth deeper many times into controverted truth, and sees more of the mind of God in that truth than a man of parts doth. There arc many mistakes about the will of God. Now make conscience of obedience, do not consult with the interest of your own private passions, and then you shall know the mind of God. It is just with God to withhold the light from them that consult with their lusts and interests and carnal humours, for these blind the mind, and only like and dislike things as they shall relish with their lusts.

6. God will surely punish the violation of his will. This implieth two things:—

[1.] That God takes notice of it; he observes whether his will be done, yea or no. The Rechabites were tender of the commandment of their dead father, who could not take cognizance of their actions; but it was the will of their father, and they would keep to the will of the dead: Jer. xxxv. 14. But now the Lord seeth whether his will be kept, yea or no: Prov. xv. 3, ‘The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.’ Wherever you are, God is with you. As the prophet said to Gehazi, ‘Went not mine heart with thee?’ 2 Kings v. 26, meaning his prophetical spirit. The Lord’s Spirit goeth along with “us wherever we go, he observes what we do. When Jesus Christ was in the throng, he saith, ‘Who is it that toucheth me?’ He was sensible virtue passed out from him when one touched him by faith. So in the throng of creatures we depend upon God—he knows what virtue goeth out to preserve thee and me in being. These are fit instances to ingenerate in our minds a sense of God’s omniscience.

[2.] He will severely punish: James iv. 12, ‘There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy.’ There are many lawgivers in the world, that have power of life and death, but that is only of life temporal; but there is one Lawgiver that can reward with eternal life, and punish with eternal death. So God truly and properly hath the power of life and death. Therefore, since he can punish so severely, we should not stand out against God’s will. Many times the doing God’s will is irksome to flesh and blood, but remember hell will be worse. When we press men to faith, repentance, and new obedience, and tell them this is the will of God concerning you, that you do believe in Christ, walk holily and humbly with God, what saith the man? Shall I mope myself, and sit mourning in a corner, and spend my life in a dark melancholy manner, in going from one duty to another? This is far better than to sit howling under the wrath of God for evermore.

For directions. If you would do the will of God, then—

1. There must be some solemn time of resigning and giving up thy will to him. Naturally we are averse. Now, whosoever is brought unto God, he comes and lays down the weapons of his defiance at God’s feet. God hath a right to us, and he will have this right confirmed by our grant and consent: Rom. xii. 1, ‘I beseech you by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God.’ There cannot be a more acceptable sacrifice to God than the resignation of our own will to him: See how Paul comes and layeth down the buckler, when God had him under: Acts ix. 6, ‘And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?’ There will be a time when you will solemnly give up the keys of your own hearts to God, and bid him come and enter. Paul, that now did nothing but threaten and breathe out terror to the children of God, when God had humbled him, then he lies at God’s feet. When you are truly humbled, you will desire God to come and take possession of your hearts, and resolve to come under his yoke: Mat. xi. 28, ‘Take my yoke upon you, and you shall find rest for your souls.’ Christ will force it upon none. In the matrimonial contract, consent is not to be forced: ‘Take my yoke.’

2. When you give up yourselves to God, it must be without bounds and reservations: ‘That ye may stand perfect and complete in the will of God,’ Col. iv. 42. That was his prayer for them: and, Acts xiii. 22, ‘I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he shall fulfil all my will.’ We should so perfectly obey, as if we had no will of our own, not reserving a property in anything. Our thoughts are not our own to dispose, nor our desires nor delights, but as God will. The least sin reserved is a pledge of the devil’s interest and right in us. And therefore give up all to God, resign up your selves wholly to him, as remembering that every motion, every thought, every affection, is under a rule, and in every action we should say, Will God have this to be done, yea or no?

3. There are some special things concerning which God hath more expressly signified his will and given special charge, and these we should make greatest conscience of, how distasteful soever they be to flesh and blood, or prejudicial to our own interest. For instance, concerning repentance and turning from sin, Ezek. xxxiii. 11, you have God’s oath that he delights in it: ‘As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live.’ And God ‘would not have any to perish, but that all should come to repentance,’ 2 Pet. iii. 9. This is the will of God; he hath told you what a great deal of pleasure he takes in repentance, that you should come and mourn over your sins, and bewail your stragglings. When a profane Esau knew what his father desired, he takes his bow to go and kill venison; when we know anything more pleasing to God, we should do it. And then he takes pleasure also in the work of faith, believing in Christ: John vi. 29, ‘This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent: and 1 John iii. 23, ‘This is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ.’ Therefore we should be much in the work of faith, and in receiving Christ, that we may accomplish the good pleasure of God in us. It is very pleasing to God we should thus repent, believe, and return to him. The very first motion, how welcome is it to the Lord! Ps. xxxii. 5, ‘I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.’ So Luke xv. 20: the father ran to meet him when the prodigal thought of returning. So that you should live a sanctified life: 1 Thes. iv. 3, ‘This is the will of God, even your sanctification.’ That you should walk holily, God hath expressly declared his will. Then for duties of relations, God takes a great deal of pleasure in obedience to magistrates, parents, masters: 1 Pet. ii. 15, ‘For so is the will of God, that with well-doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.’ Then, that we should observe providences, ever be in a thankful frame: 1 Thes. v. 18, ‘In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God, in Christ Jesus, concerning you.’ It is a great rebellion and disobedience not to obey God’s solemn charge.

4. We should be willing to obey God, whatever it cost us. The least sin is not to be committed to avoid the greatest trouble. You would think it were a small sin for Moses to tarry in Pharaoh’s court, where he might be helpful to the people of God, yet he ‘chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season,’ Heb. xi. 25.

5. For the greatest good that possibly can come of it, we should not cross God’s revealed will. Many times this is a snare. Men think to be justified by their good intentions. We must not do evil that good may come thereof: Rom. iii. 8. If one lie could save the world, we were not to do it, for the least evil is not to be done contrary to God’s will, though the greatest good come of it.

Use 3. Examine how you stand affected to God’s will. This is very needful, because—

1. There be many mistakes about it.

2. Hereby we may discern whether we are thus entirely affected with the Lord’s will.

Men flatter themselves with a pretence of obedience, and cry, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but do not do his will. They give God good words, but do not break out into an actual contest; as those wretches, Jer. xviii. 12, ‘We will every one do the imagination of his evil heart:’ and Jer. xliv. 17, ‘We will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth.’ There are many things wherein we are apt to mistake. As,

[1.] We pretend to do God’s will in general, but when it comes to particulars we stick at it. Usually, when we take up duty by the lump, it doth not exasperate opposite propensions and inclinations. This is our great fault, we please and flatter ourselves with notions and abstract conceits. What say you to this will of God concerning you in particular? How forward were the Israelites! Oh, they would do the whole will of God; they run away with the general notion. Yea, but saith Joshua, chap. xxiv. 19, ‘Ye cannot serve the Lord, for he is an holy God, he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.’ We will do the will of God in general, but when it comes to cross our lusts and private inclinations, these make us grudge at it, and shrink back again.

[2.] Some commend and approve the will of God, and talk of it, but do not practise it. It is here, ‘Thy will be done;’ it is not, Let it be talked of, spoken and conferred of by me, but done. And it is not giving good words. You know the parable of the two sons: One said, ‘I will not, and did;’ the other, ‘I go, sir, and went not.’ Mat. xxi. 29, 30. Where Christ prefers the open sinner before the hypocrite, that is talking of God’s will, and seems at a distance to be like the carbuncle, all of a fire, but touch him, he is key-cold. When we are approving much of the will of God in our judgments, and commending of it, and do it not, this is in effect to say, I know what my Father commands me, but I will do as I list.

[3.] Another deceit about the will of God is this: For the present, while we are in a good humour, when our lusts lie low, when the heart is warm under the impulsions of a present conviction or persuasion, men have high thoughts of doing the will of God: Deut. v. 27, ‘Speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee; we will hear it, and do it.’ There are several acts of our wills; there is consent, choice, intention, and prosecution. It is not enough to consent: these things may be extorted from us by moral persuasion; but there must be a serious choice, an invincible resolution, such an intention as is prosecuted with all manner of industry and serious endeavours, whatever disappointments we meet with from God and men. Then this intention or invincible resolution is such as will not be broken by difficulties, weakened by loss of interest, not discouraged by the many disappointments we meet with, even in our waiting upon God.

[4.] We have many times a seeming awe upon the conscience, and so are urged to do God’s will, yet the heart is averse from God all the while; therefore they strive to bring God’s will and theirs together, to compromise the difference. A notable instance of this you have in Balaam. He had a message sent to him, and a great bribe. Now he had a carnal heart, which ran out upon the wages of unrighteousness, and, therefore, though he knew the people of Israel were blessed of the Lord, yet first he will go to God: Num. xxii. 8,; Lodge here this night, and I will bring you word again, as the Lord shall speak unto me.’ He is very tender, he durst not go with them, unless the Lord say, Go. But God denies him: ver. 12, ‘Thou shalt not go with them.’ What then? The Lord refuseth to give him leave. Then Balak sends more honourable messengers, and propounds rewards again. Then his carnal will is for God: ver. 18, Balaam answered, ‘If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more.’ Was not this spoken with an honest mind, think you? This was the dictate of his conscience; not for a houseful of gold durst he go against God the Lord. Yet you shall find it was a sore temptation to him, for he goes again to God: ver. 19, ‘Tarry here this night, that I may know what the Lord will say unto me more.’ Then saith God, Go, when he saw his heart was set for the wages of unrighteousness. There was a reluctancy in his conscience, he durst not go, therefore he would fain bring the will of God to his will. In many cases we are thus divided between our own affections and God’s will, between our interests and the will of God.

It is a case often falls out, when there is a quarrel between conviction and corruption. When light is active and strong in conscience, men dare not go against the apparent will of God, yet their hearts hang another way. We have one carnal affection or other, and then all our business is to bring God’s will and ours together; and how to disguise and palliate the matter, that with greatest leave to conscience we may seem to contradict the will of God.

[5.] A fifth deceit about the will of God, and that is, a wish that we were brought under the power of it, as he that stretched himself upon his bed, and said, Oh, that this were to labour! Many men have a velleity, a languid and incomplete will; they have a wish, but not a volition, not a serious desire; and sometimes they may draw it out to a cold prayer that God would make them better. It is just like a man that should lie down and complain, Oh, that I were at such a place! and never travel. Would I had performed such a task! yet puts not his hand to the work. Men would, but they will not, set themselves in good earnest to get the grace they wish for, there is not striving to accomplish their will. A chapman no doubt would have the wares, it is like he hath a cold wish, but will not come to the price; I will buy it whatever it cost me. They have not those active and industrious resolutions, such a strong and serious bent of heart towards God, but only a few wishes.

[6.] Halving the will of God; as in many cases many will do part of the will of God, but not all, they come not fully up to the mind of God. For instance, they will take notice of some great commandment, but not of the least. We cannot dispense with ourselves in the least: Mat. v. 19, ‘Whosoever shall break one of the least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven.’ We are apt to say ‘It is but a little one, and my soul shall live.’ No sin is little which is committed against a great God. It argueth more wickedness to break with God for a trifle and a very small matter, it argueth more corruption; as a little force will make a heavy body move downward. Again, in another case, the ceremonialist stands upon some lesser things; as the Jews, John xviii. 28, ‘would not go into the judgment-hall lest they should be defiled,’ yet they could seek the life of the Lord of glory. They are not brought under the dominion of the Lord’s grace, faith, repentance, holiness, and the weightier things of the law; these are things they regard not. This is hypocrisy. Like one that comes into a shop to buy a pennyworth and steals a pound’s worth; so they are punctual in lesser things, that they may make bold with God in greater. Again, some will do the will of God in public, where they may be observed; but not in private, and when alone. They make a fair show in the world, but in their families their converse is more loose and careless: Ps. ci. 2, ‘I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.’ A man that is truly holy will show it at home and abroad, in his closet and secret retirements, everywhere he makes conscience of the will of God. Many times we strain ourselves and put forth our gifts in public; God will be served with our utmost in secret also; and the will of God is expressed concerning the inward as well as the outward man, and we must make conscience of both: Isa. lv. 7, ‘Let the wicked man forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts,’ &c. Not only make conscience of our way, our outward course, but of our thoughts as well as our actions, for the thoughts fall under a law. So some will make conscience of the first-table duties, and neglect the second; and some of the second, and neglect the first. Some are very punctual in dealing with men, but neglectful of God: Rom. i. 18, ‘The wrath of God is revealed from heaven, against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.’ Both tables are owned from heaven. Some will not wrong their neighbour of a farthing, but stick not to rob God of all that faith, fear, love, trust, worship, that is due to him. Many that will not defile their bodies with promiscuous copulation, yet are adulterers and adulteresses to God, their hearts straggling from God, doting upon the creature to the wrong of God. Many condemn the rebellion of Absalom, and rise up against their heavenly Father, and are murderers, that strike at the being of God. They are tender of wronging the reputation of men, yet dishonour God, and are never troubled. So, on the other side, others fear and worship, but in their dealings are very unconscionable; they will not swear an oath, but are very uncharitable, censuring their brethren without pity and remorse. This is the fashion of the world, to be in with one duty and out with another.