The Sixth Sermon on the LORD's PRAYER.⠀ ⠀⠀

MATTH. VI. xii.

And forgive us our Debts, as we forgive our Debtors.

HE Petition in St. Luke, chap. 11.

TH

v. 4. runs, Forgive us our Sins; and. therefore our tranflating peλnuala, Trefpaffes, is warranted by Scripture; nor by fuch Tranflation do we depart from the Form taught by our Saviour, as fome Men would fay we do. The reafon of the Expreffion here I conceive to be this: That in the trueft Senfe, and according to the most proper way of speaking, Obedience, Gratitude, Service, Worship, and in a word, doing God's Will, is our Debt to God, that is, our Duty; and this he will never forgive, that is, he will never difpenfe with our Obligation to pay it, he ftrictly infifts upon his own

Right to it, and we are taught to recognize it in that Petition, by Will be done, &c. But upon our failing to perform that Duty, it is juft with God to punish us; and therefore according to a lefs proper Ufe of the Word, the Punishments due to Sin are called alfo our Debts to God! This I fay is a common way of speaking, tho' it was not according to the ftrict Propriety of the Words at firft, our Saviour, as all wife Men ever did, fpeaking rather according to the common Ufe than the original Signification of Words. Now in every Sin or Tranfgreffion of God's Law there are two Things to be confidered. 1. The

And,

very Act or Commiffion of Sin.

2. The Guilt of Sin, or the Effect it has upon us in expofing us to the angry Juftice of God. sir de put

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And now the Effect may remain when the tranfient Act is over. Every Man from the Time he tranfgreffeth the Law of God, becomes liable to Punishment for fo doing, and this is that which we mean by Guilt, and is the Thing we pray may be forgiven. For tho' the Sin that is once committed can never be made not to have been committed, yet the Punishment derived thereby may be forgiven. Tho' the Act it felf be irreverfible, yet the Effect of it in binding us over

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to Punishment may cease, that is, that Debt we pray may be forgiven; and confequently by our Debtors, whom we pretend to forgive, are meant those that have injured and provoked us to Revenge; and withal, the Debts we pretend to forgive them, are not those Offices of Juftice and Charity, which they owe us, nor that Repentance, whereby they ought to make us fome Reparation, and to procure God's Forgiveness, but the Revenge we are provoked to pursue them withal that have wronged us.

Of this Petition I fhall speak under the two Heads of God's forgiving us, and our forgiving others.

As to the former, I intend only to fuggeft two or three Confiderations, which may make us offer this Petition to God in good earnest. As,

t. That to this Purpose we should fet our Sins before our Eyes at convenient Times as Particularly as we can. For it is almoft impoffible that the General Defire of Pardon fhould be Earneft and Sincere, where there is feldom or never any Particular Sense and Acknowledgment of Sins. General Propo→ fitions do not affect a Man's Mind, but by virtue of the Particulars that are contained under them. For Inftance, If a Man fays that he believes in God, but never goes-farther than the General Affent to this Article,

That

That there is a God, this fhall have no Influence upon his Will and Affections. For that which makes this Perfuafion apt to work upon us, are fuch Particular Deductions as thefe He is holy and juft, and therefore an Hater of Sin: He is faithful and true, and therefore will punifh it: He is omniprefent, and therefore he fees me in all that I do, therefore I ought to fear him and regard him wherever I am, and efchew Evil, and do that which is good. In like manner it fhall affect no Man to any good Purpose to fay within himself that he is a Sinner, if he has no Sense of his Particular Tranfgreffions. But he that argues with himself in this manner: This Offence I have committed against God, and that Commandment of his I have violated, means fomething, and knows what he fays, when he confeffes himself to be a Sinner, and knows what he defires, when he asks God's Pardon of his Sins; and to the Sense he has of the Nature and Aggravations of his Sins, his earneft Defire of Forgiveness will be proportionable. Some Sins indeed are of fo heinous a nature, that a Man cannot commit them but they will fly, in his Face for fome Time after; but yet if he does not fometimes make it his Business to bring them to Particular remembrance, they will foon be forgotten, and even thofe Groffer Sins fhall feldom or never come into

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his Mind under the General Confeffion of Sin and Defire of Forgivenefs. Indeed we ought to pray for the Forgivenefs of our Unknown Forgotten Sins, and we may have good reason to hope that fuch Prayers will not be loft, but this upon Suppofition that we have used due Care to examine our felves, and to come to as Particular a Knowledge of rour Cafe as we can. And he that does that may well be prefumed to ask God's Pardon in good earnest, as well of thofe Sins which he knows not, or has forgotten, as of those that he is confcious of in Particular.

But if it be faid that the Petition it felf, Forgive us our Trefpaffes, being General, it fhould feem that a General Senfe of our being Sinners is by our Lord fuppofed fufficient to qualify us for the asking of God's Pardon: To this I anfwer, That the Generalnefs of the Petition does by no means exclude the Need of Self-Examination concerning Particular Sins, because this Prayer being prefcribed to all our Saviour's Difciples, could not have fitted them all, if Particular Sins had been named, whereof fome might have been guilty, yet others might not. And therefore the Confideration of Particular Offences was left to every Man, to prepare himself thereby for the profitable Ufe of the General Petition. And it is the want thereof that makes most Men say it in a careless and in

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