A Practical Expojition f eems ejood un~o him, 1 Sam. 3· J5. And fo David, when Perfecuted by the unnatural Rebellton of hiS Son Ahfalom, If hefay tbll;, Behold I have no Debght in him let him do Mjumsgooduntobim, 2 Sam. 15. 26. AndtbustheDijciples wbenuPon..dgnbur's Prophecy what Aflliaions fhould happen unto St. Paul ar Jerufnlem theywould have perfWaded him from going thither, but could not prevail , conclude ~ 11 with this The Will of the Lord be done, AEls 21 . 14. And thus likewifeour Great Exampl< rh~ Lord Jefus Cbrifi himfelf; when he had prayed that the Bitter Cup of his Paffi on might paf~ away fr?m him, he fi!ems to correa himfelf, and make another Prayer, Not my Will, butthme, be done, Luke 22. 42. although he knew this V V ill of God could not be· done without his own moft extreme Sufferings, nor without rhc horrid Sin and VVickednefs of his Murderers. But to all thefe lnftances I Anfwer, That they are not fo much Prayers' as Declara· tions of a ready Submiilion and Obedience to the VVill of God. For by this Expref. fion , The Will of the Lordbe done, we do not defire that thofe Things 01ould come to paiS which will be grievous and affiifl:ing to us; but only tefiifie our ready SubjeEI:ion w t.he Sovereign VVill of God, and a patient Refignation of our Selves , and of all our Concerns, unro his Difpofal. VVhen we pray we ought to beg of God that be woold be pleafed ro averr from us thofe Plagues and Judgments which our Sins jutlly expofe us unto. But if it !hall feem good to him to infliCl: any of themupon us the lVill of tbe Lord be dom: That is, we defire with Patience to fubmit unto his Providence, and contentedly ~o bear thofe Burthens which he fhall impofe upon us. The Sum therefore of all is this, when we pray, Thy Will be done ; if it be the Will of God's Precept, weprayabfolutely that it may be done by us, as being obliged there· unto by his exprefs VVord and Command. And if it be the Will of God 's Purpofe intending any Temporal or Spiritual Good unto us, we pray that hi s VVill mai be done upon us. But if it be the Will of his Purpofe to inHiEl any Evil, then our faying;T/.p Will be done, is not fo much a Prayer, as a Tefiimony of our Sobmiffion to his VV ill, without murmuring or repining at his Providence. Thus have we feen what this VVill of God is that we pray may be done in this Petition, Thy Wt/1 be done. Thirdly, The next Thing to be taken notice of is the Particle, Thy, Thy Will be done, and this carries in it both an Emphafis and an Exclufion. Firj/, Thy Will, emphatically to fignifie unto us, that God's VVillought to be pre- . ferred above and before all others. Not to regard the Fancies ~nd Humours of Men when the VVill of God is clear before us; nor to be careful to pleafe them, bur our Lord Chrift; and if they will quarrel with us upon any fuch Account, we know whil)ter to appeal for our JuR:ification, and for our Safety : For our Jufiification to their Confciences, Whether we OU£btto obey Men rather than God, judge y e, AEts 4· 19. And for our ProteElionand Safety to God's Power and Providence, with thofe Three Heroick Perfons, Dan. 3· r 6, 17. We are not careful, 0 King , to anfwer thee in this Matter. If it be fo, our God whom we ftrvt is able to deliver us /rum the bu,-ning Fiery FUrnace, and be will deliver us out of thine Hand. And there is great Reafon for this Preference ofGod's VVill before all others. Firjl BecaufeGod's VVill is moft Sovereign. He ·is the Supream Lord of the whole VVorld ; the greate!l of Men are but his SubjeEls and Valfals. Now it is infi· nitely more Reafon tha t we fhould conform our felvesro the VVill of him who is borh our Lord and theirs, than to the VVill of our Fellow.Servants: And that we fhou ld feek to plea le him who is able to deflroy both ourSoult andtheirs, than that we fhould pleafe them, who when their Rage reacheth higheft, can deftroy only this Body, ond vile Carcaft. Secondly, Becaufe God's Will is the moft Holy and PerfeEl; and there is nothing that he bath commanded us to do but it bath a Native Goodnefs and Excellency in it, and therefore it is called, The Good, the Acceptable and Pcrfell ,Will of G!od, Rom. 12. •· To be governed by our c<wn or other Mens Wills is ufually to be led by Paffion, and blind, headlong, AlfeElions; but to g~ve up our felves wh~lly to the Will of God, is to be governed by the higheft Reafon m the World: For hiS W1Il CJnnot but be good, fince it is the Meafure and Rule of Goo~nefs itfelf; for t~erefore Th!ngs are fa id to be good becaufe God wills them. And wbatfoever he requ1res of us ts pure and equitable and moll agreeable to the DiElates of right and illuminated Reafon: So that we aEt moftlike Men when we aa mo!llikeChriftians, and !hew our felvcs mort Rational when we fhew our felves moft .Religious. And therefOre we have a great deal ofReafoo to fay, Thy Wi116e done. Smndly,
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