Thomas Manton · 21 of 60

Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. · Part 1

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

WE are come to the third petition, which is fitly subjoined to the former. In the preface we own our relation to God, ‘Our Father.’ In the first petition we express our care of his glory; in the second, our desires of his kingdom; and now we beg obedience to his will. We may judge of our respect to his name and kingdom by our obedience to his will, without which we neither sanctify his name nor submit to his kingdom. The kingdom of God implieth two things, his government over us, or the privileges which we enjoy thereby.

1. As it is taken for his government over us, so there is a fair connexion between these two requests. Before, we pray that God would rule us, and now, for a soft and pliable heart, that we may be ruled by him. Christ is not our king when we do our own will. These two are distinct; government is one thing, and obedience to it another: as, Mat. vi. 33, ‘The kingdom of God,’ and ‘the righteousness thereof,’ they are distinguished. The kingdom of God we plead for in the second petition, and here for the righteousness thereof; that Christ may not be a titular prince and sovereign, as certainly he is, when we do our own will. Every sovereign stands upon his own will, and the more absolute, still the more his will is to be looked upon as a law and rule. Now, God being so absolute a sovereign, it is but fit his will should be done in the perfectest manner: ‘Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.’

2. If you take the kingdom of God for the privileges of his government, especially if they be considered in their consummation and final accomplishment, for that which the scripture calls the kingdom of God, by doing God’s will we enter into his kingdom: see Mat. vii. 21 , ‘Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.’ It is not the blandishment of a spiritual compliment, but a true and hearty subjection to the will of God, that availeth in God’s kingdom, and is intended by this petitionary clause, ‘Thy will be done.’

Here consider—

I. The substance of the petition.

II. The circumstances thereof.

The substance of the petition, ‘Thy will be done.’ The circum stances are two: The place where, which indeed intimateth the persons by whom, by men here ‘upon earth’ Then the manner is set down in a comparison, ‘Upon earth, as it is in heaven.’

Let me first open these passages, then observe somewhat.

I. The substance of the petition, ‘Thy will be done;’ and there:—

1. The matter about which it is conversant, the will of God.

2. The request about it, Thy will be done.

First, The matter of the request, Thy will. God’s name was under consideration in the first petition, his kingdom in the second, and now his will. And then here is a note of appropriation, Thy will, in contradistinction to all others.

God’s will, it signifieth two things, either his decree concerning future events, or else that which God hath revealed concerning our duty—his intended or commanded will. The first is spoken of, Rom. ix. 19, ‘Who hath resisted his will?’ that is, his decree and his purpose; and the second, his revealed pleasure concerning our duty, is spoken of, 1 Thes. iv. 3, ‘This is the will of God, even your sanctification.’ The will not of his purpose, but it is his law, his revealed pleasure. Now it is not meant here of God’s decree or secret will. Why? God’s secret will, that is not known, therefore how can it be done upon earth? To that all are subject,—reprobates, devils. But here this petition speaks of a will which is to be done in conformity to the good angels. Again, we may, without sin, will that which God wills not by his secret will, as the life of a sick parent, which God purposeth to take away. Nay, a man may fulfil this secret will and yet perish for ever, as Judas, and many which break his commandments and yet fulfil his decrees, that do that which God had deter mined before to be done in his secret purpose; as it is said, Acts iv. 28, ‘To do that which his hand and counsel had determined before to be done.’ Therefore his secret will is not here meant, but the will of God revealed. Therefore let me here distinguish again: The will of God is revealed two ways, in his word and in his works; the one to be done by us, the other to be done upon us: the one is Voluntas de nobis, God’s will concerning us; the other, Voluntas in nobis, God’s will in us, and to be done by us; the one maketh way for our active, the other for our passive obedience. Our active obedience hath respect to his laws and commands, but our passive to his providence. We show as much obedience in the one as in the other, in patience as in holiness: for as in holiness we own God as the supreme lawgiver, so in patience we own him as the supreme Lord, that hath a dominion over all events and all things which fall out in the world. In the one, we pray Ut nihil Dei displiceat nobis, that nothing which comes from God may provoke us to unseemly passion; in the other, we pray Ut nihil nostrum displiceat Deo, that nothing which comes from us may provoke God by unseemly and undutiful carriage. We principally pray for the latter here, that we may fulfil his will revealed in the word, and yet the other cannot be excluded. Take but this reason, because the saints in scripture express their subjection to God’s providence in words very agreeable to this request, to the form of this petition; as those believers, when they saw God had determined Paul’s journey to Jerusalem, when he went bound in the Spirit, notwithstanding the dangers of it, and their loss by his departure, they said, ‘The will of the Lord be done.’ Acts xxi. 14. And Christ himself, speaking of his passion, Mat. xxvi. 39, ‘Not as I will, but as thou wilt: ‘and ‘not my will, but thine, be done.’ Luke xxii. 42. So that we pray both for the one and the other, though with a plain difference. Why? For our active obedience must be even without a conditional desire that the commands of God should be repealed; we cannot so much as desire God should disannul his law, and repeal those statutes he hath enacted. Yet we may desire conditionally, if God see fit, the removal of our affliction, and that condition of life to which we are determined by his providence: ‘The commandment is not grievous’ in itself, 1 John v. 3, yet the affliction in its own nature is grievous, Heb. xii. 11. We may desire more knowledge of God’s law, yet we may not desire more experience of affliction; the one is more absolutely necessary than the other. We are not only to obey actively, but to love the commandments of God, and to have our hearts carried out in a greater esteem, and to prefer them before liberty itself; but I doubt whether we are so concerning our afflictions, to prefer them before freedom and exemption, and the welfare of our nature.

Well, then, you see what is meant by the will of God, which is the matter about which this is conversant.

Then here is the note of appropriation, Thy will, in opposition to our own will, the will of Satan, the wills of men.

[1.] To our own will, which is the proudest enemy Christ hath on this side hell, and the cause of all the mischief which doth befall us. The great contest between us and God is, whose will shall stand, God’s will, or ours? In every sin we slight the will of God, and set up our own. We ‘despise the commandment.’ 2 Sam. xii. 9: not grossly and formally; David did not slight the commandment, and say, ‘Tush! it is a foolish law;’ but by necessary interpretation we slight the law of God, and set up our own will. Therefore, when we pray that God’s will may be done, we do in effect renounce our own will, those ‘wills of the flesh and mind,’ Eph. ii. 3, which the apostle speaks of; so it is in the Greek. The soul is never renewed until the will be renewed, till the will be broken. And therefore self-denial is made one of the first principles of Christianity, the denying of our own will. The will is the leading part of the soul. Though the new creature begins with the mind, yet it comes not to any perfection, it is not formed until the will be subdued to God, until grace be seated in the heart. When a man treadeth on a dry hide, one part or other will be apt to rebound and leap up against him, till he stands in the middle and centre: so, until grace be seated in the heart, corruption will recoil. When a bird’s wings are broken, it can fly no longer; so when the will is subdued, then the work of grace begins. The mind is the counsellor, but the will is the monarch and prince, which sways and rules all in the soul. Again, the will is more corrupted than the mind; the understanding is much blinded, but the will is more depraved. The mind hath a little light, and is apt to take God’s part sometimes, by suggesting good motions; but the will doth more abhor and refuse good than the understanding is ignorant of it. “We are convinced often when not converted. Therefore this is the main thing, that our corrupt wills may be subdued to God: Let thy will be done, not our own.

[2.] Thy will, in opposition to Satan’s will. Our lusts are called his lusts: John viii. 44, ‘The lusts of your father the devil ye will do.’ They are of his inspiring, of his cherishing; the grand incubus of hell is the father of these brats and sinful productions. So, 2 Tim. ii. 26, the Holy Ghost speaks of carnal men, that they are ‘taken captive by Satan at his will ‘and pleasure.’ Wicked men are at Satan’s beck, and they do his will. The devil sets such a lust at work, the man obeys presently: the devil stirs such lusts by his arts and engines, and observes such a lust will be most prevalent at such a time; the man is taken by Satan’s will. Now, Thy will, &c., we desire the Lord’s grace, that we may not comply with the devil’s motions.

[3.] Thy will, in opposition to the wills of men: 1 Pet. iv. 2, ‘That he no longer should live to the lusts of men, but to the will of God;’ not according to the wills of men, but according to the will of God. In our natural state we are apt to be swayed by the lusts and humours of others, according as the posture of our interest is determined; and therefore it is a good piece of self-denial to cease from the lusts of men, from the humours and customs of those whom we fear and from whom we hope. And until we cease from men, in vain do we expect to serve God.

Thus for the matter about which this request is conversant, ‘Thy will.’

Secondly, Here is the request itself, Be done; what doth this imply, when we say, ‘Let thy will be done’?

[1.] We beg a heart to do it: Deut. v. 29, ‘Oh that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always!’ It is not enough to set ourselves to do what God hath commanded; but we must get a renewed, sanctified heart.

[2.] We beg skill to do it: Ps. cxliii. 10, ‘Teach me to do thy will, for thou art my God.’ We beg that God would teach us, and lead us forth in the obedience of his will.

[3.] We beg strength to do it. It is said, Heb. xiii. 21, ‘The God of peace, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work, to do his will.’ We beg strength, that we may do what is pleasing in his sight. In our will there is a double mischief; it is opposite to and averse from God: Rom. viii. 7, ‘The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.’ And it is strongly inclined to other things; and this both by nature and by evil custom. There is an aversion from God, which is natural, and which is increased by custom; therefore it is God must give us a heart to do his will, and skill and strength. Thus God he must draw us off from other things, which is called the ‘circumcising of the heart.’ Deut. xxx. 6. He must draw us off, and he must draw us on too. As he pares away the foreskin, the fleshiness which cleaves to our hearts, and inclineth us to seek our own will, in hunting after pleasures, honours, profits: so doth the Lord draw us to himself: Cant. i. 4, ‘Draw me, and we will run after thee.’

II. Let us come to the circumstances of the petition, ‘In earth, as it is in heaven.’

First, The place, wherein also the persons are noted, in earth, that is, by the men which live upon earth. Why is this mentioned, on earth?

[1.] The earth is a place of our exercise and trial, and now is the time to show our self-denial and our obedience to God, to deny our own will and do the will of God: John xvii. 4, ‘I have glorified thee upon earth.’ This is a work that must not be suspended until we come to heaven; it will not be thankworthy then, when there is no interruption, no trouble, no molestation there: but here, ‘I have glorified thee on earth,’ where so few mind the work, and where there are so many distractions and temptations to divert us.

[2.] The earth is the only place where this work is begun, or else it shall never be done hereafter: instance in anything that is the will of God. Here we must believe, or there we shall never enjoy: Luke ii. 14, ‘Peace upon earth.’ Now God offereth grace, and now it is his will we should come out of our sins, and accept of Christ to the ends for which he hath appointed him. And here we must be sanctified, else we shall be filthy for evermore. Corn grows in the field, but it is laid up in the barn. Now is the time of minding this work, here upon earth.

[3.] That while we are upon earth, we might long for that happy estate we shall have in heaven, wherein we might serve God. Therefore Christ in his prayer would have us think how God is glorified and obeyed there, that we might send up hearty wishes after that perfect estate, when we shall serve God without weariness, and without distraction.

[4.] Upon earth, to show that we pray not for those in the other world, but for those upon earth. We do not pray for the saints departed, they are out of harm’s way, past our prayers, being in their final estate. We pray not for the dead, but for the living. Thus for the first circumstance in this petition, the place where.

Secondly, There remains nothing but the last, and that is the manner how this is to be done: ‘As it is in heaven.’ Chrysostom observes that this clause may be referred to all the former petitions: ‘Hallowed be thy name upon earth, as it is in heaven;’ ‘Thy kingdom come upon earth, as it is in heaven.’ But certainly most proper it is to the matter in hand. But what is the sense? How is God obeyed in heaven?

There are in scripture three heavens, the airy heaven, the starry heaven, and the heaven of heavens. In all these heavens God’s will is done. God is obeyed in the lower heaven, you shall see in Ps. cxlviii. 8, ‘fire, hail, snow, and vapours, stormy winds, fulfilling his word.’ Winds and storms, and all those things which seem to be most tempestuous and unruly, to be the disorders of nature, they are at God’s beck. Then in the starry heaven, ver. 6, ‘He hath made a decree which shall not pass: ‘they are under a law and statute, and are not exorbitant and eccentric, do not alter their path; the sun riseth, sets, and knows the just point of his compass. But it is chiefly meant of the heaven of heavens, where angels and blessed spirits are, and they obey God perfectly: Ps. ciii. 20, 21, ‘Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word. Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts, ye ministers of his that do his pleasure.’ The angels do his commandments, and are hearkening to the voice of his word, are at God’s beck, to be sent up and down, to ascend and descend as God will have them; so with respect to this doth Christ say, ‘Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.’

But here, again, why is this added, As it is in heaven?

1. To sweeten our subjection to God’s will. We upon earth are not held to a harder law and task than they in heaven. The angels, they are not sui juris, at their own dispose: they have many privileges above man, yet have no exemption from homage and duty to God. They have an exemption and freedom from trouble, and sickness, and disease, and the necessities of meat and drink, and all the molestations and infirmities of the flesh which we lie under, but are not freed from the will of God, but they obey his commandments, hearkening to the voice of his word. These courtiers of heaven are servants of God, and fellows with us in the same obedience; none is too great to obey God. The angels, which excel in strength, they obey his will, and so must we; nay, they obey his will with a holy awe and fear, that they may not displease him in the least; for it is said of Michael the archangel, Jude 9, that ‘he durst not bring against the devil a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.’ He had not boldness to speak one uncomely word, ‘or one unseemly word, to do anything that was displeasing to God.

2. As to sweeten our obedience, so to show us the reasonableness of this obedience. We would have the happiness of the angels, and, therefore, certainly we should come into a fellowship in their duty; it is but equal we should imitate their holiness. If we would have communion with them in glory, we should have communion also with them in grace. Mat. xxii. 30, it is said, we shall be ἰσάγγελοι, ‘like the angels of God.’ We seek after the same glory and happiness which they have: to stand before the Lord and to behold his face; that is their happiness. Surely if we would have the reward of angels, which we upon earth are aspiring and looking after, it is but equal we should do the work of angels, and write after their copy.

3. Therefore doth Christ use this comparison, that we might not miscarry by a low example. How apt are we to follow the track, and to take up with an easy and low rate of obedience: Luke xviii. 11, that put great confidence in that, ‘God, I thank thee I am not as other men.’ Now because we have few good examples in the world, and those we have have their spots and defects, and are very susceptible of evils, and apt to miscarry by them, therefore Christ would carry us up to look after a heavenly and celestial pattern; he propoundeth the angelical perfection as a pattern and example. He that shoots at a star, will shoot higher than he that aims at a shrub: surely the higher the pattern that we aim at, the greater will our obedience be. Wicked men they think that everything is enough in religion, though it be never so little; but the godly cannot so easily satisfy themselves, they are pressing and hastening on more and more.

4. To teach us that we are not only to look to the quid, but to the quomodo; not only to what we do, but also in what manner we yield obedience to God; therefore Christ would not teach us to pray only, ‘Thy will be done,’ but ‘as it is in heaven,’ in such a manner. God respects not only the doing of what he hath required, but also the manner of it, that we may not only do good, but well; it is the adverb which crowns the action. We are to consider with what heart we go about it: Prov. xvi. 2, ‘The Lord weigheth the spirits.’ That which he putteth into the balance of the sanctuary is, with what spirit, with what heart, we go about the work; that is it he weigheth and regardeth. Now that we may look not only to the matter of obedience, but also to the manner how we do it, therefore doth Christ give us this pattern.

Object. But you will say, Our obedience is accompanied with many defects and infirmities; therefore, how can we serve God as the angels do in heaven? How shall we take comfort in our obedience if this be our pattern?

I answer:—

1. Though we cannot do it in the same measure, yet we should do it in the same manner; though there be not an exact equality, yet there should be some answerable resemblance. Our obedience should not be wholly different in the kind and manner of it from theirs which serve God in heaven, though for the degree and rate we cannot come up to their pattern.

2. Though we do not attain to this perfection in this life, yet we must aim after it, long for it, and pray for it. Aim after it, not sluggishly content ourselves with any low degrees of obedience, but aim at the highest. And to long for it: there is a time coming when we shall be perfect; when we shall be not only as the angels are, but as Christ is: ‘We shall be like him,’ 1 John iii. 2. And we pray for that on earth which is expected in heaven; we pray for what we do expect from the final and consummate estate, when we shall be as the angels of God, and perfectly do his will.

I come to the points; they are three:—

1. It concerns them very much that would in prayer own God as a father, and pretend a respect to his glory and kingdom, to see that his will be done here upon earth.

2. It is the Lord that giveth to will and to do those things which are pleasing in his sight.

3. God doth not only look to this, that his will be done, but to the manner how it is done.

I. It concerneth them very much that would in prayer own God as a father, and pretend a respect to his glory and kingdom, to see that his will be done here upon earth.

I shall prove it:—

First, By the arguments intimated in the point.

1. As we pray to God, we should see his will be done, upon a double account—as real and successful.

[1.] As we would express a reality and sincerity in prayer. They mock God that pray they might do his will, yet have no care to do it, that declaim against their lusts, yet hug them and keep them warm in their bosoms. We oftener pray from our memories than our consciences, and oftener from our consciences than our affections. From our memory, as we repeat words by rote, without sense, or feeling, or consideration of the importance of them. From our consciences, rather than affections. Austin observes of himself: while he was under the power of his lusts he would pray against concupiscence, but his heart would say, At noli modo, timebam enim ne me exaudiret Deus; ‘But, Lord, not yet; for I am afraid lest God should hear me.’ Conscience tells us that such things must be done and asked; thus we put a little of our conscience in prayer, but nothing of affection and serious desire. Many would be loth God should take them at their words, when they seem to resign up them selves to his will, and think of parting with their lusts; it is bitter and irksome to them: as Phaltiel, Michal’s husband, ‘went after her, going and weeping.’ 2 Sam. iii. 16. Now if we would manifest our prayers to be real, we should labour to perform the same; otherwise we are but like those soldiers which spat upon Christ and buffeted him, yet cried, ‘Hail, King of the Jews;’ so it is but a mockage to say, ‘Thy will be done,’ yet have no care to do it: Mat. xv. 8, ‘This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.’ There is no reality in the prayer, whatever be in it, if the heart be not in it. Some men’s prayers are but the fruit of wit and memory; others but the result of their judgments, what is fit to be done, rather than of their hearts, what they desire to be done: and they are only good so far as they do more solemnly express God’s right, not their inward desires.

[2.] If we would have our prayers successful. Ps. lxvi. 18, ‘If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.’ Clearly, if we will not do God’s will, there is no reason he should regard our will. If I regard iniquity in my heart, there may be sin in the heart; but if I regard it there, God will not hear me, if I entertain an affection to it. When the wind blows, some cold air will get into the chamber, though the door be shut never so close; but to leave the door open for it doth not argue such a care of health as is requisite. There will be sin in the children of God, but it is not allowed. Love to any known sin makes our prayers to God to be without success. So Prov. xxviii. 9, ‘He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.’ God useth often the law of retaliation, will pay home sinners in their own coin: we will not hear him, therefore he will not hear us. The same argument we have to urge to God in prayer, that God hath to urge to us for duty and obedience. What argument will you use to awaken your confidence and affection?’ By the blood of Christ we have boldness to come to him,’ Heb. x. 19, and Eph. iii. 12. This is not only an argument to be urged in expectation of mercy, but also in the enforcement of duty, when God beseecheth you by the bowels of Christ to do his will, and to mind his work. If the blood of Christ cannot prevail with us, to bring us up to the will of God, how can we expect it should prevail with God to bring us in returns of blessing? When God speaks we slight him, therefore when we speak God may cast off our prayers.

God speaks more wisely to us than we can to him; we stammer, and lisp, and speak foolishly in our prayers to God. There is far more reason why we should hear God than God hear us; for there is more equity in his precepts than there is reason in our prayers, and we are bound to obey God’s will more than he is to grant our request; and therefore if we would not have God turn away his ear from our prayers, we should not turn away our ears from hearing his law and counsel: John ix. 31, ‘Now we know that God heareth not sinners; but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.’ It is a general maxim, Those which were ready to deprave Christ’s actions were possessed of the truth of this: ‘If any man worship him, and do his will, him he heareth,’ John ix. 31. It is not enough to keep up a form of worshipping, but we must be tender of his will; that is the way to get a gracious answer. Thus as we pray we are bound.

2. As God’s children, so we must do his will: Mal. i. 6, ‘If I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear?’ Relations to God are not bare titles and grounds, whereby we may expect favour from God; but they carry in their bosom obligations to duty on our part. Many will give God good words and fair titles, but there is no care had of complying with his will. Nay, your owning that relation will aggravate your sin, and be a witness against you. You owned me your father, and have not done my will. So Mat. xii. 50, ‘Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.’ These may be sure of a comfortable relation to God, and that God will own them in that claim, when they make it their business to do his will; otherwise you reproach God rather than worship him. When you do your own will, and call God Father, you lay the devil’s brats at his door; you pretend to God, and take his name upon you; therefore those that say, ‘Our Father,’ must also say, ‘Thy will be done.’