A practical exposition of the Lord's-Prayer

1. As to the first, How it can stand with the Mercy of God to require the debt of Obedience from him that is not able to pay? God hath not lost his Right, though Man hath lost his Power: their Impotency doth not dissolve their Obligation. A drunken Servant is a Servant still: It is against all reason, a Master should lose his Right by the Servant's default. A prodigal Debtor hath nothing to pay, yet he is liable to be sued for the Debt without any Injustice. God contracted with us in Adam, and gave us a Power, which we lost by his Fall: and therefore though our Power be gone, yet God may demand his due to obey and please him; especially since this Obedience God required of Adam, was not only due, by Covenant and positive Law, but by immutable Right, and natural Justice of Man. Men think it harsh to suffer for Adam's Fault, to which they were not conscious, and actually consenting.

Yea, but consider, every Man will find an Adam in his own Heart, the Old-man is there, we are still sinning away those Relics of natural Light in Conscience, and those few moral Inclinations which are left. There is a little Ability and Strength he hath as a Man, and shall not God challenge the Debt of Obedience from a proud prodigal Debtor, that is weakening and wasting himself more and more? We are proud, therefore God may exact it of us: we think we are able to obey, and do his Will, when we are weak: we are poor, yet think our selves rich; therefore God may admonish us of our Duty; demand his Right, to show our Impotency and Beggary, and that we may not pretend we were not called upon for what we owe. But Man is not only a proud Debtor, but we are prodigal Debtors; those Relics of Conscience, and moral and human Inclinations which escaped out of the Ruins of the Fall, we lose those things every day, and embezzle them away by the Service of Sin. Therefore it standeth fully with the Clemency of God, as Creator of Mankind, to require the Debt of him that wastes that little Stock he hath.

Yea, but consider, every Man will find an Adam in his own Heart, the Old-man is there, we are still sinning away those Reliques of natural Light in Conscience, and those few moral Inclinations which are left. There is a little Ability and Strength he hath as a Man, and shall not God challenge the Debt of Obedience from a proud prodigal Debtor, that is weakning and wasting himself more and more? We are proud, therefore God may exact it of us: we think we are able to obey, and do his Will, when we are weak: we are poor, yet think our selves rich; therefore God may admonish us of our Duty; demand his Right, to shew our Impotency and Beggary, and that we may not pretend we were not called upon for what we owe. But Man is not only a proud Debtor, but we are prodigal Debtors; those Reliques of Conscience, and moral and human Inclinations which escaped out of the Ruines of the Fall, we lose those things every day, and embeel them away by the Service of Sin. Therefore it standeth fully with the Clemency of God, as Creator of Mankind, to require the Debt of him that wasts that little Stock he hath.