A practical exposition of the Lord's-Prayer

And 4thly, As to the Fruit and Issue of the Action; our Good and Evil doth not reach to God. Though our forgiving of others be an Action of Profit to our selves, yet no Fruit redounds to God. And therefore there being no Proportion ⟨p. 373⟩between finite and infinite, there can be no such proportion between our forgiving and God's forgiving, as that this Act may be meritorious before God. Thus it is not brought here as Merit, as that which doth oblige and bind God meritoriously to forgive us.

2. It is not a Pattern or Rule. We do not mean, our forgiving should be a Pattern of forgiving to God. So [as] is taken indeed, ver. 10 Thy Will be done on Earth, as it is in Heaven; there it implies a Conformity to the Pattern. But when we say, Forgive us, as we forgive; it doth not mean here a Pattern or Rule. We imitate God, but God doth not imitate us, in forgiving Offences. And it would be ill with us, if God should forgive us no better than we forgive one another. God is matchless in all his Perfections; there is no Work like his. Psal. 86. 8. As God is matchless in other Things, so in pardoning Mercy. As the Heavens are above the Earth, so are his Ways above our Ways, and his Thoughts above our Thoughts. Isa. 55. 9. And upon this very occasion the Lord will multiply to pardon. As far as the Heavens, &c. This is the greatest Distance we can conceive. The Heavens, they are at such a vast distance from the Earth, that the Stars, tho they be great and glorious Luminaries, yet they seem to be but like so many Spangles and Sparks: This is the distance and disproportion which is made between God's Mercy and ours. Hos. 11. 9. I will not return to destroy Ephraim; for I am God, and not Man. If God should forgive but only as Man doth, it would be ill for Ephraim, if he had to do with revengeful Man. God acteth according to the Infiniteness of his own Nature, ⟨p. 374⟩