infift upon, fhall be from the comparison which our Saviour here ufeth in the text, if a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will be give him a stone? This was a proverbial fpeech among the Jews, which seems from them to have been derived to the neighbour nations, as appears from that of Plautus. Alterâ manu fert lapidem, alterâ panem oftentat, he carries a ftone in one hand, and holds forth bread in the other; If a fon fhall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will be give him a ftone? That is, if he ask that which is abfolutely neceffary, will he give him that which will do him no good? Or if he ask a filh; will be for a fish give him a ferpent? or if he ask an egg, will be offer him a fcorpion? That is, if he ask that, which though it be not abfolutely neceffary, yet may be very convenient; will he give him that which is hurtful and pernicious hardly any earthly parent, though otherwife never fo bad, would deal thus with his children; and can we fufpect it of God? certainly it is much farther from him to deny to us, his children, thofe better and more neceffary good things, which we humbly, and heartily, and earnestly beg of him in a confident perfuafion of his goodness.

If ye then being evil (many times bad enough in other refpects, and at the belt come infinitely fhort of God in point of benignity and goodness) know how to give good gifts unto your children; how much more fball your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

This is a plain and undeniable argument, fitted to all capacities, because it proceeds upon two fuppofitions, which every man must acknowledge to be

true.

1. That earthly parents have generally fuch a natural affection for their children, as does strongly incline them to give them fuch good things, as are neceffary and convenient for them, and which will not fuffer them, inftead of good things, to give them fuch things as either are no wife ufeful, or any wife hurtful to them; this is a matter of common and

certain

certain, and fenfible experience, which no man can deny.

2. The other fuppofition, which is as evident in reafon, as the former is in experience, is this, That God is better than men, and that there is infinitely more goodness in him, than in the best man in the world; becaufe goodness in its moft exalted degree, and highest perfection, is effential to that notion which all men have of God; and this being a common principle, in which men are univerfally agreed, no man can gainsay it.

Now let but thefe two things be fuppofed, that men, though otherwife 'evil, yet commonly have fo much of natural goodness and affection for their children, as to be ready to give them thofe things which are good for them; and that God is infinitely more liberal and bountiful than men; and it will ap pear to be a thing highly credible, that this good God will not deny the best of gifts, even his Holy Spirit to them that ask him.

But for the farther illuftration of this argument, we will confider a little more particularly the terms of the comparison which our Saviour here ufeth; our earthly and our heavenly Father; temporal and spiritual good things.

1. Our earthly and our heavenly Father, in which terms the givers are compared together. Now there are three confiderations in a giver, which make him capable of being bountiful, and difpofe him to it.

(1.) That he have wherewithal to be liberal, and can part with it, without damage and prejudice to himself.

(2.) That he be good-natured, and have a mind to give.

(3.) That he be related to thofe to whom he gives, and be concerned in their welfare. Now all these confiderations are more eminently in God, and with far greater advantage than in any father upon earth.

For,

(1.) God hath wherewithal to be liberal, and can VOL. X.

T

con

confer what benefits he pleafeth, without any harm or prejudice to himself. Earthly parents cannot many times be fo good to their children as they defire, because they have it not to bestow; they cannot perhaps feed them plentifully without pinching themfelves, nor give them fit provifion, without impoverishing themselves: But the divine nature is a perpetual and inexhauftible fpring of all good things, even of more than he can communicate; in him are all the treafures of riches, and power, and wisdom, and he cannot by giving to others, ever empty or impoverish himself; when he makes the freett communications of his goodness to his creatures, he does not thereby diminish and leffen his native store.

(2.) God hath infinitely more goodness than men, he hath stronger propenfions and inclinations to do good, than are to be found in the beft natured and moft generous man in the world. All the goodness that is in the creature, is derived from God, who is the fountain and original of it; it is but an imperfect image, and imperfect reprefentation of that excellency and perfection which the divine nature is poffeffed of in the highest degree that can be imagined. Men are many times evil and envious; (for fo the word fignifies, If ye being evil, Tovnpoi, of an envious, niggardly, and illiberal difpofition) but at the beft men are of a finite and limited goodnefs and perfection.

But now no fuch thing as envy and ill-will can poffibly happen to God, who is fo rich in his own native ftore, and fo fecure of the enjoyment of what he hath, that he can neither hope for the enlargement, nor fear the impairing of his estate.

(3.) God hath a nearer and more intimate relation to us, than our earthly parents, and is more concerned for our happiness. Our earthly parents are but the fathers of our flesh, as the Apostle fpeaks, Heb. xii. 9. but God is the Father of our fpirits. Nay in refpect of our very bodies, God hath the greatest hand in framing of us; 'tis he who made us in fecret, and curiously wrought us in the lowest parts of the earth: in his book all our members were written, which

in continuance were fashioned, Pfal. cxxxix. 15, 16. fo that we being God's creatures, our bodies the work of his hands, and our fouls the breath of his mouth, God is more our father than he that begat us, and having a nearer and ftronger relation to us, hath a greater care and concernment for our happiness.

So that if our earthly parents, who are many times indigent and ill-natured, and are but the fathers of our flesh, and that but as fecond caufes in fubordination to God the principal author of our beings, I fay, if they will give good things to their children; how much more fhall our heavenly father, who is the fountain of all good, and goodness itself, who is our creator, the framer of our bodies, and the Father of our spirits, be more ready to bestow on us the best things we can beg of him?

2. Let us compare likewife temporal and spiritual good things, in which terms you have the gifts compared together. Now there are two confiderations belonging to a gift, which are apt to move and incline a perfon to bestow it; if it be fuch as is neceffary, or very convenient for the perfon on whom it is beftowed, and if it be fuch as the perfon that beftows it takes great pleafure and delight in the imparting of it.

(1.) If it be fuch as is neceffary, or very convenient for thofe on whom it is bestowed. Such is bread which earthly parents give their children; but that is only neceffary to the body, and for the fupport of this frail and temporal life; but the Holy Spirit. of God is neceffary to the life and health of our fouls, to our eternal life and happiness. Now our foul being ourselves, and eternity the most confiderable dúration, God's Holy Spirit is confequently much more neceffary and convenient for us, than any thing that our earthly parents can give us.

(2.) The Spirit of God is fuch a gift as he takes the greatest pleafure and delight in the imparting and bestowing of it. What can be more acceptable to God, than that his children fhould be made partakers of his own divine nature, and conformed to his image; than that we should be holy as God is holy,

and renewed after the image of him that hath created us in righteousness and true holiness? Than that human nature fhould be restored to its primitive perfection and dignity, and recovered to that state in which it came out of God's hands? than to fee the ruin and decay of his own workmanfhip repaired; and his creatures, that were become miferable by the temptation of the Devil, reftored to happiness by the o peration of the Holy Spirit of God?

And this is the proper work of the Spirit of God upon the minds of men, to fanctify and renew us, and (as the Apostle expreffeth it) to create us again unto good works, to make us partakers of his own bolinefs, and to reftore our fouls to that condition that his foul may have pleasure in us. What can we i,

magine more acceptable to God, than that men should be brought to this happy ftate and temper? A child does not please his father fo much when he desires to be inftructed by him in learning and virtue, as we please God when we ask his Holy Spirit of him: for nothing can be more pleafing to him, than to beftow this beft of gifts upon us.

So that the whole force of the argument comes to this, That if we believe that earthly parents have any good inclinations toward their children, and are willing to bestow upon them the neceffaries of life, we have much more reafon to believe that God our heavenly father is much more ready to give his holy Spirit to them that ask him; whether we confider the quality of the giver, or the nature of the gift.

I fhould now have proceeded to the other particulars which I propounded; but I fhall only at prefent make fome fhort reflexions upon what hath already been delivered.

What a comfortable confideration is this, to be fo fully affured of God's readiness to beftow all good things upon his children, and even his Holy Spirit, if we ask it of him! and what an encouragement is here to conftant and fervent prayer to God, who will not deny us the gift of his Holy Spirit, if we heartily and earnestly beg it of him! and what an encouragement is here likewife to the refolutions

and