Give Us This Day...

From The Christian Reader:

Give us this day…


by Thomas Manton (1620-1677)



It is good manners in religion to ask God’s leave in all things. It is robbery to make use of a man’s goods, and to waste and consume them without his leave. We must ask God’s leave upon this account, because, though God gives these good things to men, yet he still reserves the property in himself; for by distributing blessings to the creature, he never intended to divest himself of the right. As a husbandman, by scattering his corn in the field, did not dispossess himself, but still keeps a right and means to have the increase; so when the Lord scattereth his blessings, we only receive them as stewards, not as owners and proprietors: God still is the supreme Lord, and only hath the property and dominion. In life it is clear man is not dominus vitai, but custos; not lord of his life, but only the steward and guardian of it; he cannot live or die at his own pleasure: if a man kills himself he runs the danger of God’s law.



What is said of life is true also of his estate: he is not an owner so much as a steward; that is the notion of our possession: we are stewards, and must render an account to God: Hosea 2:9, ‘I will return and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax.’ Though God hath communicated these things to the children of men, yet he hath reserved the dominion in his own hands: so Hag. ii. 8, The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts. He never disposed anything so into the creature’s hands, but still he hath reserved a right and interest in it; and therefore it is, Genesis 14:19, that the Lord is not only called the creator of heaven and earth, but possessor of heaven and earth. He is not only the possessor of heaven where he dwells, which he hath reserved to his own use, but he is possessor of earth, which he hath committed to the use of men. And God will have his right acknowledged from day to day.





It is he that giveth us ability to use them: we beg that we may not only have the comforts, but life and strength to use them; for God can blast us in the very midst of our enjoyments. It is the case of many, when they have hunted after a worldly portion, and begin to think, now I will sit down and enjoy it; when the gain is come into his hands, and he thinks to taste that which he hath got in hunting, death takes him away, and he hath not power to use them. Thus it was with the rich fool; when he began to sing lullabies to his soul, and enjoy what he had got, he is taken away by death: Luke 12:20, ‘Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee; then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?’ And it is said, Numbers 11:33, when those people had gotten quails, that ‘while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people; and the Lord smote them with a very great plague.’ And that nobleman which saw plenty in Samaria, but could not taste of it: 2 Kings 7:19. So Job 21:23, One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet: when he has gotten abundance of worldly comforts about him, death seizes on him of a sudden.



God yet is further interested in these mercies, so as to give us a sanctified use of them, that we may take our bread out of God’s hands with prayer and thanksgiving, and due acknowledgments of God. In 1 Timothy 4:4-5, ‘Every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.’ Then are the creatures sanctified to us, when we enjoy God in them; when our hearts are raised to think of the donor, and can love him the more for every gift. Carnal men, like swine, raven upon the acorns, but look not up to the oak from whence they drop. In the Canticles, the spouse’s eyes are compared to dove’s eyes. They which make the allusion say this is the meaning: look, as a dove pecks, and looks upward; so upon every grain of mercy, we should look up to the God of mercies : it is not enough to taste the sweet of the creatures, but also to own God, his love and bounty in them, so to have them sanctified to us. This is the privilege we have as men, that we can know the first cause, and who is the benefactor. All creatures subsist upon the first cause, but are not capable of knowing it. And this is our privilege as Christians, to have this capacity reduced into act. It is of the Lord’s grace to give us a sanctified use of these things.



We beg of God the natural blessing upon the holy use of outward comforts, so as they may continue us in health and vigour for the service of God; for nothing will prosper with us but by his blessing: Psalm 106:15, ‘He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their souls;’ that is, they had no natural comfort by that which they had obtained. God may give a man meat, yet not an appetite; he may not give him the comfortable use of it, a blessing with it. And therefore the apostle makes it to be an argument of God’s bounty to the heathen, that as he gave them food, so he gave them gladness of heart: Acts 14:17, ‘He gave them rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with food and gladness;’ that is, gave them a comfortable use, a blessing upon the use of outward things. And Leviticus 26, you will find a distinction between ‘bread,’ and the ‘staff of bread.’ We may have bread, yet not the staff of bread. Many have worldly comforts, but not with a natural blessing: Ecclesiastes 3:13, ‘That every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour; it is the gift of God:’ not only that he should have increase by his labour, but enjoy good; to have the comfortable use of that increase.



Contentation is one of God’s blessings that we ask in this prayer, ‘Give us this day our daily bread; that is, such provisions as are necessary for us, contentment and quiet of mind in the enjoyment: Joel 2:19, ‘Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith. It is not only a blessing we should look after, but contentment, that our minds maybe suited to our condition, for then the creature is more sweet and comfortable to us. The happiness of man doth not lie in his abundance, but in the suitableness of his mind to his estate: Luke 12:15, ‘A man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of things which he possesseth.’ There is a twofold war within a man, both which must be taken up before a man can have comfort; there is a war between a man and his conscience, and this breeds trouble of mind; and there is a war between his affections and his condition, and this breeds murmuring and envious repining. Say, Yea, Lord, and let us be contented with thy gift. This for the first thing, how God is concerned in these outward comforts.



This excerpt comes from “A Practical Exposition of the Lord’s Prayer,” found in Volume One of Thomas Manton’s Complete Works (22 volumes), which Charles Spurgeon described as a “mountain of sound theology.”