The Forty-ninth Lord’s Day

49 The Forty-ninth Lord’s Day
On the third petition of the Lord’s Prayer
Thy will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven.
In this petition is sought the fulfilling of God’s will, and in that manner that it ought to be sought to be fulfilled. This is explicated by a comparison of like things, where the things compared are the fulfilling of God’s will by men, and by Angels. The quality or manner in which they are compared is the manner of obedience that ought to be given to this will. Now by the will of God is here properly understood as that which God has revealed to us concerning our duty, or that which he has laid upon us to do, by his revealed will. Though the secret will of God is so far contained under this Petition that we ought to rest content with it, yet it appears to us now, by the event, that it was the will of God, Acts 25:14.1 This Petition depends on the first Petition, in as much as it is a mean that tends to that end; that is, the end proposed there.2 It also depends on the second Petition,3 because it is the effect of that Kingdom and administration; and it is also the perfection and accomplishment of that same kingdom. For God is not said to have a perfect kingdom of grace, until he has gotten all the faithful absolutely subject to his will in all things. The fulfilling therefore of the will of God differs from his kingdom, as the government differs from the obedience that is given to it — in the same way almost as the kingdom of God and its righteousness differ: Matthew 6:33, Seek first the kingdom of God, and the righteousness of it, and all these things shall be added unto you.
Doctrine 1. The name of God is hallowed by men, and his kingdom is advanced, when his will is religiously and devoutly done. 
This flows from the former connexion already shown. 
Reason 1. Because reverence to the name of God, which is the hallowing or glorifying of it, by necessity brings with it obedience to his will. 
Reason 2. In this very thing — that we subject ourselves to the will of God — we give God glory and power, and command over our very souls and lives, and so we highly glorify him. 
Reason 3. By doing the will of God, the kingdom of God comes to be within us; and within us is his place of majesty and state, and his throne powerfully set up to him in our hearts. Use. Of Direction: according to this rule, we judge our love and care towards the name and kingdom of God.
Doctrine 2 . The revealed will of God should be the rule of our life.
This follows from the substance of the Petition.
1 Acts 25:14 When they had been there many days, Festus laid Paul's case before the king, saying: "There is a certain man left a prisoner by Felix...” The point is that we often know the will of God only after the fact. 
2 Hallowed be thy name – to glorify God’s name. 
3 Thy Kingdom come. 
Reason 1. Because the will of God is the law, partly written in our hearts, and partly revealed in the Scriptures for this very end: that we should direct our ways according to it.
 Reason 2. Because it contains in itself all perfection which belongs to the imprinting upon us of the image of God, and making our life divine. 
Reason 3. Because according to this will, and doing it, God both in this life and in the life to come, distributes and disposes all rewards and punishments.
Use . Of Admonition: that we deny our own carnal wills and affections or lusts, with all things that disagree with this will of God; and that we conform ourselves to it, which seems here to be insinuated in the particle thy, which is put here in opposition to our will, and to the lusts of this world.
Doctrine 3 . It is God that gives us both to will and to do anything that is according to his will. For this is the very thing that here we seek from God.
Reason 1. Because of ourselves we can do nothing that is truly good and pleasing to God in a spiritual way.
Reason 2 . Because there are so many things both in us and outside us that fight against this good will of God; so that unless God gave us to will and to do what he wills, and kept us in this mind, we would never be able to attain it.
Reason 3. Because God ought to have all the glory for any good, which still could not be given to him unless he were the Author and giver of all good. 
Use . Of Admonition: that we think of ourselves and of our own endeavours with all humility, and that we learn to depend altogether on God, so that from him we may receive both to will and to do that which is good.
Doctrine 4. In doing God’s will, we ought to strive and endeavour toward a Heavenly and Angel-like perfection. 
From these words, On earth as it is in Heaven.
Reason 1. Because this is the best way to help our imperfections, if we always aim at the highest perfection. 
Reason 2. Because we are called to the same society and communion with those blessed spirits that are in Heaven, we therefore ought to aspire to imitate them.
Reason 3. Because we seek the same happiness and glory that they possess; and therefore we ought to follow the same holiness.
Use. That we always study to obey God with all the cheerfulness, sincerity, readiness, and entireness that in Scripture are attributed to Angels in their obedience, as special properties and qualifications of it.