Son of God," who is the heir of all things, and by whom the worlds were made;" he sometimes would have been glad of any thing, having nothing to eat; "And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry; and seeing a fig-tree afar off, having leaves, he came if haply he might find any thing thereon," Mark xi. 12, 13.

Well then, hereby God has set no mark of hatred upon you, neither can you infer the want of love from the want of bread. When thy repining heart puts the question, Was there ever any sorrow like unto mine? Ask these worthies, and they will tell thee, though they did not complain and fret as thou dost, that they were driven to as great straits as thou art.

2. If God leave you not in this necessitous condition without a promise, you have no reason to repine or despond under it.

That is a sad condition indeed to which no promise belongs. I remember Calvin on these words, Isa. ix. 1, "Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation," solves the doubt, in what sense the darkness of the captivity was not so great as the lesser incursions made by Tiglath Pileser. In the captivity the city was destroyed and the temple burnt with fire; there was no comparison in the affliction; but yet the darkness should not be such, and the reason, he says, is this, "There was a certain promise made to this, but none to the other."

It is better to be as low as hell with a promise, than in paradise without one. Even the darkness of hell itself would be comparatively no darkness at all, were there but a promise to enlighten it. Now God has left many sweet promises for the faith of his poor people to feed on in this condition. Such are these “Ô fear the Lord, ye his saints, for there is no want to them that fear him; the lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they that fear the Lord shall want nothing that is good," Psal. xxxiv. 9, 10. "The eye of the Lord is upon the righteous, to keep them alive in famine," Psal. xxxiii. 18, 19. "No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly," Psal. lxxxiv. 11. "He that spared not his own Son, but

delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" Rom. viii. 32. "When the poor and the needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them," Isa. xli. 17. Here you see, first, their extreme wants, water being put even for the necessaries of life; and then their certain relief; "I the Lord will hear them;" in which it is supposed that they cry unto him in their straits, and he hears their cry. Having therefore these promises, why should not your distrustful hearts conclude like David's, "The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want."

"But these promises," you say, "imply conditions : if they were absolute, they would afford more satisfaction." What are those tacit conditions you speak of but these; that God will either supply or sanctify your wants? that you shall have so much as God sees fit for you? And does this trouble you? Would you have the mercy whether sanctified or not? whether God sees it fit for you or not? Methinks the appetites of saints after earthly things should not be so ravenous, as to seize greedily upon any enjoyment, not caring how they have it.

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But O when wants pinch, and we see not whence supplies can come, then our faith in the promise shakes, and we, like murmuring Israel cry, He gave bread, can he give water also?" O unbelieving hearts, when did his promise fail? Who ever trusted them, and was ashamed? May not God upbraid thee with thine unreasonable infidelity, as he did his people of old; "Have I been a wilderness unto you?" or as Christ said to the disciples, "Since I was with you, lacked ye any thing?" Yea, may you not upbraid yourselves; may you not say with good old Polycarp, "These many years I have served Christ, and found him a good master?" Indeed he may deny what your wantonness, but not what your real wants, call for. He will not regard the cry of your lusts, nor yet despise the cry of your faith. Though he will not indulge and humor your wanton appetites, yet he will not violate his own faithful promises. These promises are your best security for eternal life; and it is strange if they should not satisfy you for daily bread. Remember

ye the words of the Lord, and solace your hearts with them amidst all your wants. It is said of Epicurus, that in dreadful fits of the cholic, he often refreshed himself by calling to mind his inventions in philosophy; and of Possidonius the philosopher, that in a great fit of the stone, he solaced himself with discourses of moral duty; and when the pain tormented him, he would say, "O pain, thou dost nothing: though thou art a little troublesome, I will never confess thee to be evil." If on such grounds as these they could support themselves under such grinding and racking pains, and even delude their diseases by them, how much rather should the precious promises of God, and the sweet experiences which have gone along step by step with them, make you forget all your wants, and comfort you in every strait?

3. If it is bad now, it might have been worse.

How

Has God denied thee the comforts of this life? he might have denied thee Christ, peace, and pardon also; and then thy case had been woeful indeed. You know that God has done so to millions in the world. many wretched objects may your eyes behold every day, who have no comfort in hand, nor yet in hope; are miserable here, and will be so to eternity; who have a bitter cup, and nothing to sweeten it; no, not so much as a hope that it will be better! But it is not so with you. Though you are poor in this world, "yet you are rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which God has promised," Jam. ii. 5. O learn to set spiritual riches over against temporal poverty! Balance all your present troubles with your spiritual privileges. Indeed if God had denied your souls the robe of righteousness to clothe them, the hidden manna to feed them, the heavenly mansions to receive them; if your souls were left destitute as well as your bodies, you might well be pensive; but this consideration has enough to bring the considering soul to rest under any outward strait. It was bravely said by Luther, when want began to pinch him, "Let us be contented with our hard fare, for do not we feast with angels upon Christ the bread of life?" "And blessed be God," said Paul, who hath abounded to us in all spiritual blessings," Eph, i. 3,

4. This affliction, though great, is not such an affliction but God has far greater, with which he chastises the dearly beloved of his soul in this world: and should he remove this, and inflict those, you would account your present state a very comfortable state, and bless God to be as now you are.

What think ye? Should God remove your present troubles, supply all your outward wants, give you the desire of your hearts in creature comforts, but hide his face from you, shoot his arrows into your souls, and cause the venom of them to drink up your spirits ;-should he leave you but a few days to the buffeting of Satan, and his blasphemous injections;-should he hold your eyes but a few nights waking with horrors of conscience, tossing to and fro till the dawning of the day;-should he lead you through the chambers of death, show you the visions of darkness, and make his terrors set themselves in array against you then tell me if you would not count it a choice mercy to be back again in your former necessitous condition, with peace of conscience; and count bread and water, with God's favor, a happy state? O then take heed of repining. Say not God deals hardly with you, lest you provoke him to convince you, by your own sense and feeling, that he has worse rods than these for unsubmissive and froward children.

5. If it is bad now, it will be better shortly.

O keep thy heart by this consideration. The meal in the barrel is almost spent; well, be it so; why should that trouble me, if I am almost beyond the need and use of all these things. The traveller has spent almost all his money, he has but a shilling or two left. Well, says he, though my money is almost spent, yet my journey is almost finished: I am near home, and then I shall be fully supplied. If there be no candles in the house, yet it is a comfort to think that it is almost day, and then there will be no need of candles. I am afraid, Christian, thou misreckonest thyself when thou thinkest thy provision is almost spent, and you have a great way to travel; many years to live, and nothing to live upon. It may not be half so many as thou supposest. In this be confident, if thy provision is spent, either fresh supplies are coming,

though thou seest not from whence, or thou art nearer thy journey's end than thou reckonest thyself to be. Desponding soul, does it become a man travelling on the road to the heavenly city and almost arrived there, within a few days' journey of his Father's house, where all his wants shall be supplied, to take on thus about a little meat, drink, or clothes, which he fears he shall want by the way? It was a noble saying of the forty Martyrs, famous in ecclesiastical story, who, when turned out naked in a frosty night to be starved to death, comforted one another with these words; "The winter indeed is sharp and cold, but heaven is warm and comfortable. Here we shiver for cold, but Abraham's bosom will make amends for all."

"But I may die for want." Who ever did so? When were the righteous forsaken? But if so, your journey is ended, and you are fully supplied. "But I am not sure of that. Were I sure of heaven, it were another matter." Are you not sure of that? Then you have other matters to trouble yourself about than these. Methinks these should be the least of all your cares. I do not find that souls perplexed and troubled about the want of Christ or the pardon of sin, are usually very anxious or solicitous about these things. He who seriously puts such questions as these, What shall I do to be saved? How shall I know that my sin is pardoned? does not usually trouble himself with, "What shall I eat; what shall I drink; or wherewithal shall I be clothed ?"

6. Does it become the children of such a Father to distrust his all-sufficiency, or repine at any of his dispensations?

Do you well to question his care and love in every new exigence? Say, have you not been ashamed of this formerly? Has not your Father's seasonable provision for you in former straits, put you to the blush, and made you resolve never to question his love and care any more? and yet will you renew your unworthy suspicions of him again? Disingenuous child, reason thus with thyself-If I perish for want of what is good and needful for me, it must either be because my Father knows not my wants, or has not wherewith to, supply them, or else regards, not what Div. No. XVIII.

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