and necessities? 1 Sam. xxv. 8. Give I pray thee (saith he to Nabal) whatsoever cometh to thy hand, to thy servants, and to thy son David. Renowned Musculus was forced to dig in the town ditch for a maintenance. Famous Ainsworth (as I have been credibly informed) was forced to sell the bed he lay on, to buy bread. But, what speak I of these? Behold, a greater than any of them, even the Son of God, who is the heir of all things, and by whom the worlds were made, yet some.. times would have been glad of any thing, having nothing to eat, Mark xi. 12. 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 happily he might find [any thing]

thereon.

Well then, hereby God hath 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, yet they were driven to as great straits as thou art.

2 Consid. If God leave you not in this cecessitous 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, Mr. Calvin, upon those words, Isa. ix. 1. Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, &c. 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 (saith he) 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 hath left many sweet promises for the faith of his poor people to feed on this condition, such are these, Psal. xxxiv. 9, 10. O 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 no'thing that is good. Psal. xxxiii. 18, 19. The eye of the Lord is upon the righ

teous, to keep them alive in famine.

Psal. Ixxxiv. 11. No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. Rom. viii. 32. 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? Isa. xli. 6. 17. When the poor and needy seek wa" ter, 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. Here you see, I, their extreme wants, water being put even for the necessaries of life. 2, Their certain reliet, 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 i should not your distrustful hearts conclude, like David's, Psal. xxiii. 1. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want?

Object. But these promises imply conditions; if they were absolute, they would afford more satisfaction.

Sol. What are those tacit conditions you speak of, but these? 1, That either he will supply or sanctify your wants. 21 That you shall have so much as God sees fit for you. And doth this trouble you? Would you have the mercy, whether sanctified or no ; whether God sees it fit for you or no? Methinks the appetites of

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saints after earthly things should not be.. so ravenous, to seize greedily upon any eajoyment, not caring how they have it.

But oh, when wants pinch, and we see not whence supplies should come, then • Σ our faith in the promise shakes, and we,. klike murmuring Israel, cry, he gave bread,

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can he give water also? O unbelieving he hearts! When did his promise fail? Whoever trusted them and was ashamed? May not God upbraid thee with thine unrea sonable infidelity, as Jer. ii. 34. Have I been a wilderness unto you? &c. or, asChrist 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, thus 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 humour 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 the 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 virtue : and when the pain twinged him, we would say, O pain, thou dost nothing; though thou art a little troublesome, I will never confess thee to be evil. If upon such grounds as these they could support themselves under such grinding and racking pains, and even elude their disease 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 to forget all your wants, and comfort you over every strait ?

3 Consid. If it be bad now, it might have been worse: hath God denied thee the comfort of this life? he might have denied thee Christ, peace and pardon also, and then thy case had been woeful indeed. You know God hath done so to millions in the world how many such wretched objects may your eyes behold every day, that have no comfort in band, nor yet in hope; are miserable here, and will be so to eternity; that hath a bitter cup, and nothing to sweeten it; no, not so much as any hope that it will be better. But it is

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