we should perform the duties of society, and, it is better for us that we should mix with the world on many occasions, than that we should avoid it because a pious caution may very easily degenerate into a disdainful misanthropy, the very reverse of the Christian. Spirit: but it may safely be affirmed, that he who would know how to use this world as not abusing it, must learn his lesson, not in the world, but out of it. XIX. Thus prepared we may be able to stand against the enemy; who will assuredly come to us, as to Eve in Paradise, and to Christ in the wilderness; making the same offers, and urging the same reasons as before (for he has nothing new), and commonly in the same order. When Christ was an hungred, the Tempter came to him and said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. God, who was able to support Christ in the wilderness, hath promised to support us in the world, and give us all things requisite toward the supply of our temporal necessities. The Tempter bids us distrust his providence, infusing the injurious opinion, that we are sent into this wilderness to perish with hunger, and shall certainly be obliged to make provision for the the flesh in opposition to the law of God, How many thousands fall into this snare!) some through indolence; others through the want of education and discipline; and some of pure malignity. They accept what the Devil presents, and convert it into a livelihood. Even good men are not exempt from the hazard of offending, by having recourse to unlawful methods of advancing themselves and enriching their families. It It may be pleaded, and I doubt not but it hath been pleaded very successfully, that good principles in bad times will have the natural effect of raising them enemies, and keeping them in obscurity that godliness never was a thriving trade, but in the days when hypocrisy was rampant; that truth and integrity are condemned to associate with poverty, and must therefore be sold to supply present occasions. Distrust may have the same effect upon the pious, as presumption hath upon the impious, and may raise similar reflections in the mind, all tending to an Epicurean exclusion of divine. providence. The latter saith, Is there knowledge in the Most High?-He careth not for it-He hideth away his face, and will never see it So likewise the former is tempted to ask ask-Shall God prepare a table in the wilderness? Yes: for that is the place which requires the interposition of his power. When human succours fail, and human endeavours cannot answer the purpose, there is a fit occasion for us to lift up our eyes unto the hills from whence cometh our help and the servants of God are sometimes brought into such a situation, that it may appear whether they will cast their care upon Him who careth for them and hath commanded them to take no thought (no anxious despairing thought) for the morrow; promising that He will never leave them nor forsake them. The goodness of God can find us out in the middle of a desart, in the most unpromising circumstances; and if our faith endures the trial, his angels will be sent to minister unto us; some hand unlooked for, the instrument of an invisible power, may adand messenger minister an abundant supply of all our wants: and they who will trust to the declarations of the divine word, will not be disappointed. The eyes of all wait upon thee, O Lord, and thou givest them meat in due season; thou openest thine hand and they are filled with good. But then it is to be understood, that the animal creation which receives the bless ing of God, and is supported by his bounty, is always in action: the beasts are employed in daily labour; birds of the air are upon the wing from the dawning of the day to the close of the evening; the bees and the ants improve every interval for the encreasing of their stores therefore it would be vain to imagine, that indolence in man can entitle him to the bounty of his Maker. XX, Man being composed of body and spirit, two kinds of nourishment are set before him; the meat which perisheth, and is designed only for the bodily appetite; and the meat which endureth to everlasting life, given to us by the Son of man in the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. It is called meat indeed; as if no other deserved the name when compared with this. The Eucharist is in the church what the Tree of Life was in Paradise, and what the manna was in the wilderness; a test of our faith and hope, as well as a vehicle of spiritual life: and it meets with the like reception; for the souls of many do loath this light bread. It doth not encourage any aspiring thoughts as to this world, nor doth it pretend to gratify the lusts of the flesh: so it hath nothing that can recommend it to those who walk after the flesh. Its efficacy extends only only to the nourishing of the soul, and prepares it for a better life. But what is this to the covetous, the ambitious, or the sensual; whose thoughts and views are terminated by the objects of this life? Spiritual meat requires. a spiritual appetite. There is an hunger of the mind, as well as an hunger of the body; and our Saviour hath signified it to us in those words-Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. If men do not come to be thus filled, it is a sign they have no such appetite as is here intended: and a want of appetite is a bad symptom, which, if not removed, must end in the death of the patient. It is much to be lamented, that when God hath prepared a table for us in this wilderness, and given us the true bread from Heaven, of which the manna was no more than a symbol, many who have been baptized and brought up to read that scripture, wherein it is written-Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you, can yet be easy under a total neglect of the holy communion; by. which they reverse their baptism as far as it is in their power, and expose themselves under |
