" that came in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants 6f " the countries, and nation was destroyed of nation, and city of " city ; for God did vex them with all adversity.'" How long did Jerusalem remain after that voice was heard in the temple, Migre^ Ttiiishinc? Let us be gone. (4.) AVith the gospel, we lose our temporal enjoyments and creature-comforts. These usually come and go with the gospel. When God had once written Lo-ammi upon Israel, the next news was this, " I will recover my wool and my flax," Hosea ii. 9. {5.) And, lastly, to come up to the very case in hand, they lose with it their spiritual food and soul-subsistence, for the gospel is ihe\Y feast of fat things^ Isa. xxv. 6. their spiritual wells, Isa. xii. 3. a dole distributed among the Lord's poor, Rom. i. IL In a word, it is as the rain and dews of heaven, as hath been shewed, which be- ing restrained, a spiritual famine necessarily follows, a famine of all the most terrible. Now to shew you the analogy between this and a temporal famine, that therein you may see what cause you have to be deeply affected with it, take it in these six following particulars.
1. A famine caused by the failing of bread, or that which is in the stead, and hath the use of bread. Dainties and superfluous rarities may fail, and yet men may subsist comfortably. As long as people have bread and water, they will not famish ; but take away bread once, and the spirit of man faileth. Upon this account bread is call- ed a staff, Psal. cv. 16. because what a staff is to an aged and feeble man, that bread is to the faint and feeble spirits, M^hich even so lean upon it. And look what bread is to the natiu'al spirits, that, and more than that, the word is to gracious spirits, Job xxiii. 12. " I have " esteemed the words of thy mouth more than my necessary food." If once God break this staff, the inner-man, that hidden man of the heart, will quickly begin to fail and faulter.
% It is not every degree or scarcity of bread that presently makes a famine, but a general failing of it ; when no bread is to be had, or that which is, yields no nutriment. (For a famine may as well be occasioned by God's taking awEij panh nutrlmentmn, the nourishing virtue of bread, that it shall signify no more, as to the end of bread, than a chip, Hag. i. 6. as by taking away panem 7iutrientem , bread itself, Isa. iii. 1.) And so it is in a spiritual famine, which is occa- sioned, either by God's removing all the ordinances, and making vi- sion utterly to fail ; or else, though there be preaching, prayer, and other ordinances left, (at least the names and shadows of them) yet the presence of God is not with them. There is no marrow in the bone, no milk in the breast ; and so, as to soul-subsistence, it is all one, as if there were no such things.
3. In a corporeal famine, mean and coarse things become sweet and pleasant. Famine raises the price and esteem of them. That which before you would have thrown to your dogs, now goes down pleasantly with yourselves. To the hungry soul every bitter thing is
THE HEAVENLY USE OF EARTHLY THINGS. 85
sweet, Prov. xxvli. 7. It is the Dutch proverb, and a very true one, Hunsrer is the best cook *.
' In time of famine coarsest fare contents, ' The barking stomach strains complements."'
It is storied of Artaxerxes Memnon, that when he was flying be- fore his enemies, he fed hungrily upon barley-bread, and said, Cw- jusmodi voluptatis hactenus inexpertusjm ! O what pleasure have I hitherto been ignorant of! When great Darius drank the puddled water, that had been defiled with dead carcases, which had been slain in that famous battle, he professed he never drank more plea- sant drink. And famous Hunniades said, he never fared more daintily, than when (in a like exigence,) he supped upon bread, onions, and water, with a poor shepherd in his cottage.
Just so doth the famine of the word raise the price and esteem of vulgar and despised truths. Oh ! what would you give for one of those sermons, one of those sabbaths we formerly enjoyed ! In those days the word of the Lord was precious. When God calls to the enemy to take away and remove his contemned, but precious dain- ties, from his wanton children, and a spiritual famine hath a little pinched them, they will then learn to prize their spiritual food at a higher rate.
4. In time of famine some persons suffer more than others : it falls heaviest, and pincheth hardest upon the poorer sort ; as long as any thing is to be had for money, the rich will have it. So it falls out in a spiritual famine ; although the most experienced and best fur- nished Christians will have enough to do to live in the absence of or- dinances, yet they are like to subsist much better than weak, ignorant, and unexperienced ones. Some Christians have husbanded their time well, and, like Joseph in the seven ye^rs plenty, laid up for a scarcity. The word of God dwells richly in them. Some such there are, as John calls young men, who are strong, and the word of God re- maineth in them ; of whom it may be said, as Jerom spake of Nepo- tianus, that by long and assiduous meditation of the scriptures, he had made his breast the very library of Christ. But others are babes in Christ ; and though God will preserve that good work which he hath begun in them, yet these poor babes will soonest find, and be most concerned in the loss of their spiritual fathers and nurses.
5. In time of famine there are pitiful cries, and heart-breaking complaints wherever you go. Oh the many pale faces you shall then see, and the sad language that rings in your ears in every place ! One cries. Bread, bread, for Christ's sake ! one bit of bread ! another faints and falls down at your door. ATI her people sigh, Lam. i. 11. Yea, the poor little ones are brought in, ver. 12. crying to their mothers, Where is the corn and wine ? and then pouring out their
* Jcjunus stomachus raro cutgaria temnit, Horat.
86 HUSBANDllY SPIllITUALIZEl) ; OU,
souls into their mother^s bosom. Just so it is in a fanline of tlie word ; poor Christians every where sighing and cryingj Oh ! where are our godly ministers ? our sweet sabbaths, sermons, sacraments ? My fathers ! my fathers ! the chariots of Israel, and the horsemen thereof ! How beautiful were your feet upon the mountains ? And then, weeping, like the people at Paufs departure, to think they shall see their faces no more.