the sower. A dunghill-spirited fellow in our days, being by a neigh- bour excited to bless God for a rich crop of corn he had standing on his ground, atheistically replied, ' Thank God ! Nay, rather thank my dung cart !' I have read of a great cardinal, who, writing down in his diary what such a lord did for him, and how far such a prince favoured him, and what encouragement he had from such a king, and how such a pope preferred him, but not one word of God in all : one reading of it, took his pen and wrote underneath, here God did nothing. But, NintMy, The little the righteous man hath is enough ; enough to satisfy him, enough to content him, enough to bear his charges till he gets to heaven, Ps. xxiii. 1, 2: Phil. iv. 12, 13; 1 Tim. vi. 6: Gen. xxxiii. 11, ' I have enough,' saith Jacob to Esau: Gen. xlv. 28, ' And Israel said, it is enough ; Joseph my son is yet alive.* Though the righteous man hath but little, yet he hath enough for his place and calling in which God has placed him, and enough for his charge, whether it be great or small ; he has enough to satisfy nature, enough to preserve natural life. Pro v. xxx. 8.^ Agur is but for food convenient, convenient for his life, not for his lusts ; he prays for enough to satisfy necessity, convenience, not concupiscence ; he begs for bread, not for quails ; he begs that nature may he sustained, not pampered. Though it be true that nothing will satisfy a wicked man's lusts, yet it is as true thnt a little will satisfy nature, and less will satisfy grace. Jacob vows that the Lord should be his God, if he would but give him bread to eat, and raiment to put on. This was the first holy vow that ever we read of ; hence Jacob is called the father of vows, Gen. xxviii. 20, 21. He begs not dainties to feed him, nor silks nor satins to clothe him ; but bread to feed him, though never so coarse, and clothes to cover him, though never so mean. Job is only for ne- cessary food,2 Job xxiii. 12. A little will satisfy a temperate Christian. Luther made many a meal of bread and a red herring ; and Junius made many a meal of bread and an Qgg. Nature laps only, like those three hundred soldiers. Judges vii. 6. When Christ fed the people graciously, miraculously, he fed them not with manchets^ and quails, or pheasants, &c., but with barley loaves and fishes, a frugal, temperate, sober diet. If the handful of meal in the barrel, and the oil in the cruse fail not, and if the brook and the running water fail not, Elijah can be well enough contented. But now wicked men never have enough, they are never satisfied. They are like those four things that Solomon speaks of, that are never satisfied — viz., the grave, tlie barren womb, the earth, and the fire. That is an observable passage of the psalmist, ' Thou fillest their bellies with thy hid treasures.' To a worldly wicked man all these outward things are but a bellyful ; and how soon is the belly emptied after it is once filled ! Though many rich men have riches enough to sink them, yet they have never enough to satisfy them. Like him that wished for a thousand sheep in his flock, and when he had them, he wished for other cattle without num-
^ If thou live according to nature, thou wilt never be poor ; if according to opinion, thou wilt never be rich.
^ He is rich enough that lacketh not bread ; and high enough in dignity that is not forced to serve. — Jerome. John vi. 9-15 ; 1 Kings xvii. 12, and iii. 4-G ; Prov. xxx. lo, 16 J Ps. xvii. 14. ^ ' Fine bread.'— CJ.
270 London's lamentations on [Isa. XLII. 24, 25.
hor. Wlicn Alexander had all the crowns and sceptres of the princes of the world ])iled uji at hisf;^ates, he wishes for another world to con- quer : ' The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear with hearing.' ' He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver ; nor he that loveth abundance with increase,' Eccles. i. 8, and v. 10. There is enough and enough in silver, in abundance of silver, to vex and fret the soul of man, but not to satisfy the soul of man God himself is the only centre of centres, and as the soul can never rest till it return to him, as the dove to the ark, so it can never be filled, stilled, or satis- fied, but in the enjoyment of him i All the beauty of the world is but deformity, all the brightness of the world is but blackness, all the light of the world is but bitterness ; and therefore it is impossible for all the braveiy and glory of this world to give absolute satisfaction to the soul of man. Solomon, the wisest prince that ever sat upon a throne, after his most diligent, curious, critical, and impartial search into all the creatures, gives this as the summa totalis, and product of his inquiries, ' Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.' And how then can any of these things, yea, all these things hea[)ed up together, satisfy the soul of man ! Hab. ii. 5, ' He enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people,' This is spoken of the king of Babylon, who though he had gathered to him all nations and people, yea, and all their vast treasures also — Isa. x. 13, 'I have robbed their treasures:' ver. 14, ' And my hand hath found as a nest, the riches of his people : and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth ; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped' — and yet for all this was his desire enlarged as hell, and could not be satisfied. The desires of worldlings are bound- less and endless, and there is no satisfying of them. It is not all the gold of Ophir, or Peru, nor all the pearls or mines of India ; it is not Joseph's chains, nor David's crowns, nor Haman's honours, nor Daniel's dignities, nor Dives his riches, that can satisfy an immortal soul.
Ten fid//, The little that the righteous man hath is more stable, dur- able, and lasting, than the riches of the wicked ; and therefore his little is better than their much, his mite is better than their millions, Job V. 20-22. Ps. xxxiv. 9, 10, ' Oh fear the Lord, ye his saints : for there is no want to them that fear him. The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger : but they that seek the Lord shall not Avant any good thing.' Such as are separated from the world's lusts, can live with a little. Such as set up God as the object of their fear, have no cause to fear the want of anything. When David was a captive amongst the Philistines, he wanted nothing. Paul had nothing, and yet pos- sessed all things, 2 Cor. vi. 10. A godly man may want many good things that he thinks to be good for him, but he shall never want any good thing that the Lord knows to be good for him, Heb. xiii. 5, 6 ; Prov. x. 3. AVe do not esteem of tenure for life as we do of freehold, because life is a most uncertain thing. Ten pound a year for ever is better than a hundred in hand. All the promises are God's bonds,