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grace and ?:loi7 shall be added unto you ; but, Seek the kingdom oi heaven, and tlien eartlily things will not be stood upon, but cast in as paper and pack-thread.
[2.] Tiiese are necessary for our maintenance during the time of our service : Mat. vi. o2, 'Your heavealy Father knowelh that you iiave need of these things.' We consist of a body as well as a soul, and they have both their necessities. Now our heavenly Father knoweth our frame and make, and how serviceable the.se things are in our journey to heaven ; will he be so unkind as to deprive us of our necessary supports ? Will any man send a message, and cut off the feet of them by whom he sendetli? WillGodemployusiu this world, and not give iisasubsi.stence? Hezekiah took care that the Levite.s might have their portion, ' that they might be encouraged in the law of tiie Lord,' 2 Cliron. xxxi. 4. Would God take care of our souls only, and as to tlie sup[)ort of our bodies leave us to shift for ourselves? No, God is ia covenant with the whole believer, his body as well as his soul ; that is one ground and reason from which Christ proveth the resurrection of tiie body, bf cause he is the God of Abraham • 2\Iat. xxii. 32, ' I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God- of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead but of the living.' And if he be Abraham's God, if he will be an infinite and eternal benefactor to Abraham, he must raise Abraham's body as well as his soul. And the mark of circumcision was in his flesh, as the water of baptism is sprinkled upon our bodies , tlierefore he will take care of the bodies of his saints. And further, Christ purchased both body and soul . 1 Cor. vi. 20, ' Ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your s[)irit, which are God's.' And this is not only an enforcement of- our service, but doth also infer his care over us ; for Clirist will be tender of what he hath purchased. He did not only purchase us to service, but to a bless- ing When God aimed at a new mterest in us by redemption, it was such an interest as might be comfortable and beneficial to us ; other- wise he had a full interest in us before, which we could not make void by sin ; but it was such an interest as did oblige him to cha.stise us for our sins and lebellions. I speak this to show that Christ's purchase doth not only infer our duty to him, but his care of his ]ieople. And our bodies are united to Christ as well as our souls ; as whole Christ is united to us in the mystical union, so whole we are united to Christ, bodies as well as souls. The outward man is a part of the mystical body as well as the soul, and accordingly the body is seized on by the Spirit, and used as his temple : Eom. viii. 11, ' Re shall quicken our mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in us.' It is true, the.se considerations are most concludant of the glorious estate of the body hereafter, but yet they do proportionably evidence God's care of the body for the present, as long as he will use us for his glory.
[3.] Without this i)art of the life of faith we should be encumbered with a world of destructive and distracting cares and troubles, which would much infringe the hajjpiness of the spiritual life, and weaken the duty of it so that we could not attend the service of God with any freedom and cheerfulness. Therefore to ease us of this burden and clog, God would have us depend upon his care and all-sufficiency, and take no thought what we sliall oat, and what we shall drink, and
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wlierewitlial we sliall be clothed : Pro v. xvi. 3, ' Commit iln- works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established.' As the spiritual life is the most noble kind of life, so it is the most comfortable; for God take^th all our cares u{)oii himself, and easeth us of those anxious and toi'mentitig thoughts which otherwise would eat out all our comfort and vigour : so 1 Peter v, 7, ' Casting all your care u])on the Lord, who caietli for you ' The care of duty, that is ours ; but the care of events, that is God's work. Do your work, and as for success, and support, and maintenance, commit it to God's faithfulness and all- sufficiency, and submit it to his sovereign will. God would not have us overbiudened and discouraged, and therefore he hath undertaken to do what is necessary for us.
[4.] There is a necessity of this part of the life of faith, because we are trained up to believe in God for eternal things, by waiting upon him for temporal. As we try how to swim in the shallow brooks before we venture into the deep waters, so before we trust Christ with our eternal estate we must try how we can trust him for temporal mercies. Experience confirms us in waiting upon God ; his word is now put to a present proof and trial : Ps. xviii. 30, ' The word of the Lord is tried.' When you put it iu suit, you see God standeth to his promises. and certainly he will not fail you in greater things. Faith would be but a notion, and we should never know the strength and comfort of it till we die, if there were not some present proof as to the intermediate promises, before we come to receive our final and consummate happi- ness. So that if we cleave not to the promises of God concerning temporal things, we shall adhere to the promises of eternal life with less certainty and assurance. Both promises flow from the same fountain of Gods everlasting love, and are established in the same mediator, and received by the same faith. Yea, the promises of ever- . lasting life are more spii-itual, and farthest removed from sense, and are more difficult to be believed, and therefore first we must begin with easier things. And the Lord, by giving us outward things, would nourish our faith in things spiritual and heavenly ; for when we see his care over us in these lesser things, we may be sure he will not neglect us in things of a greater moment ; they are pledges to the soul that if God be so punctual in the lesser things, he will not fail in the greater.