[6.] The more we trust God, and look to him in all thing,s, the more we have ; for trust is a very endeaiing, engaging thing : Ps. xci. 9, 10, ' Because thou. hast made the Lord which is my refuge, even the Most High thy habitation, there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.' There shall no evil befall the
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man that always liveth upon God ; so 2 Chron. xx. 20, ' Believe in the Lord your God, so shall you be established ; believe his prophets, so shall you prosper ; ' and 1 Chron. v. 20, ' They cried unto the Lord in the battle, and he was entreated of them, because they put their trust in him.' How did they trust ? What! had they particular confid- ence in God ? No, they committed the affair to him with submission to his will. Or had they a particular levelation ? No, but they sought to (lod. and put the case into his hands.
[7] Tliat temporal promises, if they ai'e not made good to our persons, are sometimes made good to our posterity. Tlie blessing lieth asleep ■ for a while, and then it riseth up to their seed, in great abundance — ' The just man walketh in his integrit}', and his children are blessed, after liim,' Prov. xx. 7. It may be he is afflicted and greatly oppressed in the world, and maketh a hard shift to run througli it : but then his children are provided for, and have a strange blessing of providence accompanying them , so Isa. xliv. 3, 4, ' I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground ; I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thy offspring ; and they shall spring up as among the grass, as the willow by the water-courses.' David was a great student in providence^ and observed God up and down in the traverses of his dispensations, and gives this as the result of his inquiry and observation, Ps. xxxvii. 25, 26, ' I have been young, and now am old, yet I never saw the righteous forsaken, nor his Bead begging bread. He is ever merciful and lendeth, and his seed is blessed.' God hath a blessing for them and theirs, so as to bestow necessaries upon them; and Prov- xiii. 22, 'A good man leaves an inheritance to his childrens children, and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.' They that thrive by the oppression of others, and seek to grow groat in the world, lay up for the heir of a })oor, godly man.
[8.] God will provide many times when we are at an utter loss ; as Abraham answered his son Isaac, when he asked his father ' Where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?' Gen. xxii. 7, ' God will provide him- self a lamb for a burnt-offering,' ver. 8. So we may quiet our hearts in God"s promises for orir supplies. God hath means that come not within our ken and perceivance : John vi. 4-6, ' And the ])assover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh at hand. When Jesus lifted up his eyes, and saw a great multitude coming unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we have bread, that all these may eat ? And this he said to ])rove him, for he himself knew what he would do.' Sucii straits many times befall poor believers. There are many mouths, and little meat; trad- ing dead, and means of supplies cut off; but this he doth to fry us what we will do in such a case of straits and great necessities. Bui God will find out means of supplies that we could never think of ; and when we have it out of the hands of God's providence immediately, it is the sweeter, and doth more evitli^ice God's love and care of us : Zech. viii. 6, ' If it be marvellous in your eyes, should it therefore be marvellous in mine eyes ? saith the Lord of hosts.' Ps. Ixxviii. 41, ' Yea they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.' This was the fault the Israelites were taxed with, they limited the Holy One of Israel within the circle of human probabilities. Thus we should
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iwt ho : 2 Peter ii. 9, ' The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly.' This should answer all our doubts, o'iBev 6 Kvpio<; ; we know not, nor cannot see. When all lawful means have been tried lui prosperously, then is the time for the Lord to show forth his skill and ])Ower.
[9.] Our faith must bo tried in these things as well as in others. Look, as in all other the promises. God tries our faith before he gives us the blessing. How shall we know that we believe, and depend upon God for outward supi)lies, unless we be reduced to some straits, tmd have but from hand to mouth, and be cut short in our temporal conveniences? There are times of trial in which God will try all his children — ' The Lord tries the righteous,' Ps. xi. 5. Thus he tried them, Heb. xi. 36, 37. God tried them whether they would live by faith upon him when they were 'destitute, afflicted, and tormented, when they were stoned, and sawn asunder, slain with the sword, and wandered about in sheep-skins, and goat-.skins.' And thus he tried Isjael in the wdderness, before he had them into a land flowing with 7iailk and honey : Deut. viii. 2, 'And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee tliese forty years in the wilderness, to htuuble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldst keep his commandments or no.' God will try us whether we serve him for love or wages ; whether we live merely n{)on the creature or the promises, and can depend upon his all-suffi- •ciencv.