There is in God infiniteness of ways of supply, let us labour therefore for a prudent heart, to learn the skill of fetching out of God for all neces- sities. As our want is, so let us fetch supply from some attribute of God, and some promise answerable. This is the wisdom of the saints of God. Are we in extremity ? Then with Jehoshaphat say, ' We know not. Lord, what to do : but our eyes are toward thee,' 2 Chron. xx. 12. Are we per- plexed that we want wisdom ? Then go to God, who is infinitely wise. Consider him so, for he is fit for the soul ; nay, he exceeds all the maladies and wants of the soul. There is not only abundance in God, but redun- dance and overflowing abundance. Therefore there wants but skill to make use of what is in him for our turn. Are we wronged ? Go to God, that 'judgeth righteously,' Jer. xi. 20; consider him in that relation, as a God 'to whom vengeance belongeth,' Ps. xciv. 1. Are we overpowered? Go to God, ' that made heaven and earth,' to the Almighty God, Ps. cxv. 15. Are we troubled with the sense of sin? Go to God, that is ' the Father of all mercy, and God of all comfort,' Piom. xv. 5. Are we cast down, and no man regards us ? Go to God, that styles himself ' the comforter of the abject,' 2 Cor. vii. 6. This is the skill that faith learns, not only in gross to think of God, but to think of God answerable to all occasions ; as indeed there is somewhat in God to satisfy the soul in all extremities whatsoever. I beseech you, let us learn to do this. What a happy condition is he in that hath learned to inure his soul to trust in God for the removal of all ill, and for the obtaining of all good ! He is sure of all. ' For God is a sun and a shield ;' a sun for all that is good, and a shield to defend us from all ill. He is so to all that trust in him. He is a ' buckler, and an exceeding great reward,' Ps. xviii. 30. He is a buckler to award* and shield ill 'from us, and an exceeding great reward for all * That is, = ' ward oflf.'— G.
THE POOR man's RICHES. 263
that is good. Therefore in how happy a condition is the soul that is acquainted with this blessed exercise of trusting and believing in God ! It is a state wherein we shall be kept from all ill — I mean from the ill of ills : not from the ill of sense, but from the ill of ills, and from the poison of all ill. Whatsoever ill we endui-e, there shall be comfort mixed with it ; and it is better to have it than the comfort. What a comfort is this ! ' They that trust in the Lord shall want nothing that is good. He that trusts in the Lord is as a tree planted by the river side,' Jer. xvii. 7, 8. He shall alway have his leaf flourishing and bear fruit, because he is at the well- head. He that hath the spring can never want water, and he that is in the sun can never want light. He that is at the great feast can never want pro- vision. He that hath learned to trust in God, and can improve what is in him, what can he want ? Oh it is the scarceness of our faith that we want comfort ! As our faith is, so is our comfort ; and if we could bring a thou- sand times larger faith to grasp the promises, we should carry away larger comfort and strength.
NOTES.
(a) P, 241. — ' In the original it is poor, and mild, and gentle.' Cf. Dr Henderson in loc.
(b) P. 246. — 'As St Augustine .... saith, "We should. boast and glory of no- thing, because nothing is ours." ' A frequent acknowledgment in the ' Confessions,' with varying phraseology. G.
SPIRITUAL MOUENING.
SPIRITUAL MOURNING.
NOTE.
' Spiritual mourning' forms Nos. 14 and 15 of the Saint's Cordials in first edition, 1629. It was -withdrawn from the after-editions along with others, to give room for another series which had been jDublished in the intervals. The title-page will ho found below.* Cf. notes Vol. IV. page 76, and V. page 176. G.
* SPIKITVAL
MOVRNiNG :
In Two Skkmons. Wherein is laid open,
C Who are spirituall mourners, and what it is to moume
spiritually. That all godly mourning is attended with comfort. How spirituall mourning is known and discerned from
other mournings. Together with the meanes to attaine it, and the tryall
thereof, in sundry instances, ^'c,
[Wood-cut here, as described in Vol. IV. p. 60.]
Vprightnes Hath Boldnes.
LONDON,
Printed in the yeare 162Q.
SPIRITUAL MOURNING
THE FIRST SERMON.
Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. — Mat. V. 4.
We have spoken of spiritual poverty the last day, -when we shewed you that it is a grace especially in the understanding.* We must now come to the affections. And first, our Saviour begins with mourning, which fol- lows immediately from poverty of spirit. Mourning is a wringing or pinching of the soul upon the apprehension of some evil present, whether it be privative or positive, as we speak ; that is, when a man finds that absent that he desires, and that present which he abhors, then the soul shrinks and contracts itself, and is pinched and wringed ; and this is that we call mourning. Now this always comes to pass in poverty. Such as the poverty is, such is the mourning ; and therefore our blessed Saviour's order is very good in joining mourning to that poverty of which we have spoken. Thus much for the order.