calls upon the Colossians that they should teach and admonish one another in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs Col. 3.16 it is evident from severall Passages in 1 Corinth 14. that it was a great part of their Publick Service Thus when the Apostle vers 15. and so on says I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the understanding also Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks he plainly supposeth because speaking all along of their Assemblies that the Blessing and Praising God in a Song was a part of the Publick Service at them In like manner when he saith vers 26. How is it then Brethren when ye come together every one hath a Psalm a Doctrine and a Tongue c. Let all things be done to edifying though he finds fault with the disorderly performance of those several Duties yet he supposeth them to be Duties because prescribing Rules for the right ordering of them From the Times of the Apostles pass we to those that immediately succeeded where we shall find yet more express Testimonies of this being a part of their Lord's-day Service For thus Pliny * Lib. 10. Ep. 97. Adfirmabant autem hanc fuisse summam vel culpae suae vel erroris quod essent soliti state die ante lucem convenire carmenque Christo quasi Deo dicere secum invicem giving an Account of what the Christians did upon the Set-day of their Assemblies which as was before shewn could be no other than the Lord's-day tells us from the mouth of some of themselves That it was among other things to say one with another by turns a Song or Hymn to Christ as unto God thereby not onely shewing that to have been a part of their Publick Service but as a Learned †Ham. Pres to Annot. on the Psalms Man hath well observ'd confirming that way of alternate Singing which is still in use in the Church of England Neither is Pliny alone in this Testimony either as to the Singing of Hymns upon that Day or Singing Hymns unto Christ as God For as Tertullian expresly reckons the Singing of Psalms among the Lord's-day Solemnities so Eusebius ‖ Eccl. Hist lib. 5. c. 28. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alledges against those who deny'd the Divinity of our Saviour certain Psalms and Songs written anciently by the Brethren wherein they magnified Christ as God It is true indeed he saith not in that place that they were sung in the Church which may seem to render that Testimony so much the more defective But as it is evident from Tertullian * Apol. c. 39. Post aquam manualem lumina ut quisque de Scripturis sanctis vel de proprio ingenio potest provocatur in medium deo canere that Men were invited to sing in their Assemblies as well their own Compositions as those of Scripture so Eusebius elsewhere ‖ Eccl. Hist lib. 7. c. 30. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gives us plainly to understand that the Psalms before spoken of were sung in their Assemblies He there charging Paulus Samosaetenus with causing them to cease and Songs in honour of himself to be sung in the Church For how could Paulus Samosatenus cause those Songs to cease unless they had been publickly sung or what likelihood is there if they had not been so that he would have introduc'd Songs concerning himself I will conclude this Particular with that famous Canon of the Council of Laodicea * Can. ult 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. where the Canonical Books of Scripture are enumerated For forbidding as it doth the use of such private Psalms in the Church it shews them to have been before in use and much more that the Singing unto God was But of all the Religious Exercises wherewith the Christian Sabbath was to be celebrated there is certainly none which hath more to be said for it than the Administration of the Lord's Supper that real Thanksgiving and Praise of the Almighty for the Blessings of the Creation but more particularly for the Death of our Saviour For as we find it to have been the Attendant of the Publick Assemblies of the Christians both in the Acts and in the First Epistle to the Corinthians so to be so much a part of the Lord's-days Business as to be set to denote the whole St. Luke Acts 20.7 making the end of the Disciples meeting together upon the First day of the Week to be to break Bread that is to say as the Syriack interprets it the Bread of the Eucharist Agreeable hereto is that of Pliny * Ibid. Seque sacramento non in scelus aliquod obstringere sed ne furta ne latrocinia ne adulteria committerent ne fidem fallerent ne depositum appellati negarent in the Testimony so often produc'd he there telling us That upon the Set-day spoken of before they oblig'd themselves by a Sacrament not to any wickedness but that they would not commit Thefts 〈◊〉 â—â—ries Adulteries c. Which as hath been before shewn 〈…〉 be understood of any other than the Sacrament of the Eucharist which we know to be an Obligation to that purpose And though it be true that Tertullian makes no mention of it in his Apologetick probably because it was not his purpose to make known the manner of it to the Heathen lest the misunderstanding of it should bring it into contempt yet as in his Book de Coronâ militis ‖ Cap. 3. Eucharistiae Sacramentum in tempore victus omnibus mandatum à Domino etiam antelucanis coetibus nec de aliorum manu quà m praefidentium sumimus he mentions it as a part of the Business of those Assemblies before day whereof we have mention in Pliny so Justin Martyr †Vid. Apol. 2. loco prius citato not onely mentions it as a part of the Lord's-day Service but describes the Manner of the Celebration of it From all which put together it is evident I do not say how much we have departed from the Devotion of the Apostles Times and those that succeeded but even from the due Observation of that Day which we pretend to keep as Holy unto the Lord. PART V. An History of the due Observation of the Lord's-day both in Private and Publick Where among other things is shewn the Excellency of our Churches Service and with what Affections it ought to be intended the unsuitableness of Fasting to so joyful a Solemnity and the great inconvenience that must necessarily ensue from the not relaxing of our Intentions In fine The both necessity and benefit of Meditating upon what we have heard and applying it to our own Souls That the Visiting and Comforting of the Sick and Distressed the Reconciling of Parties that are at variance and the begetting or maintaining Friendship by kind and neighbourly Entertainments are no improper Offices of the
the Reading and Hearing thereof to be no improper Parts of God's Worship He that reads or listens to them as to the Word of God no less acknowledging his Authority over us than he who either prays to or praises him And accordingly as Prayer and Praise as being immediate Parts of God's Worship were always accompanied with some outward Testimony of Respect so we find also that the Reading of the Law and the Prophets sometime was as is evident from a Passage in each Testament The former giving us to understand that when Ezra opened the Book of the Law not onely he himself but all the People stood up Nehem. 8.4 5. the latter that our Saviour us'd the same Posture at the Reading of the Prophet Isaiah and sate not down till he clos'd it both the one and the other thereby declaring their Acknowledgment of his Authority by whose Spirit each of those Books was dictated Whilst therefore the Scriptures are thus attended to we do no less worship God than learn how to do it and the Reading and Hearing of them is not onely the way to but a part of that very Worship to which it leads But because there are some who though they question not the Reading of the Scriptures upon that account yet reject it either as unedifying or at least not very proper for the Publick Assemblies in stead of prosecuting the former Argument we will consider each of these Pretensions and first that which excludes it as no way proper for the Publick For be it which is commonly alledg'd that Men may read the Scriptures at home as well as at the Publick Assemblies yet as there are a great number of Men who cannot read at all and others who have no leisure for it though they could by means whereof they must have been ignorant of the Scripture unless God had provided for them by the Publick Reading of it so it is apparent that they who both can read and have leisure for it are too apt to omit it and consequently were it not for the Publick Reading of it would have had no farther knowledge of it than they should have receiv'd from the Discourses of their Instructers By which means they might not onely have suck'd in their Infirmities together with it but sometimes also their Errours and Extravagancies Again If the Scriptures had been confin'd to Closets and no more of them produc'd in Publick than what might serve either for the Subject or strengthning of a Sermon it had been no hard matter especially before Printing came in use to have corrupted the Scriptures without remedy as to the Common sort and made them speak not what they ought but what every perfidious Heretick would have had them for so those that are unlearned would have had no means to inform themselves whether that which was suggested to them as Scripture were genuine or no. But when the Scriptures were not onely in the hands of Private Persons but preserv'd in Churches and which is more publickly read in them as there was not the like encouragement to evil Men to corrupt private Copies as knowing that their Corruptions might be detected by those Books which were in the custody of and publickly read by the Church so if they had been so bold what was read in the Assemblies would have help'd Men to have discover'd the Fraud and preserv'd them from the Attaque of it This onely would be added That though there be not the like danger since Printing came in use and Men were appointed by Authority to preside over it yet there would be danger enough if the same Custom were not continued of Reading the Scriptures in the Assemblies For as corrupt Copies may come abroad notwithstanding all the diligence of those who have the Charge of the Press so if they should the Common sort of Men would have nothing left to fence themselves against them if the Reading of the Scriptures were banish'd out of the Assemblies Add hereunto which though but an Argument ad hominem may perhaps prove more prevalent than those that speak to the Thing it self and that is the abhorrency that even they who would not have the Scriptures publickly read profess to have for the Papists robbing the People of it For what do they less who would have them banish'd from the Publick Assemblies where alone the Ignorant sort are in a capacity of receiving them So slight or rather so dangerous are the Pretensions of those who would have the Reading of the Scriptures appropriated to Mens Closets How much more then the rejecting of the Reading of them as if when onely read they were not able to convert a Soul unto God For as whatsoever force there is in Sermons is for the substance of them deriv'd from the Scriptures and therefore the Power of converting Souls to lie chiefly there so if those Scriptures have not lost their credit as well as their converting Faculty the bare Reading of them through God's Blessing may be a means to convert Souls unto God Otherwise why should God as he did command the Reading of the Law that the children of Israel might hear and learn and fear the Lord their God and observe to do all the words of this Law Deut. 32.11 12. or St. John affirm of his Gospel that it was written that we might believe and that believing we might have Life through his Name For if it was written that Men might believe there is no doubt it is able to effect it when read because that is enough to let Men into the Sense of it And indeed as if Sermons prove more effectual it is oftentimes because they are more attended to their novelty and spruceness engaging our attention whilst the plainness of the other makes it less regarded so if they have any advantage in themselves it is not so much for the Arguments they alledge which are the same in both but by the order wherein they are dispos'd and the manner of application Having thus shewn the Reading of the Scriptures to be one part of the Publick Service and thereby asserted it from that Contempt into which it is now fallen I proceed to inquire Whether as in the Service of the Jewish Sabbath so also in the Christian the Explication of the Scriptures is to have a part Now that so it is will appear if we look into the Service of the Church as it was in the first Institution of it And here not to tell you that the first Account we have of the Publick Service presents us with the mention of the Apostles Doctrine I shall begin my Proofs with that of Acts 20.7 because speaking of the First day of the Week or Sunday For there we are told That among other the Exercises of that Day the Disciples had a Sermon from that excellent Preacher St. Paul All the difficulty is what kind of Sermon that was and whether it were not made rather in regard to his being to depart the next day than
out of a belief of its being a Requisite of that Days Service But as the former will be easily voided if we consider what he elsewhere * Acts 26.22 affirms of his Preaching That he said no other things than the Prophets and Moses did say should come thereby making his Sermons but an Explication and Confirmation of the Prophets so that it was in regard to the Day that he so preach'd as well as to his being to depart the next the mention of the Apostles Doctrine before among the Parts of their Publick Worship as well as the subsequent Practice of the Church shews If as that Text manifestly implies his purpose of going away the next day had any influence upon it it was not so much for the producing of it at all as for his drawing it out to that length to which it was and would therefore more agreeably to the Sense and no way dissonant to the Stile of the New Testament where such like Trajections ‖ Vid. Knatchbull Animadv in Nov. Test speciatim in Annot. ad Act. 13.27 are us'd be rendred That on the foremention'd day St. Paul preach'd unto them and because he was to depart the next continued his Speech until midnight From the Apostles Days pass we to the subsequent Age where again we shall have a pregnant Proof from Justin Martyr * Ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who continuing his Account of the Sunday-Service adds That after the Reader had done the President or Bishop in a set Discourse made an Admonition and Exhortation to the imitation of those excellent things they had before read agreeably to the Customs of those Times as Mr. Thorndike ‖ Religious Assembl ch 6. hath observ'd where the Sermon or Discourse was not as now upon any Subject indifferently but to the Explication and Application of that which was read in the Assembly From the Testimony of Justin Martyr pass we to that of Tertullian †Apol. c. 39. Certe fidem sanctis vocibus pascimus spem erigimus fiduciam figimus disciplinam praeceptorum nihilominus inculcationibus densamus where we shall find a Proof of the same usance For after he had given an Account of their coming together to reherse the Scriptures he adds which to my seeming plainly referrs to their Sermons However we fail not with holy Speeches to feed Mens Faith erect their Hope fix their Confidence neither forget we in the mean time to thicken the Discipline with the frequent inculcation of Precepts This thickning of the Discipline with the inculcation of Precepts being more proper to Sermons where there is liberty to heap up many to the same purpose than to the Reading of the Scriptures which pass from one thing to another However it be as it there follows that there also are * Ibidem etiam exhortationes castigationes censura divina Exhortations Castigations and a Divine Censure so in the Place before-quoted out of his Book de Animâ among the Solennia Dominica as he there calls them he reckons Adlocutiones or Speeches as distinct from the Reading of the Scriptures And indeed though the Word barely read might suffice to Edification if it were but attended to as it ought yet forasmuch as some Men are dull of hearing or rather of understanding and a greater number are backward to make application of it to themselves hence it comes to pass that to make them the more prevalent it is at least very behoveful that they to whom the Office of Preaching is committed not onely open their Understandings in them but bring such things especially to their remembrance as it most concerns them to consider thickning them moreover as Tertullian speaks by the frequent inculcation of those several Precepts which lie dispersed in the Scriptures But other advantage than this as Sermons have not above the Word read so to give them any other were to set up the Compositions of Men for such all Sermons are above the pure Dictates of God's Spirit From the Word Read or Preach'd pass we to Prayer an Office of the Jewish Sabbath and no less undoubtedly of the Christian For as in the place before-quoted out of the Acts * Act. 2.42 it is expresly reckon'd as a Part of the Publick Worship as before that by our Saviour ‖ Mat. 18.19 20. for one of those things in the performance whereof he would be present to them when they met so that it was one main Business of the Lord's-day Service those very Ancient Authors before-quoted largely shew Justin Martyr * Apol. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after the ending of the Sermon mentioning their all rising up to Prayer and praying not onely for themselves but for all the World of Prayer again at the Consecration of the Eucharist which he moreover affirms the President or Bishop to pour forth with all his might In like manner Tertullian ‖ Coimus ad deum quasi manu facta precationibus ambiamus Haec vis Deo grata est Oramus etiam pro Imperatoribus pro ministris eorum ac potestatibus pro statu seculi pro rerum quiete pro mora finis not onely affirms the Christians to come together to God as it were to make up a Party by which to besiege him with their Prayers adding moreover that therein they recommended also the state of Emperours and their Ministers but in the place so often quoted out of his Book de Animâ makes mention of the preferring of Prayers as one of the Lord's-day Solemnities Which Testimonies I do the rather inculcate because though Publick Prayer be one of the Chief and always so accounted yet it is now neglected and contemn'd upon how small a pretence we may easily judge by what we often hear from some That they can make the same or as good Prayers at home For though they could yet not with the same advantage either to themselves or others because wanting the concurrence of the Devotion of other Men which is that that makes Prayer so acceptable And I cannot but upon this occasion call to mind a Saying of Maimonides remembred out of him by * Thorndike Rel. Assembl chap. 6. a Learned Man of our own Nation to wit That he that dwelleth in the City where there is a Synagogue and prayeth not there with the Congregation this is he that is call'd a Bad Neighbour For as he may well be call'd a Bad Neighbour as the same Learned Man goes on that will not lend his Neighbours Prayers the strength of his own so he himself findeth the Fruit of his own bad Neighbourhood when his own Prayers want the assistance of his Neighbours Next to Prayer subjoyn we the Duty of Praising God whether in or out of a Song For that this was a part of the Publick Service at the Assemblies and consequently of the Lord's-day which was appointed for the holding of them the Scriptures do abundantly declare For beside that St. Paul
not onely nothing in it peculiar to the Man as that which was laid upon the Female Sex had but is of equal necessity to the Support of both And though they that shall but superficially consider the Character that Solomon gives of a Virtuous Woman Prov. 31.10 and so on where among other things he describeth her as one that seeketh wooll and flax and worketh willingly with her hands though they I say that shall but superficially consider these and the like Passages may imagine they hear that grave King reading a Lecture of Oeconomicks and rather admonishing what may make for their Husbands Profit than for the Interest of Religion and the Peace of their own Souls yet as that Imagination will be in part remov'd by considering that the Book of Proverbs is no less a part of Scripture than any other so also by adverting that he pretends not to describe a Thrifty but a Virtuous Person and as it is in the thirtieth Verse a woman that feareth the Lord. For if so such Works as those must be Works of Duty and Religion and concern the Consciences as well as the Profits of those to whom they do belong And indeed so far is the Industriousness of that Sex from being a part of Oeconomicks onely that St. Paul who certainly never dream'd of any thing of that nature insists upon the same thing calling upon those whose Age gave them Ability for it to intend their Houshold Affairs and reproving such as were idle and negligent in it 1 Tim. 5.13 14 Which with what reason he could do so earnestly as he does if it were not of Divine Obligation I am not able to conjecture and I suppose better Wits cannot You will pardon me you of the Female Sex if I have beside my wont thus seem'd to trespass on your Affairs For as I knew not how to avoid it without giving countenance to the Practice of those Women who amidst all their Pretensions to Religion seem to have little consideration of this Affair so I have insisted the rather on it to encourage the Diligence and establish the Consciences of those who are more industrious in it For if St. Paul may be believ'd it is not the idle and busie-body and wanderer from house to house that is the Religious Person but she that diligently guides her own and though there be other more immediate Acts of Religion yet they serve God in these also if they do them with respect to the Divine Command and shall no doubt receive a Reward for them This onely would be added because understood in all Laws That the Obligation to Labour reacheth no farther to either Sex than where there is an Ability to discharge it Upon which account all sick and impotent and aged Persons are to be look'd upon as exempted so far as their respective Indispositions make them unapt for it Which last Restriction I do therefore subjoyn because even those though not apt for the severer sorts of Labour are yet oftentimes well enough qualified for casier ones And I cannot but upon this occasion call to mind a Story which Busbequius * Turcic Epist 8. tells us of a certain Spaniard who had been a Commander among those of his own Nation and was by himself redeem'd from a Turkish Master to whom he was a Slave For though by reason of the Wounds he had receiv'd he was miserably impotent in all his Limbs and one who therefore seem'd more proper for an Hospital than an Employment yet his Turkish Master found a way to set him on work and receiv'd a considerable Emolument by him For passing him over into Asia where great Flocks of Geese are kept he made use of him as the same Busbequius tells us for the feeding of them and receiv'd no contemptible Benefit by it But be that as it will because I hasten to other Matter and such as will more deserve our consideration as other Persons than those before remembred it will be hard or rather impossible to find who can plead an Exemption from the common condition of Mankind so the search will be look'd upon as unprofitable by those who consider that of St. Paul that if any man would not labour neither should he eat 2 Thess 3.10 3. From the Persons therefore that are under this Obligation pass we to the Kinds of Labour to which they are oblig'd or rather to inquire whether that of the Body be incumbent upon all A Question which is not of so easie a resolution as the former if we consider either the several States and Degrees of Men or the Tenor of those Precepts by which Labour is bound upon us For as on the one hand to oblige all Men to the Labour of the Body would overthrow those several Orders which God hath set in the World and which is more take off the better sort from intending the Labours of the Mind which are of no less necessity to the Support of Humane Society so on the other to exempt any from it seems equally repugnant to that Primitive Law by which we have said Labour to be bound upon us and the several Precepts of St. Paul The former importing the eating of our bread in the sweat of our face the latter working with our own hands for it But as it would be consider'd that it is no way unreasonable for a Law to be express'd in such Terms as have a more peculiar Aspect upon the major part the major part as it is most to be consider'd so standing in need of a more particular direction so the Law of Labour as it is worded both by God and St. Paul though not holding in all Particulars is yet accommodable to the greater part of Humane Kind The common Supports of Nature being not to be procur'd where the greater part of those that are concern'd do not contribute to it with the Work of their own Hands From whence as it will follow that there is no necessity of understanding the Laws before-mentioned in that strictness of sense wherein they seem to be delivered so especially if either Reason or Scripture do perswade an Enlargement of it Which that they do will appear if we consider them apart and first of all that which Reason offers to us For inasmuch as all are not qualified by Nature for Bodily Labour or at least not so much as for the Labour of the Mind and they who are are not yet at leisure to intend it by means of much more important Concerns inasmuch as the Labour of the Mind is no less necessary to the Support of Humane Society nor less an Instance of that Travel which God hath laid as a Burthen upon Humane Nature it seems but reasonable to infer That the Command of God is no less satisfied with that kind of Labour than it is by the sweat of our face or working with our hands Forasmuch secondly as even by God's appointment there are Men of High Degree as well as Low and such
always within the bounds of temperance and sometimes also which yet were no hard task to abstain wholly from the enjoyment of their plenty they would not then find it so uneasie to content themselves with a more moderate Fortune or repine and murmur at it when it befalls them he who can be without these external things even when he hath them being much more likely to bear the want of them when they are not to be had and bring his mind to acquiesce in it But when Men will not only not abstain at any time from lawful Delights but allow themselves in such as are exorbitant when instead of denying and mortifying their appetites they will afford them the utmost satisfaction they are capable of though with the hazard of their health and which is of much more consideration of their eternal welfare then no wonder if a meaner Fortune appear strange and irksom and the inconveniences wherewith it is attended insupportable the difference between their former enjoyments and their present straits appearing so vastly great that it may well stagger a resolved Understanding and make Men sink under their Calamity though they were otherwise well enough disposed to bear it and made use of all their Reason to reconcile themselves to the undergoing of it Whence it is that where such a change hath sometime hapned they who have been the unhappy subjects thereof have needed no other Malady to oblige them to quit the World and exchange this miserable life I will not say for a better but what may reasonably enough be feared for one that exceeds it as much in sadness as it doth in the duration of it But let us suppose as God knows that opportunity of learning Contentment doth often pass by us unobserved let us suppose I say that we have not been careful to use our affluence with sobriety and much less to abridge our selves in the lawful use of it yet even so there will not want means to bring us to a contented mind if we will but be so wise as to make use of them Such as is in the next place the consideration of our own vileness and what our former plenty may well suggest to us our past riots and intemperances For how can he think much to stoop to a mean Fortune who hath made so ill use of a more splendid one yea who it may be hath been the Author of his own pressures and brought himself to penury by a prodigal wasting of his former Fortunes It being but reasonable that every Man should acquiesce in that which hath been rather his choice than his misfortune And though it be true that all who have thus fallen are not conscious to themselves of the like Prodigality nor it may be of any Crimes which may be looked upon as equal to them yet is there none who will not find enough in himself to make him acknowledge his Calamity to have been deserved and accordingly to prompt him rather to thank God for what he hath than to repine that it is no greater than it is especially if he do also consider that there are many in the world who are more necessitous than himself and it may be too who have in all things more approved themselves to the Divine Majesty than he himself if he judge impartially will think himself to have done And though it were but an odd consideration which Diogenes * Aelian Var. hist l. 13. c. 26. solaced himself with in the extremity of his poverty that the Mice which plaid about him pleased themselves with those crums that did either fall from or were wiped off by him yet it may suggest to us another which is more likely to be attended to and where it is so to induce Men to Contentment For certainly notwithstanding the murmurings of discontented Men there are some in the world who do not yet repine whose Fortunes are as disproportionable to those of the discontented person as those of the Mice were to the condition of the Cynick What should I tell you what Experience no less than the Scripture assures us That our life consisteth not in the abundance of the things that we possess That Contentment is as rarely yea more rarely to be found in a splendid Fortune than in a moderate or humble one That those gayeties which we so much desire and without which it is so hard for us to be contented are attended with a proportionable number of inconveniences That more cares and fears and dangers wait upon the Scepter than upon the Spade That those pleasures which are the Concomitants of greater Fortunes appear more amiable at a distance than when they come to be enjoyed which no Man who hath ever tasted any earthly pleasure but will find himself obliged to confess That they are of no certain continuance even when we think our selves most sure of them That we our selves may be taken from them as well as they from us In fine That we may be taken from them even whilst we continue in and with them It being no rare thing for Men to lose the sense of them by stupidity or an exquisite pain and want them even when they are possessed of them All which things whosoever shall duly ponder in his mind and allow them that weight which they deserve will I doubt not be easily induced to content himself with an humble Fortune and not only suffer but embrace it But of all the means whereby Contentment may be procured and which therefore it will concern us to make use of because there can be no happiness without it there are certainly none more efficacious than such as are purely Religious and for which we are beholden rather to the Book of God than that of Nature In the number of which I reckon first Those many assurances the Scripture hath given us of Gods supporting us under our humble Fortunes or delivering us out of them or making them advantageous to us Such as are those that inform us that God will never leave us nor forsake us for so what was spoken to Joshua in particular is by the Author to the Hebrews extended unto all that his eyes are upon them that fear him Psal 33.18.19 34.10 Rom. 8.28 Heb. 13.5 to deliver their souls from death and to feed them in the time of dearth that though the Lyons do lack and suffer hunger yet they which seek the Lord shall want no manner of thing that is good and in fine that all things shall work together for good to them that love God to them who are called according to his purpose For who can well be discontented with his outward condition which he is assured shall be made supportable or mended and which is more rendered advantageous to him The like is to be said yea with much more reason of the Promises of a better life of being satisfied however we may now hunger when we awake with Gods likeness of being advanced to an abiding City