his face and went out, and refrained himself, and said, Set on bread. And they set on for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians, which did eat with him, by themselves. 1 Kings, xxi. 7. And Jezebel his wife said unto him, Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? Arise, and eat bread, and let thine heart be merry. I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. Psalm xxxvii. 25. I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. xli. 9. Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me. Mark, iii. 20. And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. 2 Cor. ix. 10. Now he that ministereth seed to the sower doth minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness. 2 Thess. iii. 8, 12. Neither did we eat any man's bread for nought; but wrought with labour and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you.-Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.

'Gen. xxviii. 20. And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way, that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God. Isaiah, iii. 1. For, behold, the Lord, the Lord of Hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water. 1 Tim. iv. 8. For bodily exercise profiteth little, but godliness is profitable unto all

things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.

5. Q. What is meant by our bread?

A. It may imply these two things: either, first, what is necessary for us; that is to say, for ourselves and for those who depend upon us. Or else, secondly, it may be called our bread, upon the account of the propriety we have in it: as being either the product of our estates, or the effect of our own labour, or others' charity; not the bread of fraud or oppression; of stealth or covetousness: that so we may live upon what is truly our own, and not devour our neighbour's bread.

PROOFS SUBJOINED.-Prov. Xxx. 8. Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches: feed me with food convenient for me. 1 Tim. vi. 6. And having food and raiment, let us be therewith content.

6. Q. What do you understand by the word daily? A. What is sufficient for the next day: but then we add withal, this day, or day by day, to shew that though (because such is the uncertainty of our present life, that how many or how few days we may have to come, we cannot tell, therefore) we ask no more of God than what is needful for our support: yet we trust that God, of his goodness, will every day give us our bread, as he did the Jews their manna in the wilderness, Exod. xvi. 4, 5, so long as he shall think fit to continue us in this state of our pilgrimage; until he shall bring us to our heavenly Canaan, that good country which he has provided for us.

PROOFS SUBJOINED.-Matt. vi. 25. Therefore 1 say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your

body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Heb. xiii. 5. Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have; for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. 1 Pet. v. 7. Casting all your cares upon him; for he careth for

you.

7. Q. Wherefore do we pray to God for such a support?

a

A. Not to exclude our own reasonable care in providing for it, much less to excuse our labouring after it; but to shew that we depend altogether upon the Providence of God, and owe our lives, and all the support of them, not to our own cunning or industry, but to his blessing: and to engage us thereby both to rely the more confidently upon God, and to make those suitable returns of love, and praise, and gratitude, that we ought to do to him.

PROOFS SUBJOINED.-Gen. iii. 19. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread. Acts, xx. 34. I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring, ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. 1 Cor. iv. 12. And we labour, working with our own hands. 2 Thess. iii. 10, 12. For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.

b Deut. viii. 3. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. Comp. Matt. iv. 4. But he answered and said, It is written, man

shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Acts, xvii. 25, 28. Neither is (God) worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things. For in him we live, and move, and have our being. 1 Pet. v. 7. Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

8. Q. Are the rich as much concerned thus to pray to God as the poor?

A. They are altogether: our Saviour composed this prayer for both alike. It is the same Providence of God which maintains both; and gives an abundance to the one as well as a competency to the other.

9. Q. Is it unlawful for any man to take care of, or provide for any thing more than the next day?

A. No, by no means; God himself has sent us to the ant to learn the contrary. Prov. vi. 8. Who provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.

Such a care as goes no farther than a prudent foresight, and neither prompts us to any evil, nor keeps us back from any good, is certainly not only innocent, but commendable. Without this the world could not subsist otherwise than by a continual miracle, which we ought not to expect where ordinary methods are to be had. The solicitude which our Saviour forbids, and which is indeed sinful, is that which proceeds from an immoderate concern for the future: when men are uneasy and discontented; distrustful of God's Providence, and still hoarding more up, as if they could never have enough, but were to trust rather to their own care and foresight, than to God's blessing.

PROOFS SUBJOINED.—† Acts, xi. 28, 29, 30. And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world, which came to pass in the days of Claudius Cæsar. Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judea: which also they did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul. 1 Cor. xvi. 1. Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, eren so do ye. 2 Cor. viii. 12, 14. For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not. For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened: but by an equality that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for your want, that there may be equality.

* Matt. vi. 25 to 31. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put

Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air! for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit to his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet I say unto thee, that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith.