Sermons preached

5. Nothing besides Food and Raiment is absolutely necessary. By Food is meant something to nourish us, and by Raiment something to cover us. If you indulge wanton Appetites, if you make Provision for the Flesh, or ask Meat for your Lusts, God will not hear, nor regard your Desires. Jacob desires but Food and Raiment of God, Gen. 28. 20. If God be with me and keep me in the way that I go, and will give me Bread to eat and Raiment to put on, then God shall be his God. But how could he put his owning and acknowledging of God upon these terms? the meaning is, this shall be a new engagement, esteeming it as a great Favour. All our desires should be suited not to our Luxury, but the necessity of Nature. Raiment, not Ornament; necessary Supports, not Delicacies. Therefore we should not make Lust a Wanton, but be content if God will any way enable us to serve and glorify him. We should be content with his allowance; it is enough for the Service and Honour which he expecteth from us, and to carry us through that little time which we have to spend in the World. It is not abundance that we need, but a contented Heart. Let a little suffice, if God gives no more. Diseased Persons need more attendance than the Healthy, the Distempers ⟨p. 238⟩of our Souls multiply our Necessities, and as we indulge them, they gain upon us: therefore every one of us should bring himself to be content with Necessaries. Superfluities are an impediment rather than a help; as a Shoe too big for the Foot, hinders our going. Or, as David could not go on with Saul's Armour, because it was too great for him, 1 Sam. 17. 31. We are freest from Temptations when we have least, though enough for Health, Strength and Cheerfulness.

5. Nothing besides Food and Rayment is absolutely necessary. By Food is meant something to nourish us, and by Rayment something to cover us. If you indulge wanton Appetites, if you make Provision for the Flesh, or ask Meat for your Lusts, God will not hear, nor regard your Desires. Iacob desires but Food and Rayment of God, Gen. 28. 20. If God be with me and keep me in the way that I go, and will give me Bread to eat and Rayment to put on, then God shall be his God. But how could he put his owning and acknowledging of God upon these terms? the meaning is, this shall be a new engagement, esteeming it as a great Favour. All our desires should be suited not to our Luxury, but the necessity of Nature. Rayment, not Ornament; necessary Supports, not Delicacies. Therefore we should not make Lust a Wanton, but be content if God will any way enable us to serve and glorify him. We should be content with his allowance; it is enough for the Service and Honour which he expecteth from us, and to carry us through that little time which we have to spend in the World. It is not abundance that we need, but a contented Heart. Let a little suffice, if God gives no more. Diseased Persons need more attendance than the Healthy, the Distempers